Show house or get application first?

[Austin S.]

I am fairly new to the rental business and am trying to put systems into place, even though I only have 2 single family units currently. The only advertising I do is put ads out on Craigslist. I have one property coming vacant on June 1st and put out an ad towards the end of April. I have so far had over 20 email inquiries for the property, with more trickling in each day. This seems like a lot to me but maybe it is standard.

My question is do I show the property to all 20 prospects and then have them fill out an application if they like the place or do I have them fill out an application and spend the non-refundable fee before they even know if they like the place?

The first option would take up a lot of my time I feel like with the possibility of the application revealing they wouldn't have qualified in the first place. The second option would possibly significantly reduce the pool of prospects, as I would guess many wouldn't pay the fee without seeing if the house is something they would like to live in.

Thanks for any suggestions by those with successful systems in place!