Eliminating phone inquiries from rental applicants

[Rob K.]

I have gotten tired of answering the phone and too cheap to pay someone to do it. I recently started having all calls go to voice-mail that directs them to my website that gives more information and has a page to answer some questions and request a showing. If they send an email inquiry, they get an auto response that has a link to my website and the page with the questionaire. A lot of these emails are from time wasters and calling them all could take an hour a day.

The questions that I ask are as follows:

Who would be the occupants?

Do you have any pets?

If yes, describe your pet. (breed, age, weight)

What date are you looking to move in?

Is your monthly household income at least three times the rent amount?

What is your current living situation? (renting a house, apartment, staying with family)

How long have you been there?

Why are you moving?

Has your rent ever been late?

Have you ever been evicted or had a landlord file court papers against you?

Are you able to have electric and gas placed in your name?

Do any of the occupants smoke?

Do any of the occupants have a criminal history?

To move in, you will need the first month's rent plus a security deposit equal to 1.5 month's rent.
Do you have that available now?

If not, when?

What days and times are you available to view the home? 

Please tell us anything else that you would like to share:

Most of the questions are required and the email won't send until they fill in the blanks. Once the email comes in, it's easy to sort through the winners and losers. It's nice to see that they've been evicted, have four cats, or don't want to move for another three months right there in the email instead of having to ask a bunch of questions to get there.

I notice that I get WAY fewer inquiries now, but they are much more solid leads. I also realize that I'm probably losing out on some good prospects by making them jump through so many hoops, but this has made my life way easier.

I'm curious if anyone has done something similar or has any tips to improve this? Any other questions I should be asking would be much appreciated.