Approved but then she backed out on me....How to get her back?

[Jason Krawitz]

I approved my applicant that has a dog. Her credit was awesome. All prior landlords spoke highly of her. Her employer's HR dept verified everything I needed. I was getting pumped up about leasing my first property! Then... she asked to see a copy of the lease. I e-mailed her a copy. Here's the thing, I got my lease from a friend that has been doing this a REALLY long time and manages 170 + properties. The lease was written by his attorney. My applicant said in an e-mail to me "I will need to withdraw my application to lease the house based on the tone of the rental agreement.".

CRAP! How should I proceed? Frankly, I'd be okay using a lease from one of her last two rentals. I think my buddy rents more lower-end properties and lower-end tenants so his lease is more landlord friendly. There is a bunch of stuff in it I'd be fine changing or omitting.

Ever run into this? Any suggestions on how to real this applicant back in without appearing desperate?

Thanks...

[Jean Bolger]

Email her back and say something like: "hey, I understand the lease seems kind of heavy- it's got a lot of legalese because I got it from another landlord who has been in business for ages and has seen a lot of weird issues over the years. So the lease ends up saying things like "you can't keep horses in the bathroom" and stuff like that. This certainly isn't because I would expect you to ever keep horses in the bathroom! It's just in there because at one point someone probably did it. I would certainly be happy to talk with you about any specific clauses that you have issue with and perhaps we can amend them to your liking.