1st rental property gets 10 interested on Craigslist. Now what?

[Rhondalette W.]

I placed my first rental property on Craigslist 3 days ago and 10 responded so far and are interested. Here is my plan, followed by a few questions, what do you advise? 

•  I have telephone screened a few and weeded out some who have pets and others who are smokers. 
• To avoid going to the property several times to show, I have decided to have an "Open House"  where all families can come view at their leisure (will be on this Saturday)
• I will have applications at the open house 

Here are some of the questions I have:

Q1: During my telephone screening today, one guy said that they recently filed for bankruptcy. but his wife is a Registered Nurse and they have no children, no animals, and are not smokers. They earn about 7X's the monthy rent. Do you all consider tenants with bankruptcy or should I totally avoid them?

Q2: What if I have several families 3 or 4 who complete applications, do I need to collect an application fee and run background checks on all? Do people get upset if they pay application fee but are not selected?

Q2: Is my application fee of $50 per adult in the family a reasonable fee? 

Thank you all for your insight...

[Michael Noto]

In my experience when filling rentals you need to capitalize on qualified tenants interest as soon as possible.  Why?  Because they have other options.

Have your screening processes in place so that your turn around time from inquiry to appointment can be sooner rather than later.  Remember that people are often not just calling you to rent an apartment, they are probably calling on other places too.  You have to act fast when you have the opportunity to reel in a rockstar tenant.