how to deal with multiple applicants??

[Daniel Miller]

I'm preparing to rent out a 1977 sqft house in San Jose, target price $3300; the property has many valuable amenities, so I'm probably pricing a bit low, I think.  I'm pondering questions to include on my pre-filter email.

However, the first three responses that I've gotten are all groups of people, rather than just a family.  One is "a family of 3 with my uncle is a small business owner,i'm a manager at a billard/coffee shop and my uncle's daughter(an international student)", the other two are "I am looking for a place to live for myself and two other friends. We are all Santa Clara University engineering grads with jobs in the Bay Area."

None of these sound like "one source of income"... not to mention (without having talked to any of them) none sound like "3 times monthly rent as income".  $3300 is one *hell* of alot of money to have to come up with every month!!  (I'm so grateful I bought my house long ago).

So, I'm wondering how to proceed... I *could* just disregard these messages and hope for better catches later... if I *do* go with them, How do I really measure income??  All of the college students will likely fail the "reliable job history" test.  As far as the income test, how do they or I measure "reliable income" ??

For now, I'm inclined to disregard these and hope for better catches later, but if I *don't* get such, I might have to fall back on such as this, and figure out how to evaluate the situation...