Finding a tenant seems like pooling teeth

[Account Closed]

Hey everyone.  So I've had my condo listed online for a week, and out of all the people who've come in, I only have 1 potential tenant, but he hasn't submitted the application yet.  Essentially, 80% of the inquiries never even reply back to me after I send them my pre-screening questionnaire.   And my questions are kindergarten compared to some of the hardball questionnaires I've seen other landlords requests.  I don't even ask for first, last and security, I just ask for first and security, but still it's not good enough for these people.  So my question is - do people just expect that I'll put my assets on the line just to make some stranger happy and bypass all the questioning and background/credit checks?  When I signed my car lease, I figuratively had to give them a blood test to prove to them that I was worthy.  And we're talking a car lease which is half the lease of my condo.  So what I'm getting at is this:  Why do people get so turned off by questions?  I already wasted hours for the few days showing the condo to people who didn't even have a credit history.  Then I got wise to the game and started the conversation with the pre-questionnaire.   Or is the right answer for me to just stop wasting my time, hire a professional tenant placement agency, pay them a month's rent for their services, sign the lease and call it a day?

[James DeRoest]

Lots of landlords do strange things, like this pre application thing, but it doesn't mean they have much success when they do this stuff. I've met plenty of landlords who set really stupid conditions, and then wonder why the house is empty for six months.

So all you're doing is setting impediments for people to rent from you. They could fill out this form and wait, or they could just move onto the next property.

And if you're above average for that unit, why is anyone going to hang around for a potential landlord to spend the next three days scratching his *** wondering whether to show the apartment? When tenants have plenty of choice, they ain't going to jump through hoops they think are unnessacary.

Especially at this time of year! This is the quiet season. Things don't move, especially houses listed with above average rent.