Is my pre-screening scaring away potential good renters?

Question

Over the years I've found that people do not read my advertisements completely and waste a tremendous amount of time showing property to people who do not qualify.  I've recently been sending an email to every inquiry which allows me to quickly eliminate some wasted showings, although some will still lie about their income.  However, I'm afraid my questions might be scaring some good applicants away.  Can you tell me if the below sounds scammy?

Thank you for your interest in the apartment.  Due to the high volume of emails, this message is being sent to all of those who are interested and I apologize if you have already supplied some of this information.  We want you to find the best apartment that meets your needs, and this information helps us do that.

Before we schedule a showing, please provide the following information:1. Full names of all those who would live in the apartment.2. Total monthly pay/income.3. Do you smoke, and if so inside or outside?4. Any criminal history?5. How many times have you been evicted?6. Number and type of pets7. Deposit is equal to two month's rent, can you afford this in addition to first month's rent?8. Have you lived in an apartment with bedbugs within the last 6 months?9. When do you hope to move?10. Are you willing to sign a year lease or are you looking for a short-term rental?thank you!Amy

1. Full names of all those who would live in the apartment.

2. Total monthly pay/income.

3. Do you smoke, and if so inside or outside?

4. Any criminal history?

5. How many times have you been evicted?

6. Number and type of pets

7. Deposit is equal to two month's rent, can you afford this in addition to first month's rent?

8. Have you lived in an apartment with bedbugs within the last 6 months?

9. When do you hope to move?

10. Are you willing to sign a year lease or are you looking for a short-term rental?

thank you!

Amy

Roy N. · Answer

Amy A.

Rather than a list of questions (which may sound like an interrogation), why not simply include your screening process or the same material, but as a series of "criteria":

1) Applicants should have income equalling or exceeding X-times the monthly rent;

2) We perform a credit history and criminal background check on all applicants;

3) All our properties are smoke free,

....

We return an e-mail with a more in-dept description of the unit and a copy of our application {which includes our screening process}.   I have found this greatly reduces the tyre kickers who know they will not qualify, but for some reason want to come look at the unit anyway.  It hasn't really impacted the number of suitable applicants we receive.

Jake C. · Answer

Amy A.

I would combine your current scammy email (sorry!) with Roy's idea to end up with the following middle ground:

"Thank you for your interest in the apartment at 1234 Main St! I want to make sure I am not wasting your time, so just to ensure we are on the same page, I would like to confirm the following:

1) Applicants should have income equalling or exceeding X-times the monthly rent;

2) We perform a credit history and criminal background check on all applicants;

3) All our properties are smoke free,

Is that ok with you? If it is, I'd love to schedule a showing. When works?"

I think that this approach will help you save time, and it does not come off the wrong way. Like a previous poster said, the tenant is screening you just as you are screening them. But if they take offense to this response, you dont want them in your property anyway! Most people will appreciate you being upfront.

Penny Clark · Answer

Amy A., these are all good suggestions. Remember the acronym SEP (Somebody Else's Problem) If a person's financial or rental history doesn't meet your criteria, it is not your problem.  Put your efforts into finding applicants who will make the cut. Focus on credit, followed by income requirements, then rental history. Be specific in what you want. For example: Credit score of 650+, no utility or other collection accounts or repos; 1 or 2 late pays with an explanation okay; Income - 2 1/2-3 times income to rent (verified by pay stubs and/or two years tax returns and their employer); rental history - no evictions and addresses and phone numbers of current and previous landlords will be required.

When you do this, you'll find the deadbeat and freeloader types will know you mean business and won't apply. For the ones who think you will make them an "exception" they also will know you mean business. BTW, I have made exceptions for some of my tenants who have had credit scores less than 650. Nothing sinks a credit score faster than medical debt, foreclosure, bankruptcy debt or student loan debt.  Because their credit score was low, it made their income and rental history all that more important; Income was usually higher than 3 times the rent; they had more than three years with the same employer and they had an excellent rental history.

Follow up on email responses with a phone screening prior to the showing. I ask if they have any animals, when their move-in date would be and how many people age 18 and over will be applying. I let them know there will be an application fee per adult applicant.

At the showing,  provide a written list of this criteria with the application and have tenant sign it and return it to you. Inform all interested applicants that the unit will be rented in this order: first come, first qualified.

If your rental is attractive, in good repair, clean and competitively priced, quality tenants will find you.

I hope this helps!

Douglass Benson · Answer

@Amy Arata - Let's say your unit rents for $600 a month, ($7,200 for 12 months) to help me with my illustration.  If you put in your mind the mental image of you lending them the money ($7,200) instead of renting an apartment, you might be more comfortable about having the the money conversation.  This is a standard part of dong rental business.

Another thought about asking probing questions regarding their character of their behavior.  Once again, put your mind in the place where you are interviewing someone to look after your children or a possible renter who will live with you in your house.  That might make you more comfortable about the questions you want answered.

In the end, good people will pass these questions with flying colors because they are good people.  Eventually you will find your rhythm.  Best of luck to you.

Doug.

Leland Barrow · Answer

Yes, people are wary of email. They want to know if the property will fit their needs. Schedule your showings in a single day, make the requirements crystal clear, and screen any applications that you get. I think most potential tenants will see it as putting the cart before the horse and being unnecessarily intense. It is a mutual relationship and good tenants are screening you, and the property as much as you are screening them.

Amy A. · Answer

@Douglass Benson it's not that I'm afraid to talk about income, but I think they are!  It's so much easier to find out before a showing that they don't qualify.  However, I'm not sure the general public understands this and they don't like discussing money with strangers, even though they'll have to eventually.  I've taken the advice above and softened my approach a bit in my responses today.   You're right, it all comes down to character.  I'd rather rent to a person with barely 3X the rent in income than somebody who's rich but going to treat me and the neighbors badly.

@Leland Barrow  how did  you do this?  Did you design a website with a pre-application yourself or are you using a service?  Yours is the approach I'd love to use instead of responding to each e-mail individually.

@Nathan Miller yes, I want them to think I'm a strict landlord so they don't try to pull anything, lol!  I've actually had tenants tell me how they appreciate that I'm a bit strict because they've lived in properties where the neighbors were terrible because the landlord didn't care.  You would think that listing my criteria in the ads would help, and I do list most of them, but for some reason people think I'll make an exception in their case once I meet them.  It's really annoying!  You're right, I've had people think it was the application and balk at "applying" before seeing the apartment.  I'm also taking out the part about getting many e-mails, thanks for the advice.

Account Closed I've been tempted to put a lockbox out as well.  I'd have to get more information from the applicants first.  Also, of course it can only be done with vacant units.  I'm glad it's working for you!  I use texting as well, but I need to better train my tenants not to text at all hours.  I guess it's better than calling though!  Thanks for the input.

Account Closed · Answer

after going through this process for the first time with a duplex i found myself questioning my methods as well.

i used google voice and communicated strictly over texts and could text from a computer as well. this let me ask questions quickly and efficiently. Whenever someone inquired i had a boiler plate response, "Hi my name is Chris the property manager. Before we move forward, we are seeking tenants with good/ok credit, non-smoking and earn 3x rent. Are any of these an issue?" This would weed out the numerous texts i'd receive daily.

If person could answer those questions we could get past this point i would let them see the unit on their own by providing a key code to one unit once they arrived at the unit. This seemed INSANE to me at first but it worked quite well. Avoided having to show up at the unit multiple times and even weeded out those who were flaky since i didn't need to be physically present. I did switch out the code after each visit. Also having a higher application fee might weed out tire-kickers, mine is 35 but that does pay for a pretty extensive background check which i'm not pocketing anything from.

One other piece of advice might be to raise your application fee $5 to compensate you for the time you're working by showing the unit and marketing it. I don't do this personally cause my wife felt strongly about it but i think it's reasonable. Might do this down the road once i have more units.

All the best

Max T. · Answer

Account Closed I think you are doing it right. I do the same thing. I don't have a question about bedbugs and I don't start off with the explanation sentences.

If people can't or aren't able to answer some basic questions then they probably won't make good tenants and you don't want to deal with them. I get a lot of people who don't respond after their initial inquiry, but many still do. Sometimes they express discomfort with the income question, and if so, I rephrase it as a yes/no. As in "after taxes, do you take home more than $XXXX/month?"

Here is what I do:

Hello _____________,

Nathan Miller · Answer

Amy A. - I like the way you handle this, but yes, I believe you probably are scaring away good applicants.  The first thing I read is that you are getting a ton of applicants; therefore, I would have to answer the questions perfectly.  A lot of people also might think that this *is* the application and they don't even know if they like the place yet.  Also, it reads that you are going to be a super strict landlord.

I like to list the qualifying criteria up-front (ie.. clean credit, criminal, and eviction history) and X times rent.  That will weed out almost everybody you don't want right there.

Jake C. · Answer

I think the scamminess is driven by the lack of personal detail and the amount of questions. I don't think many people will lie about their income if you are clearly stating that it is necessary and implying that they will be wasting their time if they can't meet that minimum. After all, they don't want to waste their time either.

Is my pre-screening scaring away potential good renters?

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