too many good tenants?? How do I deny them

[Ray Thorsen]

I am in a unique position I think compared to some. I have a few potentially "good" tenants. I am trying to pick tenants that will be there for more than a year while being a good tenant.  I eliminated one because he wants to buy a house in a year once his divorce is final. He makes plenty of money and still has the credit to do it. The other 3 all make my 3.5x gross no criminal no evictions decent credit (620-650 for tenants). After doing my screening they all qualify. My gut says go with a particular tenant but I do not have any screening criteria to definitively deny the other 2. What do I tell them? The first come first serve is out the window because one of them knows they were first to see it. Any advise would be great.

[Account Closed]

I am going to assume you are new to this.  You about an inch from running afoul of a discrimination lawsuit.  

1. You need to have clear, articulable (preferably written) requirements of your rental criteria.
2. You need to processes each application as you receive it.
3. Once one is approved, you offer the rental to the person.

You are a treading a dangerous line if you publicly advertised this property for rent.  If you rent to a white person and a minority applied first, they can easily win a discrimination case against you.  You would be totally and rightful screwed no matter what your race or ethnicity is.  Do not try to cherry pick the best applicant.  Pick the FIRST qualified application by gong in order of applications received.  You will save yourself a ton of trouble in the long run.