Are Application Fees worth it?

[Krista Dodson]

Our rental unit (5/3 SFH) has typically been a group home with 4 unrelated adults. I have never run background checks or credit checks on tenants, and the only screening I've done in the past was verifying employment and calling previous landlords (unless it's their parents). This summer, our entire house is turning over, and we've decided to start running background and credit checks. We started using Cozy to manage leases and applications, and it has a built in credit check and background check that will charge the applicants $40 to run. I love the idea, and have used it on a sublease tenant before. But I'm getting lots of questions about it, because the potential tenants assume that it's $40 per group, not $40 per individual. Once they realize that it's $40 per individual, they're not completing the application process.

I love having the security of the process, but is it worth it? What do most people charge for application fees??