Feedback for a (quasi) first time landlord

[Tom Flood]

Hello everyone!

My wife and I moved from our home seven years ago for my work. At the time the housing market (in our neighborhood in particular) was so depressed we couldn’t sell our home without taking a huge (50-60%) loss. So we decided to become landlords. We have lucked into friends and family as tenants so far, but now that luck has run out. 

So now we find ourselves in a position of actually seeking our new tenants for our home (still unable to sell at a break even price). Needless to say this paradigm shift for us is a bit stressful. 

Ten days or so ago I created a listing for the home on several real estate websites in part to test the waters when deciding whether to engage a PM or not. Those ads have generated a ton of response for us (over 150 leads on Zillow alone). I think we have decided to keep the listing ourselves, I mean with so much interest hiring a PM would be giving money away (I know there are real benefits, that’s not the topic of this post). 

I have put together the following plan of action, based on a lot of research on this forum and elsewhere, my hope is that some of you more enlightened/experienced than me will take a look and provide feedback for me.

Today - Jan 25 (for reference)

Step 1 - Send a follow up email to every lead received online thanking them for their interest, specifying my rental requirements (income 3x rent, no criminal history, no bad debt history, etc), and providing a pdf of the rental application. This email also provides a deadline to return the app (by mail because I don’t live in town anymore) with their app fee by Feb 23. 

Step 2 - Once deadline has passed evaluate all applications and rank by criteria listed in email. Contact the best six and arrange for an in person showing of the property on March 4. 

Step 3 - Check references and credit/background reports on applicants in descending order of qualification and make an offer of acceptance by the end of March 6. 

My hope is that the follow up email and application fee will help narrow that list of leads down to a more manageable pool. 

What are your thoughts and/or suggestions? Any potential pitfalls in this process that I need to watch out for?

Thank you for reading, I look forward to your response.