Tenant approval

[Shawn H.]

How does everyone review/approve tenant applications? Is it more acceptable to approve on a first come first serve basis, or wait for several applications and pick the most qualified? Also, does everyone call each applicant to tell them their application was denied? Or only call the approved applicant?
Thanks

[Torsten Holmgren]

We manage properties in both Oregon and Washington. Oregon law only allows you to run one applicant at a time. We have adopted this policy in Washington as well. The first person to get us the application fee is the one we run. We call them if we accept them or deny them. If we deny them, we send them a letter explaining why they were denied. We have found that running one at a time allows us to eliminate people from looking after you approve them and wanting time to "think about it". We explain to them that we have other people wanting to apply and we don't stop until we have a signed lease. If you run multiple applications not only do you make some potential tenants mad but you loose leverage with the person you approve because they know you denied the rest and chose them.