Advertising, screening and applications - What works best?

[Malik R.]

We cleaned up our single family property after it was vacated, fixed a few things, had the carpets in bedrooms professionally cleaned, and painted all the interiors. Then advertised at Craigslist, Zillow and FB Marketplace. Over one week, there were 78 inquiries through Zillow, 2 through Craigslist and 53 through FB Marketplace.

We held an open house (5 families showed up) and then decided to pre-screen using a Google Form and schedule viewings for reasonable prospects (with sufficient income and no pets). Only 9 of the 100+ inquiring people actually filled out the pre-screening form and 5 of them were invited to view the property.

We gave people the choice to fill out paper application and pay $35/adult for background screening or apply for free through Naborly. Only 1 picked up the paper application. Thirty (30) people were emailed application link through Naborly. Of those, 13 applications were opened but none was completed.

What could we do differently to improve our chances of finding a qualified renter?