Prospective Tenant was turned off by thorough tenant screening process

[James Park]

This is the first time listing the rental property as an agent representing myself. I almost went through an eviction on my last property in Chicago and wanted to be extremely cautious when screening a prospective tenant for my new rental property.

I had a situation where a tenant was upset at me for asking her to go through the smartmove.com process. She told me that the process was too exhaustive and I guess this really turned her off. Anyone else have a similar situation when screening tenants?

She made only $35,000 a year, but had a perfect 800 credit score and just had her personal residence with 30% equity under contract.

I started the process of asking for 2 bank statement and 2 paystubs. Everything went smoothly until i asked her to pay for the credit process through smartmove.com and this turned her off enought to find another property.

Where did i do wrong? I would appreciate any advice in proper screening.

[Steve Babiak]

BTW - I started putting all my requirements in writing and giving that to the prospective tenants upfront, to serve as a filter. Either hard copy or electronic - doesn't matter to me. I've still had some with criminal records applying (and being declined), but they can't say they weren't made aware ...