Tenant screening and decision questions

[Thomas Tzeng]

We have a single family house for rent and the rent is around 4K in a nice neighborhood. We just interviewed a potential tenant today. She seems to be very rush and would like to move in ASAP. She even can do tomorrow the earliest. She told us that they (husband, son, and she) are living with their parents, and her high-school-age son needs a place to study. We know that rush to find housing might be a red flag. So, we have a few questions:

1. After background check and others mentioned in the ultimate guide, if everything is fine, does it mean that we can feel comfortable to approve the application?

2. We only met the wife but the husband. Normally, is it better to meet all potential adult tenants?

3. There'll be a 2nd family to tour the house tomorrow, and we kind of know their background very much already through chat/phone. Intuitively, we feel the 2nd family is a better fit. However, since the 1st family is in a rush, we wonder if it is fine to rush the 2nd family to make rental decision tomorrow. And, we definitely do not want to lose the 1st family if they are qualified and the 2nd family decides to walk away. How do you usually do with this situation?

Thanks a lot!