Landlording & using Cozy.co: Help for a newbie!

[FATEMA BASRAI]

Hi everyone, 

I am a total newbie to leasing & need help with a few basic questions! 

Background:
I bought my house in 2017 in TX. In 2019, my hubby and I moved to the East coast and we set the house up as a vacation rental. I found an amazing housekeeper/manager (who also lives in the neighborhood) who cleans and monitors the place for me. The house has been kept in great shape and really no horror stories thank goodness! The vacation rental business was very seasonal and doesn’t quite cover the costs of the property. I had been mulling the idea of long-term leasing the property for a while and now with the pandemic, I think it makes even more sense. I am blessed to have a great group of people around me- my current housekeeper and an another neighbor who can do showings, maintenance, delivery of air filters, etc. A person who does the yard bi-weekly as needed. And my in-laws who can assist as needed with other decisions and needs.

I have read all of the landlording books on NOLO, but I am terrified of messing up somewhere lol. 

Now here’s where I need help:
1) When I set-up my listing on Cozy, what can/should I mention within the listing. Obviously the amenities, but should I also say things like 

• Total Household Gross Income must be 2.5X Rent Amount
• No Large Dogs, Only Well Trained Pets on a Case by Case Basis
• Every Adult(18+) must have credit check and background check before final acceptance as tenants
• Average Credit Score of Adults must be 620 or greater
• No Criminals
• No Smokers
• Utilities are paid by Tenant

I got that from: https://www.famvestor.com/cozy/
If anyone has a great idea for what a listing should look like, please share!! I don't want people to waste their time & apply if they don't fit the bill above. 

2) After I get applicants, how do I shortlist the top ones & send them the link to do get their credit & background checked through Cozy (I know the technical aspect of how to actually do this, but I'm asking for about the shortlist process). Do I use the same criteria as above and invite the first ones who applied & fit the bill to do the background and application check? If an applicant is not shortlisted to do a bg & credit check, do I need to respond to them & tell them why?

3) Do I invite the shortlisted applicants to view the property before the background & credit check? Maybe an open house? How is that working in the era of social distancing? How many people do I invite to do the background & credit check from the shortlisted pool?  

4) After someone has a bg & credit check that doesn't meet my criteria, what do I have to provide them? Is their a template? 

5) The final applicant: Once I have my awesome tenant who has passed the bg check & credit check & is ready to sign the lease, what other documents do I need from them? Copy of DL? Anything else? Do I review each section of the lease with the tenant? I plan to collect rent, & the deposit through Cozy.co & also require renter's insurance. 

6) Do I (in my case my pm) do the handing of the keys walk-through with the tenent & document everything along with them? I had places do that for me in the past. 

7) Is Cozy a good way to share reminders to my tenents: i.e - lawnmowing happening this week; air filter getting delivered, etc? 

8) Any other best practices or lists (I love lists) ??? Please share! I am a bit nervous, but I know I can do this!