How do you handle multiple applications?

[Marc Ferguson]

Hi, I am in the process of listing my first property and vetting through possible tenants. I posted it on Facebook and I've gotten a lot of interaction--very exciting. From that I know about 1-2% of people will take action and it's panning out that way.

I'm using https://rentredi.com to manage this process. I've gotten two people to send me their contact info so that I can do the prequalifications with them. One of them has advanced on to fill out the application. As I begin to juggle more interested tenants how do I fairly choose the right one?

Do I just keep telling other people that the place is available and hope a better tenant shows interest? At what point do I ask for references and other items to back up their claims of stable income? RentRedi states that it'll ask the tenant to do a screening during the application phase.

All-in-all, I just don't want to be unfair to someone that's looking for a place. Thanks for any advice.