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.

[Theresa Harris]

Check your local rules, in some areas you have to take the first qualified person.  I live in an area where that doesn't apply, but when we do showings we get all of the info, narrow it down, check references for those that are good and then choose the one who we think is the best.  Once we have a signed lease and deposit from that person, we notify the others.  Just say something simple like there was a lot of interest in the property and it was a tough decision, but we decided to rent it to another person.