Lots of Applicants: How to choose?

[Matt Huber]

Hey all,

Total newbie here.

We're getting set to rent our house in the Sacramento, CA area. I posted an ad on CL a couple days ago and have received about six replies so far. We will be ready to show the property on Sunday Aug 30.

Now, I want to be fair to the tenants, and so I'm trying to figure out the "fairest" way to give them an opportunity to rent the house. The ad was very clear about our requirements (ie minimum FICO, income, rental history, etc), so here's what I'm thinking:

I'll invite the prospects to view the house, giving them choice of time lots in the order I received their inquires. After viewing the property, I'll provide them with the application and instructions for submitting it with a deposit. Then I'll process them in order received.  Of course, if the first applicant doesn't meet the criteria based on the credit/background check, I go on to the next,so as to not waste somebody's application fee if there is another application in process ahead of them.

Does this sound like it meets the requirements of the law and general decency? Is there a better way I'm not seeing?

Many thanks in advance.

[Kyle J.]

@Matt Huber  A few thoughts for you.  First, congrats on becoming a landlord.  

Second, I'm sure you're happy to be getting responses to your ad, and to have multiple responses so far, but 6 responses in a couple days is not "a lot" in our market.  Especially since some of those "responses" will end up flaking out on you, they'll never make an appointment (or show up to one if they do make one), and even less will ever submit an actual application.

Think of it like a big funnel.  You need to get a lot of people in the top of the funnel (interested in your property), to hopefully get a few out through the bottom (qualified people who actually fill out/submit an application for you to choose from).  

In my experience, the problem is likely that you're only advertising on Craigslist.  I used to advertise on there years ago, and it used to work just fine.  However, it has become overridden with scammers and spammers, plus it's hard to navigate and outdated.  Not many people are using it anymore.  Some are, but frankly you can get 100x the response on other platforms.  

One of the last times I advertised a vacancy, I tried a test and placed an ad on CL and another on Zillow (which also syndicates to their other partner sites, Trulia and Hotpads).  I got a total of one inquiry from my CL ad, and at least a couple hundred from my Zillow ad before I had to take it down since they just wouldn't stop.  (Good problem to have.)  I ultimately ended up renting it on the second day to very qualified tenants after getting about 8 applications to choose from!

Point is, don't limit yourself.  Most of the people who call won't actually come see it, and most the people who come see it won't actually submit applications.   So you need a lot of people in your "funnel".  

And I agree with the others, there's nothing in our state that requires you to select the first person to submit an application.  Just don't discriminate based on a protected class and you'll be fine.  

Lastly, in terms of screening applicants, this guide is a little old but still has some good info in it, and since you said you're new I figured I'd point it out to you in case you found it helpful: Tenant Screening: The Ultimate Guide

Good luck!