1st time screening applicants, BP I’d love some tips/advice

[Cory Lucas]

Ok, a little bit of background on the property. I have a 3 bed/1 bath single-family home that I am still renovating. I plan to have it ready by November 1, hopefully sooner. I got the house renovated to the point to where I was able to take pictures of a couple of the bedrooms, the kitchen, and the dining room and ran ads to generate leads for tenants. I’m using Cozy/Apartments.com as my platform for applications

I felt I was ready in doing my research and speaking with a friend who has multiple rental properties on what it was all going to entail, but as many of you I’m sure have been through this process, I now have more questions. Please bear with me as I know all of this is out there in the forums and I could search for it, but I was really hoping to have my questions that are specific to my situation answered and in one place to where I can have it as an easy reference.

1. I have generated a lot of leads, I’m wondering if I should have waited until I was closer to completion to put the ad out there? I question that for a couple of reasons, because a lot of people have wanted to come by and look at it and it is not ready to be looked at just yet as I am still in the process of renovating the bathroom. I was just unsure how much interest it would drum up which is why I put it out so early, but now I feel like maybe that was a mistake?

2. Should I pull the ad because I’ve had so much interest? I have had around 70 people contact me regarding the property, but I’ve only had four actual applicants, ad has only been up for 4 days

3. How quickly do you tend to respond to an applicant? Granted my situation is different as the property is not really available just yet, because if it was I would probably be looking to jump on an application much quicker. But obviously all of that stuff takes time to checkout and I’m just curious what time frames you all usually look to turn around an application

4. What minimum requirements do you folks offer up? I went with a minimum credit score of 600, three times the income for rent, no evictions or judgments.

5. When denying an application, this was one of the better approaches that I saw, but I’m having a hard time with this potentially being what I say as I feel like I owe them a reason as to why their application was denied?

“Thanks for the interest, we’ve reviewed your application and based on the information in your application we are declining your application. We wish you well in your house search”

I ask that, because there is one applicant that her application looks good, but I was a little frustrated with the conversation that I had with her as she went by the property (even though I’m pretty sure I didn’t publish the address) even though I said it was not ready to show and then came back with herself being frustrated because the outside didn’t look so good. Which I tried to explain that this was because the house was not ready yet. So I simply want to deny her just because of how she spoke with me in regards to the property. I feel like if I’m already having an issue there what’s the future relationship going to be like regardless of how she looks on paper

6. How do you go about verifying income/contacting landlords? With regards to landlords I’m not so worried about that as I think in Brandon Turner‘s book he suggests calling them and asking about vacancies first before inquiring about the applicant, which I liked that approach. But I’m unsure about verifying income. You you just call up the employer and ask or something different?

Thank you for the patience, thank you for the time, and thank you for any and all advice that is offered

[Brianna Reynolds]

Originally posted by @Cory Lucas:

@Brianna Reynolds thank you for the reply! Greatly appreciated and good insight

I am using Cozy’s platform at this time. They run a credit and background check. I’m probably going to go ahead and pull the ad. Figure I’ll reach out to all the leads and let them know “We are reaching out to let you know that the property is still available, but the ad has been pulled due to the property generating a greater response than was anticipated. We are still processing applications if you have not applied at this time, but the property is still under renovation at this time and once it is ready to view we will then reach out at that point to see if you are still interested.”

Thoughts?

 I believe if you contact Cozy's support team they will provide an adverse letter. (Of course this was years ago that I used it, so I'm not sure if that is still the case. However, it's worth a shot)

I like your notice to all leads, although I think ending it after "greater response than anticipated" and following up with "We will be going through the applications at this time. The unit will be available for viewing *insert date* and will let you know if it is still available at that time."

Perhaps generate a separate one for applicants and to touch base with them regarding their move in date. Maybe sending something like... "Thank you for your application on our property. Please know that we are reviewing applications at this time and due to the response generated have temporarily pulled the ad. The property will be available for viewing **insert date** and move in **insert date**. Once approved we will expect a deposit and the move in date. Please let us know as soon as possible if the criteria does not work for you"

Just my thoughts :)