Pre-Screening - Are We Being Too Tough?

[Katie Willcox]

Hi Everyone!

We took possession of our first rental on July 15th and we are self-managing it.  We've prepared a pre-screening questionnaire with guidance from Heather & Brandon Turner's Managing Rental Properties book.  We have had a lot of interest as the house is located in a small city.  However, the people who we have sent the questionnaire to didn't return it, said they don't qualify, said they are uncomfortable with providing us with their personal information, and have gone as far as saying the form is 'absurd' etc... Are we doing this wrong? Are our policies/minimum requirements too stringent? If so, should we change them?  Or should we sit tight and wait for the right tenant to come along? We followed the Turner's advice.  

Living in a small community is nerve racking and seems to be increasingly difficult as the tenant pool isn't as vast as a larger city.  I'm afraid we won't find the 'perfect' tenant. 

Katie & Brett