All Forum Posts by: Sal M.

Thanks for the responses. I want to clarify that this is an SFR, not an apartment.

I have received 3 applications for my rental property. I have completed tenant screening using houserie.com. And some googling. I have selected one out of the three and want to proceed with lease signing and security deposit collection. What is the proper way to notify the other two that they have not been selected and their app fee will not be refunded. I want to make sure i follow protocol to prevent any trouble. Do I have to provide a reason for rejection? These 3 applications came in during the past 4 days. Can I retain one of them as a backup, in case the selected one does not go through the next steps.

Thanks for all the responses. Lesson learned for me.

Originally posted by @Lora P.:

If it says “returned to Applicant if a lease is not executed,” it seems like you would need to turn around and give it right back to him. I’d drop it and collect fees at the time of the app in the future.

 That's the verbiage from the standard application as defined by TAR(Texas association of realtors), I asked a local realtor and she explained it as ; if the landlord rejects the prospective tenant then fee is refunded, if tenant withdraws his application then fees is not refunded. I don't like that verbiage, but realtors use it since its part of the standard forms set.

That is good advice. I posted here so I can learn how to accurately interpret the meaning of that statement in the application form. Does it mean that the application fee will be collected later along with the security deposit ? Like to determine if I am right or wrong. Also learn how to prevent such issues in the future. The only reason I did not collect the application fee upfront is because this is a high end SFR , with a monthly rent in the 4k range and there are very few applications. And I am dealing with educated professionals in the 250K range for annual income.

I have a situation where a prospective tenant applied for one of my rental properties using the TAR(Texas) 'Residential Lease Application' form. I processed the application without collecting any fees upfront, I paid for tenant screening service from my pocket. I thought I will collect it later along with the deposit. But the tenant had a change of mind and went with a different property. And now refuses to pay the $100 application fee( $50 per app, 2 applications). He says that I did not ask him for the fee earlier, so he concludes he does not have to pay .  On page 3 of the application form, under FEES, the box 1 is checked which states '$50 to be applied to the security deposit upon execution of a lease or returned to Applicant if a lease is not executed'. Since the applicant withdrew after I had already spent money on his tenant screening, isn't he supposed to pay ?

Any ideas how I could make them pay this fee of $100 ? Could I threaten him with hiring a collection agency who can report to credit bureau ?   Thanks much for your advice.

Thanks Tyler. Rentwerks provides white glove full service, all I want is a realtor to list my rental home in the MLS. We will take care of showing, screening, contracts etc.

My current tenant is moving out May 31st. I am looking for a good flat fee MLS company to list the home for lease. I have googled and found several online, but nothing with actual reviews from users/investors. The home is a 4 bed, 3 bath, 3180 sqft located in south west Austin.

I used the rental calculator from BP for the first time today. I want to know how the ‘Total profit if sold’ fields are calculated. Also how the ‘annualized total return’ is calculated per year

Here is a list of reasons 1) they dont receive the email, either it goes to spam folder or email was not sent by website 2) tenant receives email, but has trouble logging in 3) tenant does not check email daily or does not have an email ID 4) I prefer having all of the tenant info on the application form for my file, in case I need to lookup something after a few months