But, if you do, then when you speak to them on the phone, run down your list of criteria and ask them if they believe they would qualify before making an appointment to show the unit to them.Just make sure your criteria and the ad meet fair housing requirements, because fair housing does send testers out, at least they did where I managed in the SF Bay Area. 

So when person calls to set up appointment I'll try to determine this before I waste time driving to the property.Heard a horror story from another friend's father, rented for 14 years, 7 with no rent, tried evicting first judge said no. 

Other than for appointments I never tell tenants when I'll be there (could be 6 am or 11pm). 

I estimate I have had at least 12+ repair appointments, all things that did not work before we got here, not things that broke while here.

Regarding self-showings (as a PM) - I learned that I could learn a lot about an applicant by setting up appointments vs. open houses. 

I learned over many years some additional criteria I added, as I learned about red flags during the interview/showing phase that were warning signs of problems to come.So, I added criteria that are legal, but non-traditional, such as automatic denial for these things:- showing up late for an appointment with me without a reasonable excuse or reasonable notice so I didn't waste my time waiting on them.- showing up to an appointment smelling of tobacco or pot smoke (I didn't allow any smoke in my building, so if they smelled of it, I didn't believe any protestations regarding them not smoking)- not giving me requested documents when they said they would, regardless of whether or not that was one hour late or two days late.- not filling out an application completely. 

Did the person that didn’t call before the appointment actually show up?

She kept coming around banging on my apartment door (I didn't have an office, I did everything by appointment, and unfortunately there was a sign that said which apartment number the manager was in - note to owners, please don't put signs up saying which apartment your manager lives in. 

I can't tell you how many times I went back and forth with a tenant about a good time for me to show, only to have the potential tenant no-show on the appointment, then all that time is wasted, the current tenant is annoyed, I'm annoyed, no one is happy.There are potential issues with allowing strangers to walk around an occupied property.

For now the daughter says that Mom can meet us on Friday so I am getting some appointments with the handyman etc .