08.29.14 Tales of Exasperating Applicants
Putting an ad for an open unit on Craigslist and Facebook is always such an adventure. Bruce and I shake our heads many times over.
We had a homeless lady call us repeated during the process. She was en route, driving from California to Washington. She didn't have access to e-mail (so how did she see the ad?), so she requested that we mail her an application. Snail mail. To a homeless person. We played along, and a few weeks later we get the completed application back, snail mail. Except it looks like they fell asleep halfway through filling it out; it wasn't complete enough to even process.
Part of a family comes to look at the place, loves it. They are getting forced out of their place because it’s not going to be a rental anymore. A local church is helping them with deposit money to get into something new. They score very high on our screening point system and check out as we verify info. We offer them the unit. They say they need a few days to make sure they can get the money together. After pestering, they announce they have to pull out because one family member is in a wheelchair and this is a second story unit. Hello?!?
Since Bruce and I both loathe the telephone, our personal favorite is when people text or Facebook us asking us to contact them. Why do we need to reach out to them?
"I have a question for you. Do you work with people who have felonies?"
Property is first day on the market and they ask if we will accept $85 less than the advertised price. Heck no!
Interested parties do not read the ads or the information provided with the application.
No Pets is stated in both places. And yet:
Facebook PM:
"Do you except pets. We have three small dogs. We honestly keep our house clean and yard."
No application fee is also stated. And yet:
"Thank you. Where do we drop it off at & is there a app fee?"
Never mind that our e-mail with the application clearly states we will meet people at Starbucks to collect completed applications.
I'm never sure if we are expecting too much from our low income clientele. Maybe our information isn't nearly as clear as we think it is. Maybe people are truly just idiots.
Comments (21)
I have a magic elixir I use called the $40.00 application fee. It weeds out all the goofballs, well, nearly all of them. And I allow pets. I've found great tenants that are pet owners. I had one with my last vacancy, paid the fee, listed two of the applicants working the same job, same employer, same pay. They called the next day, day after, day after that, thinking this would endear them. I called the employer, who had never heard of them. What a shock.
I find the app fee scares off a lot of people I don't want anyway.
David Moore, over 9 years ago
Sorry @Michele Fischer , I think those may have been my {now} former tenants :-(
Roy N., over 9 years ago
LOL, you crack me up @Roy N. !
Michele Fischer, over 9 years ago
Not to kidnap your comments but I read over your post and it inspired me to write a poem/rap about the whole "taking applications" process (I'm in the midst of 2 rentals myself and will be doing a third at the beginning of next month).
http://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/3789/blog_posts/39890-its-time-to-list-a-rental
Dawn Anastasi, over 9 years ago
I hate dealing with applicants just about more than anything in the world.
The last time I posted an ad, I had someone call and ask how far the house was from a certain city. The title of the ad was the property address. She could have easily Googled the directions. But instead she chose to waste my time. Unbelievable.
I also had a guy call from a city about 3 hours away and ask me if the unit was located in that city. He's lucky I can't strangle people through the phone. I told him to look at the property address and figure it out.
Matthew B., over 9 years ago
@Lee Richter
It means the lady accusing her of "scamming" probably reported her post and it got removed by Craigslist.
Karyn T., over 9 years ago
@Kimberly H. what is ghosted on craigslist?
Lee Richter, over 9 years ago
I just now, at the end of August, advertised a popular unit...
"Yeah, if I give you the deposit, can you hold it for for me and I can pay the rent on October 1st?"
I replied, "As long as you also pay the rent on September 1st!"
Strangely enough, I never heard from them again.
M. Bickers, over 9 years ago
I am a retired teacher and one of my favorite lessons was to put the words "if you will make eye contact with me during the test and wink at me, I will award you an addition 10 points on this test" buried in the instructions for the test. I only had to do it once or twice before they understood how important it is to read what is on the page.
Stephanie W., over 9 years ago
Great idea, Stephanie. We do that at work too, bury a note "the first person to contact us gets a free lunch". We get a pretty low response rate.
Michele Fischer, over 9 years ago
No one reads the ad. Been told my ad says things that none of our ads ever do, like that the ad says cats ok or pet friendly, none of our ads have ever said that. The craziest was one woman arguing with me insinuating that I was scamming her because in the picture of the front of the house, the front door is in the middle, but in a picture inside the house, the front door is near a wall. Kept telling her that that was because there was a bedroom wall right there. Then my ad on Craigslist got ghosted right after that; the only time that's happened to me.
Kimberly H., over 9 years ago
I have my rental on Craigslist now and it specifically says no evictions. I'm still getting applications with evictions; one has three in the last five years!
Jason V., over 9 years ago
Maybe they interpret "No Evictions" as "You won't boot them to the curb" when they fail to pay rent
Roy N., over 9 years ago
I get people who apply to my places who ask the same questions in the ad as well. And when I call them back they will ask "Which place is this again?" because they have called like 10 places in one day and can't remember what they've been looking at.
Dawn Anastasi, over 9 years ago
I have been doing corporate training for a number of years and there are a few things to remember when expecting a wide audience to get your message.
1. Keep it short. Keep it direct. Speak in plain language. Avoid passive voice and speaking in third person.
2. Don't bury the good stuff. Use bolding and bullets.
3. Make checklists and quick summaries. Have reasons/answers for the important points.
4. Keep lists grouped in items of 5-7 for maximum effectiveness and retention.
5. Use white space. Large enough typeface 11pt or better.
6. "Please read through the entire notice before contacting us. Your question is probably already answered."
Have fun.
Tom
Tom Fields, over 9 years ago
I get onto this argument all the time with people I work with. They have a mentality of it's all in legal jargon I don't understand. So, why should I waste my time to read it, just sign it and move on.
My argument is the devil is in the details. I have a coworker who gets hit with extra cell phone fees every month for roaming, because she didn't read her contract. She now pays $350.00 a month for two lines, because her husband works out of town a lot.
I guess with a McJob ideology, were doing as little as possible gets you a livable life, why read what you don't need to? Who cares what it cost you in the end.
Shakes head, and exits podium.....
Richard D., over 9 years ago
Michele Fischer, over 9 years ago
Roy N., over 9 years ago
Roy N., over 9 years ago
I've noticed that most people skim pretty much everything and pay little attention to detail. With a world of people suffering from ADD thanks to their smart devices, I don't really expect too much anymore. Those that do tend to really shine...
Joshua Dorkin, over 9 years ago
Thanks for weighing in Josh! I just finished reading a book that says that people in poverty only see half of the words on a written page, that could explain some disconnects as well. Agree that technology has shortened our attention spans; I can't remember the last time I got so absorbed in something that I completely lost track of time. My ergonomics software forces an interruption even if my wandering brain doesn't. The price of progress...
Michele Fischer, over 9 years ago