Rental Applications-What do you use?
I'm looking to find out some information about what types of rental applications landlords are using. Do you get them from a site on the web, create your own? What do you do about properties you manage from a distance? Are you scanning and faxing applications back and forth to tenants/applicants? Thanks in advance for your help.
well I do not have any experience in his currently but I am also interested in the buy and hold aspect of real estate. I can't speak for what forms are used specifically but as far as long distance goes I believe there are websites that can take care of that electronically. I now just did a Google search for "rental applications done online" and got a few different sites. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to put those addresses here but I will say they were the first few results near the top. Though I am also curious if there are any specific sites people recommend
We use buildium and love them. Very worth the money.
Awesome! I'll def look that one up. Thanks so much!
I second Elizabeth's endorsement of Buildium - have used it for 5 years now and love it. You can custom make your own rental app through their site. Great accounting features, online payments, financial reports and great customer service.
we have created our own after tweaking and borrowing content from 5-10 applications that we obtained through various sources (agents, websites, attorneys).
i think you can download it from my website too. i dont like the spacing (too small), but you can at least see the information that we ask. it's really basic, actually. why pay if you can make your own in 30 mins?
Hey there! Thank you for the tip! I checked out your site and the download you mentioned looks simpler than i thought it would be. I appreciate the help!
I keep my application short and to the point so that there is a better chance they will actually fill it out. I allow them to take a picture of the completed application and send it to me over text. Here it is.
I don't charge a processing fee. I call their previous landlord and their employer most times and also look to see if they have any prior evictions on the court website. I'll also verify income before lease signing most times.
if they don't bother filling it out, we don't bother processing it.
I use my own site to receive applications (and convert leads to active leases), but RocketLease is a good standalone app for thorough info processing and background checks.
thanks for all of the feedback. We actually ended up creating our own as well. It has been really awesome because everything is automated and it integrates with things like Google Drive and dropbox. I will definitely check out Some of the ones mentioned!
An automated system for tenant screening is great for high-demand A/B areas that have a high rent price because there is a need to be much more picky and it's more common for applicants to have an understanding of technology. For C/D areas, I prefer to keep it short and simple so that I can get someone in there before the copper thieves show up.
I use the standard TREC (Texas Real Estate Commision) application because it is intrusive enough but tenants really can't say it is too intrusive since it is the official TREC application.
