Rental Property Investor · Lakewood, OH · Member since 2016 · 73 posts · 32 votes
Hi Everyone!
I have several units and I work full time, so I work hard to automate my rental business as much as possible. So far so good!
Tenant screening is working great once the tenant moves in! Three evictions in 17 years, rent collection is automatic via ACH, maintenance is always preventive so late night or emergency calls from tenants, etc.
I have recently changed to having only one group showing a few weeks after the current tenant gives notice that they are moving out. Now I find myself spending a lot of time screening tenants for the showing ( no need to invite someone that won't qualify to rent when they apply)
This pre-screening takes at least 20 minutes per tenant- if I get 10-20 calls it takes much too long to screen all of these prospective tenants.
My goal is to have exactly one showing with 4-5 prospective tenants that are highly likely to qualify if they apply - in my experience, of those that look at the property, at least 2-3!will apply.
Am I going about this completely wrong?
Does anyone have a better way to pre-screen prospective tenants?
Any other advice on this will be welcome!
I think it depends on your rental market and demand, but I will typically only show our units to prospective tenants that have already applied. This really cuts down on time spent showing uninterested parties.
Of course the down side to this is some prospects will be reluctant to apply until they have seen it.
However with a good property website, virtual tour, floorplan and all the basic information that they'd need to know on our website we have had great results with tenants applying first and showing second.
Might be hard to get the most qualified tenants together all in one showing. Have you put words like "$35 fee for required background/credit check" in the ad to cut down on some of those calls? I schedule a 3-hour open house once every week for showings until rented. Best of luck in your investment.
I pre-qualify tenants prior to showing, but don't run applications until they've seen the house and want to proceed. I don't want to waste my time or their money on running an application if they don't like the place. If you include your rental criteria in all of your marketing and reiterate it on your phone calls and email response, it drives the point home to prospective tenants.You could ask for proof of income too, but running applications on everyone before showings seems like a waste of time.
@Chris Mason Can you share what you are doing with Google Forms? I'm incredibly familiar with it but haven't plugged it into the real estate side of my life.
@Chris Mason Can you share what you are doing with Google Forms? I'm incredibly familiar with it but haven't plugged it into the real estate side of my life.
Instead of taking dozens of phone calls at random times, or putting an email address out there, you can leave a link to a Google Form for perspective tenant applicants to use. Then, based on their answers, you can call the ones you want on your time.
"When I pull your credit, will I encounter any surprises? If so, what?"
"I plan to show this unit on Saturday 12/3 at 3:30 pm. Can you be available at that time?"
@Sarnen Steinbarth I think the apply first option would work well - how do you handle the situation where they look at the property and decide they don't wan to rent? Are the out the application fee?
@Chris Mason Oh sure, I've used google forms in the past! Duh, why didn't I think of that?
It's a great place to start - ask all of the relevant questions and call back as necessary. Once I have that worked out I can automate the communications and scheduling. Thanks!!
@Lawson Ott yeah, your right! I didn't mention it, but the reason for automating is to capture as much of my rental business into repeatable processes - this allows me to outsource and scale much easier.
This has been working great for me for some time now, our "Online Showing Request" form first shows the "minimal qualifications" followed by a few questions, this very quickly allows me to focus on the prospects I should talk to and avoid the ones I shouldn't be talking to.
Over the years I've been streamlining the "pre-showing" and this is what has worked for me for both college students and young professionals.
1. Get a google voice number for all incoming calls. This helps me from having my cell phone blow up plus google voice sends a transcript of the voicemail via text and email. Having a separate phone number is a life saver and it is free.
2. In the ad, make sure you put your top 3 qualification requirements. I put minimum three times rent for income, decent credit and application fee of 35 for a comprehensive criminal and background check.
3. Post the ad on Zillow and other services that syndicate the ad. These services ask the tenants to list their estimated income, credit, etc. when they request a showing via email.
4. I collect a number of calls then schedule the group showing later. I also let the messages accrue and then return all the calls during lunch or after 5pm. I never schedule a showing unless I can speak with them over the phone since I like to interview them before scheduling the showing.
5. On my website application, it list all the requirements again. This way a person won't waste a $35 application fee. It also helps protect you from discrimination claims since you are screening based upon set guidelines for all classes.
@Dale Lotts - If you schedule the showings at convenient times (early evenings and mid-day on weekends), then yes, you should be able to have fewer showings. I have an automated response to all of my postings, which includes (1) a small questionnaire that I have tenants fill out in order to apply to the property, (2) scheduling times. After the tenant schedules, they receive a calendar invite, text alert (2 hours before the showing), and email reminder. This process weeds out anyone who is not qualified but saves me a lot of time.
@Dale Lotts, I'm not sure I can post a link here, but what I have is pretty simple, our listings and VM directs prospects to go to our website and fill out our "Showing Request"; the website has a Showing Request button, when they click on it it will first show the rental criteria, then a form. Like someone suggested google forms might be a good choice, JotForm is another good one, I now use PODIO as you can customize to also serve as a basic CRM and tracking for the many daily requests we get.
I figured the ones that are unable or unwilling to follow my simple directions to read my rental criteria and fill out a simple form, will probably not make good candidates as they will likely not follow my rental rules or agreement; so that is another way to filter-out the bad apples.
@Michael Noto What do you ask that takes less than 20 minute? =)
This is what I discuss during the initial call:
My name is Dale, I am one of the rental managers. To see if we can meet your needs, may I start by first asking you a few questions? Is that okay?
Name: Date:
Cell #: Work #: Home #:
Email:
How did you hear about the property?
How soon do you need a place?
How many people will be living in your next home?
Do you have any pets (What kind)?
Do you, or anyone that will be living with you, smoke? Y N
Have you, and everyone that will be living with you, rented at least two other places from non-relatives? Y N
Do you know, approximately, your current credit score?
Where to you live now? How long have you lived there?
Are you unhappy there? Why are you moving?
How is the management there?
Did you experience any problems with the property?
How much rent are you paying now?
What is the price range you are looking for?
Is there a particular feature or amenity you want to have in your next home?
Can you tell me a little bit about where you work?
Where? How long?
Approximate monthly income? Any other income?
We obtain a credit and criminal history report for all applications. Is there anything we should know before we run your credit report or background check?
Will you be able to attend our next showing schedule for
Please call to confirm your appointment 30 minutes prior to the showing. Thanks!
@Dana Dunford What you describe is more what I had in mind for the final automated solution - are you using a commercial product to get these features or something home made?
@Cory Binsfield Thanks, very helpful. This is almost exactly what I do now, and it is clear that I need to add more screening criteria to the ad.
I also never schedule a showing unless I can speak with them over the phone - I would like keep this rule in place. As I begin to scale the number of units I wonder if I can keep this rule in place.
Does anybody have 20+ units - can you tell me how screening works for a larger number of units?
@Dale Lotts - I started by making it myself and can show you techniques to do the same through leveraging multiple tools out there. Feel free to ping me, and I can walk you through that processing to set up yourself a good process.