How to deny qualified applicants?

[Vincent G.]

Can someone please share experiences of denying qualified applicants? If there are multiple applicants who meet the minimum qualifications, how do we take the preferred one and deny the rest applicants the right way?

[Frank Chin]

It's something I'm somewhat paranoid about, so I handle it as follows:

1. I generally now show it in open houses, marketed slightly below market, and usually have a good turnout. People see a mob scene, and wonder how good their chances are.

2. Whenever people want to leave me applications, when asked if I already got any, I always say, "I got a few already", even when I don't. I learned the hard way never to give someone the impression they're the first to hand in the application.

3. When asked what we look for, I would mention income, credit info, when you need the place. For instance, if someone is ready to start up next week, we give him priority over someone starting in July. In competitive situations, I gotten good applicants to talk to their prior landlord to let them off early, so they could rent up my place earlier. In one case, they were able to rent up the following week, instead of waiting two months.

4. Now, I tell everyone they're welcome to see it, rather than try to screen out the crazies. Otherwise, they start to get the idea they are being discriminated against. Once, when I was new, was renting a small one bedroom, someone called, and said he needed for him, his wife, and 4 kids. I said, I think the place is kinda small. He flew into a rage and accused me of discrimination. Now I would say, come and see where you can fit everyone.

So, the bottom line, people expect me to have other qualified applicants, and in over 30 years, no one has asked me to let them see the qualifications of their fellow applicants.