Trouble finding tenant

[Jay Thomas]

I am a first time landlord. I listed my first property for rent more than a week ago. So many people showed interest in the property but only one person has actually applied. I have shown the property to at least 15 people, sometimes I showed to multiple people at the same time. Majority of them liked the place, some told me they are still shopping around and will get back to me after making their decisions. Other told me they loved it and they will go home to apply but I never hear from them again. The only person that applied wasn't qualified (Poor credit and low-fixed income). I am using Cozy.co for the rental application. I provide them with the application link and inform them that Cozy charges $39.99 application fee for background and credit check. Is the online application scaring them away or what is going on?

I showed the placed yesterday to 3 different people and they all wanted it. I told the 3 of them to apply but I told the last 2 to hold-off on paying for the background check until I'm done screening the 1st candidate. None of them have applied. I reached out to the first candidate if she is having trouble with the application link. She said she hasn't gotten home yet but she would apply when she get home last night. I woke up this morning, still no application. I dont want to lose out on the other 2 if the 1st candidate is taking too long.

I am kind of freaking out right now why I am getting so many interests but no one is applying. Is it the online application freaking them out or the $39.99 application fee. Can anyone relate to this? 

[JD Martin]

You should have some kind of free pre-application to qualify the tenant first. No one wants to pay 40 bucks only to find out they don't even meet your minimum requirements. We have an online application that we require first before sending the potential tenant on to the credit/background check, because we want to know a lot of things that Cozy doesn't care about, like pets, number of cars, kids, years at their job, previous address, etc. 

If someone want to know if they meet your basic minimum qualifications, they should be able to find out that information without spending $40. Also, when you do it this way, you don't have to tell anyone to hold off doing anything - they put in applications, if they're pre-qualified you let them know and what the next step is.