Screening Tenants and Charging an Application Fee

[Shawn Burns]

Hello BP, 

For the landlords and property managers out there, do you require a perspective tenant to fill out an application before showing them the property or after? 

I'm struggling with the proper order of operations because I would hate to waste time showing my property to someone who has no chance at meeting my criteria but I realize the tenant might feel exactly the same way filling out an application before getting a good sense if they truly like the property (especially since I plan on having the tenant pay the application fee).

All input is helpful and I understand there's more than one way to do things. Just looking for some advice. 

Thanks,

Shawn  

[Sharlene Mulchandani]

@Shawn Burns I would ask them to fill out an application only once they have had a showing and are genuinely interested in renting the property. I know showings can feel like a waste of time, but in my opinion, it's always worth doing a showing first, followed by the application and screening.