Pre screen potential Tenants?

Question

I just listed my rental through Zillow, and I’m getting all kinds of responses. So my question is, do you respond or make contact to every request? The basic questionnaire on Zillow asks about employment and wages and many of these requests are from people whose yearly salaries don’t seem to add up to be able to cover rent. I’m getting many requests to see the property. Should I pre screen before showing a property? What process works best for you?

Patrick Page · Answer

Yes, at a minimum you should ask about income and credit score to get a ball park.  The owner should set a floor for income and credit and then you do not have to show it to anyone below the floor.

Julie Holtz · Answer

I agree with everyone else, getting a few questions answered before showings will help eliminate those who are mass emailing every available rental.

There are some free automation tools you can use that could help you make the process even faster, that way the first email response with questions could be sent without you even having to lift a finger.

I also use a service that lets me report rent payment to the credit bureau, in my lease application I let potential tenants know their rent will be reported. You would be amazed how quickly some self-select out knowing this.

Caleb Campbell · Answer

Thank you everyone for the great input. I’m definitely taking your advice and it seems to be working so far.

Tracy Minick · Answer

I would absolutely suggest calling them and pre-screening them. You want to help determine if they meet your minimum requirements. Also if you have video you can send them or a 360 tour you can ask them to watch that to ensure they are still interested in the property in hopes to not waste anyone's time.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

You should pre-screen by asking a few simple questions, depending on what is most important.

• Do you make 3x the rent?
• Do you have a current Landlord reference?
• Do you have pets?
• What is your credit score?
• $30 application fee, full credit/criminal background check on each applicant

Those are just some examples. Even better? Put a few of these criteria in your ads! You'll be amazed how many people want to rent your $1,200 single-family home . . . but they can't afford the application fee until they get paid next week. Or how many people disappear after learning your run a credit/criminal background.

Go to my website and you can see how I advertise my rentals. This cuts out a lot of lookers.

Louie Gabriel · Answer

Before showing the house, we ask if they have pets, if they are going to be living with anyone else, and how much money they make.

1. If it's a no-pet property or has restrictions, I can find out if the particular pet(s) will be allowed.

2. If they want to move in with other people, I can determine whether the rental has restrictions on the number of occupants or if there are different application processes they need to follow;

3. If they don't make 3x the rent for the property they want to see then I won't bother showing it.

These three questions knock out a lot of lookers that would otherwise waste of time.

Gail K. · Answer

Yes; the "standard" answer is wanting to see the property.  My gut feeling is that many who respond to those ads don't actually read through them (or perhaps they do and even when they realize they don't meet the criteria they still want to waste your time viewing the place thinking perhaps you're not really serious about these).

I respond with a comment along the lines of "Thank you for your interest in this rental property.  Have you reviewed the criteria regarding income, credit, rental history (repeating the criteria listed in the ad), etc. and do you meet these?  Thank you"

If they answer back that yes they do then only then do I contact them to set up a time to view the property.

There are a lot of time wasters out there looking for rental properties right now.

Gail