How to manage too many applicants -Zillow Rental Manager

Question

Hello,

Dear real estate brain trust,

Recently listed a SFH with zillow and its was my first time using them. Within 8 hours of listing it( downtown atlanta) I was overwhelmed with the volume of interest as there was about 25 emails/calls. I picked 10 potential applicants for an open house tour from 1-3 with had planned to take the first completed and qualified application. What ended up happening after the showing was a bidding war and an offer of 3500/month which was 200 more than asking. I had initially planned to select an application from the 10 who had tour the home but I got bombarded with applications from people who didn't tour in attempts to jump the line. Obviously I had underestimate the state of the market plus the reach of zillow and had more applicants than I knew what do with. Any suggestions on how to manage these situations or have experience with zillow rental manager. My landlord preference has been to have a slightly lower rent in order to get the most qualified/responsible tenant to take care of my update class A property.

Thanks

Nathan Gesner · Answer

This is a common issue and it's because you're not filtering anyone out. Go to my website and look at my rental advertisement. I mention that every adult is screened, that applicant must make 3x the rent, and whether or not pets are accepted. Those three things will scare off about 50% of the inquiries. Just choose the most important 3-4 things that are required for qualification and include that in the advertisement.

If someone emails you to ask about the property, don't waste time on the phone! Send them an email with a generic, pre-written response that answers 90% of all questions about how to schedule a showing and how to apply.

Thank you for contacting me about the rental at 123 Straight Street! Please read the following closely:

• Showings are by appointment. Text me at 555-111-2222 with your full name and we will coordinate a time.
• Please do not schedule a showing unless you can verify you make a combined income of $XXXX.
• This property WILL NOT accept animals. (or if you do accept animals, state your requirements: This rental will accept one small dog under 30 pounds for an increased rent of $50 per month)
• If you choose to apply for the rental, we will require a complete application for you and every adult applying with you. There is a $30 fee per applicant and we will run a complete credit/criminal background, check landlord references, verify income, etc. You are also required to provide a government-issued photo ID with your application to prove identity.
• Applications are processed as they are received and the first approved applicant is offered the rental. Please note: if we are still waiting for you or a co-applicant to complete the application, someone else may jump in line by completing theirs first. We will not hold the property while you get your application together.
• Once your application is approved, we will offer you the rental. You have 24 hours to pay the security deposit in full and take the unit off the market. If you do not pay, we offer it to the next person. We hold a unit vacant for one week and then expect you to start paying rent and utilities after that, even if you don't intend to occupy yet. If you fail to sign the lease and pay rent by the agreed rent, you will forfeit the deposit and we will place the rental back on the market.

When someone inquires, cut/paste your response into an email. Again, that will cut out a large number of inquiries and save you a lot of time from answering questions. I process almost 1,000 applications a year. Most of the questions are:

• Will you accept pets?
• How do I schedule a showing?
• When will it be available?
• How do I apply?

Some "red flags" you may want to address:

• I want to apply with three friends from McDonalds...
• Will you accept payments on the deposit?
• I have three Rottweilers, but they're emotional support animals. I got a certificate online.
• I just started a new job at Taco Bell...
• Can I fill out the application today and then pay the $30 application fee when I get paid next Friday?
• I have cash in hand right now and can pay the first six months in advance!

There's so much more. Again, try to address the most common questions and problems up front. It will scare off a large number of applicants. When I first started, I would get 30+ inquiries on every single rental advertised and I had up to ten advertised at once. After creating some filtering systems, I've easily cut that down to about 20% of what it used to be and I've automated my email responses so I don't even have to answer most of those.

Brenden Mitchum · Answer

Hey @Boyi Gao, welcome to the BP community!

@Joe Splitrock nailed it!

Basically, have a system in place and in writing. That second part is very important. Make sure you have all of your requirements written out in detail. Will you allow pets? If maybe, then what's the exception? That sort of thing.

And yeah, going forward, never have zillow applications on. Collect interested prospects via a google form or just by having them call/email you. Run them through a quick pre-screening process to see if they would meet the requirements (again, I use a google form for this). If they pre-qualify, show them the property. Then, if they are still interested, allow them to submit an application and do your full screening prior to giving them the option of submitting the deposit. Once you have received the deposit, sign the leases, do the move-in inspection and hand off the keys!

Whatever your system is, just remember to have it all written down. This will keep you out of Fair Housing trouble.

Hope this helps a bit. Please, feel free to reach out anytime if you have other questions or just want to chat!

Eric James · Answer

My first thought is, you should be charging higher rent.

Julie Hartman · Answer

@Boyi Gao Zillow is a great source for prospects but you have more control if you turn off the application feature. @Nathan G. outlined an excellent system for what the process should look like. I would also add that our company has recently included a note on our site telling prospective applicants that they should not apply unless they accept they will be in competition with other applicants for the property. This is a very hot rental market and some people don't seem to understand that first in line doesn't guarantee anything.

Joe Splitrock · Answer

First of all, turn off applications so you don't get more. People are paying money thinking they have a shot of renting your place. I would avoid the bidding war. You advertised at X price, so unless you stated in the listing that you would take highest offer, then it is considered false advertising. I sure wouldn't tell denied applicants that someone else offered more. That is only going to make people angry.

Here is what I would do.

1. Sort through and find the people willing to take it the soonest after availability date. You hopefully already screened for this before you showed people the property.

2. Filter out anyone who isn't qualified (you should have qualification standards for income, credit and references). Hopefully your listing had these requirements, so most of the unqualified are self screened out.

3. Whatever is left, process them in order of submittal. After you approve one, give them 24 hours to place the deposit to hold. If they don't place the deposit, move on to the next application.

This is the only fair way to screen. Picking who you like best can lead to problems.

Kevin Polite · Answer

Go by what @Nathan G.has and you can't go wrong. That's very pretty much what I do. 90% of rents don't even read the ad, so I wish Zillow had a system that made applicants read the ad first or had some kind of pre-qualifying system landlords could use before allowing applicants to fire off an inquiry. I'd rather get 10 qualified then have to go through 100 to get to my 10.

How to manage too many applicants -Zillow Rental Manager

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