I am in the process of renting my condo. How much should I charge for an application fee?

I would use apartments.com. The cost is free for owners. The applicant will pay $40. You will be able to see applicants credit and criminal record.

Need to be sure your state allows it and if they put caps on it. May want to say what city/state your rental is in. The best way to make sure you are competitive on this is to look at other listings in your area and see what they are charging.

I charge nothing but rent prep charges them 42.95 which includes credit and background check. If used to use Zillow but it is very generic and doesn’t give a lot of useful information. With rentprep it looks more like a credit report where it shows each account and their on time or missed payments. In the beginning I ask them what is going to turn up on the report and give an explanation. If they are honest and it shows in the numbers I may work with them if everything else works out and if they lie this is an immediate reject. I also give my screening criteria up front and let them ask them if there is anything we need to discuss before they pay the fee and this seems to motivate them to self disclose which saves us both time and money if they would be rejected anyway. There are always multiple applicants in the span of the weekend and I am tell them in advance I review all applicants and select the most qualified and there are no refunds. Personally I make no money off the application and tell them this which avoids being accused of profiting on people that don’t qualify.

I don't charge application fees. Never did- I am a small operation with 9 units. As someone on here correctly pointed out- tenants are less likely to raise a stink if they get turned down. Some use apartments.com. In my market Zillow is the be all end all. I don't mind putting my units up on multiple listings for the exposure- but I direct everyone to Zillow now. Many have already paid a one time fee for background/credit checks that can be applied to multiple listings... works for me, my profit comes from rent.

How much should I charge for an application?How much should I charge for an application?

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How much should I charge for an application?

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