Finding tenants / completing applications

[Gerald Dougherty]

Hi! we closed on our first rental properties earlier this month and are listing them through RentRedi, Zillow, and FB Marketplace. We used rentometer and BP calculators to determine appropriate rent, and are slightly below those numbers. I realize it isn't the best time of the year to be finding tenants due to holidays... That said, we have had quite a few people send us a message on Zillow stating that they want to tour the property, but once I send them our rental criteria and the link to either prequalify or complete an application, I never hear from them again. Seems weird that they'd want to schedule time to see the house, but won't fill out application. I'm trying to keep the process as simple as possible and respond to all messages quickly. Our rental criteria our pretty standard too - 650+ credit score, 3:1 income to rent, no evictions, etc. Any thoughts or tips are much appreciated. Thank you!!!

[Kevin Sobilo]

@Gerald Dougherty, a lot of people don't want the hassle of applying or filling things out before they even know they want a place.

So, in my process, I do NO pre-screening and simply schedule 2 open houses per week. One during a weekday afternoon/evening and one on the weekend early afternoon. That accommodates most people's schedule.

Many people will reply and say they will come. Half of them won't show, but who cares because its an open house not an individual showing. After people see it they will apply if interested.

I usually only need to do 1-4 open houses to secure a tenant.

One more thing, when you explain your criteria. You might want to specify that the 3:1 income to rent ratio uses gross income (before taxes). If you don't explain that a lot of people will wrongly assume it means net income and then they won't think they qualify.