Ok folks, I need some help/guidance/advice/kick in the rear.....

When I first started, anyone that called was shown the house. It was like 2 or 3 properties, tenants didn't move all that often, so it was really no big deal. HOWEVER, I've got significantly more than 2 or 3 now and it's simply not working anymore (although not everyone is just shown the house now anymore). I need to streamline the process even further.

I talk to folks and will let them know what I'm looking for and they will most of the time screen themselves out. I need to screen more of them out and need a bit of help on how to do that. Case in point, a lady came to look at a house the other day and loved it. Last comment was "I love the back yard, my precious Fido can actually run for once". I immediately was kicking myself because I knew I just wasted time. I had to tell her that this property is a no pets property. I then had to deal with her pleading and then turning into anger. My fault, but it was advertised as no pets.

The greatest number of contacts come through FB Marketplace for my area. My phone blows up with that "Ding!" all the time. I placed a new ad yesterday. I immediately had people contacting me. I dealt with them as I went through the rest of the day (ad placed around 3pm). I went out with friends last night and still was taking some texts. Finally around 7pm, I put the phone away. I had already done 25 or so inquiries and I wasn't going to go the rest of the night doing that. I ignored the phone the rest of the night. When I woke up this morning, I had 40 messages waiting on me (no, not exaggerating). One of them was even from 1:30am.

So my question is this. For those of you managing quite a few properties, how do you do it? I feel I explain everything in my ad, but maybe I need to be even more detailed? Do you say in the ad "you must have 3x the income, no dogs, no felonies, etc"? When they contact you, how do you prescreen to get rid of tire kickers or those that won't qualify without actually getting that rep as a not so nice landlord?

One of the things I have done that has helped a lot is going to open house style showings. Someone wants to see the house, fine, I'm showing it Sat at 2:30. I can't make that time! I'm sorry, I'm full on appointments already and Sat at 2:30 is all I have for the next few days. The problem I'm also noticing is that people don't want to fill out the app while everyone else is there. I'm not sure why? (I'm currently looking for a service to do apps online if anyone has any suggestions. I do charge for the app, so needs to have payment method ability. I tried jotform, but they won't work).

As you can tell, it's becoming a daunting task for me. It's totally my fault, but that's why I'm trying to address it. I just need to figure out better ways to streamline. That's why I'm asking the pros here. ;)

All help is greatly appreciated!

My worst time wasters are the Section 8 tenants. They are being taught to go and apply the charm and not tell the landlord that they are Section 8 until the very last second. Most won't mention it until they are handing in the application, and then it is not "do you take Section 8?", it is "let me tell you about this great program called housing works that guarantees your rent.

To which I reply that I do take Section 8 but I only do month to month rental agreements so they should go and ask their case worker if that is OK.

Doogie, I use the lockbox showing method which may not be for you. Whether you choose to serve as doorman or not, Parts of LB showings should help.

First off, for FB marketplace, and Zillow, don't include your phone number on the ad. Second,save some canned responses in notes on your phone, copy and paste.

Third have a canned response that includes a link to the application, the amount that will be charged for the application.

Have lots of great quality pictures, measurements of each room and closet, video, all possible info that you can think of to put in your ads and save the info to paste on replies.

Other non LB showing LL's have written about scheduling viewing for multiple prospects at the same time.

As far as I can tell, it doesn't matter what you put in the ad because the applicants don't read the ad. Even pricing above their price range doesn't stop them.

Oregon Woodsmoke & Sisco - thanks for the replies.

I don't do Section 8 either. I have 1 house that is Section 8 with an inherited tenant. IF he ever moves, that will be the last of Section 8. I agree about them not saying something until the last second. So frustrating. Then they try and get me to sign up for it like I don't know what it is and are pretty upset when I say no.

I was having the same problem. DH set up a Google Form for me with our pre-screening questions that feeds to a Google Sheet. If they don't fill out those questions they don't even get contact info, so no blowing up my phone.

Questions are vague: "Net monthly household income?" "How many prospective residents?" "Name of Animal?" "Male or Female?" "Neutered or spayed?" "Why are you moving?" etc.

My three biggest issues with prospective tenants is far and away not enough income, the second is non-neutered animals and the third is too many people and/or seasonal workers.

DH created a macro that sends an email for me as I go down the rows of the sheet. I can see at a glance not enough income - $1500/month for $1000/month apartment, for instance, and I put "income" in the REASON column, hit the SEND EMAIL button and it sends them an email telling them they do not qualify for the unit and why. Same for non-neutered, etc.

I don't want to post my qualifications ahead of time because people lie.

If they DO qualify at first glance, I say "Yes" in the verdict column and it sends an email with another Google Form, and they choose a time and day to see the place. PRE-Determined times and days which I have already set up.

I schedule appointments 15 minutes apart - almost but not quite an open house!

I only correspond via email and don't show a property to anyone who doesn't answer all my question to my satisfaction. I don't waste time showing to anyone who doesn't stand a chance of qualifying.

I make sure I know how many people and animals they have, how many and what kind of licensed vehicles they expect to keep at the property, if they have all the move-in funds available now, how many people smoke and when they are hoping to move and what their gross monthly income is. I also make it clear they will not be approved if they have any history of evictions or domestic violence. As well as making sure they have driven by so they can confirm the area suits their needs.

WMH - this is done by email I take it, or do you have it online? I agree about not saying qualifications and for the same reason.

When taking calls, You can start the conversation with

How soon are you needing to move?

Who is your current LL?

How many will be living there?

What's your currant rent?

Do you work in? (insert your city)

And how many pets?

Listen, they love to talk.

These few qustions will allow you to eliminate some of the none qualifying tenants.

I don't do lock box showings, not wanting them to have access to the key. I just leave the door open from 9:00 a.m. till around 6:00 then lock up.

Leave about 5 applications on the kitchen counter along with a stack of busines cards.

I also let them know I will be in and out of the house doing some small touch ups. So, they might see me.

It's all stored on Google Drive, so no emails flying back and forth either. I *used* to do email screenings and it was okay but the volume quickly got out of control, just like texts. And again, repeaters were harder to find. I had to kind of remember, "that sounds familiar!" and do a search.

Now I just now and again SORT by name and up pops the duplicates.

I can see the info on my phone as well as my laptop.

Dave - Thank you. I love that list of questions. I have a few to add as well.

You must know by now, some people that you try to pre-screen are not that impressive over the phone. They won't tell you that they have a double master's degree and their hobby is reading, no pets and few guests come over to play.

You are too busy asking personal questions that they don't know how to respond to. Since you're going to show the property by appointment on the day of your "open house", having a few extra people come over to have a look-see is no skin off you chest.

So ask a few good questions and then tell your caller a few requirements that will turn away the ones you're not going to accept anyways.

I hate putting an ad on Craig's List for that reason. So I have begun asking them to tell me a little about themselves, in the ad. They definitely don't care if it says no smoking in the ad, and therefore I have started PRINTING OUT A COPY OF MY AD, and adding it to their file if it becomes an issue later on & they deny they were told. I realized too late on one of my rentals, by a photo on Facebook, that a tenant had an ashtray on the bathroom sink. I had advertised it NO SMOKING! But guess what, I failed to ask it on my e-mail screening, and I failed to put it in the comments section of my lease, so I was screwed and had no one to blame but myself.

I screen them lightly over the phone, then I tell them that the house will be open for showing on Saturday between 11 am - 1 pm.

Most lookies drop out and never show up.

- Of those who bother to show up, only 10% ask for an application.

- Of those who ask for an application only 10% bother to fill it up.

- Of those who fill an application and bring it back, only 10% qualify.

They key to pres-creening is spending the minimal amount of time needed to weed out the obviously unqualified.

Here is my Facebook marketplace/text response. I can respond to 40 inquires in less than 1 minute. Copy & modify & paste:

******************

Good news! 123 Anywhere Ave is now available. Please visit abcproperties.com for more information or to arrange a tour. Thank you.

******************

The same message is available on my voice mail for those who call on vacancies.

Step 1 in pre-screening is they must fill out the tour form. It asks basic questions about income, move-in date, current living situation, animals.

Once received (only about 1 in 7 respond), I give them a quick glance for auto-DQ. Income less than 3x monthly rent? More than 2 animals (my max)? Not moving within a month's time? At least half are dropped at this point.

For those that pass, I send this message. Copy, modify & paste:

******************

Goods news! 123 Anywhere Ave is now available to tour. You can view at your convenience. A lockbox is hanging from the front door knob. The combination code is 9999. If you are interested apply at: (insert website). $19.95 fee per adult.

******************

The conversion rate after this point is pretty good: 5-10 tours and 1 qualifying app is typical. The website I use has a full application, bills the tenants the app fee, and pulls the credit report. I get PDF copies of all documents and JPEGs of their uploaded docs (pay stubs, photo ID). And at this point I haven't spoken one word to them on the phone.

Sid - Thank you for responding. I was hoping you would. I'm researching a solution that is a mesh between what you said and what WMH said. I was trying to figure out a way to get the obvious no go's out before I waste time at all. I can't do lockbox showings, but I believe once I can get this solution implemented, my showings will drastically be cut down.

Since last year, when we first implemented the Preview Questions form (which I hang on my website which is used for little else these days, and I can also send a link to someone on Facebook, for instance...) we've fielded close to 1,000 inquiries. 99% of whom DO NOT qualify from the get-go, Period.

No wonder I was getting stressed out and confused and wondering who I had and had not talked to before we implemented this system!

We have RENTED to exactly 10 actual applicants for various places, and some of those are actually couples so COMBINED we've rented to 10 tenants, jointly and severally. And in one place, they stayed two weeks before being tossed for getting a puppy and in another they broke up right away so we have had very few actual places to choose from and 1000 applicants!

I have saved myself from SO MUCH work and "ear burn" and storytelling...

The canned email responses from Zillow are useless, yes. However, they will usually include the applicant's telephone number. Accept that the majority of online shoppers just look at all your pretty pictures and don't read a word of the listing.

When a prospect emails you, call them as soon as you can. Have the telephone conversation as scripted as possible. "Hello, you had just emailed about XXXX. When were you looking to move? Ok great. How many people will there be? How many smokers and do they smoke inside or out? Tell me about your pets. What's your credit like? How long have you been at your current residence and what are you paying? What's the reason for moving?

Work all of these into a conversation. If they don't pass any of your prescreening "I'm sorry, but the owner of this property doesn't allow animals" or "I'm sorry but the owner of this property won't permit me to rent to smokers". If you deflect to the owner, they're less likely to argue/plead. Block their number and move on to the next (This will save you in the future).

If they pass your pre-screening (95% of them will NOT), then set up an appointment to show. I personally use lock box showings, but will not tell them that I'm doing lock box showings. I'll simply tell them to "Text me when you're on the way". ONLY after I get that text will I give them the code to the lock box. I change the code regularly and have had zero problems and have not wasted a single minute of my life dealing with deadbeats and/or no shows.

I do like Jason's method. However, I agree with WMH. That's simply way too much time on the phone that I don't have. I'm up to over 100 inquiries on this house I posted yesterday. I don't have time to talk to each of them. Especially when I know that 75%+ of them won't even come to an open house. I'm trying to find a way to do less and make more (you see what I did there??? ;)

And I do agree with you WMH. Texting is the better method because you can keep a long running screening record which is helpful if you have a property open for a longer stretch, or if you have multiple vacancies.

When I get a phone call or a text message I respond that I ask all prospects to click the reply link on the CL ad (or Zillow, Trulia, or Hotpads) and I will forward them a questionnaire via the email relay (my 20 pre-screening questions). Only 25% will do it (even though they all say how serious they are about it).

I also mention at the top of my ad to "PLEASE READ ENTIRE AD BEFORE CONTACTING." I put the property's physical address in the ad and ask them to drive by first also before contacting me. I also let them know in the ad that I only set up appointments after they have filled out my questionnaire.

I wind up with 5 to 10 good leads and can usually find one or two good applicants who want it and qualify from that 5 or 10.