You are speaking to someone and you ask how many people are to live there, you ask their preferred move in date, and then you ask their price range, or the price they want to stay within on a rental, and they get defensive. They deflect and say “Well I haven’t even seen it yet”. What are your thoughts about this interaction?

If I were a potential applicant, I'd think you were trying to do a bait and switch. My properties have rent firmly posted in the ad, and I suspect my tenants shopped by price in the first place.

That's one reason why I like communicating by text.

The conversation usually goes:

Do you have any houses for rent?

-I might have some vacancies coming up in (time period). What kind of home would suit your needs and your budget?

And then they can say, "I need a 5 bedroom 2 bath" and I can respond, "Oh, I only have some 1/1's coming open in the near future---" or if there's a match with the house-type, they can say "I want to keep it under $1000/month" and I can respond, "Oh, no problem, it's $x." I very much make sure that I never say, "Why, by an amazing coincidence, it's $1000/month!" because that would be cheesy--- but you know it happens, and that's probably the sort of interaction they're trying to avoid. They want to rent the house at its rental cost, rather than having the rental cost magically be tied to their ability to pay an elevated amount, if that makes sense?

I let them know that we have a variety of units and any of them can be customized to help fit the customers needs.

You are a stranger to them and rather snoopy so why should they trust your honesty? Why are you getting calls from people who don't know what the rent is? Are you running a general ad that says something like "lots of rentals available, take your pick"?

Unless you have dozens, don't ask what they can pay, tell them you have a 2 bedroom for $XXX and a 3 bedroom for $xxx.

If you literally do have dozens available then tell them you have a good selection at several different price points and give them your website address so they can look and see what is available.

I could be mistaken, but it sounds like that you are trying to use Jeffrey's approach?

I tend to agree with Busy, if you look at it from the tenants point of you.

It could be the way that you said it or the timing in the conversation. If it were in a text, it is difficult to get the way things are being delivered, in accuracy.

CJ,

Completed application BEFORE giving them the lockbox number saves me soooo much time and frustration.

Even with requiring a completed, paid app we only approve 1.5 out of 10 paid apps. That means the average LL is spending time with the 85% that will not qualify.

MY screening decides how much they can afford.

Back when I used to talk to prospects I wrongly asked “Is this in your price range?” EVERY person said yes. Even the unemployed.

I got real info when I changed to “How much do you pay now?”

My best suggestion- stop talking to them. Post the rent on your website and flyer and calculate what folks can afford before spending time on them.