I have a unit now ready, It seems like the world is different today and other LLs tell me that when they now have a unit to rent they get an avalanche of people who want to see it/apply. and much more than ever a lot of bad people.

Are there things you put in your ads to weed out at least some of them?

I live a distance away and even if I lived next door I wouldn't relish showing a whole bunch of people that have no chance of getting in or shouldn't get in, I know I have to do much more complete vetting later but are there some good questions for them to answer first before letting them see it.?

I'm thinking,.." where are you now working, How long have you worked there, Who is your supervior or owner of the place you now work.? How long have you lived at your current residence? Why are you moving from your current residence.?" How many people will be residing there?

Do you think these are OK? Any other things you might ask?

You will get a lot of tire kickers no matter what you put in the add. The last few I've posted I put the minimum verifiable income requirement (3X rent) in the add and told them no aggressive dog breeds. It helped a little but I still got a lot of deadbeats living on friends couches without any income wanting to rent my places.

I saw someone "tag" a lady that I showed a place to last November. She must still be looking. Ad said no pets and I know she had a couple dogs, cats and a duck. She had been working at a school and changed to big box store, hadn't been on job long and I could see by her questions she was going to be a pita. LOTS of people looking. Your questions sound like what I do, I haven't started running credit scores yet.

I don't know what you can put into an ad to weed out the calls from losers. Either they don't read the ad or they think it doesn't apply to them.

I always have "non-smoking property" in my ad and I'll still get about 30% of the hopefuls who smoke, although I've tipped them off to lie about it. Too bad for them that smokers stink so it's hard to trick a landlord into believing you aren't a smoker.

My ad says no pitbulls and I still get the pitbull owners applying, only their pitbulls are now all emotional support animals.

The ad says three bedroom house and I still get people asking home many bedrooms.

If you put in your ad "Losers don't waste your time". they will think that you don't mean them and you will work with them about their felony or eviction.

This time around I automated somewhat using google forms. Don't put any stipulations in the ad itself. After all, it is sue-happy NYS we're talking about.

Send the form to interested parties to determine if the unit is a "good fit" for the tenant. I have pretty much upper C units/what was once a bedroom community; mostly blue collar and people on assistance.

One of the form questions: is your credit score above 600, below 600, or "I don't know."

Send applications only to the most promising inquirers--over 600; anything under 600 or "I don't know gets weeded out (until they make asking about credit score a crime--we're not that far from it here in BLUE NYS)

The pre-screener for me (and some of the questions depends on where the unit is and if certain things like # of cars for parking is an issue ... if it's not, I may still ask but just to get an idea of how many, type, etc. Also, if the property is not within walking distance to somewhere and they think they are going to WALK everywhere (work, store, etc) that's a potential flag or at least something to discuss with them).

You need to know your own minimum qualifications. For me, it's # of people (depending on the property), income (not from where but HOW MUCH and if they meet the minimum verbally), pets (again, depending on the property), etc.

Here are my prescreeners:

# of people that will be living in the property?

# and type/breed of pets? (or do you have pets and then if yes ask or tell them "sorry, this is not pet friendly, etc")

# of vehicles? type (if it's a space issue and they have a large vehicle, etc)

What is the total monthly income $?

When are you looking to move? (gives you an idea and an opening to discuss why they are moving, etc. Also, if they say "by July 1st but you aren't looking to fill until mid July or August 1st you can have that discussion too).

Then anything else you want or need to know.

My process is:

Ad with no stipulations other than a sec dep = one months rent plus first rent

Prescreen form

IF they pass the prescreen form then they get sent the application.

I think I had a total of 89 responses, 55 of them official responses to the prescreen form. Of that I probably sent a total of 12-15 applications. Only one qualified out of those.

I have not read all the posts, so sorry if I duplicate some.

Yes, we have a self-screening tool on a website. Simply say...

Here are key items we look for in finding quality tenants:

1) Net income at least xx times the monthly rent

2) No bankruptcies in the past xx years

3) No evictions in the past xx years

4) At least xx months on current job

5) This house is only approved by local housing authority for xx persons...make sure your situation does not exceed that number

6) Animals? Up to you on this one. For example, we allow a max of 2 animals.

7) Income must be garnishable

8) Credit score of at least xx

9) No smoking

you could add more...but doing some of these will allow your applicants to "self-screen" to some point. You could even have as part of the application "What is your current credit score?" and then say right next to it that "we require at least a score of xx"

If you use a web form, you can design it so that if they enter more than your maximum number of animals, it won't even let them complete the application. yes, I know if they have service animals it's a different story.

No viewing of the house until they go through pre-screen, but you should have lots of photos on the ad for them to see.

Currently asking:.

Be able to pass a criminal, credit, rental history and income check in a not confronting manner.

Do I tell them how I do this nope.........I don't want to train PITA candidates.

What does happen as a result I do get some crazy questions that tend to DQ a candidate out of the gate - like How many felonies can I have and still get qualified?