Once again, thank you Jeffrey for your teaching of the #1 requirement in a good tenant: COOPERATION.

I have a house that has been sitting empty - just could not find the right tenant!!

Finally a decent prospect sees the place and applies. I have not met her, DS#3 showed her the place and deemed her nice enough, normal. But it took her 4 or 5 days to get her app in - and it was at first incomplete (no former LL email for a reference.) She did get it to me, we moved forward with all the steps, all okay. It took longer than normal and to me that's a small flag - did she really want the place or was she still looking? But she spent the App Fee and passed so we sent her a GOOD NEWS you have been approved email.

No response. But we are out of town, I just am busy with personal life and let it go. I don't care about this house right now.

2 days later she asks for the lease. We send it so now it's in the pipeline. In the meantime we get back home and show the place to another couple who would be PERFECT...and then 2 more excellent prospects as well...when it rains it pours of course.

I let Prospect#1 know we need her signature and deposit. She responds that the lease is so long she needs time to read it. That's fine! We encourage reading. Then nothing...no questions, nothing.

I woke this morning thinking something is just off. I text her that we will need to have the lease signed today or we have to withdraw our offer.

She responds that my "ridiculous" lease is too long, but she is going to read every line before she signs. She is a single mother who works after all (somehow I have heard about her single motherhood several times at this point!?) A quite snippy response in other words.

Red Flag Red Flag Red Flag. Rude and Uncooperative.

I withdraw the lease offer. Let the house burn, I don't care.

She goes OFF, again about the "ridiculous" lease which she had obviously read as she quoted: no candles, no swing sets - then about the 1970's trailer that is on the same street (never noticed but we don't own the neighborhood) the 'condition of the house' (newly painted, floored, new windows, new appliances, new steps...) etc.

She ends with threatening to lambaste me on social media.

She Cray-Cray in other words.

I responded that we wanted happy residents, she clearly would not be happy with our property and good luck with her search.

She respond AGAIN with a long diatribe, ending with I am unprofessional and have ruined Christmas.

Thank you Jeffrey for the Cooperation rule. I might have accepted the slow movement, the kind of minor early flags otherwise. But when really thinking about it, she simply didn't meet that #1 criteria!!

And by turning her down, I unleashed the Kraken.

"She Cray-Cray" LOL!!

Glad you avoided that.

I applaud your wisdom in waiting for the right tenant. My worst tenant issues have come from times when I was more focused on getting income than getting the right tenant. For this reason, I counsel all new LL to make sure they're not overstretched financially. What helps short-term may hurt long-term.

Thank you, WMH, for sharing your experience with that.

I have been trying to teach myself this same lesson and because of my screening process, I still sit empty.

I think perhaps one of the biggest things for me, is because of all the lies, the cheats, the ESA's, the irresponsibility, I am just tired of dealing with people and don't care as much if it sits empty.

after 20 years doing this, i learned to watch for red flags and dont ignore them.

i dont wanna hear defects about the place. its priced accordingly.

make sure their story makes sense, where they used to live, why they looking to move.

Good on you for figuring out the tenant before she was a tenant.

Hopefully the other prospects will turn out better.

I hope that she was just sneaky and it wasn't something blaring that DS3 missed. Sometimes the pros get thru.

The Kraken's cray-cray 'cousins' also applied (when it rains it pours.) They saw the place THURSDAY during the Kraken fiasco. We urged them to apply quickly so they could be in line if things didn't work out with the K. They did not. When the Kraken got their head chopped off, I urged them again. They were thrilled. They want the place, they've talked to their landlord, ready to go......no apps...

So now it's Saturday. We show the place to two excellent prospects, one of which jumps on it and applies. I have everything I need and the apps are excellent. And they actually make decent money, not just squeaking by. Our house's location and size is perfect for them (one works south, one works north, we are right in the middle in a rare location for that.) So not settling, they like it and it's large enough for them, their two high-school kids and their dogs.

I urge the Thursday K-cousins to apply one last time as they have texted again how much they want it. And it's always nice to have choices. They will they will. They don't.

We rent the place to Saturday Couple on Sunday mid-morning: full lease signed, full deposit paid and extra rent paid to get the keys today. One half of the couple has been staying in hotels because of her new job (with old company) down here, so they are eager to save on those bills and live together again and want to move during the holiday when we will be out of town.

Thursday Family comes through with incomplete apps last night. And now is furious with me that it's rented, claiming I said I would hold the place (I did not, and would not ever, say that.) It's right there in our texts what was said.

Yes, cooperating and politeness are two important screening factors. I would have done basically the same thing you did, with one exception. Once I denied the lease (or withdrew the offer), I send the same message to everyone, and it ends with...

"If you'd like more information about why your application was not approved, please send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to 123 Anywhere Ave. We do not give information like this over phone or text."

That's it. After that, I stop communicating by text or email. If they message me, I block it. There's nothing more to "discuss" at that point, and I've never had productive conversations with anyone whose application was rejected. So I'd have missed out on the diatribes and snippy responses. I've found no reason to communicate with people like that, other than it's mildly amusing to see how the mind of entitled people works.

Glad you dodged a bullet. Too many folks still believe that we're like Wal-Mart and "the customer is always right." Nope.

I wonder if DS#3 knows what to look for when it comes to establishing a lack of cooperation during the showing?

I always try and spend a couple of minutes talking with people when they look at the property. This is specifically to look for cooperation, or more specifically that it's lacking. Bad mouthing others (landlord, ex spouse, neighbor, etc), disliking an aspects of the property, expecting special considerations, any demands, unruly children, and property abuse during the in-home inspection are all signs. I even test for it. Put a rug at the front door and see how many people wipe their feet when they enter. I haven't found a person yet that wipes their feet that has later been uncooperative. I think respect which goes hand-in-hand with cooperative is taught as part of upbringing. If you were taught to be respectful by wiping your feet then it flows into the rest of your life.

Then, as you said, you use texts to communicate. I don't know how many time's having a documented account of what was said has saved me. Not once has it worked against me (but I do keep it short and professional cutting it off if it turns south).

If DS#3 is the same one I met in Florida I would almost bet that he screened her well and she was a pro that popped.

But I still miss stuff so I can't blame it all on him.

The only time I contact the applicant when they don't get in is if they were in the running and I consider them to still be a good prospect.

I tell them that we went another direction but would love to keep them on or waiting list for six months. They are always welcome to check our website to see if something else pops up after that.

Dodged a bullet with that one! The minute she complained about the length of the lease, I would have been done.