As well as the 2 minute in home visit. Did a driveby on a prequal and my spidey senses were tingling. Place is about 10 minutes from my personal home. Trailer park and drove by their lot number:

1. They claim they have no animals but the front door was absolutely filthy-sign of a large door, most likely a pitbull clawing up the front door.

2. All the blinds are broken, hanging crooked in EVERY window

3. grass unmowed (it's been dry here for the last 5 days)

4. bunch of toys thrown about on the lawn

This applicant texted me wanting to know the "status" (never really got past the prequal nor tour) and have "money in hand." She sounded desperate to move by 8/1. Always a bad sign.

Mapleaf,

Congrats on doing a drive by! I do like the curiosity value.

It scares me to realize most LLs are too shy to do even a drive by, let alone a 2 Minute Visit. They just rent to the person who passes ON PAPER then later complain about their tenant from heck.

I second NE, we START with their PAID application. Even a pre-qual or phone call uses up my time. I stopped working for free.

BRAD

It sounds like something I might do. I don't even take a paper application unless I've done some checking and feel like I want to pursue it.

Your law says YOU can't charge the application fee. so use a company like Credit Link or other that collects the money from the applicant and then they send you a credit report directly.

I do love that you do drive bys. But doing a drive by before reviewing an application is something I wouldn't do.

I have done drive-bys before and DQd folks because of it. Never gone far out of the way to do it, and mostly because I was curious.

Have never charged an application fee. I did set up one listing that way but nobody paid. Dropped the fee and got a good tenant the next day.

How can I start charging application fees? Here is how I deal with my prospects. Feel free to guide me in the right direction:

-List property with Zillow, link to my website. Lots of pics and lots of info about the place.

-Someone shows interest, usually sending me a Zillow msg. I direct them to my site and the applications page. This page has a few things we are looking at listed such as no monies owed for eviction, civil or criminal cases, not on sex registry, no drug cases or violence against people. Pending or decided. 3x rent.

-They can then decide to follow the link to my application. All filled out online.

-Once I get that I run a fast background on them with our fantastic state site for all criminal or civil cases including traffic violations.

-Once happy with that I send them notice of pre-approval and give them the code to the lockbox. They look and if happy we move forward.

-I meet them at their current residence. We discuss the particulars about the property. If all goes well I send them a link to the lease, which I have already pre-filled because of the background check.

-They are happy. They pay the rents, SD and fees that apply. I give them a day to get the utilities switched over. They get new keys. I go to the property and change the lock when I remove the lockbox.

So, how do I get them to pay an application fee before they have been in the place? I want all their info before I let them even walk into the property.

I know I could load all of this onto a pre-screen but I don't know how to verify without all their info like birthdate, present location, etc. If I get all of that stuff then what's the reason for doing the application itself, thus negating the need to charge.

Realizing that I should run credit, but alas I never have. They usually get found out when I do the free background check.

Just to clarify for you (in NYS) - STOP calling it an application fee. That is what you cannot charge (an "application fee"). You need to call it a BACKGROUND CHECK FEE. Yes, you can only charge a MAX of $20 (or the LESSOR of the cost).

Unfortunately, for "$20" you know you are only getting the bare minimum of a background/credit check pulled so the rest of it is truly just us "digging deeper" for $0 dollars.

With that said, I don't even collect the fee directly because the service I use is on-line. I just have them complete the application then provide them with the link to conduct the background check and they pay that company directly on line.

People people people!

Stop giving away your time for free!

My app has 6 basic criteria listed on it before they even write their name. Most duds know they won't quality if they read the app, but still pay for our time.

zero,

Put your Venmo on the app form. DO NOTHING until their payment arrives.

Can always text them "Thanks for your interest! Your app wil be processed as soon as your Venmo arrives."

Brad, do you collect the app fee before they have done the lockbox tour?

That is where I was getting pushback when I tried.

Lockbox tour is where I have a lockbox on the door with a key inside.

Once I have vetted the prospects a bit online I allow them to see the place in person.

If they are still interested we move forward from there.

I have pictures and information on Zillow as well as my website. This gives them more than a general idea of what the place is like.

Started doing that maybe a couple years ago. Saves time. I don't have to drive over, wait for them to show up, wait while they decide if they like the place and then we all leave.

Zero, for a while there QR codes seemed all but dead. Then C-19 happened and they are alive and kicking.

Take a fair number of pics and load them to a landing page that describes the property, and the screening process.

I force them to pay for the Credit link screening before hearing back from them. To get to that level they needed to walk the outside of the property and like the area You will need a solid information sheet also that tells them that this is a class B place in an owner occupied neighborhood. You must have a credit score of at xxx and complete the screening by going to the second website.

If for any reason they don’t follow these directions, then I don’t hear from them. Unless these folks have done business with me before or someone I know has given them my phone number, I want to make sure they understand that set processes exist and they must follow them.

Coincidently I created a QR code that goes to my website. I had my buddy J test it out. I just need to get it printed on a sticker that I can put on my sign that sits in the window. That or I could laminate it to the sign. Might not last as long tho.

ZERO: I do very similar to you. I don’t do prequal as when I used it the only two that completed it were woefully unqualified. In the meantime, I likely lost good candidates.

Like you, I send interested peeps to our website via my choice of advertising, with all property info and tons of pics. The website is clear on what I expect from tenants and I seem to only get my niche applicants. I ask for the app fee AFTER they see the place in person. I do a preliminary background check. By then I’m down to two separate interested parties to choose from. At that time I want to meet them to determine their entitlement and cooperation, etc. I send them my app and ask they fill it out and bring it with them to give to me at the end of our tour. I tell them the fee is for the credit and background check. I don’t do the lockbox showings as I only have duplexes.

At that point I usually get apps and fees from both. I work immediately; if I don’t the good ones are on to another place. The ones I get many, many times, are already only focused on my property.

I really like Brads idea of having tenants do more of the work for me so may use that if I feel the tenant is capable.

In Milwaukee, too many are fearful of being “taken” by fake LLs is why I do it the way I do. It works well for us. Last two filled units were fast. One was referred from leaving tenant so didn’t even need to advertise. Both sets have already referred other excellent candidates to fill other of our units when they are ready. So no advertising needed. I like the driveby idea very much. Many previous parties invited me over, negating a driveby. I accepted that invitation and used it to break a tie between two equal applicants.