How To Create a Solid Rental Application Process
The Importance of a Great Application Process for Potential Residents
If you’re a rental property owner / investor and have great residents who treat your property as their own, you really can’t ask for anything more.
But how do some landlords seem to have wonderful residents while others only seem to attract trouble?
The key: a solid, dependable rental application process to thoroughly and efficiently screen potential residents.
What is the Application Process for Rental Properties?
A good application process is essential to running your rental property management business.
This initial step can be what sets you (and your residents) up for success, or if you’re not careful – failure.
The application process varies from company to company, but generally it can be described as:
The time in which a potential resident fills out an application provided by you (or your property management company), gives references from prior landlords, proof of income and employment, credit information, and an application fee if appropriate.
We’ll go ahead and cover a couple of key things that your application process should include.
Tip #1: Make it Easy to Apply to Live at Your Property
While you want your application to provide insight and value for you, you don’t want it to be so cumbersome that it hinders quality residents from actually just applying.
If your application is 20 pages long and takes hours to complete, chances are that no one will want to complete your application.
The applicant will likely get too frustrated half way in, abandon the application, and forget to come back to it.
They’ll find another place to live with an easier application process.
Here at Arbors Management, we accomplish this by making our process completely online and digital.
With the online application process, we set up a portal for each applicant where they can monitor the progress of their application any time they’d like.
No more daily phone calls from applicants asking if they’ve been approved – that’s a win-win!
Prospective residents can apply through any device that’s connected to the internet, whether that’s a computer, tablet, phone, etc.
We also allow applicants to attach their paystubs and photo ID directly to the application.
Once an application is received, we should have all the information required to process that application in a timely manner.
We are able to process the credit and criminal history rather quickly (typically within minutes) after receiving that application. We can then approve or deny that applicant and move to the next steps.
Goal: to make your application process quick, easy, and convenient, but without compromising quality.
Tip #2: Make Sure You Get the Full Picture
The application you provide should give you a complete picture of the applicant once filled out and returned.
It should ask all the right questions, helping you understand who this prospective resident really is.
A few example questions that we would suggest including are:
- Have you ever been evicted?
- Have you ever been convicted of a criminal offense?
- Have you ever filed suit against a landlord?
- Are you a smoker?
- Have you ever filed for bankruptcy?
- Are there any judgments or legal actions against you?
- Have you spoken with a Leasing Specialist regarding this property?
Goal: gather all of the information you need in order to make the decision to approve or deny an application.
Tip #3: Consistent Screening Criteria
Your application should incorporate all of your screening criteria that you’ve determined prior to accepting applications.
Along with this, your application should allow you to consistently apply the same screening criteria across multiple applicants.
Goal: consistency that will help to keep you legally safe within the confines of fair housing law.
Tip #4: Convert Applicants to Residents Efficiently
Your application process should help you convert qualified individuals into residents efficiently.
The way we do this here at Arbors Management is through our property management software.
With the software we utilize, we can take an approved application and convert it directly into a new resident account.
After an applicant is approved, we can directly send them a lease online through the portal that was set up for them at the beginning of the application process.
The prospect can then sign the lease and pay their security deposit and first month’s rent all through that same portal!
After moving in, the resident will continue to use their portal to pay their rent and submit maintenance requests in the future.
Goal: quickly & efficiently turn approved applicants into new resident accounts.
In Conclusion…
All in all, it’s super important to have a good application process!
In this article, we explained the importance of this process and how to create a successful application process through four different tips:
- Make sure it’s easy for prospective residents to apply
- Your application should give you a complete picture of the applicant(s)
- Apply screening criteria consistently across all applicants
- Convert applicants to residents efficiently
We hope that you’ve found this information helpful. If you’re interested in finding out how Arbors can help you easily convert applicants into residents, please contact us!
