I put up a CraigsList post, the tenant checked out the room (at the time, an existing tenant I trust was able to show the place, which is 90 minutes from my home), and when he said he was interested, I had him fill out a MySmartMove application. Everything checked out, and I sent him a lease and we agreed on a move-in date. I emailed him a lease to sign and asked him to mail a deposit. Six days later and I check-in with him... and he backed out and is moving elsewhere. Frustrating. Should I ask potential occupants to fill out the MySmartMove application before showing the place to them?
Do you always have them pay the application fee ($35)? When are tenants willing to do that? Only after seeing the place?
I've never had anyone fill out an applications without seeing the place first. :)
I just rented out one of our two upstairs apartments this past weekend. I've had it on Craigslist for about a month. When people email me about it, their first question is usually, "When could I see it?" When I show it to them, I have applications with me and describe the MySmartMove thing. They usually take the application with them and return it to me, though I've had people fill them out right then and there. They can either include the $35 application fee with the application, or they can pay it directly to MySmartMove.
Once the background/credit check is done, and I've contacted their references, I make a decision... and if it's to rent to them, I let them know right away and set up a time to meet them to sign the lease & get their deposit. If they're moving in right away, I also get their first month's rent and give them the keys. If there's a lag of a week or two, I let them wait until the lease begins to exchange keys for rent. But I get the deposit at the lease signing.
I actually had something happen to me similar to what you described above about a week ago. An applicant loved the apartment, got her application to me, and I got the MySmartMove process going. (She was paying, not me.) The next day, I hadn't seen action on it, so I emailed her... and she just hadn't gotten to it yet. Then the weekend hit. By Monday, I still hadn't seen action on it, so I emailed again, and she said she'd decided not to rent it.
So that cost me a few days... but I still had others interested and hadn't stopped showing it, so I had another applicant within a day or two, and they moved in that next weekend.