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As a landlord, your goal is to have an array of interested parties apply to your vacant property. The larger your applicant pool, the better chance you have of filling the property with a qualified tenant. The process begins with advertising your Rental property across a variety of online channels. Once your property is out there and eyes are on it, there are still things that will deter potential tenants from applying for your property.

Not surprisingly, one of the biggest ways you can lose potential applicant’s interest is through the actual Application process. If you struggle to find tenants, and you have already ensured you are listing your property in a variety of places, the issue may lie in your application. Take a moment to consider these top four reasons your rental application may be losing you tenants.

1) The Rental Application Process Is Too Confusing

In our culture of immediate gratification, any application process that is too confusing will be skipped over by potential tenants. People want to be able to quickly and easily apply to properties they are interested in. Keep in mind, many renters will be checking out multiple properties in the area at once. If your rental application process confuses them, they will simply turn to a listing with an easier process.

What produces friction to potential tenants?

• Asking for multiple applications to be filled out.
• Using a background check and credit check process that is completely separate from the initial application.
• Requiring the applicant to print off pages and pages of documents, and then requiring they fax them to your email address.

2) The Rental Application Process Asks Them For Sensitive Information

Another reason why a potential applicant may pass over your application is that they feel like their information is not secure. If you show the property to a potential tenant, then hand them a paper application, which asks for a variety of sensitive information, you may be met with resistance.

People are guarded when it comes to their identity. With identity theft on the rise, it is scary for a renter who does not know you to provide you with information like Social Security Numbers, bank account numbers, driver’s license numbers, and a variety of other important personal identification information. They have little way of knowing whether or not you are trustworthy. Beyond just the fact that they are handing all that information over blindly, they may also be uncertain about how you will dispose of the application down the road.

3)The Rental Application Is Not Easily Accessible

We touched on this in part above, but if you require an applicant to jump through a million hoops just to get the application in their hands, you may cut down on the number of people willing to apply. Most people who are in the renting demographic do not own printers and fax machines. They do not want to spend the time and money to go print off an application.

Even if you go the extra mile and you print off the application and hand deliver it to an interested party during the property showing, you still may lose their interest if they are required to mail the application to you. Although mailing in an application may not seem like a big deal, it is one more point of friction where some of your potential applicants may drop off. The goal is to retain as many interested parties as possible, so you have the best pool to choose from.

4) The Rental Application Looks Suspicious

This relates to the point above about security. Not only are people hesitant to provide strangers with their personal information, they are also wary of situations that arouse suspicion. Too many red flags can lead them to believe you are a scam.

If your rental application looks homemade and seems fishy, potential applicants may decide they can’t trust you. While it may seem crazy that people would judge the authenticity of your rental based upon the application, professionalism is key for landlords. When you present yourself as a professional, well-established entity (even if you are a brand new landlord), you will instill a deeper level of trust in your tenants. This will lead to a better tenant/landlord relationship as well. When you come across professionally, tenants are more likely to respect you down the road.

Attract Qualified Tenants With A Free, Professional Application

The best way to attract the largest number of qualified candidates is to implement a professional, online rental application. When you use an established company to process applications and to implement tenant screening, you can present yourself in a more professional light.

Our online rental applications are 100 percent free for landlords. We built them to help small landlords succeed. As a team of landlords ourselves, we understand how hard it can be to handle the application process and to attract more applicants. We designed our rental application to be extremely user-friendly, easy to share with interested tenants and to integrate seamlessly with tenant screening. Not only is our application professional, it is backed by bank level security. You can reassure interested parties that over 40,000+ landlords use our software.

Not only will using a professional, free online rental application help you convert more interested parties into applicants, it will also save you time, money, and the hassle of paperwork. You will not be responsible for handling sensitive information. You will simply be notified when you have a new application, and you will be given the option to then request a tenant screening report.