Two Surprising Benefits of Having Rental Applicants Pay For Investigative Screening

Using ISC Connect, landlords, rental property owners, and management companies can get full, detailed investigative reports on potential tenants by simply collecting an email address from each applicant. Using our revolutionary system, we'll contact them immediately so they can complete the application themselves, even from smartphones, tablets, and other web-ready devices.

Although landlords and tenants both love the convenience of the system, they are sometimes surprised to find that we encourage them to let applicants pay the $35 fee for our service. Couldn't your business encourage more potential tenants to sign up by absorbing those costs?

You certainly could, but you gain two surprising benefits by having rental applicants pay for their own investigative screening:

First, you discourage the wrong types of renters from trying to move into your property.

Imagine for a moment that you were someone with a checkered history. Would you want to spend much of your own time, and even a little bit of your own money, trying to rent a property that you were very unlikely to be approved for? Most of us wouldn't, which is a big advantage to having a nominal application fee.

If someone knows that you're going to do a full investigation to look into past convictions, employment background, and their rental and eviction history, they are less likely to try to "slip through the cracks" by applying and/or providing false information. It's one thing to spend a few minutes of their time filling out an application on paper, but another to fill one out online and provide a credit card for billing.

Keeping the wrong tenants from applying saves you time, money, and hassle. Discouraging the wrong renters from beginning the process is a good place to start.

Second, you get a commitment from the tenant (and much greater follow-through as a result).

Human psychology being what it is, we are generally adverse to wasting money and prolonging tedious processes longer than we need to. And so, by providing a quick, convenient online application that the potential tenant pays for, you essentially kill two birds with one stone.

On the one hand, by getting them to pay a small application fee you secure an initial commitment. After they've paid to apply for your property, even if it's a small amount, your potential tenant isn't likely to go looking for another apartment somewhere else. And, by making things quick and convenient, you make the rental process for other properties seem like more stress and hassle than they are worth.

For both reasons, the applicant is more likely to stick with you rather than look for another rental property somewhere else.

Offering to give away something for free might seem like a great way to increase interest in your rental property… and it could be, if you don't mind attracting the wrong kind of tenant. If you want someone with the right background, though, and the desire to follow through and move in, take our advice and pass along the small ISC screening fee to applicants.