Screening is an essential part of finding a great tenant. You can begin the screening process immediately, as soon as a prospective tenant calls to let you know they saw your listing and is interested in the rental. In fact, you can even start the screening process before ever having someone lay eyes on your property listing.

Below are a few tips to follow when pre-screening your prospective tenants:

1. Set the Requirements to Your Standards

Simply setting the rent price will screen out applicants who know they cannot afford your property. Additionally, if you list out your other requirements such as a rental application, credit report, and criminal history check, you’ll turn off the prospects that know they wouldn’t pass your tests.

2. Ask How Many People Will be Living in the Unit

When you are on the phone, you’ll also be able to ask about who will be living in the rental, how long they expect to rent, etc.

There’s no need to show the place if the prospects are four people trying to rent your one-bedroom (most states have a law that says you cannot have more than two people per bedroom) or if they’re only looking for a short term rental and you don’t offer that.

Here are five additional questions you should ask your prospective tenant.

3. Pay Close Attention to Their Questions

Let your prospects ask their questions during the phone interview. First, you’ll find out what’s important to them and can make sure to show off the areas of your rental that highlight their wants.

Second, you can figure out whether their priorities are in line with yours. If they’re asking about the location of the closest bars and you’re concerned about noise violations, this might not be a good fit.

Create a Rental Application

If you’ve gone this far with your prospective tenant, you should always allow them to submit a rental application, even if you know they won’t work out. You don’t want it to appear that you’re discriminating and at this point, you’ll want to allow everyone that you’ve already shown the property to go through your usual screening process.