Sign Home Rental Application Electronically

How to eSign a document: Empowerment Apartment Rental Application Form

how's it going everyone madelung and welcome back to another video in this video we're going to be talking about rental application mistakes you know I mostly work on the sales side of things but I've done over a hundred rental transactions in my career probably a lot more than that but I have a lot of experience that I want to share with you so if you're an agent and you want a smooth the rental application process or if you're looking to apply to rent a condo townhouse house maybe an apartment this video is definitely for you if you want a smooth transaction so let's do the top I'm used to doing the top three but this is going to be the top seven mistakes to avoid when you're looking to apply for a rental property here we go mistake number one is negotiating before you even apply guys I cannot tell you how many times I have received the following email line one is the property still available line two and is the landlord willing to come down on rent what are you kidding me what just happened there you haven't even seen the property and you're already trying to negotiate are you going to put in an application do you want to move in how do we as agents or as the owner know that your credit score isn't like four hundred you have no leverage there let me get one thing straight I'm okay with negotiating in fact I encourage it but the time to negotiate is when you actually put in that application your initial contact with the agent or the owner should never be hey can you come down on rent a little bit I did it I see what you're trying to do I understand it I respect it I don't respect the timing of it the timing of it should be when you have the leverage when you put in the application when the owner sees that you're a good rental applicant that wants to move in soon you need to have the leverage and without putting in an application you have zero leverage and you're wasting everyone's time mistake number two is applying too far out in the future in Northern Virginia in Arlington most properties come available around 45 to 60 days from when they're looking for a move and so guys I get so many enquiries from people that are formal about six months out seven months out saying hey Matt what can we do like I want to work with you let's go out and see places and they're disappointed because I say hey I can't help you and and they're like well I thought I thought you did this that in the other and there's no value for me to add if you're that far out in the future what's going to end up happening you're going to be going out seeing a place and you're basically touring another person's condo because someone's going to come in that same weekend rent it out and move in in three weeks so if you're four months out it's just not worth it just yet usually a landlord will hold a property for around thirty days so if you apply in early June and your application is accepted it's because your move-in date is probably early July that Clarendon condo is not going to be held for you for four months so you can line up your move-in date perfectly it's just not going to work that way the most optimal time to start looking at rental places is around fifty five maybe call it sixty and sixty days is kind of pushing it but around fifty to sixty days that timeframe is perfect because renters are figuring out if they're going to be staying or if they're going to be giving notices and then landlords are only going to be able to hold a property for so long for you so keep in mind around the 50 to 60 day time mark is when to go out and listen if this was a purchase there's a lot of value if you're six months out five months out I get it there's a lot of value there but if it's just a rental I mean guys you only need to go out within two months if you're two months out or further away from your move-in date you're just wasting your time mistake number three is not having a move-in date when a real estate agent or owner asks you when is your move-in date you better have an answer and it better not be oh I must a month I can move whenever no never say this why because as an agent or an owner we're looking for that underlying motivation there has to be a motivation so what we like to hear is oh my you know my house is selling it's closing on this date I have to find a place or oh my lease is expiring on this date I have to find a place by this time because if there's no motivation and you say oh I could move in one month I could move in six months that just tells me that you just like looking at condos on the weekend maybe you should become a real estate agent if you just like looking at properties in my experience those people that go month-to-month are just out kicking tires if they're going out and seeing a place and what ends up happening is that their own current place is usually better than what they're looking at so imagine a situation for a competitive property when I get 20 enquiries and yes that does happen and I have to get back to all these people and I get a couple emails that say hey I'm looking to move in three weeks and a couple people that say hey you know I could move in now I could move in in six months doesn't really matter when is the place available to see guess who I'm getting back to first it's probably not the person that's going month-to-month so it's almost like I know as an agent I need to sell them or I need to rent out the property but it's almost like you as the renter need to sell me on why I should show it to you because I want to make the best use of your time and my time to convert the lead and if you tell me that you can move in in six months and you don't really have anything else going on you're probably not going to be the first person I show the condo to so be sure when an agent ask you or an owner asks you about your move-in date you have a move-in date or a hypothetical move-in date so that we know that you're serious mistake number four is not including your social security number on the application guys I get it everyone's getting hacked privacy is the concern you're renting a place we need to know the background the owner needs to know information about you imagine going to a car dealership and leasing and renting a car and when they ask for your social security number you just say oh no thanks but you're going to get laughed out of the dealership it's not like you're going to the grocery store and buying an Apple like you're renting up like property this is like kind of a big deal the owner needs to know that you're not going to burn the place down like you're not like some psycho like we need to know your background so if you omit your social security number if you have you know write it in floppy and chicken scratch any sort of delay might cost you the place if there's multiple applications so be sure you go ahead and include your social security number mistake number five is not going into detail on any potential credit issues not everyone has perfect credit I get it I understand things happen you might have a cell phone bill for $20 three years ago that's still an open account and in your credit report and if we don't hear anything from you that might be a red flag when we just have the credit report and I'm you know chauffeuring that over to the landlord and saying hey you know I see a couple things on here I don't know what's going on you know I might not recommend you as a tenant if we don't know what's going on however if you call me up and say hey Matt you know just want to let you know that I paid off this account it may or may not show up I know you know it's an issue but here's the paperwork on it I really love the place hope we can work it out guys communication is key so if you are proactive about it and let the agent or owner know about any potential credit issues that will help you out tremendously but if you sit back and hope that we don't notice or if you don't communicate what's going on we might jump to our own conclusions because we can only go off of what the credit report says so if it's in the five or six hundreds and we see some whacky things going on we're going to jump to our own conclusions but if you tell us the story and provide proof there so you're not just blabbing about it and not following up but if you provide proof that is going to help you out a lot mistake number six is not having the first month of rent ready when you look to apply for a place guys by now we already know not to apply to the large apartment complexes but let's imagine a scenario where the apartment complex is their goal is to get you in the front door and get you to lease so with that being said they might have deals where it's zero down to get in $500 deposit or no deposit depending on credit score so imagine this situation you go from a apartment tour where they say that immediately to a condo tour where they say first month of rent with the application that might seem like okay I'll use condo guys are a little bit nuts but guys that's the norm one month of rent with the application as well as the application fee that first month is not deposited unless the application is accepted and the lease is signed by you and the landlord both parties so this is an up fee this isn't some money that's going to float off into Neverland like this is money that is going towards your lease and then once you actually sign the lease the deposit is then do so you know it's essentially two months of rent which is a little cumbersome sometimes and in this scenario I probably would recommend not negotiating just because if you're negotiating on the first month of rent say hey can we prorate this or can we prorate that deposit what do you think the landlord is going to think when they're potential tenant is trying to negotiate the first month of rent like if you're trying to negotiate the first month of rent do you think you can pay for 11 more months of rent so it's kind of sketchy there if you're the tenant and it's like the landlord's like this guy even has the money for this so don't negotiate on that but be sure to know that one month of rent is due with the application when you're looking to rent condos townhouses houses from private individual landlords anima state number seven is not knowing how many roommates you actually have this is for all you group homes out there whether you have three four five or more people in your house be sure to know how many people are actually going to be living there look I get it people are you know saying they want to live with you one week and then the next week you never hear from them or they go off and move in with their girlfriend and you're like what bro you just told me 48 hours ago you want to apply to this place always know how many people are actually gonna be living there and if you're in a group home or if you're looking to find a group home you probably should be working with the landlord directly because an agent it's just going to be another intermediary another hoop to jump through and agents probably can't add as much value as we would like for group homes so be sure to know how many people you I mean it sounds so simple but you would be surprised about how many times I've shown group homes to people and like sweet there's like a new face or one less person or one more person it's ridiculous so normally people and got once your application gets accepted don't even think about trying to squeeze in one more person to that because it's not going to work out if you try to get one more applicant in there I mean you might lose the place and if you move in and then try to you know put someone in the living room that is definitely grounds for eviction so don't try any silly stuff you guys out there and be sure to always know for group homes how many roommates you actually have all right that's it that's the top I got it I got to get used to this the top 7 mistakes that we're seeing for rental applications so if you're looking to apply for a rental or if you're an agent and you want a very smooth very streamlined process hopefully these tips were helpful if they were be sure hit that thumbs up but lets me know that you like mistakes to avoid alright thanks for watching until next time create a productive day take care