Almost every expensive tenant problem — nonpayment, damage, eviction — was visible at screening. A consistent process protects you twice: it selects reliable tenants, and it protects you legally, because fair-housing law punishes inconsistency even more than bad judgment.
Set written criteria first
Before advertising, write down your standards and apply them to every applicant identically. Common benchmarks: gross income of 3x the monthly rent, no evictions in the last 5–7 years, acceptable credit history (many landlords use a 620–650 floor, but the pattern matters more than the score), positive references from prior landlords, and verifiable employment. Fair-housing rules: never screen on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, disability, or any protected class your state or city adds — screen the application, not the person.
Verify, don't trust the paperwork
Applications lie; verification doesn't. Call the employer (find the number yourself, don't use the one provided). Call the PREVIOUS landlord, not just the current one — the current landlord may say anything to move a problem tenant along. Match pay stubs to stated income. Run credit and eviction checks through a screening service (typically $30–$50, usually paid by the applicant). Look at the credit pattern: medical debt is life; a string of unpaid utility bills is a preview.
Worked example
Two applicants for a $1,500 unit. A: income $4,900/month (3.3x), 640 credit with one old collection, previous landlord confirms two years of on-time rent. B: income $6,200/month (4.1x), 700 credit, but the "previous landlord" phone number belongs to a cousin and the real one reports an eviction filing. Applicant A meets the written criteria and gets the unit; B's higher income never enters the decision. Documented, consistent, defensible.
When this rule of thumb breaks
Rigid formulas misfire at the edges: strong savings can offset thin income for a retiree; a young applicant may have no credit history rather than bad credit — a co-signer solves what a rejection wastes. Some states and cities restrict criminal-history screening, source-of-income discrimination (housing vouchers), or application fees, so local rules trump your template. And in a soft market, criteria set for a hot market select for an empty unit — adjust deliberately, in writing, for all applicants at once. Ask an attorney when in doubt; screening lawsuits are far costlier than vacancies.