The number one question I get from applicants is:
“How long does it take before I know if I got accepted?”
The answer to this question depends mainly on you, your application, and the property.
It could take a couple of days. On average, it will take 24-48 hours. But, if there are multiple applications it may take a bit longer. More often than not, the delay is actually due to your “incomplete application.”
At The Rental Girl, our application requirements are detailed on our site. Even with all the requirements thoroughly outlined, applicants still submit incomplete applications: missing IDs, proper proof of income, and basic info requested on the application itself. I know we are all in a hurry, but if you skip lines and submit incomplete information to hurry things up, it actually ends up hurting your chances.
Imagine this: we receive a few applications and go through them one at a time. By the time we get to yours, it is incomplete. Now we need to list all the missing info, notify you, and wait for you to get the balance of your application back to us. Meanwhile, we start processing the next applicant. We get through the complete ones much faster while your application (with missing information) sits at the bottom of the pile.
Technically the “application” is incomplete until the landlord has all the requested information. If there are multiple applicants, the complete ones will get processed first. If you are applying through The Rental Girl or a property manager, once we have processed the complete applications, we submit them to the property owners. Many times applicants win out over the competitors simply because they followed the application instructions to a “T.” This shows a few things: that the person is organized, can follow instructions and wants the place badly enough to get it done and execute it quickly. These are qualities that a property owner looks for in an applicant.
Once an application is approved, it’s important to understand that the property is not rented until a lease is signed. The property remains on the site and continues to be shown just in case an “approved” applicant backs out. This is why it is great to apply even when there are multiple applicants. Many times a property gets rented to the backup applicant because the first applicant who was approved was not prepared with the funds, to sign a lease, or simply backed out after they were approved.
When applying for a place, you want to be ready to move, ready to get the application done and ready to sign the lease (funds included). If you are set, the place can be yours!
