Quick Answer
The fastest way to find tenants is to list your property everywhere renters search (not just one site), screen quickly enough that a good applicant doesn’t accept somewhere else, and run a proper background check before you sign a lease. Most vacancies that drag on for weeks come down to weak listing visibility or a screening process slow enough to lose your best applicant. Below, we cover where to list online, how to have tenants apply, and how to run a background check the right way.
With many rental marketplaces moving to online forums and social media platforms, it’s easier than ever to find renters online. Designated platforms make it easier than ever for landlords to post their vacancies and for tenants to find their future homes. If you’re new to navigating the online market, or new to being a landlord altogether, it can be difficult to know where to start.
Where to Find Renters Online
You can still find rentals advertised in local newspapers or flyers around town, but most landlords now find tenants online. If you’re buying your first rental property or looking for tenants for the first time, here are the platforms worth starting with.
Zillow
Zillow is one of the highest-traffic rental search sites renters use, which makes it one of the most important places to be listed. RentRedi syndicates your listing to Zillow with one click, including a free premium placement, rather than requiring a separate paid listing there.
Realtor.com
A site like Realtor.com is widely used as a listing platform for landlords looking to find tenants for their units. There are many more listing platforms you can research and post to, but most charge a listing fee, Realtor.com is free to use. As a bonus, if you’re using RentRedi to manage your rentals, your available units are automatically syndicated to Realtor.com.
Facebook Marketplace
Because of its social media popularity, Facebook Marketplace is one of the best free rental listing sites. It’s a common platform for finding renters. If you have a Facebook account, it’s easy to post your available rental and have renters find you.
Craigslist
Craigslist is another site landlords use to find renters, and if you’re using RentRedi, you can post a link that invites applicants to prequalify directly. Craigslist also draws more scam activity than other platforms, so it’s worth knowing how to recognize a Craigslist rental scam before you post there, both to protect yourself and to reassure legitimate applicants who’ve learned to be cautious of Craigslist listings.
How to Have Tenants Apply
When you’re setting out to find a tenant, your rental listing is the most important selling point. Post well-taken photos, list key features of the unit, and include any amenities that would appeal to renters.
Once people are interested in your vacancy, you need a way to have them apply.
Tenant Prescreening
Set up a prescreening process first, either by phone or with a standardized form like RentRedi’s built-in prequalification template. This lets you collect initial information to determine whether an applicant meets your qualifications before investing time in a full application.
Qualifications might include a minimum credit score, income requirements, or a no-smoking or no-pet policy. Your minimum requirements will depend on your rental’s price point and your lease policies.
Rental Application
Once you’ve prescreened tenants and found a few you’d like to learn more about, invite them to submit a full rental application.
What belongs on your application varies by landlord-tenant law and lease requirements. Some landlords charge an application fee, both to screen out uninterested applicants and to cover the cost of a background check. Others prefer a free application first, leaving the paid background check as the last step.
If you use RentRedi as your property management software, tenants can download the RentRedi app and submit a free mobile rental application directly to you.
How to Run a Background Check on Tenants
Once you’ve found interested renters, it’s time for screening and application review. The process looks a little different for every landlord, because of varying minimum requirements or state rental laws, but an application and a background report should be part of it either way.
Whatever your process includes, make sure it doesn’t violate housing discrimination laws.
Credit Check
Most landlords, where their state’s landlord-tenant laws allow it, will run a credit check on a potential renter. Credit scores can indicate the likelihood a tenant pays rent on time, and many landlords look for a minimum score in the 620-650 range.
A lower credit score doesn’t automatically make someone a bad tenant. If an application comes in with a lower score, it’s worth reviewing the full background report or having a direct conversation about it, or asking for a landlord reference letter to verify a solid rent-payment history.
Background Check
Background checks (also called tenant screening reports) give you a fuller picture of an applicant’s history. RentRedi’s tenant screening partners with TransUnion to provide landlords with full background reports covering credit, criminal, and eviction history, paid by the applicant rather than billed to you as a landlord cost.
Common Mistakes That Scare Good Tenants Away
Taking too long to respond to inquiries
A renter actively apartment hunting is usually looking at several units at once. A three-day response time to a showing request often means your best applicant has already signed somewhere else.
Listing on only one site
A listing that only appears on one platform misses everyone searching the others. Syndicating to Zillow, Realtor.com, and Facebook Marketplace at once (rather than posting to each manually, one at a time) puts your vacancy in front of far more renters for the same amount of work.
Skipping the reference check because the credit looks good
Good credit doesn’t confirm someone pays rent on time, keeps a unit in good condition, or gives proper notice before moving out. A quick call to a previous landlord catches issues a credit report alone won’t.
Being unclear about pet, smoking, or occupancy policies upfront
Applicants who discover your actual policy after applying feel like they wasted their time, and that reputation travels fast in small rental markets. State the real policy in the listing itself, not after someone’s already applied.
FAQ
How long should it take to find a tenant?
In most markets, a well-priced, well-listed unit should generate serious inquiries within a week or two. If you’ve gone three or more weeks with little interest, check your listing’s visibility, price, and photos before assuming the market itself is slow.
What’s the best site to list a rental on?
There isn’t a single best site. The strongest approach is syndicating to several at once, Zillow, Realtor.com, and Facebook Marketplace among them, since renters compare listings across multiple platforms rather than committing to just one, and a listing on only one site misses everyone searching the others.
Is Craigslist safe for finding tenants?
It can be, but it draws more scam activity than other platforms, both from fake applicants and from scammers impersonating landlords using a real listing’s photos. Screening applicants carefully and knowing the common scam patterns protects you either way.
How much does a tenant background check cost?
It varies by provider and package. RentRedi’s screening, run through TransUnion, is paid by the applicant rather than billed to the landlord, so check the specific cost breakdown during setup rather than assuming a fixed number, pricing details can change and are worth confirming directly.
Should I require an application fee?
It’s optional and varies by landlord. Some charge a fee to filter out uninterested applicants and offset background check costs, others use a free application to avoid discouraging good candidates, then handle the background check cost separately.
Can I screen tenants without running a full background check?
You can prescreen with a phone call or a short form, but skipping a real background check (credit, criminal, and eviction history) leaves you without the information that predicts whether an applicant pays rent reliably.
Conclusion
Finding tenants online comes down to visibility and process: get your listing in front of as many renters as possible, screen efficiently, and run a real background check before signing a lease. Three things to do next:
- Check where your listing is currently posted and add Zillow or Facebook Marketplace if you’re only on one site.
- Set up a prescreening step so you’re not running full background checks on applicants who don’t meet your basic qualifications.
- Confirm your background check process covers credit, criminal, and eviction history, not just one of the three.
With application and screening tools like RentRedi’s rental application and TransUnion-certified background checks, you can narrow your candidate pool down to the most qualified tenants for your rentals.