Question for you landlords and real estate gurus. Why isn't there just one application for all rentals?

I own 25 rental houses. I don't understand two things.

Why landlords charge to fill out an application.

Why renters pay to fill out an application.

Some landlords are looking for other things. You probably aren't applying to the apartments that look the other way with respect to job/credit/criminal history.

I think the application fee is a way to show that the applicant is serious about wanting to move in there.

It keeps the quantity of paperwork down.

Otherwise, you may get a large number of applicants that may not be really committed.

Then you could choose someone who has no skin in it and will walk away quickly.

It keeps the riff-raff out.

I think you should be able to get a good feel that you would get the place before paying an application fee, though.

Paying application fees all over town and getting turned down would not be good.

I recently moved and I wouldn't apply anywhere until I looked at the apartment and was sure I wanted to move in. That saved my a couple hundred in applications fees for apartments I wasn't interested in.

Considering I ended up in a friend's property and they don't charge application fees or security deposits and it's month-to-month I lucked out. Now I can either save a ton on rent and utilities or keep looking for a new place and not be out any extra cash.

I work for a large owner of Multifamily properties just to qualify myself.

Yes, there is a large "national databases" as you say, that are run by private companies that charge the apartment building to provide this information to them. However, most properties do make money on the application fee-- probably $5 or $10 bucks.

Not all properties have the same qualifying criteria, and there is no way to access previous reports run for other buildings.

In the case of the company I work for anyway, that is the way most institutional owners of real estate operate. Also, most instutional owners are funded by pension funds etc... and are in business to make money. As the previous poster who owns some rental properties noted, you can go to smaller (non institutional) companies and probably avoid some of these fees, but you may or may not get the same level of service and you could be moving in next to a mass murderer.

I would say, however, you can request them to waive the app fee and I bet 9 times out of 10 they will do it. They would much rather give you concessions up front then a reduction on the rent you pay every month.

You are probably providing a lot of personal/financial info on the application which the applicant cannot share with others without your written express consent.

Also, the last thing lanlord no. 1 wants is for competing landlord no. 2 to have easy access to your application.