Late fees? Pet Rent? Acceptable Vacancy Rates?

Question

Curious what others are currently doing for:

Late Fees? How much and at what point in the month?  5th? 10th?

Pet Rent? Do you charge and how much.

Acceptable Vacancy Rate - we own a reasonable # of doors in the city of Milwaukee - not great areas but not horrible either.

Thanks in advance

Laura Stayton · Answer

State laws dictate what you can charge for a late fee (in DE we have a 5-day grace period and the maximum allowable late fee is 5% of the rent amount) so look at your landlord-tenant code for this.

As far as pet fees, it is also capped per the landlord-tenant code for our state at one month's rent.

Too many variables to address your vacancy rate question.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

I could throw out some answers, but they could be completely wrong because state laws differ. Besides, you need to know more than just bare numbers. There's more to managing a rental than knowing when to charge late fees.

The best thing you can do is go to google.com and search for "property manager milwaukee" and then start reading through their websites to see what the professionals in your area are doing. You can also find a local investors group and network with DIY landlords.

Jessie Dillon · Answer

in MA, you can't charge a late fee for 30 days. then i set it to be $100/day, to get the point across. i don't do pet rent, i just allow pets and charge more overall. MA is also weird about fees. for vacancy, banks usually want to see you underwrite at 5%, but i personally expect 2%.

Gregory Chadwell · Answer

I charge $5 a day doesn't go into effect til after the 3rd.

John Morgan · Answer

I charge a fixed $75 late fee if rent isn’t received by the 15th. But it’s due on the 1st. lol. If they’re only late 2 or 3x’s a year, I usually don’t even charge them a late fee. I don’t charge any pet fees either. Most of my tenants seem like lifers so I let them stay forever and bring in all their pets. I have very low turnovers and sleep like a baby by being a little lenient here and there. Almost all my tenants are paycheck to paycheck and barely making it so I cut them some slack. They all pay up and are paying off my mortgages so I’m happy and they’re happy.

Michael Smythe · Answer

@Austin Siewert are you DIY managing or checking up on your PMC?

1) Late Fees: we charge 5% of rent, just like banks do on mortgages. We give tenants a 5-day REVOCABLE Grace Period (taken away of they always pay on 5th).

We also can charge a 10% per diem Late Fee, so tenants don't screw with us and pay as late as possible. WARNING: doesn't always hold up in court:(

2) Pet Rent: depends on breed, size and rent amount. We also charge an upfront Pet Fee.

3) Vacancy: depends on property Class, area, etc. 5% is optimal for only Class A. Lower Classes often have higher vacancy.

Glen Wiley · Answer

We charge a $200 non-refundable deposit for pets at lease signing and $50/month pet rent (on rents around $2000).

Late fees are $10/day starting at the 5th of the month.

My historic vacancy rates are around 1-2% (20 years) - I expect to sustain that level.

Marcus Auerbach · Answer

Rent is due on the 1st and late on the 5th, we charge $100 late fee and we enforce it. Our median rent is about 1,800 for Sf in the Milwaukee suburbs. Pet rent $25 to $50 for a large dog. We aim for 100% occupancy, which is possible in theory if you exclude properties that go through a scheduled rehab. For a regular turnover we try to have a lease signed before the previous tenant is out. In house PM, so we can sail a little closer to the wind.

Greg Scott · Answer

Late fee amounts  and timing are often affected by state law, so be wary of implementing the answer someone gives you.

As far as vacancy rate, 5%.  (I target 95% occupancy.)  Occupancy lower than that, means you are not doing a good job of keeping units rented. Occupancy higher than that means you are probably not keeping up with market rents.

Late fees? Pet Rent? Acceptable Vacancy Rates?

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