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Updated about 10 years ago, 11/25/2014
Picking up rent payment
@Derek Carroll - I self manage higher end properties and my tenants pay online but I have a PM who manages my blue collar properties and drives around and picks up rent. I think it is the most absurd thing in the world! We just had a talk about it last week as we are doubling our properties with him and it is just not sustainable. His reasoning was that our heavily Hispanic tenant base mainly works either under the table or in the service industry and they deal with cash. We are implementing things like PayNearMe to transition the responsibility from him to the tenant. By spring I would like to see 100% of the tenants paying on their own and will be revising all our leases (easier to absorb turnover) to require it
- Brie Schmidt
- Podcast Guest on Show #132
I pick up rents door to door because if I don't I would never get the rents. I have tenants that deposit rents into my bank account and text me the deposit receipt. I have tenants mail money orders or checks but mostly I'm there knocking on the door.
I have a routine and I know who will have it and who will be late. The part that I dislike the most is when I schedule a rent pickup and they have to go to the ATM. Guess who is taken them to the ATM? Me; sometimes I do not mind; I use this time to get to know my tenants better.
I have been very pleased with www.dwolla.com. There is a 25 cents charge for each transaction, but that is cheaper than a stamp so the tenant is usually fine with the additional charge. If you call dwolla as well they can help you set up a page for all your rental properties (at no charge) so your tenants have a direct link for payment - it has been great!
Has your mortgage co ever came knocking on your door for payment? I'm not in the courier service business. We treat tenants like adults and have never had an issue with collecting.
We had some tenants we inherited that wanted to meet us and pay cash. We did that once and then said from now on you have to get a money order and mail it to our PO box. The next month they called and wanted to meet and give us cash. One tenant kept asking where we lived so he could come over and deliver it. Um...no. After a couple months they figured it out and are mailing money orders.
It's surprising how many people live in a cash world. I rarely have cash in my wallet, let alone pay any bills that way.
I prefer to collect rent at the door, in cash, that gives me a chance to look at the unit, and make sure the house still looks great.
When I buy a new property and inherit the tenants then I will pick up the rent for the first few months. Gives you an opportunity to see the property and build a relationship.
I did not read all the comments, so forgive me if I am duplicating an answer, but I just have to put in my two cents worth.
Being a Landlord is a business. We have houses we rent out that cost more than any other product that is rented out as far as I know of. Our homes are worth more than $100,000 most times and more.
We jump through a lot of hoops to get our business up and running, and we go through a lot of "stuff" to provide good rental homes to the public, to the community, not mention all the laws we need to learn and obey.
When we choose an applicant to rent to, are we looking for children that must be pampered? Or are we looking for Adults that are capable of paying their rent, which includes the capability of getting it into our office on time.
Boy, I can't tell you how many times a tenant would bring in their dad or mom to view the property with them, and then at the signing of the lease, try to put the muscle on me. I flat out told them that I was renting to their son or daughter, and if they needed their parents to help them sign the lease, and tell me what to do, then they really weren't mature enough to rent my home. One of the dads told my husband when he left his daughter to be alone with me to sign the lease, that "I kicked him out". He couldn't believe it. But I rented to her and eventually I sold her the house.
We may feel, well we're doing a good deed, by bending over backwards to help our tenants by picking up the rent, or little things, but in actuality you are not helping to make the tenant be a responsible individual, but instead are being an "enabler" to rely on others to do this or that for them. (My prior life entailed working as an Office Manager in a Substance Abuse Agency and Mental Health, so I know a great deal about "enablers)
Some of my homes in the Inner City were in some rough neighborhoods. (Some- only a few), so I had to deal with some pretty tough dudes. And yet I made them pay their rent on time to me via mail or camel or donkey. Oh they wanted me to pick up the rent. Hey if you want your money come pick it up. I'd reply, "Hey if you want to live in this house, get it in my office by the 1st". They would laugh, but believe it or not they got that rent into my office on time.
You know why I did it? I did it because I needed to make them be more responsible adults. If nobody teaches them how, then how will they know. And if you have that good landlord/tenant relationship, that trust between each other, then they will listen. They may get mad, but they will listen and they will respect you for it and be respectable adults in the future.
I had learned a lot about people when I was an active Landlord. It was the best experience of my life. WE can make a difference. WE can treat our Industry as a business, and still love itI I LOVED IT! I Loved the people! But I did't make it easy for them. They must have liked it because most of them stayed with us for 6 years, 16 years, 20 years, and I have to tell ya, it just didn't get any better than that!
Nancy Neville
I have a lot of tenants that don't have bank accounts and/or don't trust the mail. For them I have a box at a UPS Store close to the area that most of my lower income rentals are in and they can get a money order, place it in an envelope and have the clerk there put it directly in my box. It works out well for me.