Rent payment boxes??

[Brent Kostner]

What is your advise on rental payment drop boxes? We just bought a 4 plex and I am wanting to install a rent payment box onsite as I feel it would be most convenient for us and our tenants. We live in a small town with low crime rate but I am still a little hesitant on putting one in and then having checks get stolen. Do you recommend any particular brand? Have good or bad experience with them? Just trying to explore our options. Any and all advise is appreciated. Thanks!

[Brandon Hicks]

Don't do it.

One...do you really want to drive over there to pick up rent and it NOT be there? Then have to contact the tenants and drive back over there. This will happen. They will "train" you to pick up the rent on their schedule.

Two...is this only property you are planning on buying? Do you want to deal with the above scenario (that will happen) at 2/5/10 different locations?

Set up a deposit account at a bank that is both convenient for the tenants to get to and has a capacity to lend commercially to small local investors.

You give them the account number and instructions to write their address or name on the deposit slip. They get an immediate receipt of payment since they'll get a deposit receipt. You don't have to deal with the tenants or the drive and can verify who has and has not paid online.

All but 6 of my 45 tenants deposit their rent. The other 6 use billpay or mail me paper checks.

With anything you do like this, make sure you're thinking as if you already had as many units as you want to. For example...you want 50 units....act like you already have 50 units when developing systems and processes.