Late rental payment and collecting late fee & evaluating rentals

[Kevin O'Bryan]

I am relatively new to the rental market industry and currently have 2 rental properties in Ohio. My first rental property was purchased and rented last July and I currently self manage. I have two quick questions:

1) My tenant has been late with rent a few months already. In the contract, it stipulates that he has 3 "grace" days, after which late payments start. I am wondering how the acceptance of late rent and late fee affects my ability to evict him. Is it still a breach of contract and grounds for eviction if he is 7 days late but ends up paying the late fee and past due rent owed? This happened last month and I intend to write up a breach of contract letter to mail to him and store for my records in case we end of needing to evict him later down the road.

2) What is the best way to determine how much you should expect to receive for monthly rent on a new rental property? I know that many factors play into a specific property and it will be on a case by case basis, but I am referring to general rental amounts or possibly a range. Currently I just look at Zillow and monitor what properties are listed. If they are no longer listed on Zillow, I just assume that they received the rent that they were asking (which obviously might not be the case). I feel like there has to be a better way to obtain this information; perhaps an online tool or resource? Any suggestions?

Thank you in advance for all responses, I really appreciate it!

-Kevin