Establishing Monthly rent due dates? Newbie alert

[Drew LaVallee]

Good morning guys, I recently purchased my first multifamily here in RI and am living in the bottom floor and renting the top floor. I have been very picky in the choice of my tenants but I believe I have found a well suited family. Prior to writing up the lease I had met with them and they had some very random questions. Me being a rookie and eager to seal my first deal, I am now worried they may have read me too well and used that to my advantage. First, the father wants to move a small 8x6 shed that is in the "middle" of a rebuild onto the property. though my lot is only .31acres, i do have enough room for it next to my current shed, or even in their separate driveway, does this sound like the beginning of a horror story ? The major concern of mine is that though I originally specified that rent was due the 1st of every month, they asked if they could make it the first Friday of every month, and of course I caved. Did I just set myself up for future issues? Though we spoke of this in person, should I still keep it in the lease agreement as the 1st of every month... is that even legal? 

[Kristina Heimstaedt]

@Drew LaVallee It's important to remember that some people learn that it doesn't hurt to ask. I think it's important to not be offended or feel like you need to cater to your tenant. In the future, I recommend slowing down the conversation and asking why. That will serve two functions. 

One, it will put the burden on the tenant to explain or try to sell you on changing your original expectations. For instance, if you had stopped and asked why your tenant wanted to pay on the first Friday of the month you might find that it works better for when your tenant gets paid. Or you might find that they just pay all of their bills on the first Friday of the month. Either way, you get to learn a little bit about the intent of the request. 

Second, it will slow things down. More often than not, time is valuable for the sake of a negotiating process no matter what is being negotiated. I like to be cognizant of this and typically recommend to my clients that they sleep on it in order to think through all the hypothetical scenarios that they can think of. 

All of this can be tough to remember when it's your first rental. When you only have the one rental, it's probably a little easier to be flexible because you aren't trying to remember who is on what schedule. I have one client in particular who says that you don't want to need to remember anything. Not only do you not want to waste resources on attempting to remember, but it is also more conducive to scaling your portfolio. Can you imagine trying to keep track of 25 different pay schedules and amounts? Whether it's your goal or not, I'd recommend looking at potential changes that way. It will help you to make decisions and to be confident telling tenants that your decision is based on how you operate in contrast to flexing to your tenants concerns.