Rent collection suggestions?

[Charlotte Chew]

Ive had my town home rented out since March and this is my first experience being a landlord. I did screening through Zillow Rental Manager and got my rental agreement from BP. Ive picked up rent several times in cash or money orders. Electronic payments would definitely be easier for me so tenants requested to pay through Venmo this month then requested to go through Cash app instead. I think I need to revisit what the rental agreement says and stick to that because I feel we're going down a slippery slope. I initially went with a property management company but they didnt get a tenant in very quickly and I'd have no cash flow with property management so I decided to manage it myself for now. There's been some complaints with tenants being loud and having too many people at the pool but they seem to do better once I reminded them about rental agreement and HOA rules. Please let me know what advice you have and effective methods of collecting rent. Thank you!

[Kenny Dahill]

Hi @Charlotte Chew,

You have several options, I'll do my best to explain the pro's and con's.

• Free Apps:  I typically advise fellow landlords to make it easiest on the tenants to pay rent.  This could include Zelle, PayPal, Venmo, etc.  It is fairly straightforward and only PayPal will cost you.  The downside is when you start to get several rentals, then it becomes confusing about which tenants are paying which way.  Plus you will need to provide certain personal information like your email or account name.  For a single unit landlord, it's not bad.
• Landlord Software:  There are several software companies out there who provide rent collection; some free and others charge memberships.  These would include Burbz, Cozy, Tenant Cloud, Turbo Tenant, etc.  They all essentially do the same functions and charge for the same 'side features' like background screenings, rental estimates, legal documents.  The positive is you have a centralized place for all your rentals and it is one additional layer between you and your tenants.  There are more benefits as well besides just rent collection, helps you optimize your management systems.  The downside is tenants have to pay online whether it's through ACH or credit/debit card; no money orders or cash.

If you let the tenants pay by cash make sure you are protecting yourself.  Physically and financially.  Physically should be obvious since you'll be face-to-face with the tenants, most PM/landlords advise against picking up in person.  Regarding financially, you need proof they did or did not pay you in the events you ever go to court.  It's important you use a receipt system to hold for your records.