General Landlording & Rental Properties
Market News & Data
General Info
Real Estate Strategies
Landlording & Rental Properties
Real Estate Professionals
Financial, Tax, & Legal
Real Estate Classifieds
Reviews & Feedback
Updated almost 5 years ago, 01/28/2020
Rent collection suggestions?
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!
@Charlotte Chew, I really like using Cash. I don't have to visit the tenant and they dont have to make a trip to bank. Plus, I have an electronic record that they paid the rent.
@Charlotte Chew
We require tenants to complete an application through Cozy.co. We then verify their info... as in, we actually call EVERY. SINGLE. Referral, employer, landlord. We look these people up on social media site to make sure they are real . We do our job.
The rent is then collected (via auto draft), then distributed to us by Cozy. We don’t get payment until the 10th but we always get payment.
@Marcos Paulo Cerra
Cozy is also good because it can keep a communication trail for maintenance requests too. When they call or email with a problem, we ask the tenant to send the request through Cozy so our team can respond appropriately... we never tell them we (the two of us) are the team.
@Sunday Nguyen @Charlotte Chew
I do something similar, but rather than giving them full account no, I just give them last 3 digits. I use a local bank that fills in the rest so that the tenant doesn't have my full bank account no. I also provide tenants deposit slips already filled in except for date. It includes their address so that I can tell who made the deposit (I get a image cooy of deposit slip online). It works great!
I just started using Zelle with my tenant this week because we were both tired of having to hand deliver rent. It worked great but took 3 days to clear. If they bank with the same bank you do, it should be in your account immediately.
#3 Buying & Selling Real Estate Contributor
- Rental Property Investor
- Grand Prairie, TX
- 2,643
- Votes |
- 2,176
- Posts
#3 Buying & Selling Real Estate Contributor
- Rental Property Investor
- Grand Prairie, TX
Venmo works great for me for two of my properties. Some pay cash, cashiers checks and also PayPal. Never had a problem with any method!
I'm surprised Tenant Cloud hasn't been mentioned much? It's a free to start, but you can upgrade and get more tools. But, it's worth the monthly subscription fee.
They have a lot of more tools than Cozy like a dashboard, contacts (were you input a contractors information, that way you can send them the maintenance requests, free listings website, accounting, team tools, and more. The team tool is super helpful if you have a lot of properties. It allows you to share your account with your property manager or employees that handle tasks for you. You can also assign a task to some one, and prevent them from seeing stuff on your account like the transactions page and others.
Cozy's good. But, Tenant Cloud has more tools that's worth paying for. I will start with Cozy, but I'm going to eventually go to Tenant Cloud.
Hi @Charlotte Chew, I use Cozy.co. Its free (unless you want to pay for faster payment) and you can store all of your docs (rental agreement, disclosures, etc) on the site, along with maintenance requests to and from your tenant which is really nice! Best of luck!!
@Charlotte Chew
I have had success explicitly stating in the lease to send the rent check to my P.O. box. Its convenient for me since the post office is on my way home from work. I have a specific section in the lease that I highlight when signing just so my tenants know where the rent needs to go to. There's also a statement that there is a $25.00 return check fee for anyone who will write a bad check.
@Charlotte Chew I use cozy and so far it's been great! I would highly advise against using cash as a form of payment!
I heard renttrack was good , also helps renters build credit , it’s a win win.
@Charlotte Chew ask the tenant to start using one of the methods mentioned above. On a go forward basis, make sure you update your lease and this tenants renewal (if you renew them) to specifically state how and when you should be paid rent. Have an attorney review if you make changes to the lease.
If they don’t meet follow the guidelines in the lease, don’t hesitate to charge late fees. Be strict and consistent.
@Charlotte Chew simply have them make direct deposit to your bank, send a photo of the receipt simple. We use Chase, there on every corner OR, ZELL, cash app, pay pal, etc, ,,,,,
Good Luck
Cozy is your best friend for this, it`s a free outstanding platform. Been using it for a while now.
@Charlotte Chew PayNearMe is a great alternative for those who don't have the ability to transfer money with an app... It allows them to pay cash at any 7-11 and the funds are deposited directly to your bank account.
@Charlotte Chew I use Venmo it’s free for all to use. I have it in my leases that rent is to be paid by Venmo. It’s super easy which reduces frictions between you and the tenant paying you. Kind of like when you set up amazon to remember your credit card then you make a bunch of purchases. Any questions lmk!
@Charlotte chew
We use Zillow and Cozy.co
I’ll be happy to help and answer any questions!
Happy Tuesday
I use Tellus rental app -- it's also free like the other solutions here but the tenants really like it because it gives them rent notifications and the autopay is an option that they can turn on or not. Also they use it for bill splitting amongst themselves I believe
It has a lot of cool features in it, like expense tracking, tenant communication all of it helps me be a better landlord and keep things organized.
If you're looking for a great mobile solution, highly suggest Tellus.