One of my keys to success with my low-income tenants

[Derrick E.]

Hey guys, 

I haven't posted or been on here for a while. Like most of you, I have been very busy with my business as well as life. Just turned over one of my units and got some feedback from one of my tenants, which has lead to this post.

For those of you who haven't read any of my previous posts, I pay cash for most of my units, most are under $30k, but I do not live in a coastal area so $30k actually gets you a pretty nice place.

Anyways, I started doing something that most people would say is CRAZY. I actually offer to split up the rent of my tenants. That's right, I let them pay half the rent on the 1st and the other half on the 15th. This has made things so much easier on my tenants which has lead to very little turnover. This has allowed them to have some breathing room and to get more financially stable. I haven't had to evict a single tenant doing this, they always pay, and you wouldn't believe how grateful they are. 

If they make 2-3 times the amount of rent, like most of us require, then that first pay check of the month goes mostly (possibly all of it) to rent. This adds stress and makes it harder for them to get on their feet financially. Most are renters for a reason. They are not bad people, but they have not been properly educated on money management, or they possibly don't make enough money to manage, and live pay check to pay check. 

I know some of you will say its not our problem to worry about, and that's fine if you feel this way. This might not be for everyone, but this has been working great for me. Paying cash for my properties also means I do not have payments on my properties, which makes it easier for me to do this type of thing, so your situation might be different. 

Just thought I would share. See if anyone else does, or has done this. See what some of you thought about it, and possibly give you something to think about.

I hope this post finds all of you doing great in your business as well as life in general. 

[Derrick E.]

Thank you @Account Closed I wish I could take credit and say I was smart enough to come up with this. I just had a tenant who was always late and I could tell she was really struggling. Teacher's Aide, single mom, she was an excellent tenant in terms of taking care of the place etc. 

So I thought about it and just asked her if it would be easier for her to split up the rent. She was beyond excited. She was never late again and stayed with us for around 3 years. She was actually my very first tenant. 

It worked so great that a similar situation popped up with another tenant and I offered her the same deal. Same results with her and she is still renting from me today. After that I decided to just offer that option to them as long as they met all my other criteria. 

This tenant just moved out and was giving me a lot of insight about how much this helped him. He is moving to another city or would still be renting from me. He told me he never considered moving the whole time he was in my city as he knew he couldn't get anyone else to offer him this same deal. I'm going to continue doing this and see how it goes.