April Rent Collection at 100%

[Anthony Wick]

We chose to not reach out to our tenants ahead of time to ask or offer economic relief. We felt alerting all tenants to a relief plan before they even decided they needed it would not be in our best interests. We did have a plan and policy in place to work with tenants if they could not pay rent in full by April 1. Our plan included requiring proof of lost wages, suggestions for gov't assistance, and possibly a payment plan over the life of the lease to catch up on rent. Our plan does not include free rent, or discounted rent. 

With the gov't announcing $1,200 per person payments, $500 per child, and expanded unemployment benefits, we believed all tenants should still be prioritizing their rents, immediately after food. Food, shelter, everything else. 

While we do not have 100 units or 1,000 units like some, I went on record stating a blind discount across the board just didn't make good business sense. Many have chosen to go that route, and if that works for your business, great. I'm just pleased what we chose to do has worked, for at least the month of April, with zero loss of revenue. 

[JD Martin]

So far I am at about 75%. But I'm not terribly worried because the other 25% are people that always pay at the last second, so I expect them to come in tomorrow. In any case, I 100% agree with your strategy. Deal with it on a case by case basis rather than a blanket "here's what we'll do". I've worked in public service long enough to know that if/when you do that, you will have some people working the margins because they feel they've been given permission to do so. 

A story I tell sometimes: years ago one of our local utilities had their water main wash away in a hurricane. No one knew this, except the water resources director and staff, myself, and a few other outsiders. All storage tanks were full and dropping normally. Late that afternoon the mayor held a press conference and revealed to the public what had happened and that repairs would take several days. Within hours, all storage tanks were drained dry by everyone in the city filling every water vessel they had.