Coaching Tenants Through Unemployment

Real estate investors need to help tenants navigate unemployment as soon as possible. Investors have had to learn how to respond and mitigate losses during the current economic conditions due to the stay at home orders across the country.

Top 3 Items To Obtain From Tenants: 1) Is their unemployment indefinite or temporary; 2) Have they received the IRS relief check; and 3) Have they filed for unemployment to assist with living expenses?

If unemployment is not temporary, ask what their plan is to obtain gainful employment and if you can help. If they have not received their relief check by April 15th, encourage them to visit irs.gov to check on the status. Multiple sources have stated that online unemployment applications are processed more slowly than applications via mail. Also, apps like Donotpay are offering free assistance with unemployment applications that your tenants can use.

Using these strategies can help mitigate losses while providing relief for valued tenants.

It is important to educate tenants with inability to pay rent due to the virus. Create an easy secure form for tenants to fill out to learn about their situation. If their inability to pay is directly related, create a payment schedule that is fair to both parties and coach them through the process.