All Forum Posts by: Beth L.

@John Thedford we had to get a new roof for one of our duplexes. It actually cost us less to get the metal roof and it looks GREAT! It costs less because they don't have to take off the existing roof. They can reinforce any bad areas and install it right over the existing shingles. And it supposedly lasts longer. You may want to consider how it will look on the style of house you have. Ours looked great because it used to be a farm house. 

@Aaron Linden Yes, you can accept the deposit via Cozy, however, it may be best to accept the deposit with money orders or cash, so you know it is good and this will take your name out of the question. I always have the tenants give the deposit this way. Also, I usually take the deposit at lease signing so they are comfortable handing over the money. How are you doing the lease signing without having your company name set up yet? Who is the named property manager/landlord/owner being referenced in the lease?

Also, you mentioned "If a PM asked me to make a check out to them I would think it is pretty shady." This isn't the case at all! Many property managers handle all aspects of renting a unit and taking the deposit is one of them.

Congrats on getting your first tenants. I wish you the best!

@Julie Thevenow if the whole building is vacant, they should die off pretty quickly. You can try diatomaceous earth (aka DE). This powder kills fleas and is perfectly safe for humans, (unlike chemicals). You can buy a can with a rubber lid that when squeezed, poofs out this fine powder everywhere. When fleas (and all other bugs!) run through it, it breaks down their exoskeleton and removes the water from their body, and then they die. Sad for them but great for us! Here is a great article on it:

http://www.thebugsquad.com/fleas/diatomaceous-eart...

We like to put DE in all the cracks during a remodel, behind the outlet and switches before putting plates on, where the walls meet the floors before putting on the baseboard trim, and other areas to keep down the bug population for our tenants.

Sorry you have to deal with fleas...Hope you get rid of them quickly!

@Chris Eaker my tenants use Cozy to pay their rents and I always consider it paid once they initiate the payment. It is the same as handing me a check, just like Lucas mentioned. One of my tenants even has the payment initiate earlier than the 1st of the month so that it should be in my account by the 5th. (I never asked him to do that but it sure was nice of him.)

I really don't see the need to pay extra to get the funds a day or two sooner.

@David Sray I am in MD, so not sure if things are different for you, but you can check with the lawyer doing the closing. Our lawyer handled everything. He requested the copies of leases from the seller, totaled up what the deposits should be with accrued interest (we have to accrue interest and pay that back to the tenants upon move out here in MD), figured up the prorated rent for the month that was due to us, and then he automatically moved the security deposits and rents to us at closing from the sellers statement. It was then our responsibility to put those security deposit funds and rents in the appropriate accounts.

The seller was a little upset, since one of the tenants did not pay yet for the month, but I still got a prorated amount for the month since it was the landlords responsibility to collect that rent before closing.

So for us, it is not something that the seller had a choice in, or he gave us a check personally. Everything was handled by the lawyer. That made it a really easy transaction.

Probably depends on the area of the rental and what is typical for that area. I have a vacation rental in the Orlando area and my PM charges somewhat different than the others. He charges a flat monthly fee, does not charge for call-outs and takes a percentage of the income only if he places a booking (but that is rare). I place almost all the bookings and he takes care of the guests once they arrive. Others in the area charge a percentage of placed bookings and also for each call-out and other individual fees. So you may want to check around with PMs in your area.

Yeah I might be interested!

@Joe Splitrock you are right. I just checked with my bank. It used to take 10-14 days for a check to clear, depending on where the bank was. But now, if it is a local bank, they say it can take as quickly as 2 days. Yes, it will show as deposited funds in your account right away, however, they need to send the check to the originating bank and it could get withdrawn from your account if there are insufficient funds. So you don't really know if the check is good until about 2 business days later.

@Brewer Staub I use Cozy for a couple properties. Setting up my side of the account was super easy and the tenants had no problem as well. Funding times are typical but when it is pulled from their account, you know the funds are there. If you have to wait for a check to clear you would have to wait much longer, like 10 days. So this is even better than a check in hand, in my opinion.

Cozy is free for landlords and I have not had any issues with their payment services. In addition to setting up recurring monthly rent amounts,  you also have the option of adding credit or other one-time charges to their account (like utility bills). I have been happy with them. 

Some of my tenants even schedule the payment a few days early so that I get it before the grace period has ended. However, once I receive notice from Cozy that the funds are in process, I consider their rent paid. On what date it clears through my account is not relevant.

Yes, we actually have this clause written into the lease, that no business, including daycare is allowed at the rental unit.