All Forum Posts by: David Stumpf

@Spencer Joseph gradually increase the rent every six months but stagger them so unit 1 increases in January, unit 2 increases in April, unit 1 again in July, unit 2 in October. Doing it this way reduces the possibility of both units vacating at the same time. Removing the tenants will probably require some sort of renovations and money lost though vacancy. It will take 3 months of rent with the additional 650 to make up for each month of vacancy. Let them know up front that you plan on raising rents gradually until they are at market rate and let them stay until it they decide to leave.

i forgot to mention I did not really expect a PM to actually pay rent from their pocket if they wanted to keep the late fee.  It was more of A Modest Proposal solution meant to be satirical, but it is interesting that someone does have a PM that does that.

@Cindy Meyer Thanks for letting me know Fantasy Island exists! :p

@James Wise  I was not implying that PMs are not worth paying.  On Tenant turnover a PM can place a tenant faster and deal with the phone calls and headaches that a LL wants nothing to do with. There are 2 reasons why I would not allow the PM to keep late fees in @Michinori Kaneko's case.

1. The PM changed the terms of the contract without notifying him.  They just sent him a new contract and, luckily being a prudent person, reads it and that's how he found out of the change.  This is not comparable to the rent increase someone suggested because as a LL we give 30/60/90 day notices before an increase; not showing up with a new lease with changes to price and terms without notifying the tenant and hoping they blindly sign it without noticing.  I believe it to be dishonest and poor business.

2. While PM do work hard and deserve recognition for the amount of work they do, I think that keeping the whole 5% late fee I charge is overpaying for the service preformed.  Before anyone gets upset, here is how I got to that conclusion:

My system for self managing and late fees

• -Rent is due on the 1st, If not paid an email is automatically sent at midnight (no time or effort on my part)
• -If not received by the 5th, a 5% late fee is added, another automatic email sent, also a Payment Reminder letter sent.  My all my letters are sent up as PDFs that auto fill by importing information from an excel rent roll spreadsheet. The total time to open the letter, auto fill, print, sign, place in a pre-addressed envelope, and stamp is less then 3 mins. I just timed it to make sure.  A phone call and/or text to the tenant is made (5 mins to listen to their excuse and reply with "I'm sorry to hear that but the rent must be paid).  Also note that the vast majority or late rents are collected after this step (total time as of the 5th, 8 mins.)
• -If not received by the 10th, a pay or quit notice is sent 1st class and certified, 3 mins in the form, additional 2 mins to print addresses on a certified receipt and return receipt.  Also another phone call (5 mins).  (total time as of the 10th, 18 mins)
• -Rarely if ever is rent paid if not paid by this step and usually goes to eviction which, if the PM handles, should charge additional for.  Also I would be willing to pay additional for postings at the property if it goes that far.  

I would expect a professional PM to be at least as efficient, but I will round up from 18 mins to 30 mins for costs like stamps, certified costs, time to walk to the mail box.  My 5 % late fee is an average of $75.  That would equate to paying someone $150/hour to send 3 letters and make 2 phone calls  I also consider that it often takes less work and that additional work rarely produces results.

I'm constantly trying to learn so if there is something I am missing, please let me know.  This is what BP is about, hearing arguments from all sides to learn and improve as an individual and as an industry.

@Michinori Kaneko The only way I would allow them to keep the late fee is if they agree to front the rent for the tenant in the event they are ever late in the rent. If the PM wants to pay me out of their pocket to make sure I don't get paid late then sure, they can keep the late fee when they do collect. I don't see that happening though.

That sounds about right.  The house I have for rent currently has about 35 inquiries by phone/text and 45 by email.  So far I have only 7 applications (just less than 10%).  This doesn't include FB inquiries.  Also, I do require applications before showings which I'm sure slightly decreases my application numbers.  The couple I do lose due to not wanting to complete the application first is worth it compared wasting my time with every tire kicker that sees the ad.  Out of the 7 applicants, 3 passed initial screening, 2 of those didn't want to move for nearly two months, so out of ~80 applicants I have one I am currently screening.

@Frank Spalt PM sent

@Caleb L.   The only required fields are name, date of birth, and phone number.  The rest is optional.  The rest is my personal preferance: 

There is no "reason for moving" question. Most of the time the reason is BS but every once in a while you get the honest "being kicked out"

I require 5 years of address history on my application because previous landlords tend to be a more accurate reference rather than current landlords.  Cozy application recommends 2 year rental history. 

I like to ask for the employment address.  Sometimes when verifying that the applicant does not list his friend as a manager, I will to look up a phone number for a company. It would be impossible for a company that has multiple addresses.

I prefer to ask if they have any animals rather then pets.

The reference section is completely useless IMO. If an applicant can not find 2 people to say something nice about them, there will most likely be another reason to disqualify them.  It is a waste of time to contact anybody who is not a landlord or employer for a reference.

Possible Solutions:

Allow users to select required fields.  If there is no more info then name, phone, and DOB, I don't even need to look at it.

Allow users to make simple edits to the questions

Create a application setup for users. For Example: "How many years of rental history is required?" the application automatically requires retail history dates beginning at or before this date

Ways to improve even farther:

applicants able to upload ID, Pay stubs, etc. with applications

@Caleb L. I would like a better application from cozy. That's really the only thing keeping me tethered to erentpayment since their application is editable and I can ask the questions i would like

Pretty much.  There are as many or more bad contractors as there are good contractors out there.  You really have to be careful you don't pay too much too early in the job to help prevent being ripped off. 

Have the tenants complete an estoppel agreement.