All Forum Posts by: Jake Johnson

Does anyone have samples of postcards you send to owners that have had their property listed for awhile?  I am able to compile an owner list for my target areas easily.  So I am very interested in giving this strategy a try.

The only thing I can add to Kim's comment is that the property manager has until the end of January to file the 1099s.  They should be able to give you a timeline for when you should expect it. They also should have asked you for a W9 when you began your relationship. 

#1

I purchased my first lease from Nolo.  I have continued to tweak it over the years after reviewing other leases in the area.  You will have trial and error going this route.  It may be simpler to pay a real estate lawyer to draft one up for you, but it will cost some money.  You have to decide if you want to learn from experience or pay for it.

#2

I assume you are just starting out.  Once you get to a certain size, then you should definitely look at Buildium.  I love it.

Screening can be done through SmartMove as other have suggested.  I used it before switching over to Buildium.  Follow the BiggerPockets Guide to Tenant Screening and you can't go wrong.

#3

You can have the tenant do a transfer to your bank account if you both use the same bank.  In the early days, I would open an account at my tenant's bank just for simplicity.  Buildium has solved that problem for me now, I can accept direct payments for $.50.  I think there are a few smaller third party companies that let you accept payments for a fee.

#4

My local utility company has a "leave it on" program.  You register your property with them so whenever service is disconnected by the tenant, the utilities are switched over to my name without the normal connect fee.  The new tenant switches to their name when ready to move in.  Check with you utility company.

#5

Post your ads on Craigslist. That's all I ever did in the early days. Never had a problem finding a tenant.  Tell the tenants your minimum standards before showing the property.  Again refer to the BiggerPockets Guide to Tenant Screening and you can't go wrong.

3x income to rent
Clean background and rental history
Deposit $X

The security deposit is going to be dependent on the area.  I have some units that I charge $200, because that is the standard for that area.  Others I charge $1,000.

#6 

Verify Employment - call them
Verify Rental History - call them

Use a basic move in/move out checklist.
Require renters insurance.
Require proof of utility transfer.
Explain the lease thoroughly in person.
Define an emergency and set limits on when they can contact you outside of the normal maintenance request procedure.

I would steer clear of any free service.  Nothing is free.  Rentec may be a good solution, but looks like you will also have to pay $2 per ACH.  Don't forget to factor that in.  You will likely end up paying ($15/mo + (9*$2))*12 = $396/year

Buildium ACH is $.50/each.  If you pay in advance, then you get a discount to $432/year.

I consider any of these services as well worth the money for the convenience.  The ability to provide a tenant portal, accept payments online, and manage everything from a central software is well worth the money.

I have nine rental properties and I recently switched to Buildium.  I like it for a few reasons.

Pros:
Accept payments through EFT (or credit card but I don't allow that)
Online tenant portal 
Track all your leases and tenants easily
Communicate with tenants through email or snail mail easily
Setup late fees on a per lease basis or use a global setting
Customer service is excellent

Cons:
The accounting module could be better

@Lisa Wilson

You always hate to lose a good tenant, but guess what?  There are plenty more out there if you screen properly.  Personally there is no way I would lower rent by $100/mo.  I would take this opportunity to assess my rent on that property and see about INCREASING it.

Furthermore, two weeks to get it cleaned up???  Why not start marketing it before she is out?  I have that in my leases.  At the 60 day point before the end of the lease if the tenant is not going to renew, then I start marketing and showing the property.

Seems to me you are trying to talk yourself into keeping a tenant because she pays on time instead thinking about how to use this scenario to increase your income from the property.  Unless market conditions dictate a lower rent for that unit, don't do it.

As @Chuy Gonzalez said, the tenant should pay.  I always require proof of utilities transfer before handing over the key.

@Roberto Lebron  You have to check your state.  In Florida, you are only allowed to manage your own properties.  Only real estate brokers can setup property management companies for managing other peoples property.

@Andy Hughes I recently switched from SparkRent (they shut the doors on everyone starting this month) to Buildium.  I was able to switch over most of my tenants already and receive payments.  You can accept EFT or credit card, you choose how to let them pay.  Buildium is a huge step up from SparkRent and nicely fits the needs of my business which consists of nine properties with ten tenants.  Here is a list of my Pros and Cons so far:

• Customer Service is excellent (quick replies)
• Easily accept rent via EFT or CC 
• Online portal for tenants is nice and clean (share lease docs with them)
• Centralized email and regular mail (yes you can have them send letters in the mail $0.80/each. so awesome!)
• Centrally track all your properties and leases in one place (so wonderful)
  
  

Cons:

• I wish the accounting would allow you to expense things to a general account, the way the accounting in Buildium works you need to select a property for each expense.  Sometimes I have expenses that are relative to all properties, like buying an ozone generator.  I don't want to charge that to just one property, but to an Operations account.  I think I will end up adding another property called Operations for stuff like this.  I think in general the accounting portion of the software could be better, but it is good enough for me.