All Forum Posts by: Joshua R.

@Sheila Campbell

As mentioned below have you explored VA options as a way around the 0% down? I know you mentioned family is not an option for you, but partnerships are a great way to also finance deals. Consider talking with your close friends and try putting together a pitch. Also, since you already own your primary residence have you considered house hacking (i.e. renting out one of the rooms in your primary residence)? This can help to generate some cash flow that you can put towards your next property.

Stay positive, be creative and always try to problem solve. You will get there!

@Nathan Simons

Automatic rent payments may be a helpful tool for this tenant.

I use Cozy to setup automatic rent payments. It is a huge help with removing the stress of late payments. It's a free service as well. You can also get creative to offer more favorable rent payment terms to encourage your tenant to pay on time. For example if your tenant sets up automatic rent payments the ACH debit won't hit their account until the 5th. Just a thought let me know if this help!

@Alex Witte Welcome to BiggerPockets! Please feel free to reach out I am always interested in connecting. Happy Investing!

@Frank Pilipauskas How many rooms are in your condo? One option if you have more than one bedroom is to house hack the condo and rent the room to a roommate and free up some of your own cash while you continue to pay down the mortgage on your condo. How did you finance your condo? Would you ever consider partnering with someone? If you have the capital for a down payment and they have the credit, partnering is a great way to increase your chances of getting financing through a conventional lender. Happy investing

@Abraham Anderson Very inspiring! Congrats reaching your goal!

@Emily McCabe I had a similar situation happen to me. I would recommend just giving them a 5 day notice to pay the full rent amount or vacate. It is not worth the headache of trying to work with a tenant like that. You have already gotten multiple red flags about this person and their excuse for why they didn't have the rent for July is just foreshadowing what will come, if you continuing to rent to this person. If rents are currently under market, then you should not have very much difficulty filling the unit once the tenant is out.

@Parker Hewes Welcome to BP! Please let me know if I can be of assistance. I wish you all the best with your real estate journey. Happy Investing!

@Lee Brewer Your tenant should be able to provide you with the electronic receipt and images of the check being cashed if this is legitimate. I would go forward with the initial steps of eviction. This sounds like a nonsense excuse to not pay you the rent. You should consider setting up direct deposit for rent payments going forward for your tenants. 

@Eric Barnett Use should try Cozy's automatic rent collection tool. I use it for my rentals, it is very easy to setup. I give my tenants a 5 day grace period as an incentive to sign up for it. If they insist on paying by check, then the rent is due on the 1st and I enforce a hefty late fee if it is a day late. All of my tenants so far has been accepting of the automatic rent payments and collecting rent is stress free.

I currently use Cozy for my self managed triplex and have had a good experience.  @Chris Lemire is spot on regarding the automatic payments. Money is deposited into your account 5 business days after being collected from your tenant. You can pay to use other features but for being a free to use software they have everything you would need for a small operation.