All Forum Posts by: Margie Kohlhaas

Looking for an affordable 2 bedroom bungalow? Only $55k! Move-In ready! This house would make a great rental or starter house! Has newer furnace, windows & insulation. Hardwood floors & trim are refinished and add charm to this house.

Address: 404 Maple, Burt IA 50522

My realtor's information is on this listing:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/404-Maple-St-Burt-IA-5052...

@Brian Berry - How does this work @ Tax time? Is it just like reporting stocks or is it a headache for your accountant to track these investments?

@Justin - what fees are you paying to use the business version of Venmo?

Thanks for all the responses. I have decided not to use Zelle or Venmo for now. Cash & checks are ideal for my business. I found this article which was helpful in making my decision: https://getborderless.com/5-re...

@Dmitriy P. - Your solution sounds ideal. I have been manually switching the AC/Heat on this unit.

@Patrick M.

Yes - I have multiple tenants that pay this way out of convenience. I’m not thrilled about having to pay these fees to receive their rent money. Do you know of any other easy ways to pay rent without fees for the owner or tenant?

@Filmon Michael

I had a tenant give me 6 months rent upfront from their tax return. The rest of the year it was like squeezing lemons. They had no money and no place to go. Always had lots of sob stories. We finally had to evict and lost about a month of rent in the end.

@Carolyn Fuller

I only collect from 6 tenants so Venmo (the free option) has worked well for me.

I have a triplex rental and two of the units have connected utilities. The guy in the middle unit can't figure out how to run his manual Honeywell thermostat. He either leaves it on Heat or Cool but doesn't understand how to change temp. Both of the units pay for their own WI-FI. Is there an easy way, I can install a Nest or something that I can remotely program or access myself to manage their heating/cooling settings without having to tie the system into their WIFI? Tenants typically stay a year or two so I don't want the system tied into their WIFI if I can avoid it. 

@Luckas Zupan: I cashed out of CA real estate and took my profits to the midwest. I'm in Iowa now and have multiple rental units. I'm now working on my first flip so we'll see how that turns out.