All Forum Posts by: Matt A.

@Aaron Taniguchi - "to each his own" is what initially comes to mind. It really depends on YOUR individual circumstances. You didn't specify details (such as 'is the tenant living next door')....

So Ill take a stab. IF they lived next door and this is your first property, I guess "in person" collections might work. If its across town I would personally suggest some form of electronic collection. THen again, how big are you planning on growing (again unspecified).

Cozy is a decent offering - it works well for a size of one up to mid-sized operations... then again, I switched providers at 10 units as I had outgrown cozy. I believe Zillow is now in the game as well. Both are "free" with some caveats (it takes 3-5 banking days to get paid), however you've got "proof" the rent was in fact paid. I had previously used ErentPayment, however that WAS a paid service - and after their implosion last fall I would NOT recommend them.

THere are also options like zelle and other P2P apps that you can transfer monies... something to consider for a single unit, but then again its not going to scale with your business.

Id say it really comes down to asking WHAT do you PLAN to aspire to, and how much of an investment do you need/want to make in systems at this point? Id personally steer you towards cozy - Im guessing that it will be a good fit for just getting started

@Sean Vitale - Im not saying they aren't out there... I was close on a couple of them in the last 12 months... Both were VERY heavy lifts however and would have had $150k+ rehab budgets. That said, if one comes up Im game to potentially partner if you find it.  I have several agents that I work with and run numbers on at least 5-10 potential deals every day. THe market is tough at the moment, and folks are asking ridiculous (at least ridiculous in MY opinion) prices for utter crap!

You're going to have to get an idea of exactly what your want to do, meaning just buy-hold, BRRRR, etc. I personally look for and buy heavy value-add stuff... keep in mind that most of what the Valley offers in that area can be challenging. Its all the hidden stuff behind the paint that your NOT seeing that will cost a small fortune if you don't know what your looking at. Be happy to chat over coffee sometime. PM me and we can chat further.

Same for LinkedIN, Facebook, etc. 

Seems I get several requests every day that go unanswered on many platforms. My montra, "If I don't know ya, delete. If I dont have SOME type of dialogue with you, delete"

I had just started to migrate my portfolio to Rentec Direct when this announcement hit. I began using cozy after erent imploded and really liked the functionality of erent. Cozy wasn't quite as sophisticated, but did the trick for the last year. I did find the 5 day turn to be an annoyance, but was not willing to pay for express payments (3 day turn) as they still weren't up to the level that erent provided.

Being on Rentec now I REALLY like the system, especially for what value they provide for what Im paying. Screening is very fast and complete - I can elect to accept CC and set the convenience fee (I do charge a tad above costs), and I find its pretty easy to reconcile a tenants payment via "serial number" or transaction ID reported to the bank with both Rentec accounting AND quickbooks - albeit Quickbooks is still manual for me (you can export from Rentec to Quickbooks via CSV... havent got that far along yet.

We literally just completed several rehabs (meaning LOTS of expense), so seeing rents come in quickly and accurately is a relief for a change! As for Cozy... Ive got nothing but good things to say, they are responsive and good at their niche. We just simply outgrew them sooner than I anticipated.

@Simon W. - THAT has got to be the understatement of the year (or what little is left of it)!

I've come across two this year, both grossly over-priced and so much deferred maintenance that I would have considered one a tear-down.  That said, Im buying duplexes and rehabbing them... the numbers still work but they are HARD to find. I buy them cash... if anyone finds something Im all ears!

I just leased two separate 1BR units, Oct 15 and Nov 15th (arguable a tougher time of the year), both at ABOVE MARKET rents. You'll get the right person, just be prepared to show it a LOT.

Both mine were total rehabs - and they showed great. Both are in 100+ year old buildings (duplexes in fact). I took a lot of heat in several online forums for my asking price.... and in the end Ive got two great tenants that are respecting our properties, paying rent (on time too), have JOBS, and a credit profile that indicates they will actually be able to afford AND continue to PAY.

It takes time - dropping your price will open the doors to more marginal candidates... screen as usual (consistent too). It will get filled as long as your not really out of line on your ask.

I went through a similar situation with one of our tenants... and (hopefully) just resolved it. Bottom line is husband & wife and for 6 of the last 10 months rent was late (late enough to generate a late fee). They paid it but I had to continually get on the phone and hound them for rent.

I went to sit with her a couple weeks ago to see how we might be able to help. Turns out she pays the rent, HE pays the other bills (his income is more sporadic). Where she was having issues was "saving" enough to make the payment... so we worked out a schedule for the next 52 weeks to pay 'every other' week half of the rent (there are a couple of "skips" in here if you sit down with a calendar) when she gets paid. Bringing along a copy of their accounting to show they have paid $600 in late fees puts it in perspective as well. The net is we put it in writing for her, and she is agreeable to paying this way IN ADVANCE, some cases many weeks in advance too!

As I just implemented it we can only wait to see how this works, however we did setup the ACH transfer in our system (I just switched from Cozy to Rentec Direct) and have begun the process... so money is coming in as scheduled.

I thought about the eviction route as well (they have been with us for 3 years now - relatively quiet and stable), however in thinking through the costs of just the make-ready its not worth the hassle... new carpet, paint... an month of vacancy. They are at market rent, so I cannot complain there. Its probably worth your investment in an hour or so to spend time and figure out what the issue is. It may be solvable. If not, then you can always turn towards removing the problem (or tenant)... however Id take that as a last course of action - eviction is expensive enough, and you sure dont want the place torn up if they get pi$$ed at you.

@Ana Marie B. Have to agree on that point. I just migrated to Rentec Direct as I pretty much had enough of “free”.... 5 business days for payment, no real management features (such as COMPLETE capture of info from prospects to tenants to auto lease generation (using DocuSign’s engine). For what express payments cost I’m getting one heck of a platform for 35 bucks at this point. I suspect I’ll look to move again in a couple years, but do feel that we quickly outgrew what cozy had to offer. It was rock solid for us since erentpayment imploded however.

@Jim S.... that's what Property Management (and 24 hour emergency service) is for. I can see a couple of our tenants stumbling in at 2:30 and "forgot" their keys at the bar... better than a DUI (at least they can pay rent if they aren't incarcerated), but Im sure as hell not answering the phone in the wee hours! (exactly why I use phone.com and set the "do not disturb" from 8pm to 7am.... you MUST got to 24 hour emergency service, which is an external line to our PM's 24 hour line. :-)

I just left Home Depot after making a set of keys for a new tenant - and it looks like they have a new service... mykeyhero.com

While this looks interesting, Ive also changed all my locks to kwikset "smart key"... guess in some limited circumstances it could be useful such as a lockout (I do charge $70 just to show up - or send PM for this), and more to physically change the locks if required. Has anyone had any experiences (good, bad, indifferent) with this or similar services? Wondering if its really worth the hassle to manage yet another app and the management of another database of stuff for "convenience"