All Forum Posts by: Megan Greathouse

@Chris Winslow ... I live and invest in St. Louis. It's a great city, but we have flat population and a few other drawbacks. I don't know Omaha, but you should visit city-data.com. You can collect plenty of info from this site regarding population trends, job growth, crime, etc.

Thanks, all. I agree with many of your sentiments about the tenants' responsibility to pay. To be clear, I do NOT pick up cash. And I won't. These two particular tenants are older, inherited tenants who don't have bank accounts, but they have always been good about paying rent when I used a property management company. However, now that I'm moving to self-management, I need an option for them to pay at a physical location (like a gas station or convenience store) that will allow me to get their rent without going to collect it myself.

I don't plan to take on new tenants who can't pay online, but I also don't feel the need to kick these tenants out tomorrow. They have been there a while, pay their rent, and I have other units turning over now... so I need to focus on those turnovers first!

I appreciate everyone's feedback. If anyone knows of a MoneyGram or PayNearMe type option that actually works for someone with only a couple of cash-paying tenants, let me know. I know these options exist, but so far I've found I'm too small to use the services.

@Kahla Henry ... definitely think about what kind of processes and systems you need to scale this into a viable business. I would recommend looking into some free, online CRMs to help organize your efforts and ensure you're actually following up with leads. Marketing and lead generation doesn't take you very far if you don't have the follow-up and follow-through.

@Michael Novak I own three small multfamily buildings in STL, and pay one water bill per building. I'm sure you could consider RUBS, but it would be different from what most landlords do, and therefore might be a downside for potential tenants. In St. Louis City, it's common for landlords to cover water/trash (which come on a single bill) and sewer. Tenants generally just pay gas and electric.

Welcome, @Jeremy Francis! If you're looking for REI networking events in the area, check this one out:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/718033-st-louis-rei-happy-hour

Our next meeting of the St. Louis REI Happy Hour, presented by True Title Company, will be on June 27th from 5 - 8pm in the 1942 Room of the Pat Connolly Tavern (in Dogtown).

This is a laid-back, networking-focused event that allows investors of all experience levels to engage with other like-minded individuals in the area. Connect, share, and learn with others who are active in the St. Louis real estate scene!

Thanks to all our sponsors, we will have appetizers, domestic beers and house wines available for our attendees. (Shout out to True Title Company, Banjak & Associates, Flat Branch Home Loans, Mogul Realty, and the Eric Brand Agency for Shelter Insurance!) Additional food and beverage options will also be available for purchase.

For more information about the event, our sponsors, etc. please visit stlreihappyhour.strikingly.com

- The St. Louis REI Happy Hour team

Megan Greathouse

@Dre Scott

@Naveen C Reddy

@Donald S.

@Ken Latchers... the idea is definitely to spend time there each year! And we'll let close family and friends use it free, provided they send us feedback on how things are going while they're there.

Thanks, @Rachel Foster... if I'm already using a a property management system, could I use Tellus just for cash payments? I just got set up with TenantCloud, so I'd prefer not to switch altogether. But if Tellus has a way to allow cash paying tenants to pay at physical locations, I'd be interested in that feature alone!

Hey, all. I've searched the forums on this topic, but everything I've seen seems to be outdated at this point, so I'll bring up the question again...

I am transitioning to self-managing my 8 units. Of those units, I have just two tenants who pay in cash. I definitely don't want to pick up cash, and I'd prefer not to deal with them sending payment through the mail (and the excuses that could come with that). I did consider having them deposit directly to my bank, but I think it's a bit far away for them.

SO... I've been looking at various PayNearMe options. Most of the ones I've seen referenced on older forum posts, such as PayNearMe, PayLease, etc. don't work with smaller investors. They seem to want you to have 100+ units paying with cash before they'll let you use their services. OR, the options I could pay for are far too expensive to justify when I only have two tenants paying rent with cash.

The only option I've found that makes sense so far is MoneyGram... they have locations near my units where the tenants can pay with cash. However, I still have to go pick up the payment from a MoneyGram location near me.

Have I missed any potential options? I use TenantCloud as my online property management portal with my tenants. If anyone has other ideas, I'd appreciate it!

Has anyone bought places to hold as AirBnB in Europe? I'm looking to go in on a vacation home in Italy with my sister. We don't even need it to make that much money... if it covers the ongoing costs of us having a vacation home in Italy, we're happy.

That being said, I know there's SO much to learn about investing abroad. Taxes, local laws, getting to know the risks inherent to the local economy, agebuilding a team despite language barriers (our Italian is a work in progress), age of the structures there, management from afar, and SO much more. The town we're looking at is trying to attract more tourism and is therefore very friendly to AirBnBs, so that should help.

I would REALLY appreciate connecting with others who have invested abroad. Thanks in advance!