All Forum Posts by: Nicole Heasley Beitenman

We just hosted a wonderful tenant from Furnished Finder. She submitted her credit/background check and all payments via Keycheck. I never met her as the key was exchanged via lockbox. But it did occur to me that a totally different person could have been in my house than the one I approved. How do you verify that the person you issued a lease to is the person who actually moves in? Do you check ID somehow or just assume the risk since it's probably pretty minimal?

Quote from @Colleen F.:

As for the CVV code. I have a walmart account and did not put my cvv in under the stored information, not sure if it would go through anyway but I so rarely order from them. I also use to freeze a credit card for a relative when it got to a certain limit. It was easy with discover.  The card is there but they can't charge on it because it won't go through.   Autopays would go through though. Not sure what they would do if you kept it frozen for a long time but I was able to freeze for like 6 months at one point. 

 I love this idea! Thank you!

Quote from @Jamie Banks:

I've thought about offering grocery delivery. My plan was to have the tenant fill out a sheet of what they want and then someone from my team would buy the grocerieries and coordinate delivery. I've even thought of getting the groceries delivered, having someone from my team receive them to place in the unit before the guest arrives. 

In both scenarios I would just charge a fee on top of the total grocery bill. I decided not to pursue this though, at least not yet. But it's a service we're rolling out in 2024. 

Let me know how it goes! I'll probably pass on the service if I have to do that much manually myself. Maybe if I had a larger portfolio and didn't have small babies, but not now.

Quote from @Theresa Harris:

I agree with Colleen. Not everyone wants to shop at Walmart and most tenants wouldn't want to be forced into signing up for it.  Let them know Walmart delivers and they can decide what they want to do.

They don't have to sign up for anything. We already have the account set up. We just have to give them access and make sure they can't use our credit card to buy groceries. 

Quote from @Colleen F.:

I suggest that you just leave a note that walmart delivers to the area and let them set up their own account. 

If they set up their own account, they'd have to pay for the service. You can't have individual accounts under the same subscription. And they don't always ask for the CVV, so that wouldn't work. I do like the idea of a low-balance card! 

We want to follow Jesse Vasquez's advice and offer Walmart+ grocery delivery to our MTR tenants. We just can't figure out the logistics of access to the account and adding/removing payment information. Here's our thoughts:

-Create an e-mail address specific to the property that's linked to that Walmart+ account 

-Give them 48 hours from move-in to go into Walmart+ and add their credit card 

-Once they tell me they added their credit card, I go in and remove mine (Walmart+ requires a valid credit card on file. I can't delete mine until they add theirs)

-Upon move out, I go in and add my card, delete theirs, and change the password to the Walmart account and e-mail account

-Include lease language that changing the Walmart+ and/or e-mail account passwords is grounds for automatic termination of the lease (still have to verify with an attorney that would even be enforceable) 

The process is clunky, but I can't think of any way to make it smoother. Any additional thoughts or advice?

I've also found success renting on Zillow, though it isn't built for MTRs or STRs. You need to make it very clear in the description that you aren't a traditional LTR. 

My business partner is very anti-pet. Fortunately we've had plenty of demand while disallowing pets, but I've bookmarked this post should we have to relax our policies. A couch cover is a great idea.

Do you still have those messages? I'd reach out to the representative who sent them and ask who you can speak to within their organization.

If you have the cash to cover the reno, I'd do a 0% interest credit card and divvy up the payments so you pay it off by the end of the 0% interest period. That way your bank account doesn't take a huge hit all at once, and you avoid paying any interest on the purchases.