All Forum Posts by: Jennifer H.

Husband and I don't agree on whether or not we charge a late fee for the first time rent is due, let me know what you guys think.

We just had a lady move in on Feb 1st and this March 1st is the first time rent is due on the 1st. We required her to pay us via electronic transfer and have practiced the timing of it with her from her application fee and initial deposit. It takes about 3 days for the rent to deposit into our account from the day she initiates it so if she wanted rent to be paid on time, we should have already seen the first email letting us know she has initiated a deposit. We have not seen that yet so this is why I'm going to guess she is going to be late on her rent.

Today is Sat March.1st and still no email with deposit initiation. In the lease it states rent is due on the first. It's considered late on the 3rd and grounds for default on the 5th. When Monday comes it will be the March 3rd and I was saying if she doesn't pay by Monday night then we charge her the 10% late fee. My husband doesn't agree and says we should give her until Wed, the 5th.

I see his point where he doesn't want to get off on the wrong foot with the tenant since it's the first month of her paying rent and she's an brand new tenant. My point is, the lease says rent is due on the 1st late on the 3rd so I want it either on or before the first like the lease says and what we agreed on. I don't want this to continue happening and set the precedence that we don't enforce what is written in the lease and then have her think this is the way it is and she can do that in the future too with rent or other items. What do you guys think? Is there a way to remind her nicely rent is due on 1st and late on 3rd and we can kick your *** out of the house after the 5th?

Husband thinks first month we should give her more leeway since its the first time she is paying the full amount of rent electronically and then start implementing the 2nd month.

I say we practiced the electronic deposit already and she saw how long it takes for it to clear into our account so she should have her crap in order to pay first month's rent.

Here's the lease wording.
Tenant shall pay to Landlord a lease payment of $1200 per month on the first (1st of each month. Tenant will pay the monthly rent on or before the first day of each month during this Lease. Weekends and holidays do not delay or excuse Tenant’s obligation to timely pay rent.

LATE PAYMENTS. Tenant shall pay a late charge equal to 10% of amount owed for each payment that is not received by the third (3rd) of each month. Failure to pay any installment of rent, or additional fee when due is a default under this Lease.

If not paid within five (5) days after written notice by Landlord of non-payment and of intention to terminate this Lease, the Landlord may terminate this Lease, and unpaid rent for the entire remaining Lease Term shall become immediately due and payable.

James, the rent is currently 1275/month.

@Joe Fairless thanks. I emailed Person A back with a list of questions and also asked her to explain her judgements. She replied back with "what judgements"? After I then responded with the specific details and then all of a sudden she remembered. She told me one was personal and how she didn't see eye to eye with that lady. And the other one should never have gotten on her record because she paid the apartments before they went to court and she called the apartments and they admitted it was a mistake. At this point I think I can reject her and give her the reason is because she has had past judgements right? Even if one was a "mistake" and the other one is not related to renting and was personal? When you send a rejection letter do you say why or just have that generic "Adverse Tenant Reaction" letter and checkbox something on the list like "past judgements"?

I think I will go with the person with the awful 510 credit score. She says it's all her xhusband from the divorce but who really knows. She did sound like a nice lady who is an xmilitary wife that just finished up with a divorce and trying to reestablish her credit on her own. She has been responding to all my messages and requests in a timely manner and even typed her application. She is willing to pay an extra security deposit on top of the 1 month's security deposit so I guess we'll see. She also agreed to auto debit from her bank account to ours every month so hopefully that will help her from paying rent late. :/ Called her apartment complex today they said she paid on time never late and no issues so far. Before that she lived in the house with her husband which was foreclosed on. She actually said the apartment complex lowered her rent because she was such a good tenant. (You guys ever heard of that?)

I think IF she works out she would be renting for a looong time because she has a foreclosure as well as a crap 510 credit score. And she has a friend in the same complex so she won't be alone. Also it's only her staying at the place - her kids are grown and so there would probably be less wear and tear on the house. That's what I'm betting on anyway....and hopefully she will pay the rent!

Monday I am going to call her employer to validate her pay and then....I guess we'll see if a lease is signed and I get my monies! I'll keep you guys updated on what actually ends up happening! ahhh :) Scary and exciting.

BTW thanks everyone. This is great. Bigger pockets is almost like....a club of some sorts and you guys are my friends who are taking the time out to listen to my problems and give advice and sooth my anxieties even though I have never met any of you. :) <3

510 only has 2 years of renting at this one place. Before that she was in two houses with her husband that she got a divorce from and the most recent one they were foreclosed on.

Person A has been working at Philip Morris USA from 2006 till now. Makes 5000/month.

Person B has been working at her current job for 1 year, previous job for 5 months, and the job before that for 2 years. Makes 4004/month.

Didn't call their non relative references yet. They listed their friends so I'm pretty sure their friends are going to just say whatever they think I want to hear.

Today I was so happy to get a tenant who got a score of 700 and smart move told me to ACCEPT her! I was thinking FINALLY this is over! But then after reviewing her credit closer I saw she has

• 3 judgements and 1 of them is from an apartment complex in Town on 2009.
• 2 collections in 2009 and 2013. Both paid off/settled.
• Do see something weird her credit report came back with two POBox addresses. Not sure why she would have that.
• DTI is 39%.
• Seems to have a ton of student loan debt outstanding.
• Works two jobs.
• Reason to move: broke up with fiance her and daughter moving out.

Then I got this other lady:

• 510 credit score. She says it's from her divorce in 2011 however in 2012 and 2013 I see late payments of 30 and 60 days on her credit for her joint car payment on an account that she listed on her application that she pays / month.
• She also has collections on her credit that she said stems from her divorce. I see 5 creditors going after her
• She seemed nice. Her friend lives in the neighborhood and told her about the place and it would just be her living there. Kids are grown.
• Says she has rented for 2 years and had has never paid rent late and lives a quiet life.
• Her income seems more borderline like she'd be pretty tight paying her bills. We calculated DTI like 50%. But she said she was getting a raise in Jan.
• Gut feel seems nice but credit report seems scary they forclosed on their house too but she said it's from her divorce and her husband wouldn't sign papers to try to get a short sale.
• Reason for moving: wants to be closer to her job. right now commute is 90miles.

Which one would you guys pick? Or deny them both? :(

@Fran Flanagan

I like the idea of compromise of putting at least utilities in their name at beg. of Feb. The sad thing is, they negotiated so hard and then in the end they haven't given me their application yet! Bahh! Lol. Hopefully I get some more bites next week. There is another unit nearby who is renting for 1250 but they don't have a washer dryer. I am renting for 1275 so I guess we'll see. :( When do you guys think I should lower the rent if I still don't have someone in by? Here's my ad:

@Alex Anderson i was about to say i would start doing that but then as I was responding I saw @Patrick L.'s response and he does have a good point.

I will tell him I'd be willing to start the lease on Feb. 10th as long as his application and everything passes and the lease is signed. And until then keep showing the house until I get a lease signed with security deposit and first month's rent in my bank.

He asked me to meet him halfway because his lease ends Feb 28th. I think it's a good sign that they are looking and planning ahead of time vs someone who wants to move in ASAP. And hopefully they will be responsible tenants as well. Responsible people would secure a place sooner and have their ducks in a row well before their lease ends. I am thinking I don't want any of the people who are in the OMG NEED PLACE ASAP now category.

@Bill S. 99 cent rent in jan. sounded like a good idea initially to get some people interested however that still makes me lose the month of Jan's rent vs starting the rent in Feb for this couple that seem very responsible. I am getting calls but I had to turn away a lot of people due to them not meeting our min. credit score. A lot of them have very bad credit and one of my phone screening questions is: "Do you have good credit?" And some of them tell me they have some issues...so then I tell them our min. credit score is 650.

Do I need to tell them that? I'm not sure what to say when I ask the question and then they respond that they have had some issues in the past.

I got a few different quotes. One big company wanted to charge me 375.

I also called a little guy and he said he would only charge 175. So...going with the little guy...hopefully it doesn't start leaking again.

Little guy's solution was to pull the window away from the wall caulk it, then put some rubber flashing tape over the top of the window. He didn't remove all the siding on the sides just the top and put flashing up at the top.

I will cross my fingers it doesn't happen again. :/

Hi I closed on a house in mid December and was trying to rent the place out by Jan. 1st. It's 12/27 and all the work needed is done and it's move in ready. I have had multiple showings but have found no suitable tenants except one guy who said he would rent it if I let him start the lease on Feb. 10th instead.

He seems qualified, wife is studying to be a doctor.

What would you guys do? I don't have any other applicants interested right now so I was considering it. :/ But the downside is i would lose a month and 10 days of rent. But i could lose even more if I say no and he doesn't want it and I don't 'find someone else....