All Forum Posts by: Kevin Powell

How does this work for units with multiple tenants? Do you require that one tenant makes one payment? From a convenience point of view I think tenants might balk at that.

I know that with Buildium released a feature that stops tenants and staff ability to accept payment if you set the lease to eviction pending. https://www.buildium.com/blog/feature-update-evict...

Buildium is more than just online rent collection obviously but from an automation standpoint it helps me automate rent collection, application fees/application process, tracking, tenant communication etc. I think I pay something like $800 a year for the service and like $.50 per online payment. I believe they are deposited within 2 days from payment receipt. 

Automation should be considered from a tenant point of view as well. Automating application means a lower application fee for tenants. Automatic rent payments, signing leases online, electronic communication, etc. Tenants want to save time as well and these systems help both parties. 

@Heidi Backer If these people are owner occupied were they sharing the garage before? How long has the other tenant lived there? If the other tenant isn't sharing that space I think $100 for both spots per month seems very fair.

I have 11 units in Minneapolis, 2 garage stalls, and 11 off street parking spots. The garage stalls are rented for $50/mo/stall to non tenants. There are renters where parking is a big deal and you will miss out on them. If you are only getting one response to advertising then you need to adjust something. Price, Format, Pictures, etc. There are a ton of renters out there and if you advertise well with good pictures at a fair price you will not have any issues.

I have something like 30 bedrooms overall and 11 parking spots, and I haven't had any vacancy in four years.

@Dominic Scheck We bought our 2nd one(triplex) with 15% down. We used Trustone Financial for this and I have a contact if you need one there.

Please add me to your list as well. [email protected]

@Robert Gilstrap what other technology are you using today? I work full time as an IT manager so I am obviously interested in Technology and the efficiency it creates. 

I have a property management software(Buildium) that think has helped improve systems already. I leverage cloud technology for document storage. I haven't integrated electronic signatures yet but at  a certain number of units meeting in person to sign leases won't make sense. 

What other Tech has helped your business?

@Steve Santacroce I am assuming you outsource maintenance to handymen. How did you find a partner? I have 11 units today and as I scale up I would love to outsource the maintenance requests to a trusted partner. Any tips or tricks you would mind sharing? 

@Alexis Scott I use Buildium today for my 11 units and find that it adds a lot of efficiency. I can collect rent online, screen my own tenants(without paper and checks), Send communications easily, and I can access everything from my phone. Brandon' Turner's  The Book on Managing Rental Properties: A Proven System for Finding, Screening, and Managing Tenants with Fewer Headaches and Maximum Profits might be a great read for you too. I took his processes and his forms and have integrated them into my processes.

@Jason Shamis I use electronic payments today for 11 doors and I haven't had anyone complain. There are so many efficiencies created from doing so that you can't not do it. You know at 12:01 on the first who has paid and who hasn't, can collect deposits online, etc. Kudos for you for doing so.

I haven't done electronic signatures for leases yet but that seems like a great idea as you create workflows with those and dump the signed document into a location where you know its supposed to be. 

Not to sound ageist but many people don't like things like Uber, Airbnb, etc. because they are to new and people are not use to that model. Hopefully the roll out went smooth and user adoption continues to become more positive. 

What technology have you implemented other than online payments? Digital keys, Nests, etc? 

That gets you to a 10% CoC return. With 15% you have mortgage insurance, how much is that a month as that will impact your numbers. Everything has to be perfect though.

If you have to justify a deal, it isn't really a deal. I think you can do better than that return personally.