All Forum Posts by: Thomas Garza

I think I would require more proof before I spent several hundred dollars on an air quality test. Headaches can be caused by many things, including something as simple as missing your morning coffee. In essence, your tenant is asking you to spend hundreds of dollars on his friend's hunch that something might be wrong. 

As far as the basement musty smell, I would recommend adding a moisture absorbing product down there to help eliminate the excess humidity. You can get products like DampRid's 4 lb Hi-Capacity Moisture Absorber for $10 at Home Depot.

Hope this helps. 




 

Wells Fargo offers HELOCs on investment properties with up to a 60% of LTV. They are offering me a variable rate of 1.25 points over prime which is currently something like 6.25%.

(****UPDATE) I have taken some of your suggestions and modified my schedule. Some of the changes I made include sending the first reminder sooner (4 days before due), sending fewer total reminders (from 9 by the 9th to 5 by the 10th), and delaying the 3 day notice by 1 day and filing for eviction by 2 days. As I previously mentioned, I also hope to automate as many of these steps as possible, even if it means I have to write my own software to do it. 

Let me know if you have any more ideas for how I can improve this schedule.

• September 27, 2019 at 8:00 AM
  • Send a reminder to the tenant that the rent is due soon and include payment options
• October 1, 2019 at 8:00 AM
  • If the rent has been paid, send a thank you message and stop this process
  • If the rent has not been paid, send a reminder to the tenant
• October 2, 2019 – October 3, 2019 at 8:00 AM
  • If the rent has been paid, send a thank you message and stop this process
• October 4, 2019 at 8:00 AM
  • If the rent has been paid, send a thank you message and stop this process
  • If the rent has not been paid
    • Add a $35 late fee to the rent
    • Inform the tenant of their new balance
• October 5, 2019 at 8:00 AM
  • If the rent has been paid, send a thank you message and stop this process
  • If the rent has not been paid
    • Add a $10 fee to the rent
    • Send a 3-day notice to vacate
    • Send a payment schedule showing how much is due if paid October 5 – October 10
• October 6, 2019 – October 9, 2019 at 8:00 AM
  • If total due has been paid, send a thank you message and stop this process
  • If the rent has not been paid add a $10 late fee to the rent
• October 10, 2019 at 8:00 AM
  • If total due has been paid, send a thank you message and stop this process
  • If the total due has not been paid
    • File an eviction
    • Add a $10 late fee to the rent
    • Add a fee for court costs to the rent
    • Send an updated payment schedule showing how much is due if paid October 10 – October 17
• October 11, 2019 – Eviction Court Hearing, at 8:00 AM
  • If total due has been paid
    • Send a thank you message
    • Stop the eviction
    • Stop this process
  • If the total due has not been paid add a $10 late fee to the rent

Hello @Nathan Gesner, thanks for taking the time to respond. I 100% agree that a tenant should be capable of remembering when their rent is due. I also agree that performing this process manually cannot scale. Luckily, I am a software developer and my plan is to write a little program to handle this for me so that it runs smoothly and automatically every month. Just out of curiosity, what software do you use to send your notices/reminders automatically? 

With that said, you probably have a point that a tenant doesn't need 9 reminders by the 9th of the month. I will take another look at it and see if some of the reminders can be removed.

In regards to the thank you message, I disagree that it would be a waste of time. We minimize our costs greatly when we manage to keep tenants happy and in place for multiple lease renewals. Since this process can also be automated, it is really a small gesture that has the potential to positively impact your business with literally zero ongoing maintenance requirements. 

Thanks for your feedback @Rick Pozos. I completely agree that we should move the first reminder back a couple days. One of the payment options is a mailed check, so I want to get far enough out that the tenant can get me the check on the first, even if they wait until they get my reminder to mail it. 

I think I got the idea for the 3 day notice from one of the podcasts. The idea is that when signing the lease you inform your tenants about the process so that they know it is just part of the workflow (in an attempt to not ruffle their feather), while also providing you the most expedited eviction as possible if they end up not paying. Historically, I have given my tenants way too much grace when it comes to paying their rent late, and it has left me vulnerable to tenants who have taken advantage of me. 

Thanks @Brooke Noth! I learned about Cozy from this site a couple years ago, and I have used them ever since. I currently use them purely for rent collection, but I plan to explore their other services in the near future and see if any of them can be incorporated into my processes to help me run more efficiently. 

I finished listening to episode 343 (Using Checklists and Systems to Get More Done in Less Time with Pilot/Investor Steve Rozenberg) earlier this morning, and I am now motivated to improve my business processes. We only own two rental properties and thus far we have put very little focus on the property management aspect of being a landlord, instead generally opting to be reactive instead of proactive. 

Below I have included my first draft of our new rent collection process. I used the upcoming month to model it and I will work on making it more generic in the future. I hope to automate many of these steps in the future, but for now all of this will be completed manually. If you have any feedback on things I should add or remove from this process, please feel free to let me know. I would love any feedback you are willing to provide. 

• September 30, 2019 at 8:00 AM
  • Send a reminder to the tenant that the rent is due tomorrow.
• October 2, 2019 at 8:00 AM
  • If the rent has been paid, send a thank you message and stop this process
    
• October 3, 2019 at 8:00 AM
  • If the rent has been paid, send a thank you message and stop this process
  • If the rent has not been paid, send a reminder to the tenant
• October 4, 2019 at 8:00 AM
  • If the rent has been paid, send a thank you message and stop this process
  • If the rent has not been paid
    • Add a $35 late fee to the rent
    • Send a 3-day notice to vacate
    • Send a reminder to the tenant informing them of their new balance
• October 5, 2019 – October 7, 2019 at 8:00 AM
  • If total due has been paid, send a thank you message and stop this process
  • If the rent has not been paid
    • Add a $10 late fee to the rent
    • Send a reminder to the tenant informing them of their new balance
• October 8, 2019 at 8:00 AM
  • If total due has been paid, send a thank you message and stop this process
  • If the total due has not been paid
    • Add a $10 late fee to the rent
    • File an eviction
    • Add a fee for court costs to the rent
• October 9, 2019 – Eviction Court Hearing, at 8:00 AM
  • If total due has been paid, send a thank you message and stop this process
  • If the total due has not been paid
    • Add a $10 late fee to the rent
    • Send a reminder to the tenant informing them of their new balance

It was my understanding that the security deposit was to be returned, minus any unpaid rent and damages. I would have assumed that since the tenant owed 7k for rent, you would subtract the security deposit, then add damages, and send him/her a bill for the total. Why would you send them a bill for 7k + damages? 

I am a week away from finishing a complete remodel on our second rental property. I posted a for rent sign a few weeks ago, and as I expected (seemingly due to the time of year), I have had very little traffic. 

Today I showed the property to a few guys who are interested in renting the house for themselves and their work buddies. Specifically, they are interested in having 8 men live in the 4 bedroom 2 bath house. In addition, they are also interested in a shorter lease (6 months) because they are not sure how long their current job will last. I got the impression that they migrate around from job to job, living out of motels or short term house rentals for the duration of each opportunity. 

Everything in me says that this is a bad idea, but I don't exactly know why. I thought that I could double the deposit to hedge my risk, and I could increase the rent to make up for the fact that the property could be vacant in 6 months. I could put it in the lease that I will perform biweekly inspections of the house, and of course I would require ever person living there to be on the lease. 

Has anyone had any experience with something like this? 

My wife and I are 60% done with a full remodel on our second rental property. Most of the Sheetrock has been hung, and the contractor is starting to prepare for tape, float, and texture. I am trying to determine if one style of texture is better than another. The things I am evaluating it on are:

1) Durability

2) Ability to hide small tenant damage (nail holes, small dents, ...)

3) Visual appeal

Any feedback would be appreciated.