All Forum Posts by: Tim Miller

@Dwight Cook Raising rents to market overnight, be prepared to rehab the units because most will bolt at the first chances they get. Before you raise any rents, double check with some local investors. Because I can't imagine NY not having a limit on how much you can raise rent in a single year. If you really need to get the rents up, I'd start with the 2 at $630. Give them notice that as of Jan. 1, 2022 (or Feb.) rent will increase by $50.00 to $680.00. The one for $470, tell them rent is going up to $550.00 in the same time frame. Same with the $400 tenant, give them notice now that at the end of the lease, rents going up to $450. Depending on the laws, you may be able to raise rents every 6 months. But just let the tenants know this is the plan going forward.

The other option is to clear out one of the lower 2 tenants, rehab the unit and get market rates. Repeat with the other one after the lease ends. Good luck!

@Maritza McKinney Congratulations!!! Former Cozy user and loved it! We tried Avail and they didn't work for us. Tenants complained it wasn't easy to use or that it wouldn't collect their funds fast enough from their accounts. (go figure). Another issue, if a tenant receives a late fee. They cannot simply pay the total amount due. They have to pay that months rent and go back and pay the late fee.

We have tested a few other platforms and are leaning towards Innago. It's straight forward, easy to use and for the tenants, they can sign in with their Google or Facebook account.

My best advise is to research about 5 or 6 platforms, see what might fit you best. Then pick the top 2 or 3 and test them out. That will let you know which one will work best for you. Good luck!

@Jeffrey Stein My best advise is to look through a number of platforms and pick 2 or 3 that look like they'll fit for you. Than signup and test them out, this way you'll figure out which one is best for you.

Like others, I used Cozy but Apartments.com is not for me. We switched to Avail in July and it's not working for us. One problem with Avail, if a tenant has a late fee added to their account. They cannot simply pay the total amount due, meaning rent and late fee together. They have to pay the rent invoice and them come back and make another payment for the late fee. There's about 3 or 4 more issues with Avail that is making us switch.

We have been testing Tenant Cloud & Innago.

Tenant Cloud isn't seamless, you have their platform and then you have to signup to Dwolla in order to receive ACH payments. A few other things we didn't like, so we ended out test of Tenant Cloud. The one good thing is, you don't have to accept credit card payments. Having this choice is great.

Innago, so far so good. Easy tenant signup, no other service to sign up to use them. Late fees, Utilities charges all can be put on one invoice for the tenant to pay. As well providing a Credit to the tenants account is very easy to do.

Everyone is going to love their platform, you need to test a few to see what you will love. Good Luck.

@Mike Malyy Yes, this is two different issues. What the current administration is wanting, is the your bank will report to the IRS any money received in your account over $600 or $10,000.

What Apartments.com is doing, is required by the IRS and has been for decades. Example: you hire someone to mow your lawn. You pay them $25 a week and they mow it for 26 weeks. You just now paid this person $650.00 and you need to send them a 1099.

Since Apartments.com is own by CoStar Group, they have to follow these requirements more than a smaller company like Cozy use to be.

We had a similar issue, a tenant was renting a 2 bdrm apartment and he got married. Lets just say, she wasn't of the highest caliper. Our screening process rejected her but we tried a 2 months probation with them on a new lease they signed. Short story, they are no longer our tenants. She was trouble starting week 2. I would hold to your screening standards, she doesn't qualify, she doesn't move in. Let him go and move on, it'll be less headaches.

@Joe Splitrock Thanks Joe, my main issue is the 5+ Business Days for rent payment to be deposited to my account. None of my tenants money is getting to my account in less than 5 business days. Avail.co charges you $5.00 for next day and than they have a ton of excuses as to why it couldn't process for next day. If your tenant receive any other charge (late fee, water bill etc...) they can not make one single payment for the total amount due. They have to process their rental payment first and then process the other charge separately.

I've used Cozy for years and never had an issue with them. My tenants never had any issues. But Apartment.com 5+ business days to get rent payments doesn't work for me. Is there any rental payment app that is just as convenient to use for both the landlord and tenant?

Please don't suggest Avail.co their system isn't worth it. I've already gave it a trial run with a tenant and the tenant & I both had more issues in 3 months than I had in 5 years with Cozy.

@Herbert Lewis most likely when you sign the contract with a 30-day settlement oh, you'll need to provide a 30-day eviction notice. Only then will you be able to file for eviction in district court.

You can call the local district court and they will tell you which form you need.

@Christian Allen Insde would be your problem to a point but outside, all bets are off. Tell your tenant you're sorry this happened to her but there is nothing you can or could have done to prevented this. If she doesn't like that answer, tell her to give you her move out date and find a new tenant. You don't have to deal with her attitude! Good luck!

@Scott M. REALLY?! I get why each location needs to be flexible but they could have some standard across the country.