All Forum Posts by: Timmi Ryerson

Congrats and welcome to Bigger Pockets.  I wish you the best in your endeavor.

We use Smart Property Systems.  It is not free but all of the accounting is done for us and that saves huge amounts of time.  Like other processors, it takes 24 hours for credit and debit cards and 3 business days for ACH.  That is because the bank waits to approve the payment for that amount of time, and no other reason.  I looked at Cozy but they do not support a lot of the features I need.  Our tenants are very happy with their portals that track their payments, allows them to contact us and they can see their statements and account balances.  We just plan for the 3 day delay.

I spent many years managing myself and personally collecting rent checks.  Now I use Smart Property Systems to collect rent through an on line portal. My tenants pay on time and I love it.  As far as the 1099, that is for payment to owners if you manage for someone else or your vendors whom you pay for repairs and maintenance.  You are required by law to send  1099 to the government, and to the vendors if you have payments of $600 or more in a calendar year.  The 1099 is not given to you for rents you receive.  But you are required to file a Schedule E in the US every year showing the total rents you received, the expenses you had against those  rents and your subsequent profit or loss.  My software provides me with that data so all I do is print it out and give it to may tax accountant.  I get my rents paid on time and my data is automated.  I think that is pretty cool.

In my experience, when there are pests that invade after the tenant has been there for some time (in your case, 6 months) and there had not been a previous infestation, that there is probably some food source readily available..like scraps on the floor or food stored on the floor or shelves which is not protected.  Maybe there are kids who miss the garbage can or bucket under the sink.  So I would explore that with the tenant.  But I would not back down from the terms of the lease.  It is just like letting a tenant pay late without charging a late fee.  Once you do it, you will find it hard to go back and they will feel entitled to pay late if need be.  I would do the following:  Give notice of an inspection.  Inspect for open food sources for mice or rats. Discuss these issues with the tenant. Give the tenant the name of a pest inspector/remover you trust and leave it up to her to make the call.  I would also put photos and a memorandum in the tenant file, just in case.

If you are worried about section 8 you can always call the account manager for that tenant and explain the situation.  Sometimes the will even assist to help make the tenant more desirable when it comes to renewal of the lease.

David Grimson:  I have watched how Property Meld has set this up for subscribers.  The vendor has a calendar with a time frame built in that is shown to the tenant.  The tenant chooses the time frame.  It is then up to them to make the connection.  I liked that format but I have heard from some users that it turned out to be a nightmare in follow through.  So I would expect that it depends on how dependable your vendor is as well as your tenant.  It is not a perfect world out there.  I am working on a solution for this issue now and will let you know if I find one that is better.  Our goal is to automate and save the investor or manager time.

I have been in this business for many years.  In the old days, I would show up with the vendor and if the tenant was not present, let them in to do the repair.  This did not violate tenant privacy because they had been sent a notification and had picked the time themselves at lease 48 hours ahead of the actual time scheduled.  It worked every time but was time consuming for me.  Then I added into the lease agreement that if the tenant chose a time for repair and was not there at the appointed time that a flat fee of $250 would be charged and considered rent.  That worked almost 100% of the time.  Now I am working on a way to have the vendor call the tenant and schedule the time, do the repair and take photos for proof of the repair.  I have not been using this long enough to make a recommendation yet.  But will post when I feel there is enough data to make a decision.

It sounds to me like you have no documentation from your management company at all.  You were not given a contract and you don't have copies of the lease agreement.  Yet you are getting many requests.  Is there a move in inspection signed by both the acting manager and the tenant?  I think it sounds like someone is taking advantage of you.  I would request an immediate meeting with the property management company and ask to see these docs as well as your contract with them.  Make copies of what you get.  If you did not sign a contract, you can fire them immediately.  You will need copies of the lease agreement and you need to gain possession of the security deposit.  Now find a good property management software that works for you.  With one unit it should cost around $15 to $20 per month.  Automate your rent collection and you will be set.  I recommend that you meet with the tenant and do an inspection of the premises.  Make notes as to the condition for comparison with the document on move in that you got from the PM.  If there was no move in inspection done, you must take this step.  If there is no instruction regarding maintenance management in the lease then you can add an addendum that includes that instruction and have the tenant sign the amendment.  It becomes part of the lease agreement.  Explain that you expect them to replace their own light bulbs, show them how to reattach window screens and how to change furnace filters.  You can provide a new furnace filter yearly for them to install.  That will certainly solve your problem and maybe get you a happier tenant as well.

I think that there are several kinds of people who buy investment real estate.  Some do so for retirement security. (sell the properties for profit and retire)  Some do it for a business.  So just want to diversify their investment portfolio.  In each group the owners will want differing levels of personal involvement.  That is what you need to decide. I have done this property management thing both ways.  I managed for myself and then had a disastrous experience hiring a property management company.  They stole me blind. (That is before software was available for people to use for property management.).

Now with that being said, with one or two units that are close to your home you may choose to manage for yourself and save the monthly fee.  If you do I highly recommend that you invest in software.  I use Smart Property Systems.  For 2 units I would pay about $21 per month and have almost all repetitive tasks required in property management automated.  That means rent collection and accounting for rent collection, advertising for vacancies, tenant screening, lease management etc., would all be automated. It makes you look good.

The other thing is that there is a learning curve when you first start doing this job.  So read some best practice books about how to do it.  Your first aha moment is that you need to do something different than just planning a meeting with a prospect and then not having them show up.  I think you are missing some vetting steps here.  You can pm me and I will elaborate as it is too long to post here.  But basically start with thinking about how the prospect saw your vacancy.  How did they contact you and how much information did you get from them when making the appointment.  There are several ways to avoid no shows at showings.  I will share them.

Welcome and good luck with your investing.

In my leases, I have a clause in the repair section that says that if there is a repair scheduled and the tenant is notified and does not show up, the tenant is charged the vendor trip fee. or $150 whichever is more. I have the tenant(s) initial that paragraph.  I have never had an issue with tenants not being present.