Now that banks process checks electronically (your physical check no longer goes anywhere once it reaches the bank), I would think rates would come down.Picking payments up may work if you have few renters.

@Marisa Rowe  its generally the tenant base not the PM's  and this is something that many from OZ could not fathom.IE many tenants in the us have no bank accounts and will never have them and cant get them legally.. too many bounced checks. whereas in OZ banking is all electronic  think of the whole country getting payments like landlords get section 8 here.its all auto matic and happens on a specific day.. simply not the same in the US>  PMs in my mind are far underpaid for what they have to do especially in the C D class.. 

Put efficiencies in place to simplify what it takes to manage them yourself (use dropbox/google drive, set up electronic payments, pull together all financials in an easy to summarize format, etc.).  

Another benefit of Citi Costco is additional 2 year warranty on electronics and appliances.I do have Citi master card for 2% cash back on everything.Discover for quarterly 5% Cash backAmex for specific benefits and 3% cash back in departmental stores and a few other cards depending on their benefits.

I give tenants the option to use whatever platform they'd like to pay rent as long as it's electronic and I don't incur a fee.

I basically avoid having to deal with them electronically, but I still collect and dispose of them offline.

I think the first logical upgrade is the lighting and creating electronic and trackable access.  

Be prepared for them to only have electronic payment too.

The biggest thing for STR is having reliable cleaning crew, everything else is electronic and can be done remote.

Would going through one of those electronic notary platforms allow me the ability to say I do business in X state?