It's essentially Stessa partnered with a 3rd party bank where the rent payments are ACH-ed into and it is a high yielding account.

Birmingham is a very popular market, not sure if you're open on Florence and Muscle Shoals, Alabama where we manage.I would be more than glad to help you with insights... we won't just help you find an investment but we can also help you manage it. 

That dissuades people from paying cash and steers them to pay online using secure ACH transfers using apartments.com3.

I use apartments.com as a tenant portal and to manage secure ACH transfers for rent payments.

The tenant scheduled a ACH payment in the system and the system marked it as paid or pending or something like that in my view.

As long as both parties understand that they are both jointly and severally liable for the full rent they can pay how they want but my system still charges each tenant the full ACH fee and if any of the rent is late the entire late fee applies.

My aim is to not only profit financially but to gain in the process some intangible assets, such as project management skills, getting to know reliable professionals (i.e. realtors, contractors, designers, etc.) for the long-term, getting acquainted with the local market's promises and pitfalls, and basically adding some entrepreneurial muscle going into my next project.My strategy is to go small: find a second-hand apartment in a good location (I don't have enough funds for a GREAT location...); no more than 60-70 m2 (that's about 650-750 f2) to, among other things, lower renovation costs; 1-2 bedrooms, street facing and with a lift (if said apartment is above the second floor); with good bones, i.e., needs only partial renovation.

Huntsville is a very popular market (and there are short direct flights from DC too), but I would encourage you to take a look in Florence and Muscle Shoals, Alabama where we manage.If you are interested in the Shoals area, I can help you with insights regarding economic vibrancy, market dynamics, investment strategy, high-ranking public-school systems, etc... and a turn-key experience by helping you find an investment and managing it too.

Another option would be to hire some day laborers to help out.As I mentioned, the work doesn't require much technical skill (and there are probably lots of useful how-to articles and videos online), it just requires a lot of muscle and physical labor--it's a job where many hands make for lighter work.I'm in your area, so, after it's dried out, if you want me to come take a look and discuss the possible causes and solutions to prevent further flooding, dm me.

I was considering paying the ACH fee, which is only $1/transaction.