Teach me on being a slumlord

Jokes aside....

Sit down and do math.

If the house is paid off take a step back and notice how much you would have made giving that same amount to a good financial guy. Factor in you didn't have to fix anything or use any of your time.

Time is worth more than money as you get older.

I gave 80% of my weekly pay to the market when Corona started.

I'm sitting pretty now. Should have put every nickle in my name on amazon.

 

Question about online payment service to collect rents - what is the preferred service? Any cons to using such services?

 

Honestly, Covid has been beneficial for me and my renters. Unemployment checks and government rental assistance kept my rents all paid up no problem. Waiting to get more on this next round.

 

I have had two evictions this year, one was a tenant that refused to vacate at the expiration of the lease, and that one was pretty straightforward, normal timeline. The second was for non payment of rent, and at the last minute, she got some funds from the City from the Covid relief fund, so we dropped the case.

If they want to use the Covid defense, they are supposed to try and pay rent, make partial payments, and send a form letter from the CDC at the outset. Since they usually don't do that, theoretically the eviction should go through. However neither me nor my Real Estate Attorney has had an eviction taken to completion for non payment of rent, so we don't know what will really happen.

On the one we did have, the Sherriff was dragging their ass a little more than usual, they took over 3 weeks to show up for the actual put-out.

@ClemsonsR6 what is the payment system you use? Do they charge 3% like the CC processing companies do?

 

Mudda fuckka!!! The property I was trying to buy yesterday, I lost out on......urgh! I really wanted that property too.

Anyway......

I use eRentPayment's. They charge a fee, I think it's $5 per transaction. You can choose to cover that payment, split the cost of that payment with your tenant, or make your tenant's pay for it. I have my tenant's cover the fee. I chose them because they are one of the few online rent payment places that will report the rent payments to the credit agencies, thus helping your tenants build better credit.

I have all my properties set up and tied to individual bank accounts. I get a notice every time the tenants make a payment and they send reminder e-mail's based off dates I set. The tenant's can also setup auto-drafts.

 

I only own one rental and it's in a military town, right outside an Army base. This is probably the single best market to be in. There is never a shortage of qualified renters so it's never on the market long. As long as you hold up your end of the bargain as landlord, they will re-up their lease. They move enough so they dont want to deal with the hassle of moving if it's not necessary, so you're guaranteed a decent tenant for 2-5 years on average.

Military pays service members an "allowance" specifically for their housing costs, so the renter, theoretically, should never be late. They also don't allow service members to stiff folks on their bills, so if they mess around, a phonecall to their unit leadership will get you paid lickety split. I've been renting this one for about 4 years now with zero issues, and plan to purchase more, specifically around military bases.