Rents - Yep, it's still a process
At the risk of repeating myself...
October 1 - no rents... Actually, I don't know if that is true or not because I was in the back of beyond, no phone, no 'puter, and certainly no access to the post office. Planned to be home by the 4th so wasn't too worried about getting someone to pick up the rents.
For those of you keeping track while you laugh... there should be 8 rents...
October 4th - three rents (3) Two are from tenants I screened and placed. One is from my only Section 8 tenant who is terrified I'm going to drop her.
October 5th - no rents
October 6th - one rent (4)
Had my twin two-year-old grandchildren for the week so chose not to go postal over the weekend.
October 7th - one rent, (5) one text saying rent had been mailed but was late, posted two tenants (I'm not proud of this for reasons I'm about to divulge)
October 7th - get very irritated phone call from one posted tenant reminding me she paid double rent last month. Ooops. (6) It's the first time she's been on time and my brain couldn't process it evidently. I apologize profusely. Not for the first time I remind myself I need a tablet or tablet computer so I can be portable with a rent ledger. "In my head" is no longer good enough for two companies and a total of 29 units.
October 8th - no rent
October 9th - no rent and getting crabby
October 10th - no rent but get a text from posted tenant swearing she sent it on the 5th. Sends copies of money order receipts.
October 11th - get rent from posted tenant. (7) Same zip code as P.O. Box, postmark shows it took 6 days to deliver. I need a drop box.
October 12th - grandbabies gone, texting tenant's rent has not arrived, post him too.
October 13th and 14th - no rent, no mail
October 15th, text final tenant asking about rent. He still says he paid it. I can tell from the other one that the post office really did take forever to deliver... Final rent arrives,(8) postmark shows was mailed the day I posted him. Imagine that.
I can hardly wait until my last two units are remodeled and rented so I can have 20% more fun collecting the rents.
Comments (14)
Well November is coming up soon and then you'll have yet another story to tell. :) Maybe go with the Kindergarten approach with a leader board. Put up a board with 8 boxes -- one for each unit. Every time someone is on-time for rent, put a gold star in their box.
Dawn Anastasi, over 10 years ago
Rob K and @shaun reilly, that is true in both cases. Yes they could but thus far they don't and the PO box is about a mile away... deliberately located proximate to the properties.
Deborah Burian, over 10 years ago
If your rents go to a post office box, your tenant can go to the post office, purchase a money order from the government, and hand it to the postal clerk and ask them to place it in your box. They will still need an envelope and stamp, but it won't go through the whole mail process of sorting machine, etc. There will be no excuse of lost in the mail and it goes in right then, not the next day.
Rob K., over 10 years ago
That is a pretty good idea. Though it is limited in that the tenant would have to go to the same post office that your box is. She mentioned things were in the same ZIP so that could work, but if it isn't densely populated her box and the nearest post office might be a bit farther away.
Shaun Reilly, over 10 years ago
If your rents go to a post office box, your tenant can go to the post office, purchase a money order from the government, and hand it to the postal clerk and ask them to place it in your box. They will still need an envelope and stamp, but it won't go through the whole mail process of sorting machine, etc. There will be no excuse of lost in the mail and it goes in right then, not the next day.
Rob K., over 10 years ago
I'm living it and it cracks me up. The 3% rule is helping me maintain my sense of humor here.
Deborah Burian, over 10 years ago
I still love this play by play. I guess you have to be a landlord in order to truly enjoy it!
Dawn Anastasi, over 10 years ago
No, it'll be a drive-by appraisal & will be property based vs an income assessment. Exterior lipstick is worth more on the appraisal at this point .
Deborah Burian, over 10 years ago
James Wise - I am looking into methods of automation and my tenants seem interested... Post Office is starting to seem so old school. Dawn Anastasi - that's exactly what I'm talking about. The bulk of the units are on a 'campus', I have a shop there with a steel door and I'm thinking of adding a safe-style lock box and a mail slot in the door. Shaun Reilly - that's kind of the 64$ question. One of them (where Mr. Deadbeat moved) should be a quick turnaround and I expect to start showing next week. The other is a major renovation and since I spent all my money on foundation repairs, I'm waiting for the cash-out refi to get back to work on it. Also, we have very short windows of time for exterior painting here and I'm going to get some painting done while I can.
Deborah Burian, over 10 years ago
Does not having that unit rented going to impact the ability and/or amount of the refinance?
Shaun Reilly, over 10 years ago
Hey this is the method I use. It works out pretty well for me.I open up a seperate bank account for all properties. I encourage folks to use online banking but for the less tech savy I give them deposit slips & bags from the bank. I use a bank that has branches everywhere in my area. Tenants just drop the bag in the most convienant night deposit & I check it online. No headache at all.
James Wise, over 10 years ago
If this is local, can you put up a locked mailbox where they can drop the rents?
Dawn Anastasi, over 10 years ago
Oh and I am generally a supporter of the USPS but that is pretty bad!
Shaun Reilly, over 10 years ago
When do you expect to have the other 2 units ready to go so you can get the extra fun going? :)
Shaun Reilly, over 10 years ago