Real Estate Agent · Long Island NY · Member since 2017 · 89 posts · 33 votes
Hello BP!
Can anyone explain to me their process of getting rent from their tenants? Do you mail a bill to each one of your tenants with the balance due for the next month's rent (including any late charges etc.) Or do you just simply tell your tenants to send in the rent by the 1st of the month and leave it at that?
Also is there anyone who uses bill paying software to allow their tenants to pay the rent online? If so, please let me know what software you use and how it has worked for you. (alsohow much is costs)
I am under contract for my first property and am trying to get my systems into place beforehand. Thank you for any and all responses!
I use TenantCloud for all the same things and that has worked well for me. It also keeps track of all tenants applications, lease agreements, maintenance requests, etc
Your going to want to sign up for cozy. I love it. You can advertise your house and collect rent for free. Your renter can pay free if they pay by bank account, however if they pay with a credit card they pay. You can also send them bills for other events if you want. You need to automate everything you do as a land lord to make your life easier and cozy does that.
I'll agree with @michael Mullins. Cozy is the way to go.
They set up a monthly payment for rent. You can then bill additional fees/utilities, etc as needed.
I wouldn't try to do it manually, there's really no reason to.
I've heard Cozy can be very slow with getting payments to you. Have you found this to be true or have they gotten better? What things do you wish Cozy could do better? Thank you!
I use TenantCloud for all the same things and that has worked well for me. It also keeps track of all tenants applications, lease agreements, maintenance requests, etc
Cozy only holds the payment for 3 days and then after that, it goes right into the bank account. Really it works out great. Feel free to give them a try.
I have my tenants give me 12 post dated cheques. So far I have not had an issue and I take a photo to deposit the cheque right at the 1st of every month.
On the 1st of the month I send tenants a text reminding them rent is due. Most reply and pay within a day or two. They have three day grace period.
I encourage tenants to deposit rent directly into rental account at Chase bank. I only keep enough cash in this account to pay monthly bills.
They can use Chase Quick pay by Zelle, or BofA bill pay by Zelle, all they need is my email address to send me rent payment. Once that's set up, and they are comfortable, it's becomes a routine for them.
JC
@Jordan B., Cozy deposits the rent into my account within 5 days. I can pay an extra $3/mo per unit to have it deposited within 3 days, but it really isn't worth it for me.
I like the ease and the fact that I don't have to do anything. It all happens without me having to remember to go to the bank, email them, etc. I have enough in life and business to worry about to have one more thing to do.
I'm sure other options can be just as easy, but it's nice that it's a service tailored to renters and landlords. The couple times I've reached out to their support, I've gotten good answers quickly. Overall, I'm pretty happy with them.