All Forum Posts by: Deanna Bennett

As far as technology goes, online rent payments will make things easier for you and your tenants. Look for a solution that offers recurring payment options, email and text reminders, flexible line items, and customizable late fees. Those are the most common things our customers ask for.

Other technologies we use in house include Xero for accounting and phone services through Switch. Both are easy to set up, and worth the relatively low monthly fees since it looks like you need more business services than just individual options.

Personally, I could not live without my password generator like @Max T. pointed out. I use 1Password, but do not have experience with the others so I won't recommend this over another necessarily.

Online rent payment systems should work well for you regardless of where you are in the country. There might be restrictions if you were located internationally, but not if all of your properties are in the U.S. Another great thing about using online payment tools is that if you ever move or want to buy investment property in a different location, you can keep using the same system to track all of your payments. 

@Rachel Shepherd A lot depends on your type of tenants. As John pointed out, most tenants from Class A properties actively ask for online payment options. We see this all the time. However, tenants at other properties may not have checking accounts or may only have pre-paid debit card accounts. Our experience shows that the fees for paying with a debit/credit card are often passed on to the tenant as they can be expensive due to being a % of rent and not flat fee.

We've also seen tenants that like the control of making the payments online themselves and not having to set up the auto withdrawals from their bank accounts. This is not possible with all online payment companies. 

Benefits to accepting rent payments online include not having to track down the payments, knowing who has paid, having an online record of payments, auto adding late fees to tenants that do not pay on time, and major time savings for the landlord. Collecting rent online takes away one more thing to worry about each month. 

Hi @Carole G. I think the service you are referring to is PayNearMe.com. They accept payments at 7-11.

If you are looking for other online rent payment services, BiggerPockets has a list of providers here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/rei/pay-rent-online-payment-tools/.

Hey @Pavel Sakurets,

If you are still looking, BiggerPockets has a list of online rent payment softwares listed here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/rei/pay-rent-online-...

Happy to help if you have any questions about them. 

Cheers!

Hi @Greg Effron. Welcome to BiggerPockets! There is a ton of information on here to help you look at your business and grow. 

I would recommend connecting with local landlords at a nearby landlord association or REIA. You can also search for investors in your area on BiggerPockets and reach out. Start the conversation and see if people can meet for coffee. Is there a meetup in your area that you can attend too?

Also, start breaking down your specific questions. Post them in the forums and people will be happy to help.

All the best and congrats for starting down the path of real estate investing. 

@John Prunier I agree with the others on option 3. Not only can you minimize lost rent, you should be able to make more money with the increased rent due to your improvements.

Mike is spot on with posting your ad on Craigslist and Postlets. Postlets is now owned by Zillow so an ad there will syndicate it across multiple ad networks. The yard sign is also a good way to advertise to your neighbors that you have a unit available. You never know if they have friends that might be looking. 

As for rents in your area and the lease agreement, you should look to see if you have a local landlord association near you. There are a couple of options in my area and I know that the landlords there are well versed in local ordinances and lease agreements. They could also help you price your unit competitively.

With your last point, I know BiggerPockets has a perk with TransUnion for credit/background checks so you can check that out here https://www.biggerpockets.com/perks. Feel free to ask me questions about online rent payments if you are still looking for help there.

Best of luck as you make the transition to new tenants in the New Year!

Congratulations! I would second what @Dan Dawson said and take your time screening tenants. Of course you are anxious to get all of your units rented out, but it is so important to make sure you have the best tenants possible. This will help minimize your risk of costly and time consuming evictions down the road. Be sure to verify their employment and rental history and follow the same screening procedures for every prospective tenant.

From our entire team, we wish you an incredibly successful future.

@Peter S. and @Jedd Braunwarth When I said underrated, I meant the city in general. Des Moines has a lot of cool things going on and Iowa in generally never seems to get much credit. I'm betting on the city and metro area growing and becoming an increasing draw for younger people which will only mean good things for real estate. The city keeps making national headlines as a great place to live, most affordable, largest number of millennials buying homes, etc. I'm working on building my network now so when I'm better positioned to build my investment portfolio I'll have more contacts and access to things before they hit the market. 

Welcome to BP, Tom! Full disclosure - I have a company that helps landlords, but started it because real estate investing is such an interest and I hope to have my own diverse portfolio someday.

I am also new to Des Moines as we moved the company here this year from Colorado (we seem to be on the reverse migration as Austin). Have to say I am loving Des Moines. It's totally underrated, which might be ok as it keeps the competition at a minimum.

Hopefully, I'll see you around the different investing/landlord groups around town.

Cheers!