All Forum Posts by: Jeff Gates

does this create invoices for rents?

Hello guys!

Is anybody aware of any websites that offer free rent payments online? If you are aware of any, would you recommend it or do you prefer it the old-fashioned way: checks?

Thanks!

Edita

I was rejected from pay near me for being a little guy (2 properties). I received a very nicely worded email stating that they were not accepting clients of that size, and they recommend I check out appfolio, their property management software.

Does anyone know of any competitors or alternatives to pay near me? I really like the idea of this service. 

@Account Closed I ended up rolling with it. Best decision I made all summer. They ended up wanting to extend for another 3 months, unfortunately I had someone else coming for 1 month after 2 of the months. As they were staying for the fourth of July I said my price was going to increase exponentially. I used to rent this unit for $1,300 (just rented another one same remodel for $1,800 - tenant now paying all utilities as I sub-metered the building, and that is very much so top of the market rent for my area). In July I collected $7,000 on the unit - freaking awesome. They left, next guy came, all good. 

I am currently looking at a foreclosed home and planning to buy and rehab. As a foreclosed home, it has mold and bad roof. The question I have is, in order to make it rent ready and not to spend too much to make it look so luxurious, what are the basic things that a rental home will need with low maintenance. Carpet or Wood flooring? 

Thanks,

Venkatesh

 No, I'm saying you might want to set your goals a bit higher if you think two year tenants are a successful metric. I'm not sure which I would consider worse a 2 year tenant or a 1 year. At least with a 1 year tenant they get to pay all your expenses to get the property back on the market, at 2 years you get to since everything is considered normal wear and tear.

@Emily Minick - I assume you separate your personal expenses from your investment property's expenses, correct? (Either through a business LLC or a different bank account?) Here is my process:

• Quickbooks online: Income and expenses (associated with my business' bank account) import to it automatically. I code everything based on accounts and vendors. Quickbooks provides full income statement reports and other tracking features. 
• Rent collection: I use my own software, because then I have all tenants, late fee notifications, etc. on one platform. I also don't have to give the tenants my routing # and account #, which is what happens with direct deposits. I control how much money they are able to send my way.
• Spreadsheets: forecasting and ad-hoc analysis

I think Quickbooks is by far the best software out there. They specialize in an incredibly user intuitive experience. Hope that helps!

Does this mean then as investors we should all expect 1 month vacany a year if we are doing 1 year leases and need to properly clean and inspect and show the unit to the next prospectus tenant?  And also not fall into the possible trap of tenants not willing to move out ontime, meanwhile the next tenants have already been signed and now have no where to live.