All Forum Posts by: John K.

I've had quite the opposite experience, with Section 8 tenants being the better paying ones always on time and always prompt. I think locally here they know they can lose their assistance if they are not making their portion of the payments on time and get reported.

I think part of it depends on the area and the type of people. We have one tenant who ALWAYS pays, but we pick up the check. It's a 1.5% rule building and the tenant has been there for a long time - so for us it's worth just swining by and picking it up once a month.

My business partner handles the day to day operations of our rental property business, and I have been finding it fascinating lately how much more responsive tenants are to texts than phone calls. Have any other landlords seen a big increase in texting tenants instead of phone calls? What has your outcome been?

I'd suggest making sure you bill back. I have a duplex I aquired through a foreclosure and tenants had water included, one tenant had a $500 water bill for 6 months that I just got stuck with. If it's free there are higher odds tenants will wash cars, water lawns, and use way more water than if they were paying for it.

Hey Chris,

Generally in real estate, cash is king. There are some ways to be creative and put 3.5% down on a property, but generally if you want to start buying investment type properties 20% is the general rule. Homepath properties are one way to put less down (http://www.homepath.com).

John

Does anyone as a landlord do anything they have thought is cool and has worked out well?

For example, I had refrigerator magnets made for our property management company with the phone number to call for issues. Almost every tenant has them on their fridge when we go into rentals to do repairs, so I feel it's worked out well so they always know where the phone number is.

Has anyone else done anything like this? I have to imagine there are more great small ideas to make things easier in general for both tenants and landlords.

I'd focus on real estate and mutual funds (lower risk). Put a focus on real estate since generally for the long term it's a way better and more stable investment than others. People who do try to get into too much end up losing many times, since there is little to no focus. Since your TIME is your one of your most valuable resources use your time for what makes you the most with a focus on keeping risk low. Too many ventures = high risk in my cases.

Quickbooks works well, you can use the class tracking feature to setup each property as a class and see a financial report then for each specific property.

For maintenance and other issues, I just keep track with folders for each maintenance issue. I haven't seen a good solution for smaller property management operations that integrates with quickbooks.

You might consider not worrying about it - Section 8 can be great if the tenants are solid since you are guaranteed a majority of your rent every month. Usually direct deposited directly into your account, it always comes on time and always for the full amount.

I have actually seen just charging more for base rent and saying "pets welcome" (within a reasonable number of pets) is easier. Lots of times if I tenant is going to have pets they are going to have pets, and sometimes try to avoid the pet fees and be sneaky about it. With the high cost of tenant turnover and vacancy - its almost easier just to accept pets and boost base rent and you'll see a lot more applications. You obviously have to be careful - but just another way to think about it!

Thanks for all the awesome answers!

@Pat L. the part that got us was since it was the middle of the night we got stuck with a parts house fee since the repair tech had to get a parts house open in the middle of the night, and the furnace was a Goodman and not many people in my city stock the parts so very few options. I think the part itself was about $200 - $250, but the middle of the night weekend fees add up quick...I just wish the tenant would have called a day ealier since they knew it sounded funny.