All Forum Posts by: Lucas Hall

HI @Mike F.

I think it's important to note that a due date is not the same as a payment date. 

For example, do you pay your electric bill on the last possible day, or do you pay it when it's convince for you, knowing that paying after the due date will incur a fee?  What about your credit card? See my point?  

Leases are no different. 

I've never seen a lease that says payments must be made on the 1st but rather a lease usually says rent is due by the 1st.

Plus, if tenants wanted to pay early, why wouldn't you let them?   

Even if a tenant chooses to pay on the 3rd, they will have to suffer the consequence of a late fee. They are adults and must take responsibility for their choices. This is no different than if you accept cash, checks, bill pay, or crops as rent - except that online rent payments is convienient for both parties.  

 For sure, but it is a great way to collect after hours VMs without giving out your cell #.  Further, you can redirect the Google voice number to whomever you want.  So if you use an emergency service company, you could send the after hours calls straight to them. 

Hi @Carson Sweezy

No software can manage tenants "completely". They will still want a person to call, email, or text for emergencies and such. I think that it's wise to give them access to you or your manager, but as @Al Williamson suggested, train them on what is appropriate or not appropriate.  

In my 10 years of being a landlord with hundreds of tenants, I've only received 1 late night phone call, when the house lost power.  So, I don't mind giving out my direct cell number. After all, if the basement is flooding, I certainly would want to know (no matter what time it is).  But for those landlords who'd rather stay behind a curtain, they could setup a Google Voice number which only forwards to a cell phone during specific hours of the day - then acts as a voicemail during the off hours. This is similar to what @Nathan Gesner does.

Good luck to you!  I noticed you are in McLean.  I'm in Arlington.  It's nice to meet another local!

PRESS RELEASE

SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec.17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- News Corp [NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc. announced today an agreement with rental startup Cozy® (), a leading provider of property management software, to add new rental listings content on websites owned or operated by Move, including Doorsteps.com, a premier destination for local rental listings, and ®, the fastest-growing online real estate destination for home buyers, sellers, renters and dreamers.

The agreement enables more than 40,000 property managers on Cozy's platform to publish their listings to Doorsteps.com and realtor.com®, which currently reach an average of approximately 46 million monthly unique users based on Move's internal data. It follows last month's announcement of the strategic content relationship with Apartments.com adding exclusive listings from apartment communities of 50 units and above.

In addition to expanding rentals content on Move's sites, the relationship also will leverage Cozy's industry-leading rental transaction management technology, including third-party processing of background and credit checks. The resulting solution enables renters and property managers alike to move smoothly and securely through the rental process, from listing and browsing rental properties to the application stages and beyond. The agreement marks an important next step as Doorsteps.com and realtor.com® enhance their service to the rental marketplace.

"The journey to finding your perfect home doesn't begin or end with a rental or sale – there are many stops along the path," said Todd Callow, senior director of product management and rentals program leader for Move. "We're building solutions that meet our customers where they are along that path, and creating new relationships with like-minded companies that share our commitment to best practices in accuracy and data security, to help make the process easier for consumers and professionals."

Cozy's proprietary technology, now serving more than 100,000 property managers and renters, meets stringent standards of data security and privacy in accordance with its partners in the credit, finance and identity sectors. Cozy's solution allows renters to safely provide private financial and personal identification details for independent verification without sharing them directly with prospective property managers. Applicants pay for their own credit report, which does not impact their credit score, and control how it is shared with prospective property managers. Property managers receive the screening reports at no cost, removing the responsibility of handling and processing sensitive applicant information as well as the charges incurred by many competing services.

Sample Cozy Credit Report

"Cozy's mission is to bring peace of mind to renters and property managers by solving the biggest headaches across the rental cycle – aggregating reliable rental listings, finding and retaining good tenants, and securely facilitating the exchange of sensitive information through the duration of the rental relationship," said Gino Zahnd, CEO and co-founder of Cozy. "This agreement is much more than just providing a significant amount of new prospective tenant leads for our property managers -- for the first time, our property managers have the opportunity to receive all the information necessary to make an informed decision about selecting a tenant in a single report. And tenants have the confidence that their information is secure and the listings have been through our content assurance protocols – identity protection, privacy and security is baked into the foundation of everything we do. This level of collaboration can only happen with trustworthy information from both tenants and property managers – it's a huge leap in the quality of the experience."

Additional rentals content from Cozy began appearing on the Doorsteps.com and realtor.com® websites in December. Access to the background and credit check process is now enabled on Doorsteps.com via 'apply now' buttons on select rental listings, and will be added to corresponding rental listings on realtor.com® in the coming weeks.

Read More: Cozy Teamed Up With Realtor.com and Doorsteps to Make Marketing and Tenant Screening Easier Than Ever

Nice summary (and explanations) @Account Closed!

Hi @Shaun Palmer

This page summaries NC state laws and also provides the links to the actual statutes: https://www.landlordology.com/north-carolina-landl...

I hope that helps!

Hi Kristine, 

It's funny you should ask.  I just gave a webinar on exactly how I accomplish this. Here's the recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHZHhsvDdy4

To directly answer your question, it all occurs within the 28 hours between tenants (95% of the time :)

To your point, contractors aren't always available. But I've been able to build a decent "little black book" of contractors so that I have multiple (reliable) options. Sometimes I'll go 4 or 5 contractors down the list until I can find one that fits into the schedule. I'm also fairly handy, and can do a lot of repairs myself (if it came to that). 

The trick with carpet is to order it early, and get on the installer's schedule. Have them come measure weeks or months in advance. Give proper notice to the current tenants. They usually don't care because they've mentally checked out anyway. But even if there is a last minute delay for the install, I am honest with the tenants moving in, and either offer to credit back a day or two, or just tell them not to put their stuff on the area to be carpeted for a day if the have to move in immediately.  It's not pretty, but it works if it has too. They usually don't mind a day of disorder (after all they are moving), especially when I tell them that they are getting NEW carpet. 

Other times, outgoing tenants will leave multiple days early, allow additional time for repairs. They are usually fine with doing massive repairs after they move out but while still paying on a few days of rent because they want to look favorable while I process their security deposit.  Obviously, they still have access if they want it. Open communication makes for some great turnover opportunities. 

I hope that helps. The video has a lot more info regarding my entire process. 

Hi 

@Account Closed

With annual carpet cleanings, the carpet only needs to be replaced ever 5 years or so. Same for the painting - a magic erasure works wonders to clean up scuffs. 

Carpet and paint dont happen every year, and you can paint only the rooms that really need it.  

You can accomplish a lot in 28 hours if you line up contractors ahead of time. 

The real key is to have your finger on the pulse of the property so that you're not surprised with the condition when they move out. 

The #1 killer of revenue/profits is vacancy.  You 'could' wait until the tenant moves out, because starting the turnover process, but you're voluntarily giving up 1-2 months worth of rent. And if you're paying a property manager on top of that, you can kiss 1/4 of your potential revenue goodbye.

By performing regular inspections (once every 3-6 months), you'll know the condition of the property and can make repairs throughout the lease term.  There's no reason why you have to wait for a tenant to move out in order to repair a hole in the wall.  A good property manager will stay on top of repairs to help create a quick turnover. 

I require 60 day notice of non-renewal, and then start marketing the property immediately. I perform many repairs at that time, and only save the deep cleaning for when they move out.  By utilizing "move out/in times" of 10am and 2pm in the lease, you can have 28 hours of vacancy without missing a single day of rental income. 

I've been using this process for 10 years on 5 properties, and with hundreds of tenants, and I've only ever had 1 vacancy on 1 unit, for 1 months.  Every other time, it was a flawless move-out/ move-in the very next day.  By my calculations, it's earned me 20-25% more than those who decide to wait until it's most convenient to handle a turnover. 

Hi @Jay Hinrichs

Can you point me at any official literature for this?