All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Aaron:  

You say and I quote "I'm not a lawyer, I just hire lots of them and pay attention to what they tell me."

I'm sorry to hear that you have to hire lots of attorneys, they are quite expensive! 

For me,  I never needed to hire an attorney as I preferred to handle all my cases myself, and  never once  lost a case in my 13 years as a landlord and owning 40 rental properties of my own.  

So, sometimes I guess it pays to be "Old-Skool" landlords.  

Nancy

When you have rents due on any day of the month, then you will have court dates on various days of the month as well.  

I never sat home waiting for rents as I had a lease Agreement stating when rent was due, and if not received in my office on or before the 1st of the month, then rent is late and I would send out a Notice to Quit.  If rent is not received in my office by the 5th of the month then a late fee is charged and if rent is not received in my office by the 12th of the month then an eviction will be filed.  But an eviction can never be filed unless the "Notice to Quit" is sent.  And once it sent, then the counting begins on when you can file it in court, thus the "Time is of the Essence" statement. 

As I said earlier, it takes about 20 days for a check to bounce and for us to be notified.  Therefore I like to call the bank the same day I receive a check to verify the funds.

I'm not trying to argue with anyone, however,  it seems some want to argue with me.  What I write about is based on my experience.  I choose to share that experience with others and nothing more.

We are free to choose who sounds plausible or not. right?

Therefore if you are comfortable with your procedure than by all means be happy. 

And no, my posts are never excepts from my books, just stuff I write from the heart because I enjoy helping others.

Nancy Neville

Kevin:  QuickBooks Pro Desktop Version is all you need.  It's pretty good.  In September the new version of QuickBooks should be out, so you may want to wait a bit. 

The Online version is also great, doesn't have everything the desktop has, but close, but it is about $39.99 a month which is almost $500 a year.

Nancy

Accepting Partial rent payments halts the eviction process right in its tracks.

Nancy Neville

Actually QuickBooks isn't good for Property Manager's.  It is, but you need to do a lot of tweaking.  It is good if you do what you are supposed to do, but most Property Manager's don't do what they are supposed to do, because they have different owners dictating to them what they want done instead of the other way around.  So I don't recommend QuickBooks for Property Managers, it's just too much of a headache. 

QuickBooks however, is great for the regular landlord that handles their own properties. 

Nancy Neville

Your day job is not being a Landlord.  A Landlord is a different animal all together.  Time is of the essence with us.  We have invested tens of thousands of dollar into our properties.  We are responsible for other peoples lives.  

Big companies other than landlords  have big time lawyers to sue their clients.  We usually handle our evictions ourselves or hire an attorney, but not a high falootin attorney like big businesses have. 

So you can't really compare how you do things in a regular job, because landlording is not the same as a typical job that we consider to be normal. 

Nancy

It usually takes about 20 days for a check to clear the bank and for them to send you a letter of insufficient funds, by then rent is almost due again. 

When I receive a check in the mail and receive it in my office I call the bank that day to see if the check is good.  Now if my tenant has a proven record of paying by check with no problems, of course I don't call to verify the funds.  This is usually with new tenants and semi-good tenants.  Tenants who have a tendency to be late and make excuses, etc. that I call to verify funds on.

Nancy

I know Ernie and I know Mike.  Both good people.  Honest people.  

However, you shouldn't have to spend hundreds of dollars, or thousands of dollars on a software program to be able to use QuickBooks, when all you need to know is how to use QuickBooks. 

Remember in order to use a software program that interacts with QuickBooks you have to learn how to use that software program as well as how to use QuickBooks, so what are you gaining?  You have now just caused yourself to have to study two software programs in order to use one. 

I think Mike's book are great, but expensive, when you don't really need it.  But for those of you who can afford it, I don't think you'll go wrong.  But once again, you're going to have to learn how to use it, as well as learn how to use QuickBooks, or at least understand how QuickBooks work, for you to understand how "his" books work. 

One again I have the utmost respect for Mike Butler and his work.

Nancy Neville

Time is of the essence in our business. 

Therefore I want COMPLETE CONTROL over my  finances and company policies. 

As human beings we want to make things easier for our tenants.  Easy to pay, they'll stay we say to ourselves.  However, it doesn't make it easier for us when it comes time to evictions. 

All they have to tell a Judge is that they paid their rent via direct deposit, went inside and paid a teller, and the bank made a mistake, and "bingo" they have just stall the eviction process until the matter is straightened out.

A street smart tenant will go to court, knowing they can tell a lie, and have the courts postpone the eviction process to give them more time, all the while, smiling to themselves because they have now just bought time to stay a little longer to come up with the money or move out.  (Plus, if they pay by check or money order, they may not have sufficient funds, and they can also place a stop payment on their check and money order)

I had a tenant who owed money in September and I couldn't get them out until the middle of January because they stalled, postponed, claimed false repairs, holidays came up, couldn't attend the court date that had been scheduled so they ask the court to reschedule and they did, and on and on.  

Having your tenants pay via direct deposit, or to some other entity other than yourself, leaves you open to a long eviction process, because the banks don't work on Holidays or week-ends, and they do make mistakes, sometimes, which delays you in receiving your money on time, and there goes your eviction process. 

With full control over your own revenue coming in, you know beyond a shadow of a doubt whether a tenant paid or not and if that "check" or "Money Order" is good.

Nancy Neville

Hugh:  I hear that so much from people, that they wished they had began using QuickBooks when they first began.  

It is truly important to develop  good office procedures and equipment prior to anyone even buying their first rental home.

Once you have your office organized and equipped with the needed office equipment to help you keep track of those purchases, e.g., computer, internet, printer, answering machine or Vonage Phone, Stamps.com, then start house hunting.  But unfortunately, having an office setup and procedures, is just not on a new investors list of things to do.

Nancy Neville