All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

This is an easy solution.  

QuickBooks allows you to accept advanced payments, no matter what it is for.

Let's say the tenant's rent is $500.00 a month, but they give you $6,000.00 stating that they are paying their rent a year in advance.

Ok.....accept the money, enter it into QuickBooks, and QuickBooks will  generate a receipt for $6,000.00, giving this tenant a credit for $6,000.00.  They now have a receipt saying they gave you $6,000.00 and have a credit on their account of $6,000.00

THIS PART IS IMPORTANT.  

In order to use a tenants rent money for anything other then rent, I have in my lease agreement that any money received in my office is applied to any outstanding bills they owe me.  E.G., rent, damages, utilities, whatever.  Then what is left is applied to the rent.  If there is not enough money to cover the rent, then they must paid the difference or else their rent is late, which means it could end up an eviction. 

Back to advanced payment

Now when you type up an Invoice for the month's rent that is due, QuickBooks will automatically tell  you that  this gal has a credit, do you want to apply this money to this bill?  You say yes, and then QuickBooks does, and you can print out a receipt for the rent that it paid and how much of a credit she has left.   Everyone is happy!

This goes on until the credit is used up.

Now, if the tenant has some damages or owes you money, you can use this money to pay for any outstanding money, rents, damages, whatever, they may owe you.  But once again, you must have the wording in your lease agreement, that any money received in your office is applied to any outstanding bills they owe first... and then to rent. 

It just doesn't get any better than this!

Nancy Neville

You need to setup a Criteria that qualifies the applicants for your homes. 

• Must be employed for at least a year
• Must make at least three times the rent
• Must have more good credit than bad
• Must have no landlord evictions against them

The above are some examples.  BUT BE CAREFUL.  Watch out for NO NO Words

You want people to slam on the breaks when they are driving down the street to view another home that's for rent and stop at your home instead.  In order to do that you need to have great CURB APPEAL.

Have a Website that shows the pictures of your home inside and out.  This is great for going to court and the tenant says your home looked like crap when in fact it looked like a million dollars.  You have the web page as evidence and you print out the photo's to take to court.   WordPress.com is totally free.  You can have as many webpages as you want for Free.  I don't work for them, so I hope this post isn't deleted.  

The next thing you want to have is a great answering system to take care of all those phone calls you most likely will get regarding your property.  I use Vonage Phone.  It is an Internet Phone and keeps track of every phone call made to you and every call you make to them.  The time, the date and is a great tool to have in case you need to go to court. 

• Get yourself organized.
• Do things right
• Learn the laws of your state
• Learn the City Ordinances of where your properties are located
• Attend Landlord Associations to have other to talk with about this business
• Attend some landlord/tenant court hearings to see how the Judges treat landlords
• Learn how to deal with people, be a good listener, be compassionate, but be fair, and firm and stick to your lease agreement. 
• Make sure your application form with your criteria is legal
• Make sure your lease agreement is legal and protecting YOU as well as the Tenant.  Most lease agreement protect the tenant more so than the landlord.

Just some tips for you.

Nancy Neville

In Michigan the law allows you to accept one and a half months rent for a Security Deposit.  E.G. if rent is $500.00 a month the Security Deposit can't be any higher than $750.00 a month.  And you can charge for the first months rent upon move in.  So in actuality you are charging first months rent and the Security Deposit.

In Michigan, if a tenant is on a month to month lease agreement, they must give you a 30 day notice that they are leaving and it must be a full 30 days notice.  (This applies to the landlord as well).  Therefore, if the tenant wants to make March their last month with you, they would have had to issue you a written notice no later than February 28th.  This gives you a full 30 day notice  (The month of March)

This Security Deposit is used for damages and anything else the tenant may owe the landlord.  You don't know what is owed to you until the tenant actually moves out and you can analyze the rental home, water bills paid, etc. 

Once the tenant moves out, the landlord has 30 days to notify the tenant of why you kept their security deposit and 45 days to file the claim in court in order to keep it.  (If the tenant contests you keeping it, otherwise, you usually don't have to file in court.  The tenant already knows why they aren't getting back)

There is no law that says you can't return it or you must keep it.  That's up to you.  But if you do it for one, you will have to do it for all, or else face a discrimination lawsuit if anyone should find out.  

It's always best to stick to the rules of the contract.  It only cause you grief to try and bend the rules "Just this once".  This is a business.  We must treat it like one.

As far as letting the tenant out of the lease early.  Hey, great, that's okay.  I've done this several times during my landlord career.  Absolutely they can leave early, but they will still be responsible for the rent owed to the end of the term of their lease.  But if they needed to leave early, go for it!  The choice is theirs.

Nancy Neville

It's been over 6 years since I retired.  I think it was through these people, but I'm not 100% sure as things change from year to year with companies.  

https://www.residentscreening.net/rsn/login.aspx

Nancy Neville

When I rent to a tenant part of the screening process means that they be responsible people.  This means paying their rent on time.  This means licking a stamp and depositing the rent payment into a mail box or driving to a post office.  

When I select a tenant for my properties, they must be COLLECTIBLE.  They must pay their bills on time.  And some of our properties were in low income areas.  Our properties were in the City of Detroit and outlining areas, so I dealt with all manners of people and personalities. 

When I rented out a house I told the tenants that they were responsible for getting their rent money into my office on or before the due date.  That I didn't come by and pick it up.  That if they couldn't take the time to pay their rent to me, like everyone else, then they could do the same thing too. It is a part of being responsible.  And if they couldn't do that, then they no longer qualified for this rental unit.  

One thing I learned in this life,  is that you don't enable people.  In order for people to become responsible adults you need to make them accountable for what they do in life.  This means even the simplest things such as putting their rent payments in the mail themselves.

Many of my tenants thanked me for teaching them how to be good business people.  When they paid their rent on time, I reported it to the Credit Bureau.  I had an account with the credit bureau to where they did my credit checks and I reported my tenants payment history to them.

When the tenants were ready to buy a house, according to their payment history, I told them to give my name as a reference.  

Sometimes we feel we are helping people by going out of our own way to help them out.  When in actuality we aren't doing them any favors at all. 

How many times would you take time out of your busy schedule, pay for gas, at the prices they are today, to drive to the rental home and the tenant was not home even though they said they would be, when you called them to tell them you would be right over to collect their rent.  How convenient for them to say something came up, and then you do it all over again.  And pretty soon, there is no more trust between the landlord and tenant?  

Why make being a landlord a hardship on yourself?  Does your mortgage company come by to collect their mortgage payment from you.  Your doctors office.  Who comes to your house to collect their monthly payment from you as part of their service?  Then why do we feel that we need to do it when we are so busy as it is?

Nancy Neville

All applicants and co-signers must go through the same screening process and Credit Check.  Plain and simple!  

Let's say the kids went to a bank to get a loan.  But they don't have credit yet.  So the bank asks for a co-signer.  Parents agree.  Do you think the bank wouldn't do a credit check on both the tenant(s) and the co-signer(s)?

The whole idea of having a co-signer, is making sure your investment is protected.  That you have someone to sue in case the actual tenant cannot or doesn't pay for rent or does damages.  The more people on the lease and the more people who co-sign, assures you of recouping any losses that may entail. 

Nancy Neville

No Social Security Number...NEXT PLEASE

Nancy Neville

If you hire a repairman to do the repairs, you can charge the entire amount billed from the Handyman to the tenant.  Usually the Handyman (Repairman, individual contractor) will usually include their time, labor, material, etc., in the bill).  However, when a landlord does the work themselves, they can't charge for their time.  The courts feel that is our job as a landlord. (at least that how it has been, unless things have changed) to do repairs after a tenant moves.  They feel we have been paid enough rent throughout the years of a tenants occupancy, and therefore, they've paid their fair share.  (unless you happen to have a Judge who is also a landlord, then they may award you a larger Judgment because most damages (wear and tear) is based on a Judges decision, and not on any written law listing what is considered damages or normal wear and tear)

Carpeting is depreciated per year, so you would need to know the going rate of depreciation per your state laws. 

You should always have receipts whether you do it or a handyman.  Judges want to see proof.  If you do it yourself, you better have receipts.  If a handyman does it, you better have his bill handy.

You have a lot of actual damages that you bring to court, however, better take pictures, hopefully you have before pictures, and documented proof that you have taken care of the repairs.  

Nancy Neville

Yes, what you say is true too.  I always have everything in writing.  By having it in writing it sometimes will  ward off going to court when you use it to remind the tenants of what was in the lease and what they signed. 

But once again, I wouldn't hold my breath for a Judge to ward you a Judgment on frivolous wear and tear issues. 

You can put anything in the lease that you want, but it has to be in accordance with your state law and City Ordinances. 

YOU don't determine what is normal wear and tear. 

And you can demand and expect a place to be clean as a whistle, or that the Tenant jump over the moon. But what YOU want and what YOU will get, is two different stories. 

Plus when landlords come into court wanting these things.  Demanding these things, a   Judges don't like that.  They feel it is "gouging".  Cleaning is something you do when a tenant moves out.  If I heard one Judge say this, I've heard 1000 Judges say this.  When a Judge tells me that melted crayons in my heating ducts and in every light fixture in the house is just normal wear and tear, then what can you expect your judge to tell you over some dust and dirt.

Nancy Neville