Working on Rent (by S i d [MO]) Sep 24, 2022 9:59 AM
Working on Rent (by S i d [MO]) Sep 24, 2022 10:02 AM
Working on Rent (by Sorta Blonde [CA]) Sep 24, 2022 11:21 AM
Working on Rent (by Roy [AL]) Sep 24, 2022 12:25 PM
Working on Rent (by WMH [NC]) Sep 24, 2022 1:47 PM
Working on Rent (by Jeffrey [VA]) Sep 24, 2022 4:25 PM
Working on Rent (by Robert J [CA]) Sep 24, 2022 8:40 PM
Working on Rent (by 6x6 [TN]) Sep 24, 2022 9:13 PM
Working on Rent (by Hoosier [IN]) Sep 25, 2022 12:19 AM
Working on Rent (by MC [PA]) Sep 25, 2022 8:12 AM
Working on Rent (by Oregon Woodsmoke [ID]) Sep 25, 2022 10:31 AM
Working on Rent (by Renne [TX]) Sep 25, 2022 1:00 PM
Working on Rent (by zero [IN]) Sep 25, 2022 3:30 PM
Working on Rent (by S i d [MO]) Sep 26, 2022 9:06 AM
Working on Rent (by 6x6 [TN]) Sep 26, 2022 6:15 PM
Working on Rent (by BRAD 20,000 [IN]) Sep 27, 2022 12:27 AM
Working on Rent (by S i d [MO]) Posted on: Sep 24, 2022 9:59 AM Message:
I used to get this more often... not as much since we now do much better screening. But occasionally (1st time this year), I will get one of these responses to my "Rent?" text that goes out when someone is late.
"I'm working on getting the rent together."
How much more of a non-answer answer can you get, than perhaps just a meager: "Ok"?
No time line. No plan. No date. No amount. Just "I'm working on it."
*Sigh
Back in the day I would've gotten all fussy and probably responded with some kind of snarky, "And what's THAT suppose to mean?"
But today I sent this:
:I understand times are tough and we'd like to help avoid any negatives as well as reduce the amount of late fees that are owed. I propose we start on weekly payments, due every Monday starting on Sept 26th this coming week in the amount of $400 until caught up. In consideration, as long as we stick to that plan, I will waive any late fees that would be due once the first payment is received and assuming we get fully caught up. Your thoughts on this?"
They don't propose a solution, so I propose one that is highly doable and is considerate. I offer a carrot (wavier of future late fees) and a stick ("avoid the negatives" = eviction if we don't do this or you don't pay up).
Side-benefit to me: this flexibility has occasionally led to someone deciding to stick with the weekly payments and the accompanying higher rent paying 52 quarter of a month payments that end up equaling 13 full monthly payments.
We will see what happens, but I've had this work before. --184.4.xx.xx |
Working on Rent (by S i d [MO]) Posted on: Sep 24, 2022 10:02 AM Message:
Well....lo and behold! 2 minutes after I posted this, here's the response:
"Ok let's do that. I appreciate it. I'll get u 400 today then"
Still x-ing fingers a bit, but I do like the quick response as well as the thought of getting paid! --184.4.xx.xx |
Working on Rent (by Sorta Blonde [CA]) Posted on: Sep 24, 2022 11:21 AM Message:
Awesome offer Sid. Hold out that carrot and the good ones will try to do their best. Glad it worked out. Last time someone came and told me they didn't have the rent, I asked how much do they have right now that they could give me until they can pay the rest. They came up with $500 in 20's and 5's and 1's and I was happy. They paid the rest 3 days later. Nice. Give those carrots. --174.65.xxx.xx |
Working on Rent (by Roy [AL]) Posted on: Sep 24, 2022 12:25 PM Message:
With your carrot and stick approach, I think you may be asking for trouble down the road here. You are telling them "I will work with you' anytime you can't pay the full rent'. I
have tried this myself and it has always backfired on me in future months.
When one of my tenants is slow on the full rent, I may send a text for the full amount to be paid but I do not cut them any slack with partial payments. On the 6th day, I post a P/Q notice on the door and that usually gets the full rent with late fees paid. If not, I will file for eviction. --71.207.xxx.x |
Working on Rent (by WMH [NC]) Posted on: Sep 24, 2022 1:47 PM Message:
Sent my first Pay or Quit notice in YEARS - TODAY. Said rent paid by Monday or we file. What they don't know is we are out of town and wouldn't be filing until next Friday but oh well.
Immediate response: will pay $500 today (Zelle) and the rest with a check, or the rest on Tuesday via Zelle. Since the check is probably not good until then anyway, I told him pay the rest by Zelle on Tuesday.
These are tenants we don't like very much. They are okay, young couple but kinda rednecky and rude-ish. Lease isn't up until June. --74.110.xxx.xx |
Working on Rent (by Jeffrey [VA]) Posted on: Sep 24, 2022 4:25 PM Message:
S i d, in regard to your verbiage -
"I will waive any late fees that would be due once..."
I prefer to use the term "suspend" instead of waive. So instead my verbiage would read -
I will suspend any late fees that would be due once..
That way, if payment is late again in the future, not only is the resident responsible for the new late fee, the prior late fee comes back into play as well (added to the total balance due). --70.161.xxx.xxx |
Working on Rent (by Robert J [CA]) Posted on: Sep 24, 2022 8:40 PM Message:
I purchased a lot of depressed rentals in "C" and "D" neighborhoods that the previous owners did a poor job at screening. And the Laws here do not allow me to change the "Payment Process or Terms".
Since some tenants wait for their Social Security Checks or Pension Payments, landlord would evict long term tenants that would only be a day or two late, so they can get a new tenant paying market rents in these rent controlled apartments.
So if someone pays late, you would have to allow them to continue with an extended due date.
So to work with my tenants as a new owner and trying to comply with the letter of our laws, I made up a plan that worked.
If a tenant knows that they are going to be late paying their rent, they have to call me and aske for an extension.
It they have a good reason and the delay is only a few days, it's not a problem and I will waive the late fee's so long as it's paid within the agreed time frame.
Other wise if they don't have all of the rent but they called to discuss the issues, I will ask them to pay the first have of the rent by the 10th of the month and the balance by the 20th of the month..
Every one of my landlord friends/clients called me "Soft and Stupid"! They would never work with a tenant, demanding a late fee and a timely payment.
But with the purchase of many unit properties that the previous owner never ran credit checks, etc., evictions would take months and I'd never recover on any judgements. Most tenants were illegal immigrants getting paid under the table. If I stuck to my guns and did not try to work out a payment plan, I'd have 50% vacancies. Even though I put an average of 33% down on the property, I needed 70% of the income to break even.
I would evict those who refused to pay any part of their rent. Other I would work with until I replaced the worst offenders. Then I'd go after the rest. --47.156.xx.xx |
Working on Rent (by 6x6 [TN]) Posted on: Sep 24, 2022 9:13 PM Message:
I don't understand why people will pay more money for the "convenience"( inconvenient if you ask me) and then they wonder why they don't have money when the bills are do?
I get why you are offering this, and I see that it works, but I don't think this is smart for tenants or the general public to do as it starts a bad process, called going broke.
Now that I give this some thought, don't you do ACH transactions to where you draw from their account? I was thinking you did?
--73.113.xxx.xxx |
Working on Rent (by Hoosier [IN]) Posted on: Sep 25, 2022 12:19 AM Message:
Sid I like your approach but would make it read such that if they miss one of the $400 payments then the late fees would be reinstated. --99.92.xxx.xxx |
Working on Rent (by MC [PA]) Posted on: Sep 25, 2022 8:12 AM Message:
I would not do partial more than once. Keep really good bookkeeping. I had one that couldn't get caught up, even going the 2 week route. Court went fine as they were on DD and I had all the records. SO was worried. Once some go partial, hard to keep up. After my can't get it together people, we went full amounts only. We have waived late fees for the non chronic ones. The others I tell them straight out what I am expecting when they try the "how much are my late fees?". No breaks. --73.230.xxx.xx |
Working on Rent (by Oregon Woodsmoke [ID]) Posted on: Sep 25, 2022 10:31 AM Message:
I no longer have any tenants living that close to the bone, but in the past, if I had a tenant who got paid on the third, I would prorate rent around so their rent was due on the fourth or fifth. I always had a few tenants whose rent was due on the 15th, which would be their second paycheck of the month. It was easier for them to pay rent and I didn't have to nag them. I didn't care what day rent was due as long as it wasn't late.
I wasn't keeping track of 100's of rents likes some of you do, but with all the fancy computer programs, isn't there one which will keep track of rent when some of it isn't due on the first?
A few of you who complain about tenants for the really low income places, myself I'd be happy to have seniors with a SS check and have rent due on the third or fifth, whenever day their check always arrived. --76.178.xxx.xxx |
Working on Rent (by Renne [TX]) Posted on: Sep 25, 2022 1:00 PM Message:
Excellent job, S i d!
I believe most people want to be honorable, pay their debts and be productive, contributing members of society.
When they encounter a hiccup, most of them are scared and don't know what to do.
You offered your Resident a wonderful, workable solution which they thanked you for while ensuring you would be made whole if they did not keep their part of the agreement. Win, win!
We had a Resident who chose the twice monthly pay day option through Clear Now, but her very first debit bounced.
I called and asked her about what her plan was and she didn't have a plan. And to my shame, I didn't have a plan to offer her.
I completely fault myself because when I was going over the options for rental payments, she chose the twice a month payment which Clear Now debits on certain dates.
However, my mistake was thinking she knew that plan would be best for her. She said it would work for her and I trusted her to know.
My mistake. Come to find out, she was not paid twice a month, but rather every other week and her pay dates were not the weeks Clear Now debited.
It was a simple fix and we offered to set up her payments to coincide with her real pay dates.
We did charge a small administrative fee for the change because of all the time it took to re-write the payment schedules and the costs associated with sending DocuSigns and such.
Now when we discuss a new Resident's payment options, we ask probing questions about what their paycheck dates are and we make the rent due on those dates.
--12.196.xxx.xxx |
Working on Rent (by zero [IN]) Posted on: Sep 25, 2022 3:30 PM Message:
I get payments throughout the month. Have a few that get gov money so they are on specific days of the month. Mostly I have people pay their rent when they take possession. Have a small file that tracks the due dates.
Just lost my last twice monthly payer. She will be missed but her new BF won't be. Have one left that pays every two weeks and one that still pays weekly. Has for years now.
Only one left that pays late. He's a stoner. Can't keep track of dates. Pays me half a day early with a text stating he will pay the rest in a week with late fees. His math is wonky all the time. He pays more than he should. I used to credit him the difference but that was a pain to track. I finally told him he needed to pay the correct amount as anything over would be considered a bonus to me. (He still paid more than half this time. Second in a row where he paid $420. I told him I thought the amount was funny. He laughed but probably won't remember it next time when it's the same. --107.147.xx.xxx |
Working on Rent (by S i d [MO]) Posted on: Sep 26, 2022 9:06 AM Message:
A few clarifications/responses:
Roy, this is no different than if I had offered them weekly payments from the start. Plus, I'm getting paid more. Works all the time. Instead of evicting, I'm just putting them on a payment plan that works.
6x6, yes, I do ACH, but this is a commercial tenant from back before I offered that. He still pays in person at the bank. One of my last few holders on that system.
Jeffrey, noted, thanks for the suggestion.
Hoosier, yes, that was my intention. I could have worded it better, but if the plan is broken then all late fees are reinstated.
--184.4.xx.xx |
Working on Rent (by 6x6 [TN]) Posted on: Sep 26, 2022 6:15 PM Message:
Thank you Sid --73.113.xxx.xxx |
Working on Rent (by BRAD 20,000 [IN]) Posted on: Sep 27, 2022 12:27 AM Message:
I don’t mention late fees because that’s not part of their thinking.
We put them on Friday weekly with a late fee if not paid.
“If you pay (the weekly fee) on Friday you will be on schedule.”
BRAD --73.103.xxx.xxx |
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