I have 2 residents having payment difficulty. We already put them on weekly rent but they are having trouble keeping up with that.

I gave them my usual text reminding them "a part time job would help ease any financial strain. There are HELP WANTED signs everywhere"

Boy o Boy!! What a terrible thing for me to say! How disrespectful! Treating them like children. Both replied the same thing, both with long long rants.

I typed some pretty great responses. "I am the one who held off your eviction and now you give ME grief!!" I was on fire! Full snark! I probably spent 45 minutes crafting super smart comebacks.

BUT...

those snarky remarks would not have kept me in control and maintained MY goal - FREEDOM!!! The words war would have waged on giving ME more stress.

So I used the Happy Clause. Works every time.

I wrote "Amy, We want our residents to be happy. It's obvious you are not happy. Your lease allows you to leave by paying 2 calendar months of rent and the Early Lease Termination Fee $2740."

Silence.

Hours later "We're not moving."

War ended. Kill em with kindness. Back to MY FREEDOM!!! of no more nasty-grams.

BRAD

They know they cannot pay the extra fees so they shut up.

I believe that when they read the Happy Clause they know we will not be drawn into more ranting.

When folks have trouble paying we automatically put them on weekly. Easier for them to come up with $188 than $825.

This also keeps us better informed - every 7 days vs waiting 30 days.

The weekly payment also matches their payday. THe first of the month seldom falls on payday.

70% of our new leases CHOOSE PayDayPlan - weekly or bi-weekly. They love the convenience.

What can I say...it works! and I make a ton of extra money that way!

BRAD

I don't know if you realize how unrealistic your expectations are! With Federal, State and City laws trying to take landlords around back behind a barn and snuff them out of business -- laws and courts are not on our side.

Tenant protections are everywhere and getting stronger and stronger by the minute.

If one of my tenants can't pay their rent and agrees to move out within a month, I will forgive back rent, late fee's and give them back their full deposit upon signing a release / handing over the keys. That up to a $5,000 gift to my moving tenant.

MY alternative is letting my tenant live rent free for THREE YEARS, with the blessing of the City, State, Mayor, Courts, Housing and tenants free legal aid.

I have a tenant who was falling behind. I suggested that maybe the rent was too much for her and she look for a less expensive place but she wants to stay where she is.

I offered to turn off the late payments if she pays the whole amount by they end of the month mainly because I did not want a vacancy in the winter and I have a current vacancy and an up coming vacancy. I will have to see how it goes. I am not very optimistic about her staying. She has been with me a long time and is a good tenant except for her finances.

I basically worked two or more jobs for many decades. First job to pay the bills, second job for luxuries and investment dollars.

But tenants...somehow think 40 hours a week is asking too much and would never dream of working a second job or overtime.

But tenants...are what helped me achieve my current lifestyle.

I think it is unrealistic to ask a tenant to get a second job. It's just not gonna happen. Stick to the lease and act quickly to reduce losses and maximize gains.

I like the idea of Happy Clause and just follow lease.

Guilty! I have made mistake too many times of offering solution and got reamed from tenant, that owes me money.

There is a reason they are tenants.

Wow, I really need to follow what I just typed!

Two of our studio tenants leases are coming up. I haven't pushed for renewal because I've found I don't MIND M2M even though tenants are more in control of timing with them (notice is only 7 days in NC for a M2M.)

But she did so I offered her a $50 increase in rent and double security deposit, as we require of all tenants these days. She said that was fine, she will have to come with just $625 extra to make her SD the right amount (last year we upped it a little bit already.) She asked for a payment plan and we said yes.

I have long term tenants that I actually bought a bigger place for. Family grew and the numbers worked.

Now they are on to the third place of mine. Over the years they talked about buying. I would run comps and get stuff lined up for them to help out. Nada. Well they just told me they are really ready this time.

I sent them a small rent increase and included in it that I would be happy to talk about them purchasing the place. Even pushed having them buy it on contract from me so I can spread the money out.

Over the years I have fallen victim to to being the nice guy when it comes to helping a tenant. Some appreciate it, some get offended but none have actually used the advice.

Like Homer, I don't get into these kinds of conversations.

"Rent is past due. With fees, the total is $XXXX. Please pay ASAP to avoid any negative outcomes."

Done. Any response other than "Here's the receipt from the deposit" is ignored. I don't care about their reasons or excuses. The rent is past due. If I don't have it by Day 6 late, I file. Case closed. Next.

Back in my younger days, I too used to try to make helpful suggestions for how to get caught up on rent: most tenants who fall behind could pick up some day labor work for 2-3 shifts and be able to stay caught up. But they don't. I'm pretty sure in Biden's Bill of Tenant Rights there will be language that tenants get to watch TV and play video games with all their spare time, and no one should have to work more than 29 hours a week to afford all the sundries of life and get affordable health insurance and 4 weeks paid vacation every year.

Meanwhile, I hustled 2 jobs and a side venture as a real estate investor at the same time to get where I am. My reward is a higher tax bill and socialists like AOC and Bernie kvetching that I don't "pay my fair share."

No matter. I just put on my jams and ignore them. ONWARD!

If this helps...

I keep our text conversations quick and to the point. THEY are the rent writers.

These folks have been paying, just a few days late here and there.

Can't be right and rich. Chosing rich.

I really don't want to evict them because

1.My new judge is unpredictable and they have concerns which would make me look bad - furnace died during the cold snap, took a week to get the new one in place but we supplied small electrics, so their elec bill was high, mostly due to the cold. A pipe burst - got that sink turned off but fans had to run for several days.

All basic stuff but their free atty would make a case against me.

Chosing FREEDOM!!!

2.I don't want the home back and lose some FREEDOM!!! - getting TOP rent plus PayDayPlan fees and animal fees, upgrades needed for a turnover, and rents are just words. I think I managed it well.

3. They are paying the heat, not me.

Our ZERO TOLERANCE gives them 3 days to pay up. They are paying.

***RANT writer***

Robert J,

Thanks for the reminder I will never invest in Cali. Sophisticated progressives make fun of us "Fly over" people but our laws have a bit more sensibility.

BTW My biggest competition is Cali buyers snatching up properties at full price+ because they are using "Cali price" eyes.

Zero,

Don't be quick to turn a good renter into a buyer. It's not your job to force him to succeed by giving up your rental.

Land Contracts in Indiana can hurt the seller. Technically if the buyer drops out (most do) you must pay back EVERY cent he paid, including the ins, taxes, etc he paid.

Do a Rent To Own. By law you keep every penny of their RTO Fee, still get depreciation deductions, and can evict in the lease.

Out of the 1,000 RTOs we have done only 2!!! actually bought the home.

I reflect back on my younger years. I worked a full time job, I did the rentals a s a side gig and was a part time college student. I finished up a MBA before it was all over.

Brad,

Thanks for the info. I faintly remember hearing about land contracts being bad. I prefer rent to own. Had a couple RTO for 13 years. He was a friend. I kept extending the deadline. They paid like $50 extra a month when they could. That was a good one.

Have one that I am playing bank on. Found out that if she falls behind I might have to do foreclosure instead of eviction.

Alas, tenants who are having difficulty paying do not take any sort of kind suggestion well. I learned that one the hard way.

I was posting notice on one a couple of weeks ago. He just happened to come to the door. He was being congenial so I stayed and talked for a minute. The just of the conversation is he didn't want me to think he was a freeloader because he was behind, his last check as an electrician was $300 (paid every 2 weeks), he has just started looking for odd jobs.

I just smiled nodded and then left. Mentally I was thinking you worked 15 hours in the last two weeks and totally wasted your time instead of finding part time or side jobs which are available everywhere. The only reason you did that is the reality that you are going to be homeless in a very short time motivated you to get off your duff. However, I also knew that if I engaged it would not end well so I just took the high road.

My parents would have told me - quit your whining and get back to work. Today- some cream puff will run to their safe space and curl up into a ball.

I try to operate like Verizon. If I don’t pay my bill, I get notice that my service will be disconnected. If I don’t pay after that, it’s disconnected. Same goes with rent: if they don’t pay they get notice. If they continue to not pay, they get evicted.

Meanwhile, if my customer has a problem, I’ll fix it for them.

I can see that your payday plan has been helpful, however, it also seems that it can be a temporary solution to a bigger problem.

Albeit that your intentions may have been well meaning for both you and your tenants, I can see where that might offend most people.

People seem to have trouble budgeting there money. Another reality though, is wages do not keep up with "real" inflation.

What happens if they get a side job, inflation keeps growing, wages do not, they run into more trouble? Do they keep getting more side jobs? Where does it end?