I'm just reading the string No listings/no inquiry and I had a thought.

My rooming house gets constant inquiries and stays full. I'm beginning to think that I need to operate apartments using a financial model similar to that which I use for the rooming house. All rent for the rooming house is weekly or bi-weekly depending on when they get paid. I don't charge a security deposit, but a non refundable move-in fee of $ 300. To get a room, they pay the move-in fee and the first week's rent. Thus, if they can come up with $ 500, they're in. There's very little turnover and many of the tenants have been there over a year.

As far as I can see, there's not a huge difference between the applicants I get for rooms versus apartments. The rooming house applicants are often better than those I get for the apartments. Moreover, I've taken some roomers and graduated them to apartments.

Turning over a room is easy and there's not much that can be damaged. I have some new studios that are similar in that regard. They're a bit larger (about 400 square feet) but tenant proofed. The smaller the place, the easier it is to turnover.

I'm thinking of cutting the SD in half (around $ 500 to $ 600) and making rent pay day only. This would mean less money needed to move in and I would market this as a feature. This is response to the difficult rental market. Screening would remain tight. Thoughts and feedback please.

Our smaller places rent like THAT no matter the price. It's our ONLY 3/2 regular house that is sitting like a dead pet. The on-property ADU stays full and we've turned over two other places maybe three in the time this one has been available. And they all had our normal high SD too.

How much would the weekly rent be and how much is the weekly rent for the rooming house? Would you include utilities?

Tim, weekly rent would be about 300. Between it and the reduced SD, total move in money would be $900 versus 2500 plus in the normal situation. I'm thinking this would put things were the goats can get it. I would still screen well and normal requirements would still apply. They're responsible for utilities.

I offer payday payment options on every rental along with normal monthly payments. I don't have a lot of people who take the payday option these days, but a few do. Others here on the forum do as well - I know Brad does and Sid may as well.

Weekly rent is (monthly rent / 4) +5

Bi-Weekly rent is (monthly rent / 2) +5

I don't reduce the security deposit. Paying weekly or bi-weekly is already reducing the move-in costs and the people who are choosing payday payment plans tend to be a little higher risk anyway.

Brainstorming here:

How about advertising it as accepting roommates?

Two people who are more responsible/conservative financially & trying to live in a decent home (vs a cheaper, nasty place).

Maybe if they know you would consider it.....

I do offer bi-weekly and bi-monthly rent payments. I only offer weekly to tenants who I already have that fall off the wagon and don't have enough to make the bi-weekly. Got one couple like that right now. Rent is $800. Plus late fee of $80. They didn't have it.

So I put them on $220 a week. So far, they've lasted 6 weeks. Better than an eviction. The rent is still $800 per month and late as of the 2nd, but as long as they get me $220 per week, I don't file. They'll be ahead of the game here soon as we all know some months have 5 Fridays. I've told them once they're 100% caught up and ready, we can go back to monthly rate and no late fee. Until them, my $800/month rental just became a $953/month rental

($220 * 52 weeks / 12 months) = $953.

Gman,

We have been advertising and offering PayDayPlan Rent for YEARS. People COME to us for it and 70% of new leases choose it.

Rent divided by 4 plus $10 = Every Friday rent.

Do the math - it's 13.4 months of income in a 12 month period.

Saying "every Friday, just like your paycheck" helps avoid the arguments about months that have 5 Fridays.

We have also had a non-refundable move in fee (Rent Discount Program Fee) for over 1000 leases, in place of a deposit.

We use the amount of monthly rent for the fee.

That fee plus one week of rent helps people get in easier,

BECAUSE

people don't have money.

We also list a utility fee on top of the rent so the advertised rent appears lower. "$250 every Friday plus $30 utils." I believe people don't realize how much we are giving them when the LL includes free utils.

BRAD

Are you saying that you would turn your 3BR apartments into rooming houses? Or just that you'd cut your SD and allow them to pay a week at a time?

The payday rent plan, as Brad mentioned, can work well. Be cautious about lowering your SD too much though. When I first started managing rooming houses, I continued the owner's policy of charging a $75 SD and giving them the option of paying a week at a time.

I quickly found out that I got all the renters that no other rooming house operator would take. I had set the bar too low. Then my city police department decided that my weekly rentals weren't really short-term and that I had to evict nonpayers to get them out. Paying $700 to evict someone that had only paid us $180 to move in was not a viable strategy.

I increased the SD to $200, then to $300, AND required a full month's rent up front. Guess what happened? I started getting people who could manage their money a lot better.