Oooh …wicked smart lady and loving her pristine sense multiplication! ..I read it, took a photo copy & promise myself to make a lifestyle adaptation because of it. Once ya know, you can’t un-know.. Spot-on, Ms Free To Pursue!

Love it, but of course!! ..If you’re not a part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.
As a renter for most of my life (turning big 50 soon), I’ve understood, entirely well, the ‘rental discount’ if I paid on time. Has the ability to seriously reduce those hostile thoughts toward anybody else’s lifestyle in the matter of: ‘Their non-participation in your better organized fiscal habits’.
Mark, I hope you find it in your heart to share this article with the tenants who actually need this information. No good to call them out to all of us without offering them the opportunity to recognize their error and do better moving forward.

Kathy, dig your heals in (with yourself, that is) & realize what you’re stating here but not saying ‘to them’ in reality. Takes courage but ‘that’ situation has sufficient opportunity to collapse your own good financial posturing. Four months no rent?!! At this point perhaps you’re enabling them to not take responsibility for their lives. Has no bearing on whether you accept & act on responsibility for yours..

Haha, love it man.. great tips and insights – especially with the J. Money renters of the world ;) You can repay me in beers later for getting the good word out on renting.

I’ve been landlording as a side hustle since 1998. One of my favorite excuses for being late on rent was when the tenant emailed mensaying she can’t talk right now since she is in Paris and can’t pay rent for another two weeks.

Oh to be in Paris and not have to worry about rent. C’est La Vie.

The key to landlording is to treat it like a business and don’t judge people or take things personally. Late fees are late fees. If you don’t enforce them they will always pay late.

Moreover, why ate you driving over to your rental to collect rent?

Does your mortgage lender swing by to collect the mortgage payment?

Here are some tips to make life easier and train your tenants. Keep in mind, some tenants are not trainable and there comes a day when you simply have to serve them notice and find a better tenant like J Money.

1. You only have one rental. Set up a bank account at a big bank with lots of branches and tell the tenant they must deposit rent into this bank account.
2. Enforce the late fee. If they don’t pay it, send a letter demanding payment or they will have to move out within 7 days. State that you will ruin their credit score with a judgement.
3. Offer a free grace period per year on the late fee. Just like the banks or credit card companies that allow you a break on a late fee if you have a great payment record.
4. One of the landlords offered a $50.00 discount if rent was paid by the 1st. Be careful with this one. Some states don’t allow this.
5. To recoup the late fees not paid, deduct ’em from their deposit and document it by sending them a letter. Then demand they make up the difference since the rental requires a certain deposit as part of the lease.

Lastly, bless your tenants and all the people out there who choose not to own a home like J Money or simply have to rent since the drive monster trucks, spend a fortune on entertainment and pay late fees. They allow landlords to own an asset that costs them next to nothing as a result of renters paying their mortgage, taxes, insurance and maintenance and repairs.

Oh, and provides monthly yields north of 10% excluding all the other tax and appreciation benefits.

Yes, investing in dividend stocks is easier. Since it costs little time, you get little returns.

Landlording costs more time for more returns.

Plus, good luck trying to sue a company that doesn’t pay the dividend anymore. If my tenant doesn’t pay, I can be in and out of court within 3 weeks and if the tenant doesn’t pay, send em to collections, keep the deposit and get a better tenant in the unit.

I love being a landlord and investing in the market. However, when the stock market imploded 60% peak to trough from 2007 to 2009, my rentals kept humming along spitting out cash flow like a magical ATM machine.

C’est La Vie.

My tenant for our one rental home always pays by the 3rd of each month (late fees after the 3rd), BUT she always makes it seem like she’s doing me a HUGE favor. She makes it really clear that she’s paying me rent instead of covering her cell bill, car maintenance bill, etc…like I’m supposed to bow down to her greatness for coming up with $1250 a month for a 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, really well maintained 1750 sq. ft. house in the burbs with the best schools and stuff…ugh. Not to mention, I have only raised her rent $50 a month one time in 4 years even though the property taxes are just getting worse and worse and everything else is renting for $100+ a month more. But I keep repeating to myself – “she’s clean, she pays on time, and just one month vacant would eat a year’s profit from rent raising…”. Yet, I still love being a landlord!

That is a great way to get it done!!!

I agree and great perspective. Irresponsible freeloader types need to get their priorities straight or get out.

I figure I am part of the system that “let’s them mindlessly spend their money.” The buck stops with me. If they can’t even pay for the roof over their heads, how do they pay for anything else? I hold people accountable and wish more people did the same.

If they have a score of 720 or higher their likelihood of defaulting on payment owed is less than 2%. It would also mean that they pay on time since paying late on other debts would have reduced their credit score below 720.

720 – 900 is essentially the same credit score. The lower end score may mean they have larger revolving credit card debt, but they pay it just the same. I’ve personally never seen anybody with a score of 800 or above and that includes big wigs that work at the bank.