The average income for a landlord in the United States is $68,920 per year. Property ownership can be lucrative, but it's also a big hassle.
Most people would love to join the industry but can't imagine fighting with tenants over rent. Finances can be sensitive, so you must know how to go about it to maintain good relations with the tenants.
The rent collection process doesn't have to be stressful. You can employ methods to ensure tenants pay on time without much of a scuffle.
Join us as we discuss five rent collection tips for beginning property owners.
1. Use Bank Transfers
When collecting rent, you want to make the process as easy as possible. With online bank transfers, tenants can wire funds into your account anytime. The flexibility shows the tenants that you trust them to honor the lease terms.
Issue tenants a card with bank details and procedures at the beginning of their tenancy. The only downside is that you can't block any partial payments. This may derail any efforts to evict a tenant.
2. Screen Tenants
Sometimes the tenant can clear the deposit, but it's not enough to prove credibility. Thus, it’s critical to run a background check. Choose tenants with a clean credit history. Otherwise, you may be considering eviction policies two months into the tenancy.
To ensure smooth sailing during the rent collection process, you'll need a thorough tenant screening process.
3. Use Peer-to-Peer Payment Services
Your main aim is to make the rent collection process as easy as possible for the parties involved. Nobody wants to leave the house to wire money anymore. For quick payments, you can use peer-to-peer payment services for rent collection.
These fast processes don’t offer much security and lack a rent collection portal. So you’ll have to be a little careful with this one.
4. Foster a Good Relationship
Your tenants are your clients, so you want a long-lasting business arrangement with them. You can avoid scuffles during rent collection by fostering a good relationship.
Have open communication channels. This way, the tenants will find communicating easier when they have a financial crisis.
Besides, make it a priority to communicate deadlines and fines beforehand.
5. Use Rent Collection Software
Bank transfers and other online services are great platforms. They are cheap and easy to use. However, none serve the sole purpose of rent payments.
A property management software is a much better solution for you. Through a tenant portal, it becomes much easier to manage individual accounts.
Besides, you can block any partial payments and automate the bookkeeping process.
Rent Collection Tips
Being a property owner is highly lucrative. However, you must be prepared to deal with the tenants during rent collection.
We hope that the above tips on how to collect rent will make the process easier for you. The use of rent collection technology is becoming more common among landlords. The software is making it possible to track individual tenant portals.
Feel free to contact us for rent collection and other property management services.
