The Successful Landlord Blog

So, recently I had the realization that the late fees I charge tenants are obviously not high enough. I have a few tenants who consistently, every single month, are late on their rent.

Of course, the reasons range from car trouble to an occasional dead grandmother but that’s irrelevant. The point is that these people are obviously living month-to-month and do not keep any money in reserve for “emergencies.”

The standard terms in my leases are, “…rent is due on the 1st of the month and late on the 4th…” Additionally, “…late fees are $25 on the 4th and $5 per day after that.” So, basically, if a tenant is 1 week late with the rent, it will cost them $55 extra for the month. I guess $55 is not a lot of money these days and the tenants see this as “no big deal.” Read the rest of this entry »

Recently I made a post directed at tenants about how NOT to inquire about a rental property. This post is sort of a follow-up to that one:

This SHOULD be a common-sense-type concept but from my recent experience fielding phone calls about one of our vacant rental houses, the point is obviously lost on many tenants seeking new accommodation.

People do not seem to understand that the rental application process starts at the first phone call. Along with looking good on paper (i.e. the actual rental application) you must be able to communicate effectively and somewhat professionally.

From a landlord’s perspective:

- If you cannot be reached by phone because you gave your friend’s number while inquiring about the property and your friend can’t be bothered to be courteous when I call…..you will not get approved. Read the rest of this entry »

I will just start this post off by saying, “DUH!!”

Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system…I recently received a call from a tenant who let me know that for three-weeks now, she had noticed that there was black mold growing on the walls of a hall closet in her rental unit.

She also mentioned that two of her kids have asthma and they could not stay in the house due to the mold causing decreased breathing capacity.  And she mentioned that she’s been trying to clean the mold with bleach but it keeps coming back. Read the rest of this entry »

So, this story is actually from a local real estate agent who is handling the job of finding a tenant for a client.

The agent received a request to show the rental property from a woman who seemed very eager to rent the property in question. The agent, being busy with other business, did not call the woman back for a couple of hours. In the meantime the woman who just could not wait, called the agent’s broker who showed the rental to her.

After seeing the property, the woman contacted the agent and started trying to negotiate the rental price. The agent let her know that if her credit was stellar and her application checked out, the owners would consider negotiating on the rent.

After reviewing the application, it turns out that the woman who was in her 40’s had no credit, due to being married.  Her employment history consisted of nothing except a potential waitress job which was lined-up for after a new local restaurant opening. So currently, no job. Read the rest of this entry »