Accessibility is a familiar term to housing providers. Management is keenly aware of accessibility requirements around its properties to ensure fair housing compliance. But what about website accessibility? This article will review what website accessibility is and why every rental property owner and property management company should be reviewing its websites today.
What is Website Accessibility and Why Is It Important?
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This week on The Podcast you’ll find us diving into the ever important subject of tenants and how to keep them renting long term.
It’s no secret that the age old concept of client goodwill pays off. We believe that respect, kindness, and gratitude go a long way when it comes to landlord-tenant relationships.
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In this episode Kevin and Stacie give you background information on
▪️ Who they are,
▪️ Why they created Your Landlord Resource, and
▪️ What you can expect in future episodes.
Coming in at a 15-minute listen, it’s a short but sweet way to learn all about us!
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When was the last time you did a compliance audit of your documentation forms and procedures for your rental properties? Why is it a critical practice that should be done regularly? This article will share why compliance monitoring is important and share some helpful tips to either get you started or fine-tune your process.
What’s that saying, “Big things come from small beginnings”? To increase income in your rental properties, a landlord must focus on many small changes that add up to a nice return at the end of the year. In this blog, we cover the most common ways to add more to your bottom line.
Increase Income
Going through the process of finding a valuable new tenant for your rental property is no fun. However, just as there are proper steps to follow when vetting a prospective tenant, there are processes and legal requirements one must abide by when it comes to denying an application. Read on to learn the best ways to deny a rental application.
Setting Yourself Up for Success
Let’s first start with some essential features of your vetting process. Our free 10-page guide, How to Place Your Ideal Tenant, discusses finding and vetting a tenant but does not cover what to do if you have to deny an application. One aspect of marketing your unit goes over how important it is for a landlord to create their qualifying criteria and ensure the applicants are aware of these criteria before paying a fee and completing your rental application.
Standard qualifying criteria would be:
Recently, we decided to sell farmland in one state and exchange it for a 4-plex multifamily complex in a different state, neither state of which we resided in. Having never done this before, we thought our readers might like to know what our first experience with a 1031 exchange as rental property owners entailed. Where we gained insight and learned a lot, it certainly was not an easy task. Would we do it again? Keep reading about our experience to find out and determine if a 1031 exchange is right for you.
Tenant moveouts are never any fun. Even if you have one who you’ve looked forward to having move on, flipping a unit and placing a new tenant is a lot of work. So, whether you’re new to this process or a seasoned landlord, please continue reading for our step-by-step guide to tenant moveouts.
If needed, set a reminder on your phone 65 days before a tenant’s lease is due for renewal. If you are not renewing their lease, typically, it is a safe business practice to give a tenant 60 days’ notice of non-renewal. Landlords can do this using a state-specific form or a simple email. Depending on your specific state, you may have to give a reason for the non-renewal or pay relocation fees. Know and understand your state and local landlord-tenant laws.
If the tenant is offered a renewal but opts to move out, they generally must give 30 days’ notice to vacate the premises. This is when the clock starts clicking for both the landlord and the tenant.
Acknowledge the Tenant’s Intent to Vacate
In written form (typically email), confirm you have received their notice to exit. Let them know that they have the option to schedule a pre-moveout inspection (more on this below) within the final two weeks of tenancy. Also, let them know that, within those last two weeks, you will send another email detailing the costs associated if they choose not to clean the unit.
Check On Old Marketing Info for Your Unit
Accepting physical checks for payment is becoming a thing of the past. Many landlords looking to replace this method without increasing expenses have considered using cash apps such as Venmo or Paypal. However, where these apps make receiving rent very convenient, they are risky. Continue reading to understand why landlords shouldn’t accept rent payments from cash apps and what their options are.
When you lease your rental property to a new tenant, information overload for them is real. They may be preoccupied with moving and all the fun stuff that comes with that monumental task. Even if you review move-in details in person, consider creating a “New Tenant Welcome Binder” for them to reference. Undoubtedly, there will be an instance when they try to remember something you mentioned. This welcome binder will keep them from having to make phone calls to you, saving you from having to repeat yourself. Here are 10 things new tenants need to know from landlords when they move in.
Our welcome binder includes all of the following:
1. A copy of their signed lease.
Yes, an electronic copy is great. However, we also include a physical copy so that tenants can do a quick reference on dates and amounts or look for the information we noted on an addendum that they can’t remember about the washer and dryer repair.
2. How they pay rent?
Make sure they have the link to the app you use, an address to mail it, or instructions on when they should expect an invoice from you (if using accounting software). If there are any specifics regarding fees or payment methods related to paying online, this is where you can remind them of it. For example, we use accounting software for invoicing our tenants on the 15th of the month before the next due date. Because it can take five business days for us to receive the rent (it gets deposited into our account), we always remind tenants to pay it by the 25th of the month before the due date so it will not be considered received late by us. This reminder is because we account for rent paid when it is in our hands, not when the system emails us letting us know the tenant paid their invoice and money is on the way.