how do you handle rental payments

[partgypsy]

Hi I am a complete newbie, and trying to rent my attic out. How do you handle rent payments? I was going to offer Venmo, certified check. Maybe also paypal, but that charges a 2-3% fee. What are some good options that are secure for both parties but don't charge fees?

[eddy20]

Venmo, deposit at your bank, PayPal or cash. If you trust the tenant personal check.

[uniwelder]

I usually use a direct deposit from bank to bank.  I don't know if it's a justified concern, but I've worried that if I accepted Venmo, they'd report the earnings on an end of year statement.  Then I might have some double reporting of income to sort out. 

For those that take large Venmo deposits, is this an issue?  I do report my rental income, so it's not like I'm avoiding taxes.  I just want to avoid double taxation or extra paperwork.

[GilesMM]

My tenant gives me a stack of 12 signed checks every Dec. I endorse and deposit one each month.

[uniwelder]

My tenant gives me a stack of 12 signed checks every Dec. I endorse and deposit one each month.

Long time renter or family member?  That certainly takes a lot of trust.

[i_have_so_much_to_learn]

I'm looking for the answer to this question too. I was hoping to find a fee-free online platform - maybe it would charge fees if they paid in credit (but otherwise would be free to use).

[Archipelago]

Apartments.com. It's a free system, but I wouldn't be surprised if they start charging someday.

I've used it as a renter and a landlord, and speaking from experience works very well on both ends.

It's a straightforward system that uses ACH. Landlord sets up their bank, tenant sets up their bank. Landlord sets lease duration, monthly rent, late fees, one-time bills, etc. Tenant schedules payments and enrolls in autopay if desired. Landlord gets a notification when tenant submits payment. There are no fees for any parties involved.

[i_have_so_much_to_learn]

Apartments.com. It's a free system, but I wouldn't be surprised if they start charging someday.

I've used it as a renter and a landlord, and speaking from experience works very well on both ends.

It's a straightforward system that uses ACH. Landlord sets up their bank, tenant sets up their bank. Landlord sets lease duration, monthly rent, late fees, one-time bills, etc. Tenant schedules payments and enrolls in autopay if desired. Landlord gets a notification when tenant submits payment. There are no fees for any parties involved.

What's their business model?

[Archipelago]

Venmo, deposit at your bank, PayPal or cash. If you trust the tenant personal check.

I'd advise against platforms like Venmo which generically codes transactions which are not traceable to a specific person. A landlord should not be in a situation where it's 'your word against mine.' Venmo statements would not reliably hold up in court if push came to shove. Paypal and Zelle are slightly better on this front, but not by much. These platforms all have another thing in common - they side with the consumer. It's possible for a tenant to reverse a payment, leaving you emptyhanded.

Also, I would advise against cash payments. Doing so would require meeting the tenant in person every month, counting the cash, writing a receipt, then visiting a bank to deposit it. It's a lot of hassle for no good reason.

[Archipelago]

Apartments.com. It's a free system, but I wouldn't be surprised if they start charging someday.

I've used it as a renter and a landlord, and speaking from experience works very well on both ends.

It's a straightforward system that uses ACH. Landlord sets up their bank, tenant sets up their bank. Landlord sets lease duration, monthly rent, late fees, one-time bills, etc. Tenant schedules payments and enrolls in autopay if desired. Landlord gets a notification when tenant submits payment. There are no fees for any parties involved.

What's their business model?

They have paid options for companies & property managers. They also have paid advertising and rental screening.

[partgypsy]

And are personal checks a no go?

[i_have_so_much_to_learn]

And are personal checks a no go?

I'd personally not worry about personal checks from tenants. Make sure you have a clause about bouncing in the lease so you can chargeback the bounce fee as well as late fees (reasonable to them - if you cash the check 30 days late, you shouldn't charge them a 30 day late fee).

[uniwelder]

Venmo, deposit at your bank, PayPal or cash. If you trust the tenant personal check.

I'd advise against platforms like Venmo which generically codes transactions which are not traceable to a specific person. A landlord should not be in a situation where it's 'your word against mine.' Venmo statements would not reliably hold up in court if push came to shove. Paypal and Zelle are slightly better on this front, but not by much. These platforms all have another thing in common - they side with the consumer. It's possible for a tenant to reverse a payment, leaving you emptyhanded.

Also, I would advise against cash payments. Doing so would require meeting the tenant in person every month, counting the cash, writing a receipt, then visiting a bank to deposit it. It's a lot of hassle for no good reason.

Thanks for the Venmo info.  I have heard to stay away from Venmo, and this bring up another set of reasons why.

[Archipelago]

And are personal checks a no go?

Personal checks aren't a no-go like Venmo or Paypal is. I just don't bother, and I don't want tenants to bother with them either. Personal checks involve:

1. Tenant writing and mailing check
2. Receiving check in the mail (very little you can do it if it gets lost in the mail)
3. Endorsing and scanning checks on bank app
4. Waiting for funds to clear

I have 8 rental units and the above would take 5 minutes for each tenant and 2 minutes for me, assuming everything went smoothly. That's nearly an hour of wasted time and $4 in postage wasted every month. I'm not interested in wasting that amount of time on anyone's part. Work smarter, not harder.

I got a bit of tenant pushback when switching to a digital system, but ever since making the switch things are smoother and easier than ever. Now not a single peep about it.

[partgypsy]

Sounds like I need to do some research into the apartments
Com.has anyone used Zillow renter interface?

[uniwelder]

Sounds like I need to do some research into the apartments
Com.has anyone used Zillow renter interface?

Yes, I like Zillow.  We actually just listed and signed a lease today for new tenants.  OP might be looking for input from others, but for those that haven't read it, I'm copying from the other thread about rentals----

I put my long term rentals on Zillow now and it's been great.  It's a free service for the homeowner.  The potential renter can pay $30 to submit an application (criminal and credit background check)  that is good for any rental for a 30 day period on the platform.  It also cross lists to Hotpads and Trulia.  For short term, it could be a good option for you.

I use zillow for long-term rentals and it has been great. You could advertise a lower rate for long term and a higher rate for short-term. I don't use the zillow application. I use "Rent Spree". When you accept the zillow application it costs the tenant $30 for unlimited applications. The tenants have a tendency to fire off a surplus of applications to many different rentals even when they are half interested. My best friend advertised on zillow and accepted the zillow application. They were flooded with applications and many of the people were barely interested. It was a huge waste of time contacting everyone trying to figure out who was really interested in the rental.

I don't remember exactly, but I think that with automative applications turned off, you can still invite people to send their application through Zillow.  Either way, you'll probably end up with lots of people contacting you that aren't really interested and need to sift through and filter.  Rather than an application, you'll get multiple automated requests for a showing.

edited to add-- Confirmed that you can indeed still use Zillow applications after turning the 'accept applications automatically' feature off.  We have a rental listed now.  It did take some clicking through various screens to get to the right one.  That is something I find annoying with Zillow is that there are various similar screens that don't all have same buttons and options, so I have to hunt through to get to some of the more obscure things.

[YttriumNitrate]

Apartments.com. It's a free system, but I wouldn't be surprised if they start charging someday.

What's their business model?

I've also being using Apartments.com (formerly Cozy.co) for a while. No complaints so far. I think they also make money by holding the rent payments for a few days before transferring it to the landlord.

[the_hobbitish]

I've been using baselane.com for about a year. It's been easy and painless for far. You can do tenant screening and applications through them too. Let me know if you'd like a referral code.

[Midwest_Handlebar]

Apartments.com. It's a free system, but I wouldn't be surprised if they start charging someday.

What's their business model?

I've also being using Apartments.com (formerly Cozy.co) for a while. No complaints so far. I think they also make money by holding the rent payments for a few days before transferring it to the landlord.

I also use apartments.com. Started with Cozy.co.

[bacchi]

Apartments.com. It's a free system, but I wouldn't be surprised if they start charging someday.

What's their business model?

I've also being using Apartments.com (formerly Cozy.co) for a while. No complaints so far. I think they also make money by holding the rent payments for a few days before transferring it to the landlord.

I also use apartments.com. Started with Cozy.co.

Same. Sometimes it's really slow if there's a holiday but at least I know it's on the way.

I wouldn't advise using it if you have a cash flow problem (where you need the rent to pay the mortgage) but, as mustachians, you should be able to handle a short delay.

[aasdfadsf]

Another plug for apartments.com (ported over from cozy.co against my will). Haven't had a problem with it.

They make their money off of 1) the float, which is annoying but not that big of a deal, 2) capturing fees off of your renters who use credit cards (their problem), 3) some various fees and whatnot for listings and shit that I haven't actually ever even seen. 

I've found their site pretty useful and without too much bullshit, and since it's free on my end, they're entitled to their float for holding up the payments for a few days.

[i_have_so_much_to_learn]

For the folks who use baselane or stessa, is it worth it?

[the_hobbitish]

I've liked baselane. It was easy and hasn't cost me anything. No complaints from the tenants on setup etc. We originally wanted to do zelle bank transfers, but couldn't because of transaction amount limits by their bank. There's a slight delay on the rent payment that a lot of similar rent collection tools use, which doesn't bother me.

I haven't used anything else so I don't know if it's better than the other options or not, but I've liked it enough to stay and not worry about it.

[FireOnTheMuffin]

I’ve also been using apartments.com since it was Cozy.co.  Works well for me.