First, if you have multiple tenants living in one rental unit that share a lease and are all responsible for the rent you will want to add them all to the same payment set. This is really very simple. Just follow the steps below.

1. Add the payment set as you would for a single renter. If you need help with this step please see our Adding Properties or Adding a New Payment Set posts.

2. When entering the tenant and payment information, choose one renter to enter first. Complete this step for that single renter with the entire rent amount payable for the month.

3. Add the additional tenants after you save the payment information. They will be added from the Rental Detail Page.

4. Make sure the correct payment set is chosen in the dropdown menu in the right sidebar.

5. Click the “Add a renter to set” link

6. Complete the additional tenant information and click save changes

7. Repeat this process as many times as necessary for every additional tenant living in this rental unit.

But what if you have tenants living in the same rental property and want to set them up with separate leases? All you need to do is add multiple concurrent payment sets. To do this you will want to follow the steps for Adding a New Payment Set that we laid out in a previous post.

As always, please reach out to our support staff if you have any questions. You can reach us via email at supportrentmonitorcom.

This month’s newsletter looks at getting your pool ready for summer and a few fun ideas for Memorial Day. We also share with you an update to the software that we think is really great.

If you didn’t receive your copy of the newsletter directly to your email inbox, sign up below so we can fix that. Simply click on the link so you don’t miss out on the next one.

Subscribe to the RentMonitor Newsletter

But before you go, here’s a sneak peak of the May newsletter. Want to read the rest? Click this link to view the RentMonitor Newsletter in your browser.

]]> http://www.rentmonitor.com/blog/the-may-rentmonitor-newsletter-is-out/feed/ 0 http://www.rentmonitor.com/blog/the-may-rentmonitor-newsletter-is-out/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rentmonitorblog/~3/nZ7ElV0trHU/ http://www.rentmonitor.com/blog/getting-organized-for-spring/#comments Thu, 09 May 2013 10:00:00 +0000 deanna http://www.rentmonitor.com/blog/?p=4382 Our April newsletter examined spring cleaning and offered some tips to help in your office, at your property, or for your residents in their homes. These tips are great to get started, but in order to keep your spaces neat on an on-going basis, you should consider creating systems and organizing.

However, if organizing isn’t your thing you have nothing to fear. These 8 tips will help make it easier.

• Set aside some time to get organized. Start with an hour or less and do a quick scan of your area. Repeat this as necessary until all of you spaces have been assessed and all items addressed.
• Set up a trash pile, donation pile and keep pile. While quickly going through your space, decide if an item should be thrown away, given away, or kept. Try not to focus on any one thing too long.
• Stick to a time period for determining whether to keep an item. For instance, if you have not seen an item or used it in over a year, it’s probably time for it to go.
• At the end of each session, follow through on your piles. After the trash has been taken out and the donation items have been boxed up, take some time to put all of the items you are keeping back in a specified place.
• Create a habit of putting all your items in their designated places at the end of the day.
• Use an inbox for items that need to be addressed such as mail or other paperwork in you office. Spend time each week clearing your inbox.
• Create a place for items that need to be filed away. Commit to spending a few minutes each week to file these items and put them away.
• Sit back and enjoy your beautifully organized home or office!

Photo by: Victoria Pickering

However, we also know that once you’ve made the decision to collect rent online, you want the process to be quick, easy and seamless. That’s why our application consists of just a few simple steps.

• Enter your rental properties. While you can now apply without all of your rental properties entered, it is best to have at least one rental in the system.
• Enter your contact information on the Settings Page. This is not a mandatory step, but it will save you some time later on.
• Submit the official online application. You can apply as either a business or a sole proprietor. Most of our customers receive an instant approval on this step.
• Once you are approved, you need to add a bank account so we know where to send your rent.
• Submit your physical documents to verify your application information. This includes a copy of your driver’s license and voided check.

• Business Information – Name and Tax ID
• Principal’s Information – Name, SSN, Date of Birth, and Driver’s License information

This information will be used to verify your identity and confirm the information submitted, but it will not affect your FICO score since it is not a traditional credit check. If all is well, your application will be approved and you can move on to the next steps – entering your bank account information and sending us your documents.

Once you are approved, you can send your tenants welcome emails and they will be able to pay rent online. The process for tenants is very simple. All they need to do is click the link in the welcome email and set their password.

For more information, we invite you to visit www.RentMonitor.com or send us an email at inforentmonitorcom.

These simple ideas are from our Resident Retention Pinterest board. Want more ideas, be sure to check out our other boards and follow us too.

For these gifts, it’s the thought that counts. We know property budgets are tight so use these as ideas and adjust them to fit your rental properties.

All women like to feel special. Consider giving the mother’s at your property a special treat like a cupcake. These can be at the front desk and handed out to mothers as they return home from being out for morning brunch.

Continuing with the sweet theme, you could package up treats ahead of time and have them in an envelope with a special message for all of the mothers. Look up a poem that honors mothers and all that they do or write a special note of gratitude.

Cookies are another easy gift to pass out. These are probably a little easier on the budget and time commitment too.

Finally, if treats are not your thing, consider handing out a special message to all of the mothers instead. You could print these up on nice paper and either pass them out at the front desk or deliver them to each mother’s door.

Do you have any other ideas for celebrating Mother’s Day at your rental properties? If so, we’d love to hear it in the comments below.

Feature Photo by: Prescott Pym

Late fees are an important part of any property management business so landlords need to make sure rent due dates, grace periods, and late fees are properly crafted and clearly stated in the lease agreement. Here are 6 tips landlords should consider when creating their late fee strategy.

1. Set Clear Payment Terms

Every written lease agreement should begin with clear rent payment terms. This includes setting the date rent is due each month (usually the 1^st), if there is a grace period and when rent is considered late. Typical grace periods range from 3-5 days, but they can vary based on what the landlord chooses. This is the time after rent is due, but not officially considered late. If a rent payment is not made by the end of the grace period, the rent is considered late and landlords should implement a late fee.

2. Decide on the Late Charges

Speaking of late fees, what should landlords charge? The rates need to be considered reasonable, but that can vary due to the amount of the monthly rent or state regulations. Generally, the total amount of late fees in any given month should not be more than one quarter of a month’s rent.

Now that you have an idea of what to charge, let’s look at how late fees are calculated. Late fees can be assessed in the following ways:

• Flat Fee: a one-time fee assessed immediately after the grace period ends.
• Percentage of Monthly Rent: a one-time fee that is calculated based on the rent amount. These fees typically range from 4-6%.
• Daily Late Fee: This fee accumulates over time for each day a tenant is late paying after the grace period.

3. Leave Emotion Out

If a tenant is late with a rent payment, there’s no reason to go overboard emotionally. This is exactly why you set out clear payment terms in the lease. Now is the time to follow the plan. Landlord-tenant relationships are business relationships and a tenant failing to pay rent on time is a business problem, not a personal one.

A great way to keep emotion out is to automate the system. If you use rent payment software, you can set late fees before it becomes an issue. Then, the software system will add the appropriate late fees without the landlord having to become the “bad guy”.

4. Contact Your Tenant

Often tenants will just forget to pay the rent because the due date gets away from them. For tenants like this, landlords would benefit from having a system in place to send monthly rent reminders or invoices. This reminder encourages tenants to pay rent, just like their other bills.

Honest mistakes can happen, but more often than not, one late payment will lead to more late payments in the future. Landlords should be proactive as soon as a payment is late by contacting their renter to find out why they are late making the payment.

5. Set the Right Precedent

It is extremely important that landlords be consistent with implementing late fees for all payments that are late. If you do not follow through with your late rent fees, the message to the tenant and the courts is that it’s okay to pay the rent late with out penalty. Failing to communicate and impose the late fees could act as a form of “permission” that can work against you in an eviction hearing. Set the precedent from the beginning that you always take proper action when rent is late in order to protect your legal rights.

6. Amend Agreements as Needed

If your current leases do not have clear rent payment terms, consider revising your leases as soon as possible. Depending on your agreements, this may not be until renewal time. Contact a legal professional if you need help.

You can also amend your lease to include any unique payment terms agreed upon with your tenant. For instance, your tenant may have a hard time paying rent on the 1^st because of when they get paid. Consider moving the rent due date to the middle of the month or accepting rent every other week. Being flexible can go a long way to build a successful relationship with your tenants and make it clear you value their business.

Photo by: www.planetofsuccess.com

For properties that are already in the system, there are a couple ways you can easily add a new payment set.

First, from the Dashboard, click on the button in the upper right corner that says “Setup a New Payment”. In the pop up window, choose the first option, “Add a payment to an existing rental”. Choose your rental property from the drop down menu and enter the tenant and payment information on the next page.

The second way you can add a new payment set is from the Rental Detail Page. Navigate there by clicking on the Rentals tab and then clicking on the desired rental row. Click the blue button in the right sidebar “Setup a New Payment” and enter the new payment information.

If your property is not in the RentMonitor system already, you can see how to add a new property in our recent blog post about Adding Properties. And as always, if you have questions about this or any other aspect of the RentMonitor software, please reach out to our support staff at inforentmonitorcom.

If you are looking for ways to celebrate Earth Day at your rental properties or with your residents, this list of 11 tips is a great place to get started.

1. Visit a farmer’s market - Support your local community and farmers by purchasing your dinner ingredients from them directly.

2. Plant a tree - Not only will the air quality be improved, but you’ll have fun doing it. Plus, you’ll also have a beautiful reminder for years to come.

3. Clean up a local park or beach - Be a good neighbor and help keep your community clean. If you organize this effort with your residents consider providing food, snacks or drinks in order to make the day more enjoyable.

4. Make a commitment to turn off lights and appliances when you leave the room - Not only will you help the environment, you can also help your pocketbook by saving energy every time you leave a room. You could also consider installing automatic light switches in common spaces like public restrooms and store rooms.

5. Turning the faucet off while shaving or brushing your teeth - This little tip will help cut your water bill in half and preserve one of our world’s most important resources.

6. Taking shorter showers - Regular fixtures can use up to 7 gallons of water per minute. So cutting your shower down by just 1 minute could save 49 gallons of water each week or 2,548 gallons each year.

7. Kick off a recycling program at your property - Encouraging your residents to recycle their cans, newspapers and other recyclable materials will keep items out of the landfill. This may even attract more renters as the younger generation is drawn to businesses with a sense of community and a culture of giving back.

8. Offer residents an easy way to dispose of batteries and other materials that should not be thrown away - Many items that should not end up in the general garbage, are often thrown away because residents do not know what else to do. Giving them an easy point of disposal will make their lives easier and keep these items out of the landfill.

9. Attend a local Earth Day event - Check your local newspaper for events near you. These events can also be posted for your residents too.

10. Ride your bike instead of driving - Honor Earth Day by doing something extra eco-friendly like leaving your car at home for the day and riding your bike instead. If you live to far to ride, consider taking the bus or other mode of public transportation.

11. Host a community garage sale - Aid everyone with their spring cleaning efforts and offer to host a large community sale. This will help your residents to reduce their clutter and reuse items. It’s another great way to keep items out of the landfill. At the end of the day, coordinate a pickup from your local thrift store so residents do not have to pack up their items.

These tips will help you celebrate a successful Earth Day with your residents, families and friends. For more information about Earth Day, please visit www.earthday.org.

Good news is that adding properties and payment sets is very simple in RentMonitor. When you first login you will be presented with the opportunity to set up a new payment and add your first rental property.

From the Dashboard, click on the button in the upper right corner that says “Setup a New Payment”. In the popup window, choose the option that fits your situation.

• “Add a payment to an existing rental” lets you set up a new payment on a rental that is already in the system. Think of this as a new lease on an existing property.
• “Add a payment to a new unit on a property” is how you add multiple units when you have a multi-unit property, but have not set up all of the units in the system yet. This option lets you add a unit and a new payment at the same time.
• “Add a new payment on a new property” is when you want to add a payment on a rental that is not in the RentMonitor system yet. If you are just starting to set up your account this is the option you will want to choose.

But what happens if you have a vacant rental property you want to add? In this case you will not complete the payment set process, but it will start out the same. Select the third option in the pop up window, enter the property address, and click “Next Step”. Then instead of entering the tenant and payment information, click on the “return to dashboard” link in the upper part of the window. This will save your property information without adding a payment set.

Have questions that this post did not cover? Reach out to our support staff at inforentmonitorcom and we’ll be happy to answer your questions.

This month’s newsletter focuses on some spring cleaning tips for your properties to make sure they are in tip top shape. You can also share some of these tips with your residents too. And what newsletter would be complete without a report about a new update with the RentMonitor software? We’re really excited about this month’s updates so be sure to check it out.

If you didn’t receive your copy of the newsletter directly to your email inbox, sign up below so we can fix that. Simply click on the link so you don’t miss out on the next one.

Subscribe to the RentMonitor Newsletter

But before you go, here’s a sneak peak of the April newsletter. Want to read the rest? Click this link to view the RentMonitor Newsletter in your browser.