Collecting Rent – an Easy How-to Guide for Home Owners
Having to pay rent every month can be a hassle and be very pressuring for a person. For some tenants, coming up with the actual cash can be nerve racking. If you live far away from the house being leased, then it can be even more of a pain. The best way to get rent on time from your tenants is to make it as convenient for them as you can.
You need to decide which payment type will ensure you getting your money fast and easy. Now that technology has caught up with us, there are a few different ways to collect that rent money. If you make your tenant’s life easy, your life will be easy. Having a crabby tenant you have to chase for rent is not fun, is it?
Can you collect rent from your tenants online?
The answer to that is… of course you can! Being able to send on-line payments makes tenant’s life easier. Many people have computers and most do their banking on line. It’s easy, convenient and can be done at any time. In addition, online banking makes tracking of money that goes in and out of one’s account really simple.
PayPal is a popular web portal that makes on line payments easy. Many landlords use PayPal to collect their rent from tenants, because it’s convenient and funds are transferred instantly. If you don’t have an account yet, create one. You just put your bank account information in, verify you are the owner of the account ad you;re good to receive payments from tenants or anyone else who has a PayPal account. Most of your tenants will likely already have PayPal account and if not, you can suggest them to create one and send you rent payment without the need to withdraw money from the bank or having to drop off a check. PayPal makes receiving money as easy as 1, 2, 3.
The disadvantage of using PayPal is that you as a receiver will be charged a fee. Each time you are sent money, PayPal will take their share for allowing you to use their convenient system to collect money. While it’s not a significant figure, it’s still a fee that goes out of your pocket and into the pocket of PayPal owners. It is up to you to decide whether sheer convenience of receiving on line payments is worth the fee. If you take into account gas it may take to go to the bank to deposit checks, never mind the time it takes out of your schedule, then small fee might be very well worth it.
What are some proven ways to collect money off-line?
The most old school method of payment for rent by tenants is cash. Although cash payments have been around for generations, fewer and fewer tenants will still be willing to hand over cash, as they have no proof you have received the money (unless you can issue them a receipt). As home owner, if you have a tenant who does pay cash, the best thing to do to get your rent money on time is to remind your tenant a week or so in advance that you will be coming on that particular day to collect rent so they have it ready. Proper timing can assure the payment will be there for you. Giving your tenants a reminder too far in advance may result in them forgetting by the time you show up. On the other hand, giving them a last minute call may not give them enough time to make a withdrawal.
Personal checks are not the best way to collect rent. If for whatever reason your tenant withdraws the money before you are able to deposit the check, the check will bounce. Not only is that a whole lot of hassle, but the bank will even charge you for depositing a bad check. You will have to go back to the tenant and collect not only rent money, but also the fee you were charged for having the check bounce. If a tenant encounters an emergency situation and sees there are still funds in his account because you didn’t get a chance to deposit a check yet, they may end up using the money, even knowing it would bounce the check they had given you. But if an emergency calls and they still have the funds there, they could do it.
As a home owner collecting rent, you best avoid getting paid by personal checks. Instead insist on cashier’s checks. Cashier’s checks can be cashed and the money will be deposited into your account for sure. Ask your tenants to get cashier’s checks as soon as they get paid from work and hang on to them until the payment is due. Collect it and deposit it into your account. Unlike personal checks, cashier’s checks won’t bounce.
Collecting rent from tenants can be a hassle, but it doesn’t have to be. As a home owner, you should put such rules in place so as to ensure it’s easy and convenient for the tenant to pay you and at the same time to ensure the money gets into your account for sure.
Incoming search terms:
- can a person from the dominican republic setup a paypal account?
- dominican republic vacations PAYPAL
- how to collect rent from your tenant when you are overseas
- how to collect rent money from far
- how to receive your tenants rent money when overseas
- paypal dominican republic
- receiving rent money into personal account