Best Ways to Collect Rent as a Landlord: Whether you own a house, condo or commercial property, it can stressful to collect rent as a landlord. Establishing a continuous payment schedule ensures can help you keep an eye on which tenants are paying for their rent, and which aren’t.
But you’ll find that there are various payment methods available to you and your tenants. What works for you? What works for them? What’s the best payment method to maintain your payment schedule and to handle your money?
Let’s take at the three different ways you can collect rent from your tenants.
The Three Best Ways to Collect Rent as a Landlord
Go Online
The internet has offered the world – and landlords – numerous ways to accept rent. This works best for both parties, as tenants can now pay landlords in a manner that is comfortable for them while landlords can select a payment that works for both of them.
But there are more benefits to online payment solutions than just offering various options. Payments are instant with money being transferred over immediately from one account to another. The security of these transactions is tight, encrypted with numerous safeguards, such as passwords, to ensure that the money goes to the right person, and they can accept it without problems. It also helps landlords keep track of their money coming in and out of the account, ensuring that tenants are paying on time. This is particularly important if you’re managing several properties at one time.
So which payment methods are we referring to? Take a look at our list below
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- Interac
- Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)
- Pay Pal and Venmo
- Sites like ERentPayment, RentMatic, and RentMerchant
Any one of these online payment methods can prove valuable for both you as a landlord and your tenants.
Cash
If you have the time to manage and keep track of your all cash payments then this is another popular option for landlords. Tenants might also prefer it.
There are some pros and cons to this method. As stated by The Balance Small Business, “the good part about this is that you will have the payment in your hands immediately.” While on the other hand, it can be “time-consuming and frustrating to try and coordinate pick-up times with all of your tenants.”
You’ll also have to manually keep track of all payments coming in and out while providing your tenants with a receipt (to provide them with some security and safety while living in your property).
A Property Management Company
If you don’t want the hassle of handling all the rent collection yourself, then you can look towards hiring a property management company. These professionals will manage your property on your behalf, working with the tenants on their needs and wants while handling, most importantly, the rent collection.
For that final task, they might end up encouraging users to use online methods as this is the most straightforward and simple option. Plus, it is also common practice for all property management companies, as it streamlines their service and keeps track of all payments. This makes it easier for them to manage your account.
What’s the Best Option For You?
Ultimately, it comes down to what you want and how you want to manage your properties. But considering that property management companies use online payment solutions – and all the benefits that come with it – you can see why opting for it and doing it yourself is the best.
The payment methods are simple to handle, minimize stress, keep track of rent and will save you money (as you won’t be paying the property management company for doing the same work you could do!).