According to ZipRecruiter.com, Pennsylvania ranks 8th nationwide for landlord salaries. Here, most landlords earn between $65,700 and $108,800, with the top earners making as much as $151,363 yearly!
If you're also a Pennsylvania landlord, specifically in Chester County, and you make significantly less than your projected income, you likely have issues with rent collection. It's time to set things straight because the longer this goes on, the more money you'll lose.
Don't worry. We at Times Real Estate Group have shared property management tips and practical landlord advice to enhance your rent collection efforts, so read on.
1. Screen Tenants Thoroughly
Effective rent collection begins with responsible tenants who pay rent on time. After all, if they won't or can't, you'll be unable to collect rent, no matter how fancy your rent collection tools are.
So, to minimize the odds of your renters giving you a hard time collecting rent, always perform thorough tenant screening. Check for the following to help you gauge prospective tenants' viability:
- Good to excellent credit score
- Clean credit history
- Sufficient income
- Clean rental history (ideally, no previous evictions)
- No criminal convictions for dangerous or violent crimes
Alternatively, you can partner with a professional property management, like Times Real Estate Group, to handle the tenant screening and placement process.
2. Offer Convenient Rent Payment Methods
Consider offering your tenants several convenient, digital rent payment methods. For example, you can tell them that you accept payments made through:
- Mobile wallets
- Automated rent payments through bank-to-bank transfers
- Credit or debit card payments via an online landlord-tenant portal
With those innovative tools in your arsenal, you can reduce late payments since renters can pay on the go, wherever they are. It also helps minimize the risk of excuses, such as being unable to pay rent on time because they can't go to the bank yet. Besides, there's a good chance your renters prefer digital payments; per Forrester, they're now the most used payment method in the country.
3. Penalize Late Payments
Consider charging a reasonable late fee (a small percentage of rent) to encourage renters to make timely payments. For instance, if your tenants fail to pay rent a week after the due date, you can require them to pay an additional 5% as a penalty.
According to World Population Review, Keystone State doesn't cap late fees. However, it doesn't mean you should charge whatever you want, as this can burden your tenants too much and make them unlikely to renew their lease.
Avoid Problems With Rent Collection
Screening your tenants, offering modern and convenient payment solutions, and penalizing late rent can all help make your rent collection process more effective and efficient. So, why not implement these strategies for your Chester County, PA, property as early as today?
No time for all that? Times Real Estate Group will happily handle them for you.
Our full-service property management solutions include marketing, tenant placement, rent collection, and eviction, to name a few. Our efficient and quality services and state-of-the-art technology have allowed us to garner many four- and five-star reviews on platforms like Google and Facebook.
Speak with us today to request your free rental analysis and discover how we can help your rental business!
