Post: #1

For the landlords here, I didn't see a thread on this so I thought I'd make one to harness the forum's collective wisdom.

I'll be living abroad and need to find an elegant solution to collecting and depositing rent payments while I'm abroad.

A rental management company isn't something I'm considering for various reasons.

One option is to have a friend sign my name/endorsement on the monthly check/money order deposits and make them in person, like I do. I know that can work fine, as the bank doesn't care, but if there's a better way, I would be open to it, to avoid having to have my friend carry around so many checks, and also, to avoid having to have him sign my name (if there's a better/easy way to get around having him sign my name, that would be good to know).

Another option is Venmo, but although anecdotally it works from abroad, when I messaged their customer support, I was told it must be used while you are physically in the U.S. I could get a VPN and then access Venmo that way, and that's an option I'd consider if anyone has any experience with that.

Another option is paypal, but paypal gives folks the ability to rescind payments easily, and I'm not keen on that.

So far my best option seems to be to have a friend sign my name on the money orders/checks and just have him make the deposits, but if I can avoid that, I'd like to.

What have you guys used to collect and deposit/manage rent payments while abroad without using a management company? As in, are there any pure payment systems out there that you guys like, that are easy to use, like Venmo, and free (or mostly so), but that can be managed from abroad. It has to be super easy to set up and use, Venmo being the standard.

It also can't be some fly-by-night operation, so for example Venmo is backed by PayPal, which is ideal, so you can be reasonably certain your funds won't disappear overnight.

Post: #2

Checks for deposit don't need to be signed. You only need to sign them if you are cashing them.

All you need is to write on the back of the check 'For Deposit Only', and write your account number underneath. Most businesses do it with a stamp.

Also I believe there are services available that can deposit your checks for you.

Post: #3

(03-30-2018 07:56 PM)zoom Wrote:  Checks for deposit don't need to be signed. You only need to sign them if you are cashing them.

All you need is to write on the back of the check 'For Deposit Only', and write your account number underneath. Most businesses do it with a stamp.

Also I believe there are services available that can deposit your checks for you.

That's odd, I bank at Wells Fargo, and they always make me sign the back of my deposits even though I don't make cash withdrawals when I make those deposits.

I'm going to run this by them next time I go, if they don't need to be signed, that works.

I'll report back!

Post: #4

One option is creating a bank account for this purpose and having the tennant deposit the money into the account themselves. Then you transfer it into your main account.

Not sure on the specifics but I know people who have rental properties that do it.

Post: #5

Ok, saw this elsewhere online:

"I work for a bank. Yes we take deposits from anyone to any account. Even if the check isn't endorsed, you can just write "for deposit only" on the back (or the teller will stamp it "for deposit only"). If you aren't the account holder or can't provide ID, we wouldn't give you cash back from the check though, or allow you to make a withdrawal or give you any account info."

So it looks like the prior suggestion by zoom works great.

I'll do that unless others have found a nice electronic system that's easy to use/setup and works for location independent folks.

Thanks again, zoom!

Post: #6

I have had my tennants deposit their check into my account at my bank which worked well. One of my other renters uses Zelle which is an electronic payment system that wells fargo accepts. Now my question is, how do you get the money overseas without fees?

Post: #7

I use one of these for rents as well all receivables paid w a check





Also Chase and B of A (maybe others) allow mobile deposits via check image. You can have tenants text / email a check and then you just deposit from your phone.

Post: #8

I use paypal with my tenants. On the rare occasion when tenants insist on using a check (such as first months security deposit) or partial payments for various services (such as cleaning fee) I get my parents to pickup the check and deposit for me.

Post: #9

Collect it via credit card with a merchant account (Stripe).

If a tenant rescinds/disputes the payment you move to evict them immediately. They can just as easily put a stop payment on a check, and you also have the agreement to show as proof.

Post: #10

Meanwhile, in the developed world (Britain ) everything is done via direct debit...

I bloody hate it when customers try to give me a cheque.

Post: #11

You can take a picture of the Check front and back with any modern banking app to deposit it into your account.

You can have your friend do it or he can send you the pics and you can do it.

Post: #12

For years now I've had my tenants set up a pre-authorized debit (PAD). They sign a form and give me a void check and my bank does the rest. They love it because it's all automated and they don't have to remember to make a payment.

When PAD isn't an option, they send an e-transfer (called INTERAC e-transfer in Canada, probably something equivalent in other places).

For paper checks I have them mail it to my bank and they've deposited into my account.

If you're abroad you should have a mail forwarding service and they can deposit checks for you as well. I can recommend a good one if you need one.

Stripe is an interesting idea. I like the simplicity, but I don't like the idea of tenants running up credit card debt to pay the rent.

Post: #13

Some have had success using this service. Depending on how many you manage, it might be worth it.

https://www.buildium.com

Post: #14

I'd seriously consider hiring a property management company if your overseas. I know it feels like your pissing away money but when shit hits the fan its so worth it.

I managed my rental for 4 years, things went smoothly and I was only paying $3.75 per month to accept an ACH. I forget the name was called Roborent or some shit like that. I thought property managers are stupid, why pay someone $140 to collect a check.

Second time around didn't feel like dealing with it and hired a property manager. In that time I had a pipe burst from the cold, had a totally random incident of vandalism where a schitzofrenic guy busted out all my windows downstairs and sliding glass door, had a couple other small issues come up like broken flange on toilet.

While MAYBE you could hire plumbers and handle this shit overseas, if they know your absentee they can rape you and there's really nothing you can do or say about it because your not there to say the situation is different and they know you don't have a ton of options or time on your side. This second time around I'm so grateful to have a proprty manager.

If your gonna collect rent fuck paypal and venmo and all that, use a service that's designed for taking payments, shit Paypal at 3% is only 7% cheaper than a property management service. Use a service that does ACH deposits and it will cost you a couple dollars max absolutely no reason to give up a % of rent. Also while I don't thing chargebacks are a big issue, if your tenants are doing chargebacks you have bigger issues, but ACH only has a 1 or 2 day chargeback period and only due to fraud or unauthorized use unlike paypal which is something like 6 months. Someone could be a half year out of your property and still chargeback the last month of rent

***EDIT

The name of the service I used was Rentmatic

https://www.rentpayment.com/pay/login.ht...BMBFGZGM93

Post: #15

(03-30-2018 10:42 PM)monster Wrote:  Collect it via credit card with a merchant account (Stripe).

If a tenant rescinds/disputes the payment you move to evict them immediately. They can just as easily put a stop payment on a check, and you also have the agreement to show as proof.

Really bad idea, why pay 3% of a transaction which on a $1,000 rent amounts to $30 when there's services that will do this for $3. A full service property manager is only 10% typically so it seems silly to give Stripe 3% doing nothing.

Post: #16

Check out cozy.co, it's got pretty good reviews. There was a debacle earlier involving a competitor to cozy.co called erentpayment, make sure to read up on that to understand the happenings in the space.

Post: #17

I hired a property manager. He gets 10%of the rent that comes in and a hourly rate for repairs.
After a few years he has everything down and my income is completely passive and I am completely location independent. An my life is "completely lit fam" as the kids would say

Post: #18

(07-16-2018 08:52 AM)Cr33pin Wrote:  I hired a property manager. He gets 10%of the rent that comes in and a hourly rate for repairs.
After a few years he has everything down and my income is completely passive and I am completely location independent. An my life is "completely lit fam" as the kids would say

I know OP said he didn't wanna use a property manager, but honestly unless you have friends or family in town who are willing to let repairman in, deal with tenant issues, etc it would probably be wise to use a property manager if your going to be out of the country.

My first time I rented a house out I did it myself, I screened my tenant good and wound up lucking out and having a great tenant who stayed for 4 years, paid rent on time etc. I was local so while no issues came up I could take care of them. on the rare occasion I had to go over for a leaky faucet or broken dishwasher it was a bit of a headache replacing it.

Fast forward to this most recent time and used a property manager. I had a random vandalism incident where someone with schitzofrenia randomly picked my house to bust out all the windows and sliding doors on the downstairs level. I had a pipe freeze and break in the house. Had to have a dead tree removed. Some minor things that needed to be changed after a city inspection. This would have been a huge headache if I was managing it myself. Even being local would have been a huge shit show but if I was out of the country man would have been impossible to take care of in a prompt manner. Fortunately for me property manager handled everything I didn't have to lift a finger.

For me they charged $250 for finding and screening tenant which is actually pretty low. Many companies charge min 25% of monthly rent normally a full months of rent for finding tenant. Then 10% per month. I paid $250 for finding and screening tenant and 10% of monthly rent. My mortgage is $700 rent is $1400 so I have plenty of room and I write off the management fees. To me it's well worth it and I'm not even out of the country.

Post: #19

Jesus Christ that's expensive. Ya'll should just do what I did. Buy a Home Warranty policy (costs about $50/mo.) then add that to the tenant's rent. It's attached to your credit card. Set it to automatic charge. If anything comes up in the house while you're away, tell the tenants to call the warranty service, then they'll handle it from there. You'll have a small charge per usage, usually around $50, which you can also calculate into the tenant's rent, as I did, assuming they may use it 3 times/year, at most. Worked like a charm. My last tenants lived int he house for 4 years and I never met them personally a single time. Don't even know what they look like. We handled everything through phone calls, texts, and emails.

Post: #20

(03-30-2018 07:43 PM)Spaniard88 Wrote:  A rental management company isn't something I'm considering for various reasons.

This is like making a thread saying you want huge muscles but dont want to lift weights

Unless you luck out and land the worlds greatest renters... you are going to need someone to be able to handle some boots on the ground stuff around your property and some kind of property manager is exactly the kind of thing you need.

Post: #21

(07-17-2018 03:31 PM)Cr33pin Wrote:  

(03-30-2018 07:43 PM)Spaniard88 Wrote:  A rental management company isn't something I'm considering for various reasons.

This is like making a thread saying you want huge muscles but dont want to lift weights

Done.

Post: #22

(07-17-2018 03:31 PM)Cr33pin Wrote:  

(03-30-2018 07:43 PM)Spaniard88 Wrote:  A rental management company isn't something I'm considering for various reasons.

This is like making a thread saying you want huge muscles but dont want to lift weights

Unless you luck out and land the worlds greatest renters... you are going to need someone to be able to handle some boots on the ground stuff around your property and some kind of property manager is exactly the kind of thing you need.

I completely agree, my first 4 years of being a landlord I did it myself. I was local so repairs and such weren't an issue, but fortunately for me nothing really came up. I thought to myself, all these idiots giving propertly managers $100 to $300 per month just to collect a check, what a bunch of suckers.

Well fast forward a few years I wound up hiring a property manager. One morning I get a text message showing my house fucked up, doors busted in, windows broken ie every window downstairs. I didn't leave work, I didn't even have to lift a finger, everything was taken care of for me, I paid $1,000 homeowners insurance deductable and the property manager met with the insurance guy for me and handled all repairs. They even went after the guy in court and got me my $1,000 back. Even though I'm still local this would have been a huge shit show me leaving my office to oversee this stuff, dealing with angry tenants who want it fixed same day, what wound up happening was windows and doors needed to be boarded for about a week until repairs could be scheduled and done.

I can only imagine how difficult that would be local let alone being out of the country. You don't need a property manager or boots on the ground until you need one

Post: #23

I'll offer a different viewpoint on property managers.

I only have a few units, but I'm hardly ever there. I don't use a property manager, although I have in the past (I didn't find them particularly useful, although they were competent).

If you don't want anything to do with the property, it's money well spent, but they'll never do as good as job as you doing it yourself.

From a money standpoint, let's say I'm paying 10%, that's $600 a month or $7200 a year. For me personally, I have the same peace of mind whether I'm paying someone $7200 a year to collect rent or doing it myself and spending that money on me.

Over the years I've become pretty good at finding the right tenants so I don't lose sleep when I'm abroad. If there's some absolute crisis, then I can fly back from Europe or South America for about $1000 and take care of it and I'm still ahead $6200 for the year.

I'll even fly back when a tenant moves out. An agent charges one month's rent and I can fly back and do it myself for half the cost and I get to catch up with family and friends and do some shopping.

I'm location independent, although the last two years I've had move-outs in the summer, so I've had to leave sexy EE for a few weeks to spend time in a shithole to get new tenants. That's not ideal, but it's a small price to pay for total freedom the rest of the time.

Post: #24

(07-18-2018 11:31 AM)edlefou Wrote:  I'm location independent, although the last two years I've had move-outs in the summer, so I've had to leave sexy EE for a few weeks to spend time in a shithole to get new tenants. That's not ideal, but it's a small price to pay for total freedom the rest of the time.

I'm glad its working out for you. But if I am trying to live and enjoy life overseas permanently I dont want to have the threat of having to pack up and fly back to Murica every time something goes wrong looming over my head. I hired a good property manager and the peace of mind I get knowing that everything is handled is worth faaaaar more then I pay him.

Post: #25

^^ I only have one duplex I am currently renting in a student town 2 hours from where I live in Canada.

I have a handyman who will do things such as collect the keys, make sure tenants are out of the place. We've worked together a long time and he doesn't mind doing little things like that as he's an older guy.

I have a young guy (25) who shows the place to new groups of students, does the credit checks and all the hustle. Prices is one months rent/year. Since I am out of town anyway, I am just as happy with him doing this for me.

I am looking into renting out my condo in Toronto as I seem to spend less time there. In which case I will likely select my own tenant, I have contacts in the consulting industry and there are always consultants flying in for long term projects in my industry, so hoping to leverage my connections to get a prime rate. I'm also a little lazy to move all my stuff out, when it suits the condo and doesn't really have another place that I would want. I've also considered using my neighbours who are real estate agents and live across the hall from the Condo.