How My Rent Collection Process Has Evolved Over the Years

In This Article

This article is presented by TurboTenant.

I started my career as an accountant and lasted about six months before I knew I was not made to sit at a desk all day. 

I then took on a more active role as a property manager and was given the task of managing a 40-unit apartment complex. The worst part was that I knew nothing about property management. I was thrown into the office with little guidance—that is, if you consider a stack of boxes left from the last property manager guidance. 

There was a drawer full of keys. Some were labeled, but most were not. There were boxes full of receipts and one-page lease agreements. A hand-drawn spreadsheet was taped to the desk, with unit numbers along the rows and months along the columns, and a red checkmark for the months that were paid for each unit.

From my brief six-month stint as an accountant, I knew this was not proper bookkeeping. Nothing about this system was efficient, and there was no way I would be able to survive this lack of organization.

What Worked for Me

Since that first dip into property management, lots of things have changed. I’ve tried and tested several different processes to keep things organized and efficient. It took me at least two full years of trying out different methods and acquiring my own properties to really solidify a good bookkeeping system.

After several years of self-managing my properties, I decided to outsource to a property management company. After lots of trial and error, I learned that I could better manage my properties myself with the help of property management software (and I had the added benefit of keeping more money in my pocket by returning to self-management).

A big part of my success in finding the methods that work best for me was finding the right property management software. I never wanted to go back to manually collecting rent, let alone the other manual tasks that required both my time and energy. 

Having a portal where your tenants can pay rent is the first step. You want a system that is easy for your tenants to access and where they can set up automatic payments. 

TurboTenant for the Win

Having a system in place for rent collection through a software like TurboTenant completely eliminates the classic excuse of “I forgot to pay rent.” After setting up a rent collection system, you want to make sure the funds go into your bank account. Since TurboTenant is online, gone are the days of running to the bank to deposit checks. 

After a tenant has paid rent, you need to have accurate bookkeeping to show they paid. This ensures you have documentation about their payment history, which will be important for your tenant if they move into another rental. 

Most landlords look at rental history, and paying regularly and on time is a huge green flag. Some states even require that landlords provide tenants with a receipt of their rental payment. TurboTenant makes this easy, as it documents tenant payment history in real time, and the payment will show up directly in your dashboard and on your tenants’ portal.

After you have everything documented, you need to include this for your own bookkeeping purposes and track money coming in and out for specific properties. TurboTenant also has functionality that fully integrates with your bookkeeping system, which makes this a full-service property management software. You have a one-stop shop for all rent bookkeeping tasks.

Final Thoughts

It took me years of trial and error to find the right system. I wanted to self-manage my properties, but I didn’t want to commit to more work. 

Setting up automations for rent collection has made my life easier and rent collection way more convenient for both my tenants and me. Who wants to write a check, buy a stamp, and mail out a rent check every month? More importantly, who wants to keep track of all of those checks and make monthly runs to the bank to deposit them?

If you need help getting started or taking control of your rent collection and want to be more efficient with your methods, start with software that already has systems and processes built in for you. TurboTenant will save you so much time and make you a better, more organized landlord.

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