Rents All Collected - Almost

Today was the final day of our four day monthly rent collection period. I was very happy that every tenant paid on time and there will be no evictions this month. It has been several months since I have been to court for an eviction, which I have to admit is more luck that skill. I did file an eviction last month, but the tenant left voluntarily before the court date.

At any rate, I was taking a break this evening and watching some TV when the telephone rang. One of my tenants was on the telephone wondering why I hadn't come to pick up the rent this afternoon. That was a real surprise considering that I thought I had already collected all the rents! I would have to give myself a failing grade for attention to detail.

Since it was 8pm when the tenant called, I arranged with her to pick up the rent tomorrow. Obviously, I did a poor job of reviewing my rent roll and I'll have to carefully check it again tomorrow morning. Hopefully, that was the only rent that I missed. That is one of the perils of having a larger rental portfolio, it is difficult to keep track of everything. Organization and discipline are essential elements and today my discipline was lacking.

Another challenge with a larger portfolio is keeping up with all the bills and paperwork. I literally get several bills each day for my rentals. I keep them in a file, arranged in the order they need to be paid. I then pay the bills at least once a week. Making a simple mistake by putting a bill in the wrong spot can result in a bill being paid late and incurring a late fee. Once again, organization and attention to detail are the order of the day.