Send us Fan Mail If you want to collect rent on time, stop thinking of it as something you chase. Almost every late payment we have dealt with in twenty-plus years was not a character problem. It was a design problem. And design problems you can actually fix. We had a tenant who paid on the first of every single month, without fail. Her money did not reach our account until the fifth or sixth. She was not late. Her system was. Kevin and I walk you through what we changed after that, plus the ...
Aug 19
38 min
Send us Fan Mail It’s 9:40 on a Tuesday night, your phone lights up, and the toilet in your rental is leaking. Do you get in the car, or do you go to sleep and call your plumber in the morning? Emergency maintenance requests are the one call almost every landlord gets wrong at least once, in both directions. Kevin and I are walking you through the three-tier system we use to sort what gets fixed tonight from what can wait until Thursday. You’ll get our real lists for all three tiers, includin...
Aug 10
25 min
Send us Fan Mail So, the lease is signed, the confetti’s basically falling, and then… what? If you’ve ever found yourself scrambling three days before move-in trying to remember whether you actually collected the security deposit, this episode is for you. Kevin and I are walking you through exactly what to do after a tenant signs their lease, starting with the money you need in hand before you ever hand over a key, and the one rule we refuse to break, no matter how much we like a new tenant. ...
Aug 3
39 min
Send us Fan Mail If you've ever stared at a lease wondering whether you need a lease addendum vs new lease entirely, this episode is for you. Kevin and I get asked this question often, and honestly, guessing wrong can leave your paperwork not holding up when you need it most. I'm walking you through the exact test we use to decide whether a quick addendum will do, or whether it's time to start completely over with a new lease. And once you hear what our contractor found in a supposedly empty ...
Jul 27
24 min
Send us Fan Mail Turnovers are one of those parts of being a landlord that either quietly build your profit, or quietly drain it. After doing more of them than I can count, Kevin and I finally sat down and walked through exactly how we handle every single one, from the moment a tenant gives notice to the day we hand a new tenant their keys. I'm covering the non-negotiable safety and maintenance checks we run every time, the paint and flooring calls that make a unit feel brand new without blow...
Jul 20
52 min
Send us Fan Mail Most landlords think about taxes in February. By then, the year is already over — and so are most of the opportunities to do anything about it. In this Shorty episode, we break down why summer is actually the smartest time to get your rental finances in order. You still have months left in the tax year, which means if you find a problem now, you still have time to fix it. We cover three things every self-managing landlord should be doing right now: getting your expense tracki...
Jul 13
21 min
Send us Fan Mail Most landlords know exactly how to screen a W-2 employee. Two pay stubs, an employer call, run the three-times-rent math — done. But what happens when the applicant in front of you is a freelance designer, a self-employed contractor, or a college student whose only income is a financial aid check? In this episode, we walk through exactly how to handle renting to students and freelancers — without guessing, and without exposing yourself to Fair Housing liability. We cover the ...
Jul 6
32 min
Send us Fan Mail You probably know that if your roof leaks, that's on you. But do you actually know who pays when a tenant ignores a slow drip for six months until the subfloor rots? Landlord tenant maintenance responsibilities sound simple on paper, but the real world is full of gray areas that catch self-managing landlords off guard — usually right when it's most expensive to learn the lesson. In this episode, Kevin and I walk through exactly who is responsible for what at a rental property...
Jun 29
29 min
Send us Fan Mail You probably have a lease. But does it have a rental property guest policy? You know, one that actually defines how long a guest can stay, who's responsible for their behavior, and what happens if they never leave? Most self-managing landlords don't, and it's one of those gaps that feels harmless until a "temporary" houseguest is still there six months later with a key, collecting mail, and keeping in a closet full of belongings you definitely didn't know about. In this...
Jun 22
30 min
Send us Fan Mail If you've never had a smoking tenant, consider yourself lucky — and unprepared. A smoking policy for landlords isn't just a nice-to-have anymore. It's the industry standard. But if your lease only says "no cigarettes," you may have more gaps than you realize. Vaping, e-cigarettes, cigars, and cannabis all need to be spelled out — and most older leases don't cover them. Here's what often gets overlooked: the stakes are completely different depending on what kind of property yo...
Jun 15
24 min
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