You own and manage your own investment property, but your tenant had not yet paid the rent. Should you call? Should you email? Should you visit the tenant? What should you do if you have tenants who pay late? Well, the first thing that you should do is not to panic. One of the toughest problems that a rental property owner may have is collecting rent from a late-paying tenant – or, worst, a tenant who does not pay at all. As an investor and landlord, you should be ready to encounter such tenants from time to time. Bad payers are real pain in the neck for all landlords but there are several ways to deal with the problem.

It may not be a bad idea to offer discount for on-time payments. This may encourage tenants to be on time when they pay their rent. On the other hand, late fees should apply on late payments. Being in control may prompt tenants to pay on time, every time. Some late payments happen not because they intend to do it but because the tenant simply forgot. In this case, consider two things. One is to issue a notice of non-payment of rent immediately as the rent is late. Tenants tend to pay their cell phone use, credit card, or whatever when they receive the bills each month. This can also work on their rent. Another is to suggest an automatic payment plan. This can be done by setting up automatic payments by direct withdrawal or by credit card. Again, this set up is assumed good intentions on the side of the tenant.

What should you do with constant late payers? If the tenant is a consistent late payer, then you should act consistently as well. Always apply the same late payment fees and file rent invoices for every late paying tenant or those who have not paid at all. Showing consistency in your actions makes a strong precedent in case you have to defend your actions in court or consider evicting the tenant. Being consistent in your actions also gives the impression that you are fair to all tenants and at the same time firm.

A tenant, whose lateness gets worse and worse every month, even with the late fees and issues about late payments, indicates that he has little regard for your authority. Then, you have to ask them to move out. Talk the tenant into taking a voluntary eviction. Court-ordered evictions require a lot of money and time. In case the tenant refuses to leave the property, you need to get this court approved eviction paper.

Every time you turn on the television or read a newspaper, you hear nothing but doom and gloom for the real estate market. Nationwide housing values have declined twenty percent, vacancy rates are at historic highs, and foreclosures are at an all time high. The logical mind would tell you to avoid the real estate market in general and specifically avoid the rental property arena. But Warren Buffett always said it was best to buy where there is blood in the street. Taking the advice of the richest man in the world is exactly what savvy rental property owners should do.

Nationwide property values have declined 20% in the past two years. On top of that the number of property foreclosures has increased drastically. Banks are dumping properties at pennies on the dollar to get them off of their books. Real estate investors are able to purchase properties at prices as low as 1/3 of the market price just a few years ago.

Landlords who purchase properties at rock bottom price are entering the rental market with a distinctive advantage of their competitors – greatly lower mortgage payments. In my market multi-unit investment properties sold for $320k two years ago. An investor can purchase a bank foreclosure for as little as $120k. Their mortgage payment is only $600 compared to the buyer two years ago who is struggling with a $1,500 monthly payment.

These new landlords are able to compete more aggressively on price and undercut their competitors to quickly fill their vacancy. The lower mortgage payment still presents them with a greater monthly cash flow than their competitors. Landlords who are able to buy at these reduced prices today realize that they need to just wait a year or two for the market to rebound.

Once the market recovers and market values approach the value that they were two years ago, these landlords will be able to sell and realize a nice profit on their investment. They only need to realize that they need to overcome the challenge of keeping their investment property fully rented during this time frame.

With technology today and freedom of information, public documents are available to anybody. These include anything from criminal records, divorce records, personal details and property records to individual emails, IP address, work records and practically anything related to any one individual or company. This allows the obtaining of relevant information pertaining to properties that you are looking to buy. Legally, buying property can be a bit of a minefield, and historically quite expensive for lawyers fees. Property records include the name of the registered owner, their contact details, personal information such as the name of any spouse and children. They can even include relatives and associates, detailed mortgage information relating to the property, and the current market price of any properties within the local neighborhood. So vast is the level of data held on file that people generally prefer to pass this task straight to a legal professional.

Property search data is extremely useful to avoid buying over the price, living in bad neighborhoods or worse, purchasing a property with unresolved legal issues. This is why many people prefer to obtain copies of the data themselves prior to their purchase.

Most property records are available online, via the official County website where the property is located. The relevant section is found at the County Property Appraiser. Most of the basic information on any particular property is available immediately online.This usually includes items such as owner, property value, taxes paid, subdivisions(the property is split on ownership), property control number and the official record book. What it very rarely contains is the legal paperwork and outstanding processes related to the property. For this, you need to apply directly in writing and wait a few weeks for the documents. A handling charge is usually imposed.

All data relating to a property search can be accessed by independent database companies, but they always have a charge for this. The upside is that all records are instantly accessible, and are very often cross indexed with criminal records and background checks on current owners and neighbors.