Everything You Need To Know As A New Landlord

Real estate investing is one of the most profitable and rewarding endeavors in t...

Everything You Need To Know About Pets In Rental P...

Pets are a hot topic these days when it comes to renting property.  Should ...

Selling Your Rental Property

You’ve spent a long time building equity in your property and maximizing its a...

Preparing Your Rental Property To Sell

There are many reasons why you may decide to sell your rental property.  Ma...

Managing Your Rental Property

Have you recently acquired one or more rental properties?   If so, it�...

Deciding On Your Rental Policies

No two landlords are the same.  Nor should all leases be identical. Rental ...

Getting Started With Applications And Tenant Scree...

After posting your carefully crafted listings, you finally have the names of sev...

Marketing Your Rental Property

In a competitive market, your property is up against at least a hundred other pr...

Determining The Rent Amount To Charge

Your rent rate is a central decision you must make before starting your rental b...

Preparing Your Rental Property For Tenants

Your new property is bought, financed, and insured.   It’s almost ready for ...

Getting Insured On Your Rental Property

Health scares, accidents, recessions – when life gets unpredictable, we turn t...

Understanding Landlord Tenant Laws

Both landlords and tenants have legal rights and responsibilities.  By ente...

Financing Your Rental Property

You’ve researched, narrowed your choices, and finally decided on an investment...

Buying A Rental Property

Are you interested in buying a rental property? If so, you’re about to secure ...

The Basics Of Depreciation For Landlords

In the world of taxes, depreciation is one of your best friends—it means more ...

4 Things You Need To Know About Taxes As A Landlor...

Taxes are an unavoidable part of being a landlord.  However, understanding ...

2 Ways To Maximize Your Depreciation Deduction

Every year, tax time rolls around in the spring. And leading up to it, you need ...

How To Maximize The Pass-Through Deduction

In 2018, a new income tax deduction went into effect under the Tax Cuts and Jobs...

What You Need To Know About Operating Expenses For...

In this article, we went over how you can qualify as a business based on rental ...

The Difference Between Repairs And Improvements On...

Maintenance is one of your largest expense categories as a landlord. Fortunately...

Understanding Landlord Tax Classifications

Taxes. Often, just the word makes people shudder.  As a landlord, taxes are...

An Overview Of Deductions For Landlords

You’re probably aware that operating expenses are deductible, but there are al...

What You Should Know About Cost Segregation As A L...

As a landlord, it’s important to understand how taxes can benefit your busines...

Landlords And Taxes: Understanding Recapture

In other articles on this blog, we’ve covered how to depreciate buildings, add...

What Landlords Need To Know About Taxes

Every landlord needs to understand taxes.  Taxes are a crucial part of your bus...

Innago Adds Zumper To Its Listing Syndication Netw...

As a landlord or property manager, you’re in the business of filling units. Th...

How to Streamline the Lease Signing Process Using ...

Signing leases offline takes time and concerted effort. As a landlord, you have ...

What Does the Security Deposit Cover?

Security deposits have been a longstanding norm in the rental business industry....

Grace Periods and Late Fees

Should you allow your tenants a grace period to pay their rent after it’s due ...

Improve Tenant Communication Using Property Manage...

One of the keys to any great relationship is communication.  And that holds...

Understanding Commercial Rental Fees

Overseeing a commercial rental property can be a complex process.   Th...

Start Building Better Credit with Innago: Free Ten...

For the past three years, the average credit score needed to rent an apartment i...

Different Ways to Structure Late Fees

Late fees are an unfortunate but necessary part of the rental business. For most...

How to Manage the Entire Rent Collection Process w...

Your tenant mails you a check.  The check gets lost in the mail.  You ...

Fixed-term Leases and Alternative Lease Structures

Almost everyone is familiar with the standard year-long, fixed-term lease. It’...

A Landlord’s Guide to Rental Property Listings

As a landlord, you’re in the business of filling units.   It’s one...

Fill Units Quicker with Property Management Softwa...

For any landlord, vacant units are a detrimental expense.  They absorb valu...

How To Choose the Right Property Management Softwa...

With the right feature set, property management software can save you a lot of t...

How to Find Better Tenants Using Property Manageme...

As a landlord, one of your main goals is renting to great tenants.  Sometim...

How to Pet-Proof Your Rental Property

Americans own approximately 78 million dogs and 85.8 million cats. According to ...

Difference Between Pet Fee, Pet Deposit and Pet Re...

Things can get a bit complicated when it comes to allowing pets in your rentals....

Allowing Exotic Animals in Your Rental Properties

It’s one thing to allow your tenants to have cats and dogs in your properties....

How To Properly Use Reviews When Comparing Propert...

Reviews of property management software aren’t like most product reviews. ...

Property Management Software 101: Getting Setup

As a landlord in 2022, you know that property management software is a game chan...

Complete Breakdown of Property Management Software...

Whenever we’re buying something, cost is always one of the deciding factors.&n...

How to Use Property Management Software to Reduce ...

After careful deliberation, you chose a property management software platform.&n...

How to Use Social Media to Market Your Property

So, you’re at the point where you know you need a meaningful social media pres...

Should Landlords Ever Waive Late Fees?

How to Be Firm but Fair with Overdue Rent Payments ...

Rental Housing Portfolio Impact of COVID-19

To understand the impact of COVID-19 on rental real estate, we&nb...

There’s a New Tax Rule and It May Affect Your Re...

If you use Paypal, Zelle, Cash App or Venmo to collect rent, new rules mean that...

Secondary Features You Should Look For When Evalua...

Once you find property management software tools with the&nb...

Core Features to Look for When Choosing a Property...

Every well-built property management software should have core fe...

Rental Housing COVID-19 Impact: Eviction Moratoriu...

Even with the virus coming under control in the United States, te...

Two Ways to Improve Your Property and Increase Rev...

Offering cleaning services and storage rental can keep your properties looking g...

Rental Housing Adaptations to COVID-19

Widespread financial uncertainties and a decreased pool of qualified renters for...

What to Do If Tenants Don’t Place Utilities in T...

Transferring Utilities  When it comes to rental utilities, choosing wh...

Plumbing Basics for Landlords: Potable Drinking Wa...

As a real estate investor or property manager, you’ll be well served to unders...

How to Create a Rental Listing: The Basics

Landlords use listings to advertise their rental properties. If you’re unfamil...

Every Way to Market Your Rental Properties Online

All landlords should be marketing their rental properties online. This is simple...

Use Audience Targeting to Fill Your Rentals

Audience targeting is a marketing strategy in which a marketing team pinpoints s...

4 Ways to Market Your Rentals with Offline Marketi...

Traditionally, landlords marketed their rental properties with exclusively offli...

Everything You Need to Know About Staging Your Ren...

Staging rental properties is a combination of cleaning and strategic decora...

How to Perform the Perfect Rental Property Showing

A rental showing is a landlord’s first chance to meet interested renters in pe...

Understanding Your Market to Increase Rent Price

The simplest, most effective way to increase your revenue is to increase the ren...

Adding Tenants to an Existing Lease

If you’re a landlord, you’re well aware of the importance of lease...

Things to Consider When Renewing a Lease

Deciding to renew a tenant’s lease comes with many considerations. Some import...

Taking the Perfect Picture for Your Rental Listing

Pictures are one of the most important factors to consider when creating succe...

5 Ways Landlords Can Minimize Tenant Turnover

Every day that your property or unit remains vacant is another day that you...

How to Write the Perfect Craigslist Listing

Even with so many online listing sites available today, landlords find that Crai...

How to Create a Virtual Tour for Your Rental Prope...

Virtual tours have become a hot topic in the real estate world. It’s a common ...

Improve Your Existing Property to Increase Rent Pr...

One of the best ways to increase the profit your properties generate is to incre...

Adding Fees to Increase Rental Revenue

Landlords often use the word “rent” to stand in for their income. But what t...

Implement High-Tech Features to Increase Rent Pric...

There are a number of ways to increase rent price for your rental properties.�...

8 Ways Landlords Can Lower Utility Costs

One of the greatest expenses that landlords face is the cost of utilities. Even ...

Best Rental Listing Sites For Commercial Propertie...

With the rise of rental listing sites, creating competitive rental listings is a...

10 Ways to Make Your Rental Listings More Competit...

Today, rental listing sites are the primary hunting ground for renters searching...

10 Ways Signing Leases Online Will Benefit Your Re...

It’s no secret that leases are important. In order to keep all of yo...

How to Minimize Vacancy Time on Rental Properties

Vacancy is a landlord’s greatest fear. Whether your rental business is your pr...

How to Reduce Expenses on Your Rental Properties

There are a handful of practical ways to modify your business practices to minim...

Self-Managing Your Properties to Reduce Costs

Property managers are becoming more popular, but they’re also becoming mor...

How to Create a Tenant Scoring System

There’s no doubt that tenant screening is a crucial part of any property mana...

Online Rent Collection Methods: What’s Best?

Most aspects of our lives are moving digital. The rental housing market is no ex...

How to Use Listing Syndication Software

Listing syndication software acts as the middleman between you and all of the ...

Rent Collection: Everything You Need to Know

Rent collection is fundamental to the operation of all rental businesses. Landlo...

Everything Landlords Should Know About Credit Card...

Online rent collection has become crucial to the success of a real estate busine...

How to Screen Tenants

Tenant screening is crucial in order to run a successful real estate business....

3 Amenities to Increase Revenue on your Rental Pro...

There are a number of basic amenities that tenants want at their dispo...

5 Benefits of Online Rent Payments

Rent payments are the fundamental source of income for most real estate business...

Best Websites To List Your Rental Property

The more renters your listing reaches, the better chance you have of finding hig...

11 Ways Landlords Can Add Revenue Streams

Whether they’re looking to further invest in their growing real estate empire ...

5 Benefits of Listing Syndication Software

Successful internet marketing is essential to the operation of any real est...

3 Ways to Monetize Your Land and Maximize Real Est...

Real estate is more than the building that sits on it. Sure, most of your revenu...

How to Lower Financing Expenses as a Real Estate I...

Mortgage + insurance + taxes. If, like a lot of landlords, you’ve set up escro...

Legal Issues Regarding Autopay For Rent Collection

If you are just getting into property management or you are looking to go di...

How to Create the Perfect Property Listing

In the age of the internet, writing a high-quality listing for your vacant prope...

How to Lower Tenant Turnover

Vacancies are an expense no landlord can afford. The longer a unit sits empty, t...

5 Benefits of Screening Tenants

It’s difficult to tell whether an applicant is as reliable as they seem. Often...

What to Look for When Choosing Rent Collection Sof...

If you aren’t using rent collection software yet, now is the time to switch. I...

What Landlords Should Know About Online Rent Payme...

Getting scammed by a fraudster is, at best, infuriating, and at worst, terrifyin...

What is ACH? How does it work?

The world is becoming paperless. People prefer digital payments to cash and chec...

8 Myths of Online Payments

It’s no secret that people prefer to shop online. If the massive growth of onl...

How Mobile Rent Collection Makes Life Easier

We’ve Come a Long Way with Mobile Technology In 2007, Apple released its first...

How To Handle An Inherited Lease?

When purchasing an investment property, more than likely, that property already ...

How to Collect Rent Online?

It’s no secret that we’re moving toward a paperless world. From television a...

How to Get Rid of a Tenant Who Won’t Leave After...

There’s nothing more distressing to a landlord, property owner or manager than...

5 Tips for Better Virtual Tours During Coronavirus

Leasing activity has plummeted in the past two months in major cities around the...

4 Questions Your Insurance Agent Would Ask If They...

The following article was written by Brad Winters, a commercial insurance specia...

Five Government Programs That Will Help Landlords ...

COVID-19, also known as the novel coronavirus, has caused unease around the worl...

Legal Checklist When Buying a Rental Property

There are countless articles, books, and conferences instructing budding landlor...

Why Landlords Shouldn’t Use PayPal or Venmo to C...

The Rise of Mobile-Payment Apps Mobile technology has changed the way people exc...

The Pros and Cons of Setting Up Rent Payments Thro...

Collecting rent payments online for the first time is one of the most liberating...

Four Ways Online Payments Enhance Transparency for...

Online payments offer landlords many benefits. For one thing, they make day-to-d...

The Impact of Cryptocurrency on Real Estate and th...

Technology is changing the world around us faster than ever before. An area wher...

Plumbing Basics for Landlords: Piping Materials

Whether you’re evaluating a potential investment property, estimating a mainte...

Plumbing Basics for Landlords: Landscaping and Rep...

Before making any decisions regarding the replacement or repair of you...

Plumbing Basics for Landlords: Understanding Pipin...

Unless you’re a certified master plumber, or you have had serious issues with...

Plumbing Basics for Landlords: Tenant Problems and...

The best-laid plumbing of mice and men can still encoun...

Millennials Aren’t Buying Homes – What Doe...

Achieving the American Dream has long meant owning a home, but today, that idea ...

Opportunity Zones: What Landlords Need to Know

Note: This article reflects zoning policies in effect as of November 1, 2019. Th...

7 Benefits of Property Management Software for Rea...

In 2018, homeowners purchased approximately 5.34 million existing homes in the U...

Managing Utilities for Rentals: Who Should Pay?

Overview of Utilities Let’s start with the basics: a utility is an essential s...

7 Important Fees for Landlords to Know

When it comes to property management, rent is King. But there are a whole lot of...

How to Calculate Prorated Rent

Most landlords prefer to set a rental due date on the first of the month. Someti...

The Risks of Accepting Cash Payments for Rent

It Might Be Time to Switch to a Digital Payment Method Accepting cash for rent s...

10 Essential Lease Terms for Your Rental Agreement

Fundamentally, a lease agreement is a legal contract that ensures access to a re...

Requiring a Lease Guarantor: A Strategy for Safer ...

Total insurance premiums in 2017 reached nearly $1.2 trillion dollars. Suffice i...

Altering a Lease Mid-Term

A lease is a contractual agreement that dictates a landlord-tenant relationship ...

Online Leasing: 5 Common Myths & Misconceptio...

Accessing, signing and storing documents of all kinds online is commonplace in t...

Month-to-Month Leases: A Landlord’s Guide

(Note: The terms “fixed” and “annual” leases are used interchangeably. B...

What are Individual and Joint Leases?

Primarily, two methods of structuring a lease for multiple tenants are available...

Online Leases: How Do They Work?

Online leases are a valuable tool for improving your property management. Among ...

Understanding the Importance of a Lease Addendum

Murphy’s Law has several subtle variations, but the general message is as foll...

Tenant Screening: Everything You Need to Know

Finding the right tenants and avoiding the bad ones is critical for any landlord...

Using Social Media When Screening Tenants

Can I Use Social Media to Screen my Tenants? It’s no secret people love social...

Passive Tenant Screening for Better Property Manag...

Active Screening vs. Passive Screening Odds are, you aren’t familiar with ...

Fair Housing Laws: What to Know When Screening Ten...

Dealing with a bad tenant is an experience that landlords look to avoid at all c...

What Information Should I Require in my Rental App...

It’s difficult to overstate the importance of a rental application when it com...

The Cost of Skipping Tenant Screening

Particularly for first time landlords, tenant screening may seem like a waste of...

Understanding Background Checks: Eviction and Crim...

Why Background Checks Matter As a landlord, you’re loaning one of your most va...

Hard vs. Soft Credit Inquiries: How They Affect Yo...

When you rent your property to a tenant, they agree to pay you a certain amount ...

Interpreting Your Tenant’s Credit Report: What Y...

After a lease agreement, a credit report is arguably the most important document...

Announcing Innago Tenant Screening

We are proud to announce a major new feature set on Innago: Online Tenant Screen...

Service Animals and Emotional Support Animals in R...

We all know the dangers: pets can destroy hardwood floors, tear up carpets, frig...

Revamping Commercial Properties for New Use

Major changes in the way people shop, work, and interact have left the commercia...

Why Population Growth in the Suburbs is Outpacing ...

During the late nineteenth century, many Americans flocked to cities in search o...

Everything you Need to Know Before Renting to Tena...

In 1988, the first year the American Pet Products Association conducted their an...

Comparing Commercial Lease Types: Net, Gross, and ...

So you’ve decided to take the plunge into commercial real estate. Investing in...

Three Keys to Maintaining a Landlord-Tenant Friend...

As with almost any profession, one of the most important elements of property ma...

Understanding the Differences Between Residential ...

Real estate has always been a popular choice for investors looking to diversify ...

Four Surefire Ways to Help Increase Rent and Prope...

Whether you’re trying to flip an investment property or looking to increase re...

Introducing Innago 2.0

At Innago, we value our users’ opinions and overall experience. We’re consta...

How Much Does a School District Affect Property Va...

The question of how much a school district affects property value is murky and h...

Free Press: Three Steps to Easily Capitalize When ...

In the age of social media, it’s more important than ever to let no good press...

Three Keys to Marketing a Historic Property

Although recent real estate trends have focused on investing in and gentrifying ...

6 Tips for Spring Cleaning Your Rental Property

There’s no better time for spring cleaning your rental property than, well...

Use Tenant Surveys to Improve Your Rental Business

For almost as long as marketing and sales have existed, businesses have attempte...

Putting a Price Tag on Tenant Turnover

In a perfect world, you will find long-term, reliable tenants who pay rent on ti...

Rental Property Snow Removal: Whose Responsibility...

Depending on where you live, getting snowed in can be a matter of when, not if. ...

Should You Allow Tenants to Have Pets in your Rent...

There are lots of variables to consider when determining whether or not you shou...

Using Micro-Targeting to Fill Your Rentals

With the world of advertising seemingly getting turned on its head every month, ...

A Landlord’s Guide to Cleaning Appliances

When it comes to cleaning our houses, most of us will concentrate on dusting she...

Will Climate Gentrification Affect your Real Estat...

We’ve discussed the numerous ways to stay abreast of the ever-changing real es...

Four Things to Remember When Handling Tenant Confl...

We’re all familiar with conflicts between tenants and landlords, and you no do...

Four Keys to Preserve Hardwood Floors as a Landlor...

Don’t underestimate the power of a good hardwood floor. Well-kept wood floorin...

Four Things to Know When Renting to Elderly Tenant...

Although many might think the average renter is a college student or someone kno...

Save on Energy Costs for You and Your Tenants This...

Winter is far from over, which means more salt on the roads and heavy coats out ...

Is Proximity to Retail Becoming Less Important to ...

With Amazon continuing to grow, making nearly everything deliverable to your doo...

4 Landlording Habits You Should Stick By in 2018

When making your New Year’s resolutions for 2018, eating healthier and going t...

What to Ask Yourself Before Signing a Multi-Year L...

Although twelve month lease agreements are the gold standard for property manage...

Does Craigslist Work for Rentals Anymore?

Craigslist has long been a go-to spot for quick, easy listings of anything from ...

4 Tips for Staging Rentals: Small Changes Make a B...

While some might think that the added process of staging rentals is only importa...

Worry-Free Holiday Season Checklist for Landlords

When the holiday season comes around, keeping up with gift-giving, family gather...

The Importance of Effective Tenant Communication

Communication and clarity are the backbone of any relationship, personal or prof...

Renters Insurance: Why It Isn’t Too Much to Ask

As the number of renters in America has increased in recent years, so has the nu...

Tenant’s Furniture Left Behind After Move Out �...

Tenants are prone to leaving things behind during a move out. More often than no...

Easy Ways to Add Personality to Your Property List...

There are numerous sites dedicated to helping potential tenants find rental prop...

Paint by Renters: 5 Easy Steps to Smartly Let Your...

It’s a familiar situation. You hire professional painters, get the whole inter...

How Being a Silent Landlord Can Cause Problems

Nobody understands how busy you are as a property manager or landlord better tha...

6 Ways to Increase Revenue That you Might be Missi...

If you’re wondering how to increase your return on property investment, there�...

Who Should Be the Exterminator: Tenant or Landlor...

After we finished making our first meal in our newly renovated apartment, my gir...

Renting Garage Space Out: What do you Need to Know...

Depending on your location, renting garage space is a great and reliable form of...

Is it Time to Downsize your Property Portfolio?

Managing a portfolio can take a great deal of effort. On average, you should sho...

Networking: A Key for Savvy Landlords

When trying to advance your career or make your next move, the importance of net...

Efficient Growth: When Should Landlords Look For S...

Purchasing a rental property is a fantastic way to invest your money. If you own...

Apartment Size is Decreasing: Does it Matter?

As new apartment buildings are built, the units on the inside are changing drast...

The Dos and Don’ts of a House Showing

It’s little secret that the internet age has fundamentally changed the real es...

Online Rent Payments: Commercial Properties, It...

Property managers have been accepting paper checks for their commercial properti...

Late Fees: Are you Using them Effectively?

Every landlord has encountered tenants who don’t make paying rent on time a pr...

How to Handle Long-Term Guests

As a landlord, finding out that someone has been living on your property unbekno...

Backcasting: Analyzing the Past for the Future of ...

You may be unfamiliar with the term backcasting, but if you’ve been in the rea...

Effective Marketing: 4 Ways to Improve Your Rental...

Believe it or not, the first ever paid advertisement in the US was for an estate...

Moving Out: 5 Ways to Ensure a Smooth Transition B...

Whether it takes place over a day or over a week, handling all the various tasks...

Late Fee System and the Innago Solution

A late fee system is an important part of the management process for any landlor...

Are Brokers and Leasing Agents Worth the Investmen...

So you’re a landlord with a good amount of vacant units and you’re faced wit...

Accepting Rent via Paper Check: What’s it Re...

You’re likely familiar by now with the term ACH. If you are not, an ACH paymen...

5 Rental Maintenance Tips For Durable Properties �...

This is the second of a two-part series intended to help you implement preventa...

5 Rental Maintenance Tips For Durable Properties &...

This is the first of a two-part series.  For the rest of our excellent tips on ...

Online Rent Payments: Set a Course for Modern Rent...

Large apartment complexes have been offering online rent payment portals for yea...

Subletting: the Good, the Bad, and the Manageable

If you are not already familiar with subletting, now, before your new lease term...

Smart Homes & Smart Technology: How They Impa...

We are currently living in a world with smartphones, smart cars, smart televisio...

“Landlording” Without Boundaries: Mana...

Choosing to manage rental property into retirement a decade ago was not as possi...

Renting to Generation Z: Are You Ready?

The apartment industry has been obsessing over millennials for years. And for go...

College-Age Tenants: What to Expect

Understanding your renter is one of the most effective ways to become the best l...

3 Overlooked Lease Items You Should Include

Any seasoned landlord knows the importance of an air-tight lease agreement. ...

Communicate with Tenants for Pain-Free Management

The way people communicate is constantly changing, especially in 2017, when ther...

Using the 1% Rule When Expanding Your Portfolio

Portfolio expansion is always an exciting time for a landlord or property manage...

Electronic Signatures Can Be More Secure

When we talk to clients about our online lease signing feature, we receive one o...

What the Trump Tax Cuts Mean for Small and Mid-Siz...

On April 26th, 2017, the Trump administration released a first draft of its prop...

How to Improve Your Rental Website

As digital searches increase and consumers become decidedly more connected to th...

5 Reasons You Should Be Accepting Rent With Credit...

eCommerce is an exploding industry.  Merchants and consumers love the convenien...

Why We Don’t Use Contracts

We often get raised eyebrows and funny faces when we tell folks we don’t use c...

Introducing Innago: A Fresh Take on Property Manag...

Innago is designed to be flexible, powerful, yet intuitive for every property ma...