Rent textbooks for college and save money. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Well, if you are a college student, burdened by the tuition most colleges or universities charge, you may want to look into textbook rental. With the current economy, textbook rental options are becoming a very popular way to overcome some of the financial difficulties of receiving a higher education. The cost of textbooks needed to fulfill your academic requirements are estimated to be 20 percent of the tuition that a standard university charges and about half the price of tuition that a community college charges That is an average of $900 per year! Can you really afford to buy college textbooks at that price?

 

Compare renting textbooks to purchasing textbooks and you will see that the pros to textbook rental far outweigh purchasing textbooks. First, it is cheaper to rent college textbooks. Cheaper because purchasing a textbook will cost you full retail price at most colleges whereas rental will cost you a fraction of the purchase price. There is virtually no reason to worry that the book will not be bought back by the college. Even if they buy it back, you will not get your full purchase price. A second reason why you should rent textbooks is for the convenience. There are many companies that offer textbook rental services and can be found on the internet. There rental services offer discounted rental prices, free shipping of the textbooks, an online account so you will always be updated as far as the due dates on the textbook and free shipping of the books by you back to the company.

 

Now, with most rental companies of any kind there are limitations to renting and they can pertain to textbook rental as well. One major issue that a rental company is concerned about is damage. If you damage a textbook and return it, you will be charged a damage fee. Some companies will allow you to highlight text in their books, but if is too excessive, you may get charged with a damage fee. If you return a book past it’s due date you will be charged a late fee. Remember that any rented item is not actually your property and you should follow all terms and conditions of the agreement between you and the rental company.

 

There are options for the students who want to rent college textbooks and save money. Do your research before you rent textbooks because not all companies offer the same great service. See what other students have said about the different companies. In the long run, if you decide to rent college textbooks, you will save yourself a lot of money!

If you are a landlord then you already know what the term rent roll means. A rent roll is a list of tenants that includes the amount of rent for each tenant and their lease expiration date. It’s a comprehensive book of business, basically. It’s important for the individual landlord in terms of knowing who is occupying their building at what rates of rent, and when they can expect them to be vacating. Rent roll is an important planning tool in order to keep buildings at maximum occupancy. And, according to business expert Phil Thow, it is important to know for potential buyers of buildings with tenants.

Just as important as knowing the rent roll is for the current landlord, it is for a potential buyer says Phil Thow. Being able to analyze the rent roll will give a potential buyer insight into exactly how much the building brings in terms of rent by month, or by year. These figures can be used against the expected expenses in order to determine the profit potential of the building being considered. It also will give information as to when you can expect to have to bring in new tenants, or renew current leases. According to Phil Thow this important information should be analyzed and quantified closely before taking the plunge and purchasing the property. 

You should consider analyzing the rent roll just like any due diligence when purchasing assets. It is the lifeblood of the property and needs the same careful consideration as the investment potential of the asset itself outside of the current income. Knowing exactly what is currently being charged for rent will give the buyer the opportunity to compare to other rents in the area to see if potential is being maximized. If it’s not, the buyer will know ahead of time whether future contracts will need to be amended in order to hit the intended profit target. Phil Thow says to take rent roll very seriously when considering a building purchase.

As you can see, the rent roll of a building provides much needed decision making information for both current and potential landlords. Phil Thow underscores the need to understand and plan for the inevitable change in tenant status in order to achieve the goals you wish to from the property. Like any business, knowing where cash flow and profit will come from is of the utmost importance.

If you have been a landlord for longer than a year, chances are you have run across a tenant who does not pay rent on time or worse, doesn’t pay the rent at all. This is a common problem for landlords and the best way to handle it is to be firm, fair and consistent with this problem tenant.

We have all experienced it. Rent is due on the first; here we are on the third and still no check. You call the tenant who tells you that “the car has broken down and needs to be fixed so I can work” or “my check doesn’t clear until Monday, I’ll have it for you then”. Monday comes and you hear “I’ll have the money on Wednesday for sure”.

As soon as you let the tenant start calling the shots, they won’t stop. Next month they will remember the power that you have relinquished and will stretch rent collection out all over again.

How should you deal with this tenant? There are several steps you can take to help them get the rent to you on time, every month.

The first step you can take is to be firm is from the start. When you sign the lease with a new tenant inform them that the rent is due on the first of the month and they will be paying late fees for every day the rent is late. Tell them that communication is key and to call you if the are going to be late with the rent. It’s up to you if you are going to give them a grace period or waive late fees the first time rent is late if it’s not habitual. This way you are the one calling the shots, not the tenant.

The second step is to enforce late fees every month. Tenants hate to pay extra rent and when they know you are going to charge them $5 every day the rent is late they will make every effort to get that rent to you on time. Charging late fees and more importantly enforcing late fees also takes some of the stress out of not having that rent in hand. You know you are making $5 extra per day and if they don’t pay the fee immediately you can deduct it from their deposit at any time. Be sure to inform them you made this deduction and don’t let the security deposit go to low using this method.

The third step is, when the rent is 2-3 days late, issue a 10 day notice to pay rent or quit. It doesn’t matter how nice this tenant is, or how great your report is with this tenant. This gives you the OPTION to file for repossession. Chances are they will pay you before you have to repossess the apartment but incase they don’t pay you, you can file after 10 days. A lot of landlords wait too long to issue this 10 day notice. By the time they want to start the legal path, the tenant will have 10 additional days before the landlord can file to repossess the apartment because of the requirement to deliver the 10 day notice.

The fourth step is to leverage the power you have over the tenant’s rental history by reporting them to any or all of the different credit bureaus and tenant databases. To report to the credit bureau you need to pay for membership to a service that can submit this for you. To report them to the Deadbeat Database you need to join their website which costs about $70.

Finally, the free option is to join the FreeLandlordSoftware.com which gives you access to a database for landlords to post and browse tenant rental histories for free. Whichever option you choose, you should inform the tenant of your intention and this may encourage the tenant to pay what they owe you.

Remember, you are the one with the control. It is your property and it’s up to you to protect your investment. When you apply the pressure to pay the rent early in the process, you can always ease up after you are paid. When you wait for the tenant to string you along, you give up the control and you are the one that will lose.