So you bought that investment property.  You did all the research on the correct area.  You spent hours doing financial modeling.  You must have looked at 100 properties before you bought one.  You have a business plan, you are ready to become the next Donald Trump.

Unfortunately, your tenant doesn’t send in their rent this month.  You had not planned on that and are not sure what to do.  Here are some tips and tricks to help you develop an eviction plan:

• Step 1-While most articles you read say that you should start the eviction process the first day that rent is due, most landlords do not do this.  It is not practical.  I recommend that your first action when the rent is late is call the tenant to see what their story is.  If they simply mailed it late, then wait for it.  If they don’t return your call or have no plan, proceed to step 2.
• Step 2-The day after it is late, send them a form letter that states how much rent is due, tell them you have added the late fee, and explain that if they do not pay that you will start the eviction in x days (typically you should not wait more than 5 days to get started after you send the letter).
• Step 3-Most landlords fail to draw a line in the sand and set a clear date to begin the eviction.  Many will continue to listen to excuses from their tenants until they wake up one morning and realize the tenant owes them 3 months of rent!  Set a date (I recommend the 15th of the month), that no matter what the tenant is saying, you start to evict them.  Do not deviate from this.

Without a solid eviction plan, most landlords will wait too long to start the process and just lose more money and become more frustrated.