Other Legal Forms

If you are more in the need for legal forms to start a corporation, LLC or partnership we would recommend LegalZoom who has professional forms and assistance for entities wishing to start an organization.  Other services offered by LegalZoom include: Trademarks, Copyrights, Patents, Wills, Trusts, Divorce, Name Change, Power of Attorney, Real Estate Leases, Bankruptcy, Estate Planning, and other Legal forms.

We’ve partnered with a OLDDEBTS to provide this service to Rentec users and trusted affiliates.

There’s a ton of benefits to using Olddebts.  The ones that make the most sense to us are:

• The collection process can be handled online, and setup only takes a couple minutes.
• Olddebts is a flat-fee service that costs less than $20
• Olddebts will report the delinquency to the credit bureaus for just $5.  This is the best part because not only are you warning other landlords about this tenant who fails to pay their rent, but with the debt going on their credit you are far more likely to collect on it.  They will most likely need to pay you before they can move into another house, buy a car, etc.
• Olddebts handles all the dirty work.  They send the collection letters and report to the bureaus.  The funds come back directly to you.

We are very impressed with how their program is setup and how effective it is.  To get setup or read more about Old debts, CLICK HERE to visit their site.

Membership is free and there are nearly a thousand members in the community discussing a wide range of topics all related to property management.  Click the Let’s Talk Property Management image on the right to visit their site.

As with any new device the iPad has it’s exciting new features and drawbacks.  There are some bugs Apple still has to work out on the iPad, and once they do it will make using the iPad work better for not only Rentec Direct’s online property management software, but websites across the web.

Here are the items which we’ve noticed affect Rentec Direct users.

1. Apple removed scrollbars from their browser for in-browser divisions.   I believe because iPad users use their finger rather than a mouse, Apple unanimously decided for all their users that they are better off without scrollbars within web pages.   A search on Google finds over 1.5million results of the term “ipad scrollbars“.  At the top of the list are many complaints about Apple changing this common-sense browser functionality, and various suggested workarounds.

   Workaround: Within the scrollable frame, place two fingers on the screen and drag.  This will scroll the window within Rentec Direct.  If two fingers does not work, try three fingers.

2. No Flash Support.  Apple and Adobe (the creators of Flash) currently have bad blood, and as a result Apple chose to exclude Flash support from the iPad.  Apple is unlikely to overturn this decision anytime soon despite nearly 80% of the web currently using Flash.  It means very little however for Rentec Direct users.  The only flash component of the site is the file upload status bar.  Generally file uploads are going to come from your desktop machine anyways which does contain full Flash support, so this will affect very few.   File downloads should still work fine within the iPad.

We anticipate Apple will address both of these issues (and other bugs still part of the iPad platform); however, in the meantime we’re publishing these workarounds to assist you in using Rentec Direct with the iPad.  If you have any questions or comments about mobile access to Rentec Direct, please let us know.

For a very long time the best combination of performance and security has come from Firefox.  Firefox is an open source application which has the most community support behind it for a web browser.  Because of the ample community support, and excellent programmers, Firefox leads the way still in performance and security.

Google Chrome just yesterday released version 5 of their new browser.  We’ve been using and testing with Chrome since version 3 and it has come a long way.  Chrome takes the cake in performance, even over Firefox.  Google Chrome 5 can rightfully claim the title as the fastest browser in the world, at least for now.  In our testing, Chrome 5 is noticeably faster all around the web.  It has native Flash support to give you the full web without installing any plugins and works very well with all websites we’ve tested it with, including Rentec’s BackOffice which makes use of many new web technologies.  Of note, with Chrome version 5, they now support plugins including some one of our “must have” favorites: Xmarks.

Other popular browsers include Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) and Apple’s Safari browsers.  Neither has the performance and security that Firefox and Chrome have and while Rentec Direct is fully compatible with both, we recommend using one of the above.

If you are looking to speed up your web experience, try out the new Chrome, or if you are currently using IE try them both and see which fits your style best.  You will find your internet experience will improve significantly when you release that old slow browser.

The article covers six important items and only briefly mentions the very best property management software (Rentec Direct) <grin>, but he makes some excellent points.  We have independently polled and asked thousands of landlords what is important to them.  Visit our main website to review what we have consistently found to be the most important tools for landlords.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 authorizes a tax credit of up to $8,000 for qualified first-time home buyers purchasing a principal residence on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009.

The following questions and answers provide basic information about the tax credit. If you have more specific questions, we strongly encourage you to consult a qualified tax adviser or legal professional about your unique situation.

1. Who is eligible to claim the tax credit?
2. What is the definition of a first-time home buyer?
3. How is the amount of the tax credit determined?
4. Are there any income limits for claiming the tax credit?
5. What is “modified adjusted gross income”?
6. If my modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is above the limit, do I qualify for any tax credit?
7. Can you give me an example of how the partial tax credit is determined?
8. How is this home buyer tax credit different from the tax credit that Congress enacted in July of 2008?
9. How do I claim the tax credit? Do I need to complete a form or application?
10. What types of homes will qualify for the tax credit?
11. I read that the tax credit is “refundable.” What does that mean?
12. I purchased a home in early 2009 and have already filed to receive the $7,500 tax credit on my 2008 tax returns. How can I claim the new $8,000 tax credit instead?
13. Instead of buying a new home from a home builder, I hired a contractor to construct a home on a lot that I already own. Do I still qualify for the tax credit?
14. Can I claim the tax credit if I finance the purchase of my home under a mortgage revenue bond (MRB) program?
15. I live in the District of Columbia. Can I claim both the Washington, D.C. first-time home buyer credit and this new credit?
16. I am not a U.S. citizen. Can I claim the tax credit?
17. Is a tax credit the same as a tax deduction?
18. I bought a home in 2008. Do I qualify for this credit?
19. Is there any way for a home buyer to access the money allocable to the credit sooner than waiting to file their 2009 tax return?
20. The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development has announced that HUD will allow “monetization” of the tax credit. What does that mean?
21. If I’m qualified for the tax credit and buy a home in 2009, can I apply the tax credit against my 2008 tax return?
22. For a home purchase in 2009, can I choose whether to treat the purchase as occurring in 2008 or 2009, depending on in which year my credit amount is the largest?

The REI Brain has recently completed a review of Rentec Direct as well.  The video review is attached here, and the complete review can be seen here.

Special thanks to Trevor and thereibrain team from the Rentec Team.