For 34 months, small landlords have been the punching bag of the rental market. Late rent, ghosted texts, the eviction dance, all of it. This month, they punched back. And they beat the ten-thousand-door apartment REITs while they were at it. David 1, Goliath 0. Read on, small landlord Nation, this one's for you.

Story: For 34 straight months, independent landlords watched year-over-year on-time rent collections get worse. Every month. Every report. A slow bleed that started in early 2023 and refused to end. In June, it ended. According to the Chandan Economics-RentRedi Independent Landlord Rental Performance Report, 83.8% of units paid their full rent on time in June 2026, up 22 basis points from June 2025. First annual increase since early 2023. The streak is over.

So What? Mom-and-pops just outperformed institutional multifamily. On-time payments hit 84.6% for 2-4 unit rentals and 84.0% for single-family, while multifamily lagged at 82.3%. The independent landlord who knows the tenant's kids' names is collecting more rent than the ten-thousand-door apartment REIT. Turns out relationships still matter.

What’s Next? Do not book the parade yet. Chandan's report calls this "stabilization, not full normalization," and April's late-payment rate was still 12%, historically elevated. The streak ended. The recovery has not started. Watch the July report closely. If August prints another year-over-year gain, that's a trend. One month is a data point. Two is momentum.

Source: Chandan

The 9-Step Checklist for Renting Out Your First House

Before you list your first rental property, there are a few things you need to get right. In this video, Matthew Whitaker breaks down the 9-step checklist for renting out your first house, including legal prep, landlord insurance, pricing, tenant screening, leases, bookkeeping, and emergency reserves.

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3️⃣ Mortgages: Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) put the 30-year fixed at 6.43% for the week ending July 2, down from 6.49% the prior week and 6.67% a year ago. 🪺 More

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Should You Use a HELOC to Buy Rental Properties?

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