Quoted from mrmark0673:

I own 3 multi-family homes in both Boston proper and the greater Boston area.
1. Get on Bigger Pockets.
www.biggerpockets.com is the absolute best place to get any and all information you need to successfully make money in real estate. They cover a billion different strategies, areas of the country, and anything else you can imagine. Read their daily letters, listen to all the podcasts, and get cracking!
2. Know the laws!
The easiest way to go broke in renting real estate is not understanding how to protect yourself. List the property as being in a "family friendly neighborhood"? Cool, you just discriminated by familial status against folks who don't have a family. Charging a pet fee or an application fee? Not a problem! Well, unless you're in Massachusetts, because both of those things are against the law. Local laws and federal laws are often different, so stay on top. Making money in real estate is hard enough as it is, it's much harder when people try to constantly sue you.
3. Screen, screen, screen
I'm a big fan of pre-screening my properties. If you don't make at least 3x the rent, if you smoke, if you have a dog over 25 pounds and/or I don't like it, if you have poor credit or have been convicted of a felony, or a billion other things, I'm not going to go through the process of showing you the property. I'll give you an application, as it's illegal for me to refuse you one, but I'll let you know that you won't qualify and why.
4. Keep your records
The amount of legal deductions you can take is absolutely bananas. My brother and I received a $25k tax return and most of it was attributed to phantom deductions like depreciation.
5. Smart leverage
Have a gameplan and stick to it. I invest for cash flow, NOT appreciation. I just refinanced two of my properties on Monday. One of them has gone up $400k since I purchased it. That's nice and everything, but it's largely irrelevant to my month to month finances. I cash flow heavily on each property, and even with a down turn in the economy or housing market, I'm still covering my mortgages and then some. When my properties have grossly appreciated, I take out a HELOC, buy another multifamily, use the cash flow from the rentals to pay off the HELOC, then repeat the process. The more I own, the easier it is to own more.
6. Raise the rents each year
Even if it's a little. It's landlording 101. If your tenants are good, increase the rents annually. The last thing you want to do is toss a massive increase at great tenants after not bumping the last 5 years and losing them. The adage is that tenants expect annual increases, so don't leave them disappointed
Take everthing I say with a grain of salt. What works for me won't necessarily work for you. My properties are "A" properties that are roughly $1 million each and my clientele is largely engineers and similar folks. My rents are high, my tenants are top notch, my vacancies are low, and I'm in an area of incredible high occupancy even in an economic down turn.
Landlording is a business, not a hobby. Treat it like one and the rewards are exceptional. I grew up poor and am only a public school teacher and I've been able to figure it out. If I can do it, anyone can.
Good luck!

Quoted from JayDee:

I understand they are paying, but it’s getting later and later. Soon they will be a month behind like you said. It’s starting to get out of hand. You know the saying, give them an inch and they will take a foot. In this case it will turn into a mile before you know what hit you. You have to look at it as a business and have to be tough. They have no skin in the game at all. Especially since there was no security. They have nothing to lose by pushing the limits with you. Stop the bleeding now.

Quoted from fredsmythson:

During the final years of my landlord career, I had a lot of tenants who refused to pay their rent. I would write them letters, call them, and even hired attorneys to send them a bunch of "official" letters, but nothing seemed to work. Finally, I printed up some 8x10 neon orange pieces of paper that said, "EVICTION PROCESSING," in large letters with a paragraph of legal speak right below it. I taped three of the signs at one of my rental homes - front door, front window and garage door. Within hours I was getting calls from the delinquent tenants. Back rent was paid up within 24 hours. These little neon orange signs worked perfectly and I would use them with great success for all of my delinquent tenants... Always check state and local laws in regards to posting signs at a tenant's residence...

Quoted from fredsmythson:

I never figured out why those neon orange sheets of paper worked so well. If it was public shame, the tenants could have just taken down those notices. Or maybe they thought more notices would be posted... I guess the sight of a neon orange piece of paper on a front door brings fear and worry to a delinquent tenant... Ugh, just thinking about all of this makes me dizzy. I have many crazy tenant stories, which I want to forget. I'm so happy that I got out of the landlord game 5 years ago. It just wasn't worth it...

Quoted from JRBBRJ:

Any landlords contemplating relief to tenants during this time? Are you reaching out to them or waiting for them to contact you if there is an issue?
Denver seems like it could get rough soon. I think my tenants (I only have one rental) are in fields where it might not affect them. That being said if they come to me with issues I plan on waiving late fees at this time and if needed would entertain a discounted April. I imagine if I had numerous properties that type of discount would add up quick and might not be possible. It almost becomes a question of how can I help my tenant enough to get though this and keep them as tenants, without jeopardizing my own situation.

Quoted from bkfiv:

What would you have done if all four said they were laid off & were in a bad spot?

Quoted from Whysnow:

I sold one.
With all the added burden and stress being put on landlords it felt like good timing to pull cash and reduce debt. Took that money and paid down loans on other rentals and now am more able to jump on the next deal I find to fix up.
I never thought I would sell, but current tenants wanted to buy and it was largely a no hassle sale. That made it an easier decision.

Quoted from northerndude:

All my tenants made it through nicely, no-one ever missed a minute of payments and I’m happy about that.
But, I’m 1/2 tired of being a landlord and owner of my revenue building. Only had it for 7 years, it’s a four-plex. I’m not a big deal.
I put it up for sale online on Friday to see if I can get any nibbles.
If I can get for what I think I may be able to for it, I will be pretty much debt free in life at 43. Hoping some big landlord wants to buy it and I can sail off into the distance.