Benefits of Collecting Rent Online

These days, short of childbirth, you can do pretty much everything online, via home computer, notebook or smart phone. People are now quite used to doing their shopping, making doctors’ appointments and doing their banking courtesy of modern technology.

If you aren’t already offering your tenants the possibility of paying their rent online, you can bet they’re wondering why you have yet to get with the times. It’s not only convenient for them, but for you as well, as it can reduce labor costs and keep revenues flowing on a consistent basis.

Good reasons to offer online payment include:

• It’s less risky. If tenants are paying online, you don’t have to worry about the risks attendant with keeping cash on hand, and that can also lead to less expensive insurance for you.
• An automatic payment set-up, whether by PayPal, credit card or eCheck will keep absent-minded tenants paying the rent on time. Less headaches for you and them.
• If you or your property management company aren’t chasing and/or processing rent checks, everyone’s time can be put to better use in terms of cultivating helpful, friendly relationships with tenants and promoting and marketing rental properties or closing leases.
• It reflects well on you, and you will have one more attractive feature to draw prospective residents. Surveys show folks take it for granted that quality properties are going to offer online payment as an option. The facts are that 90 percent of Americans now go online to check their bank account balances and various transactions, and 56 percent of Americans now pay at least one bill a month through online banking.
• Lower overhead means lower property management fees.
• You will be much better equipped to easily deal with payment problems and disputes. Let’s say a resident says they already made a payment that looks to be late. You are able to instantly verify whether or not the payment was actually made simply by going to your computer.
• Fewer people dropping by in person to hand over a rent check translates to fewer complaints or requests for repairs. Residents will likely let more frivolous issues slide and only contact you when they have real problems.
• Quite simply, it’s a nice acknowledgement that you care about convenience for your residents. They’ll have the ability to make payments 24 hours a day, which will be appreciated.