Money saving web sites such as Living Social, Groupon and ShopKick, have spread through the World Wide Web like wild fire. A survey by RedPlum reported, more people are searching for coupon codes prior to making a purchase and most are members of several reward programs. Are you taking advantage of this money saving, coupon clipping, mentality at your property?

This thrifty trend has opened the doors for innovative and relatively inexpensive ways to increase renter retention and resident satisfaction in the multifamily housing industry.  Many apartment communities currently offer cash rewards if a resident refers a friend, renews a lease, etc.  Although this is a great incentive to a resident, the value of the reward is equivalent to cost to the property, denting your property’s revenue.

The latest trend in the multifamily housing industry is to utilize resident rewards programs rather than cash based incentives. These rewards programs can vary from point based systems to simply offering discounts and coupon codes.  Points or rewards can be given for anything you choose, like renewing leases, referring friends, or helping around the community. The greatest benefit of resident reward programs is you no longer have to give dollar for dollar incentives. The perceived value of a discount or reward is usually much higher than the actual cost to the property.  You can finally reward resident loyalty without “breaking the bank!” 

Although initiating a resident rewards program can seem like a daunting task, as it could take some planning , it has the ability to set your property or Property Management Company ahead of the competition. You can also reach out to local merchants and companies that would like more business from your residents about coupon and discount offers. You would be surprised how many would jump at the chance to give your residents freebies. Resident rewards can prompt renewals, increase referrals and get your residents more involved at your property; so why not give it a try?

RentPayment is always available to discuss reward programs for your renters, whether it be coupon codes, rebate offers, or gift card giveaways, we are ready to work with your property. If you’re interested in learning more about RentPayment promotions, feel free to contact us at Marketing@RentPayment.com.

Want to learn more about Resident Rewards? Read this article by Multifamily Executive.

The CEO of YapStone Inc., RentPayment’s parent company, Matt Golis, was recently interviewed and featured in an article by Multifamily Executive titled, “Durbin Does Debit: Dodd Frank Amendment Saves Multifamily Some Dough.”  The article discusses the widely debated Durbin Amendment and its potential effect on the multifamily housing industry.

The Durbin Amendment is an addendum to the Dodd Frank Financial Reform and Consumer Protection Act passed by Congress in 2010, which calls to expand Federal Reserve powers for setting interchange fees in relation to debit card transaction processing.  In laymen terms, the Durbin Amendment, which went into effect on October 1, will lower the fees associated with processing debit card payments.

This is a great benefit for the multifamily housing industry, as it will facilitate the transition to electronic payment options for properties and their residents. Property Management Companies and individual rental property owners can now provide their residents with the luxury of paying their rent online, by phone, or by text, with a debit card, at lower prices than ever before.

To read the entire article click here.

With the holiday season well on it’s way, we thought it would be fun to share some pictures of our Halloween Company Party.  This was the first Holiday event to take place at our new and improved Headquarters in Walnut Creek, CA! 

This year’s festivities included a Costume Contest awarding the Best Male, Best Female, Funniest, Scariest and Prettiest costumes, as well as a Mummy Making contest, which called for each department to make a Mummy out of their Department head!  As you can see, everyone had a wonderful time at this big company bash.

Visit our Facebook Page for more pictures of this spooktacular event!

Happy Friday everyone! We thought we would end your week with a little “treat.” Say hello to Alexis, one of the youngest members of the YapStone (RentPayment’s parent company) family. She stopped by the Santa Monica office to visit her Dad and made a quick cameo for all to enjoy.

No tricks here, just adorable treats!

Last month on the RentPayment blog we outlined some interesting Mult-Family Housing Industry facts. Our findings demonstrated a significant majority of rental properties happen to be smaller unit properties owned by individuals, rather than larger properties owned by property management companies. We also shared some ways we felt electronic rent acceptance could be of great benefit to individuals who own small unit properties and their residents.

RentPayment leads the electronic payment industry yet again …. Today (drum roll please), we are proud to announce a solution that will provide all U.S. renters with the rent payment flexibility they demand and provide individual property owners with an easy to use and value adding  service to accept credit, debit eCheck payments.  Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to announce this GREAT solution is RentPaymentNow!

RentPaymentNow! provides residential properties of all sizes the ability to apply online – in a couple easy steps – to process electronic payments. Within minutes these properties can begin accepting online rent payments! Prior to RentPaymentNow!, it was only feasible for large property management companies to assume the cost of transacting in the digital world. RentPaymentNow! introduces an affordable way to process credit card, debit card and eCheck for any residential rental property! 

Depending on what types of payments individual properties choose to accept, renters will have the option to pay rent with eChecks online, debit cards online, and credit cards over the phone, in-person AND via RentPayment’s innovative RentByText^TM service. RentPaymentNow! is more than your average online payment processor; it is opening the doors for individual property owners to grow their business like never before and to provide their residents with the flexibility and freedom they deserve when paying their rent each month.

So if you, or anyone you know owns or manages a property, visit RentPaymentNow! and follow our 4 easy steps to start accepting electronic payments NOW —it’s THAT easy.

Just as promised, we are excited to announce the BIG PREMIER of RentPayment’s 2011 Student Housing Promotion Wrap-Up Video!  Seeing the “Love at First Click” Promotion come to life was extremely exciting for us and we couldn’t wait to share this video with all of you.

Sit back, relax and enjoy the “show”!
 

Once again, thank you to all the property managers and their management staffs! Without your help, dedication and enthusiasm this promotion could not have been such a success.  We promise to keep the promotions and prizes coming for you and your residents.

Don’t let your community miss out on a chance to win BIG for just paying their rent online! Stay tuned to the RentPayment blog for future promotions, giveaways, coupon codes and sweepstakes.

Everyone loves a good deal and it’s fair to say that if someone had the option to pay a lower price, they would, despite their economic situation.  In fact, a survey by RedPlum reported an overwhelming 96% of shoppers (of the 23,000 surveyed) claimed they would still use coupons even if they won the lottery! This “save when you spend” mentality has only become more prominent in our society since the onset of the most recent recession.  More people are spending additional time surfing the web for added discounts, free shipping, and promotions. NCH, a coupon processing and information management company, reports the overall coupon redemption volume in the United States grew 3.1% to 3.3 billion consumer good coupons, in the past year alone.

The digital age has definitely facilitated the process of the “deal hunt,” as online coupon usage is on the rise.  Naturally, online retailers of all sorts have had to jump on the bandwagon and start satisfying consumers’ need to save, increasing the number of digital coupon offers by 37% in 2011, as reported by the NCH.

RentPayment thinks it’s time for the multi-family housing industry to dive into the coupon craze and utilize online coupon codes.  We can now proudly say, we too have contributed to the 37% increase in the number of digital coupon offers in 2011! Our “Love at First Click” Student Housing promotion marked a new beginning for RentPayment promotions.

From here on out, be on the lookout for RentPayment coupon codes for your community’s residents.  They might just have the chance to enter one of our exciting promotions or sweepstakes and win amazing prizes or discounts, just for paying their rent online!

The RentPayment marketing department would like to give a special thank you to all the property managers and amazing management staffs, who put in extra time and effort to spread the word about our Love at First Click Promotion.  We know fall move-ins can be extremely hectic and busy, yet every one of you did an amazing job! Without the help of such great management staff, our promotion could not have been such a success! 

Two communities in particular really stood out this year. Not only did they go above and beyond by handing out and displaying RentPayment marketing materials around their property, posting on Facebook and sending us pictures, but they also increased RentPayment usage, immensely.

Therefore, we would like to award their hardworking management staff with a small prize. 

The Reveille Ranch Staff

Our first place student housing community and the winner of a $300 MasterCard gift card is, Reveille Ranch, a Jamespoint Management property. Reveille Ranch increased usage at their property by about 75% throughout our Love at First Click promotion!

Here is what Property Manager Travis had to say when we asked him a few questions about RentPayment.

Q: How did your property convert residents to ePayments? What is your advice to fellow property managers to help increase RentPayment usage?

A: The primary thing we do is encourage residents to make their payments online. It all starts with the lease application.  As a property with a lot of students, we close a lot leases via email, fax, and phone.  We find that if a future resident pays the application fees on-line they’re very likely to make their rent payments online.  We also make a point to hand out RentPayment flyers during move-in day.  With many parents making their payments for their son/daughter the ability to pay from their computer without having to mail a check in is a big convenience.

Q: What would you say are some of the benefits Reveille Ranch receives from high RentPayment usage?

A: The primary benefits are the amount of time we save from not having to process checks and the added security of payments being handled by RentPayment rather than employees.  Not to mention, there’s a money trail with RentPayment. No more dealing with “check lost in the mail” or “I dropped it in the drop box last night, you must have lost it” excuses!

The Gateway at College Station Staff

Our second place community and the winner of a $100 MasterCard gift card is Gateway at College Station, a DMC SUH Management property! Gateway at College Station took social media to another level!  We saw constant Facebook posts reminding residents to pay rent online for a chance to win, as well as reminders in their monthly newsletter. Gateway did an amazing job of keeping us updated and displaying their efforts by sending several pictures throughout the entire promotion.  Lastly, by this year’s student housing promotion’s conclusion, Gateway at College Station had over 35% of their residents making online payments!

RentPayment’s Love at First Click Student Housing Promotion officially came to an end on September 15th, 2011, after an amazing turnout, thanks to all 111 student housing communities that participated. For anyone that may not already know, our “Love at First Click” Promotion, gave all residents from the participating student housing communities the opportunity to win 1 of 3 amazing prizes for making a payment online with RentPayment and simply entering the coupon code “LoveAtFirstClick!”

Without further ado, the RentPayment Marketing Team is delighted to introduce our 3 Grand Prize Student Winners! These lucky ladies will be taking home a $1000 MasterCard gift card!

Desiree Waters from The Woodlands of Tuscaloosa, a Dovetail Companies Property!

Kayla Smith from The Gateway at Tucson, an Asset Campus Property!

Fan Yang, from The Stratum at Indiana, an Asset Campus Property!

Yesterday, it was annouced that YapStone, Inc., RentPayment’s parent company, acquired PropertyBridge, one of RentPayment’s largest competitors. It’s an exciting time here at YapStone and in order to share our excitement, we decided to take to Tout to relay the news to all of you! Tune in for a quick Tout annoucement by YapStone’s VP of Business Development, Mike Denbeau.