Multi-Housing News is an online news magazine for the multi-family industry providing current and complete news, information and analysis to industry leaders.  Each year they hold the MHN Technology Choice Awards to recognize the industry’s best technology companies providing payments modules, screening systems, property management software, security products and more.

To select the winners, Multi-Housing News holds an online vote and asks Property Managers, management companies and industry associates to decide which firms stand apart and should be recognized as outstanding technology providers.

This year, RentPayment has been nominated in the category of Resident Payment Systems.  Winning payment systems are to be chosen based on the following criteria: features/functionality, pricing/ROI, Ease of Use, Appeal to Residents, Contract/Licensing Terms, and Customer Support & Training.

RentPayment would greatly appreciate your support, and thanks to all of our clients and industry colleagues for your votes and support.

To vote, visit: http://www.multihousingnews.com/2011-technology-choice-awards/.

This year’s nominees include only the biggest and best multi-family Vendors.  In addition to Resident Payment Systems, the following categories are also awarded:

• Property Management Software
• Resident Screening Systems
• Internet Listing Services
• Telecommunications Providers
• Security
• Utility Management
• Lead Management
• Resident Portals
• Marketing Websites
• Mobile Apps
• Most Innovative Multi-Housing Technology

Win $500 just for converting residents to electronic payments!

Ultimately RentPayment is here to help Property Manager’s jobs easier. Electronic rent payment can help managers collect more on time payments and also means having to deal with less paperwork and manual record keeping for all incoming rental payments. We know that the managers who realize these benefits already work very hard to promote electronic payments at their communities and we’d like to reward them for their efforts.

The Community Incentive Contest is exclusive to RentPayment Property Managers and/or Community Representatives, offering a $500 prize to the representative who can collect the most points in April and May 2011! The contest begins April 1st and entrants have until May 31st to earn points and be eligible to win.  Points are earned based on the percentage of residents who use RentPayment’s online rent payment services during the promotional timeline.  Managers can also earn extra points for doing certain activities to promote online payment, including:   ordering/displaying marketing materials, posting on their Facebook or Twitter page, and making a short video about RentPayment at their community..

For more information on the promotion and how to earn points>>>

A recent survey from NARPM (National Association of Residential Property Managers) asked Property Managers what they believe the benefits of “going green” are and how they are making efforts to reduce the carbon footprint at their communities.

The study reports that:

“76% of all property managers are very interested in using less paper.
Moving towards a paperless office eliminates ink cartridges, hours of
filing, pricey bank checks, postage and paper.”

To accomplish this, managers are turning over to web-based technology.    Web-based technologies for the property management industry include:   property management/accounting software, increased use of email, online document storage and electronic payment platforms (such as RentPayment.com).  One of the biggest “green” benefits to these web-based technologies is concurrent reduction of paper and waste associated with moving to online systems.   

Primary technologies used in Property management offices to reduce paper consumption and waste.

Above is a chart produced from NARPM’s survey outlining the types of technologies used in Property Management offices to reduce paper consumption and waste.  We’d like to show you how even converting just one portion of your business, payments, from paper-based to web-based can make use of all of these technologies and drastically help the environment.  Here is how our payment solution can help with all of these “green” initiatives:

Email: RentPayment sends email notifications of your choosing for all possible resident actions that occur in the online payment system.  All notifications and payment receipts are emailed instantly and can be stored or forwarded via email to residents.  In addition, RentPayment also provides email marketing solutions for Managers.  We can set any property up with a custom email blast to notify all renters of electronic payment options.

Scanning:  RentPayment also offers check scanning.  For those residents who do still write paper check, these checks can be passed through a scanner.  When checks are scanned, the names and payment amounts are automatically read and inputted into the payment system and an image of the check is captured and stored.  This means all paper checks are ultimately treated as if they were electronic payments and can be stored and filed along with all other “green payments” coming in online.

Online document Storage: All documents associated with payments (receipts, batches, notifications, reports) are all stored online digitally forever.  In addition, every notification that is sent is automatically stored forever in a special section called Email History.  This means you never have to worry about printing emails for your records, and they are always accessible online.  Also, for check scanning communities digital check images are stored like a photo copy for every resident payment.

Accept Online Payments: RentPayment is the industry’s leading electronic payment processor, allowing over 3 million residents to pay electronically with credit cards and eChecks.  Plus, there are options!  Even if residents are out of town with no internet access, there is no need to mail a paper check…. Residents can sign up for AutoPay or use RentPayment’s mobile payment options, including Pay By Phone, text message and the RentPayment iPhone app.

Web Based Property management Software:  RentPayment integrates with several Property Management softwares, including: Yardi, Rent Manager, AMSI, Real Page and more.   This allows for all resident data, including payment history to be stored online in real time and not on paper.

Dear Residents,
Help me help you avoid late fees with electronic payments from RentPayment.  Pay online, by text, or by phone 24/7!

Sincerely,
Property Manager

P.S.  Please ditch those checks!

With the NAA Student Housing conference this week and Spring Break approaching fast,  RentPayment is gearing up for Student Housing Season 2011.   A good portion of our clients include student housing communities;  and the college-aged crowd especially loves RentPayment‘s many online and mobile payment options.

Each year, around mid- late August, student housing communities experience a huge influx of new move-ins as a new school year begins.  For the RentPayment Marketing Team, this is a very busy time when we help Property Managers notify their new residents of their electronic payment options with RentPayment.  In addition, each year we host a special promotion just for our student housing communities.

Last year we gave away a $1,000 grand prize to one lucky student and 10 other students were awarded $100 Gift Cards.   To spread the word of RentPayment and meet some of our RentPayment users during this promotion, we made a trip out to two of our biggest student housing focused college towns, Austin and College Station, TX.   During this trip, we visited properties, gathered resident feedback and helped property managers manage the influx of new move ins and inform residents of their online payment options.

Enjoy this video montage of our time in TX!

When it comes to rent collection, most Property Management staff only focus only on the bare minimum: on time rent payments and late fee billing.  The most comonly overlooked issue concerning rent collection is security.   When collecting rent, you should always rememeber that residents are putting their personal information and financial livelihood in your hands.   If rent money or banking information is compromised due to poor security and operation policies, you put your residents and your community in danger.   Stay informed and educated on the procedures of collecting rent securely.

Rent Drop Box Danger: Even the safest community can have fraud or theft issues arise from unsecure rent drop boxes.   In a recent discussion forum on Multifamily Insiders managers discuss ways to make drop boxes more secure, suggesting angled chutes, certain distance from door ratios to prevent the always present issue of check theft.   However, the truth is, no external drop box is completely safe.

A Secure Solution for Rent Collection: A solution to security issues when collecting rent is to implement and promote a secure and compliant electronic payment option at your community.  Many of the renters who use the drop box likely do so because they need to pay rent after office hours or to avoid late fees. But with online payments, renters can pay any time. This may be a more convenient option for renters (since they won’t have to write a check and walk to the office drop box) and it is certainly a safer option.

Electronic payments also eliminate risk from human error.  You never know when a check can accidentally be misplaced or a paper record can some how be leaked.  In addition, it can also be risky when you’re exposing renter’s bank account numbers to multiple staff members at the property or a drop box thief.  With online solutions like RentPayment, all credit card and eCheck data is locked and stored as tokens (a security measure called tokenization),  plus only partial account numbers and credit card numbers are viewable to property staff.   In addition, electronic rent collection doesn’t have to mean only online.   With RentPayment, transactions can also be made by phone, or with AutoPay;  giving renters multiple options to pay rent safely.

For many of us (Generation X and older) the personal check as a payment method is something we grew up in managing our finances (“balancing our checkbook”). Despite the convenience of managing our finances online between bill payment (direct biller websites and online bank bill pay services) and personal finance tools (like Mint.com) checks are still necessary for most charitable contributions or paying for maintenance work at our primary residence (mowing, snow shoveling, pest control). In addition, there are those few renters that still haven’t signed up for RentPayment that may be living in the dark ages of paying their rent with a check as well.

In contrast, Generation Y who represents the greatest influx of new renters (particularly when unemployment goes down and they FINALLY move out of their parents’ house) has probably never owned, let alone carried a checkbook. That means that minus a special trip to 7 Eleven or the post office for a money order, the fastest-growing demographic of renters will not have a way to pay rent unless properties embrace electronic payments. The necessity of offering renters the ability to pay by mobile technology (RentByText, iPhone app, mobile-optimized version of payment screens) is driven by the way they communicate in their day-to-day lives. In addition, renters who have paid with a credit card or E-check in the past are shifting to using mobile devices and away from a desktop computer connected to the Internet.

Electronic payment acceptance is no longer a differentiating amenity for property management firms. Mobile payment options for rent and communicating with renters by text and email received on smartphones is the future for properties to efficiently collect rent and minimize delinquencies.
-Matt Golis – CEO and Founder, RentPayment (a YapStone company)

In the 5 month promotional period, the RentPayment Sweepstakes had:

• close to 1,000,000 entries
• over 300,000 eligible renters!
• 1,000 loyal renters who made a payment each month

How do you get this kind of response without advertising?  You let your renters speak for you!

To help spread the word about the Sweepstakes, we relied heavily on the voice of our renters.   Very little communication went out directly to residents from RentPayment, but rather, we provided residents with the tools to share the sweepstakes amongst each other virally through email and social media.  Through our website, web banner reminders were placed. Also, Property Manger resources were sent out via email so they were able to get the ball rolling for their renters.

Besides seeing the power of social media sharing and renter communication first hand, we were also able to learn more about which channels our renters are using and which are the best marketing vehicles to communicate with residents in the multifamily industry.

Residents were able to share the Sweepstakes through Email, Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace with neighbors, roommates and friends.  The chart above shows the percentage of “shares” (emails, messages, status updates or tweets) that were sent among various channels. The highest percentage of shares via email (about 2,000 emails) proves that email is still an extremely powerful marketing tool for communication with renters.  As expected, I’d like to point out that Facebook is the most popular of the social networking sites among our renters for sharing information.

Property Managers should take advantage of this communication channel for prospecting, operational efficiencies and to distribute promotional offers (like the RentPayment Sweepstakes!) to build renter satisfaction.

We also looked at the ability of these four social channels to actually draw traffic our site.    These results show that as a communication tool email had the greatest call-to-action, accounting for 98% of the total website traffic from all sources combined.  Out of the three pure social networking sites, Facebook generated 91% of the total traffic and Twitter generated the other 9% showing that Facebook sharing the most valuable traffic source, and MySpace sharing has next to no value.

More about the Sweepstakes:  To be entered, renters of participating properties just needed to pay their rent through RentPayment!  Renters could pay online at RentPayment.com or pay rent by the phone with RentPayment’s many mobile payment options.    RentPayment’s mobile payment options include:  Paying rent over the phone, RentByText, and RentPayment’s new iPhone app- RentPayment Mobile.  For more info, visit: http://blog.rentpayment.com/2010/08/05/sweepstakes/.  To meet our $10,000 Grand Prize winner, visit: http://blog.rentpayment.com/2011/01/28/watch-the-video-rentpayment-awards-10000-sweepstakes-grand-prize-winner/.

As the chaos of the holiday season nears, remember that rental payments are not at the top of renter’s minds.  Between Thanksgiving and New Years people often spend beyond their means, procrastinate on monthly bills, or forget about payments in the midst of festivities.  Here are some tips to help your community retain on time rental payments:

1. Announce both normal and adjusted office hours.

Although you may always have office hours posted, announce the hours again because renters are not likely to have this schedule memorized and may not be able to visit during their normal time.  In addition, it is especially important to announce all adjusted holiday hours and to do so well in advance.

• Post office times on doors.  Adjusted holiday hours should have their own attention-grabbing signage.
• Update the community’s automated voice recording to announce any adjusted hours.

2. Remind renters of their electronic payment options.

The ability to pay online or by phone can be a saving grace to a renter who who has forgotten to pay rent.  Forgetfulness is especially common during this season with adjusted work schedules and holiday events.  Make sure that even renters who prefer paper checks know they have the option to pay electronically, just in case.  They may elect to use the service to avoid a late fee or if they need to make their payment quickly.

In addition, many residents travel during this time of the year.  With major holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years all falling near the beginning/end of the months, renters may need to pay on-the-go.  Residents can save postage and get their payment in instantly by paying online.

3. Gifts got you low on cash?  Pay rent with your Credit Card!

During this time of the year more than any other, people tend to find themselves low on cash.  Between gifts, events, meals and vacations, renters may find they have exhausted the funds in their checking account.

An excellent solution to this problem is the ability to pay rent with a credit card using RentPayment.  Even if there is a convenience fee at your community for paying with a credit card, it is usually a much better option than incurring a late fee.  Plus, it’s another opportunity to earn rewards points!

With the economy in recession, many of our clients are experiencing “vacancy issues” as declining occupancy rates have become a growing concern. According to a report released earlier this year by Reis Inc., U.S. apartment vacancy rates have risen and rental rates have dropped, more in the past two years than it has since the 1970′s. To help combat the declining occupancy rates, we have consulted with our clients and prepared a list of tips to help managers close more leases.

1. Hold weekly educational meetings for your leasing agents.

When potential renters are making their final decision of whether or not they should sign a lease, they’ll have questions which deserve honest answers. Having an educated and motivated team not only creates better efficiency within the office but also lets future residents know that by choosing your property, they’ll be choosing a community with knowledgeable and helpful staff.
During this meeting, you can also create a checklist of the property’s key benefits, so staff is always prepared to sell.

2. Utilize RentPayment‘s in-person technology to close leases.

Property managers can use RentPayment‘s in-person payment options to accept deposits, application fees and first month rent payments instantly in the office. Perspective renters can make payments with a credit or debit card, allowing you to approve applications on the spot.

In addition, this also eliminates the need for potential renters to leave the office in search of their checkbook or money order. In-person electronic payments alleviate time spent on the application process and provide valuable convenience and flexibility for both leasing agents and renters, which can make the process flow more smoothly.

3. Maximize your web presence.

If you have a community website, keep it current! Make sure your website is listed on local directories, and contact information is prevalent to improve Google search results.

Although it can take some time to maintain an updated property website and social media pages, it is foolish not to. According to David Cardwell, NMHC Vice President of Technology and Capital Markets, “The Internet has emerged as the primary tool consumers use to find their next apartment. More than 70 percent of renters begin their apartment search online, and many firms now report more than 50 percent of their leasing activity is coming from online sources.” Maintaining web presence is time well spent when you think about the amount of people the internet can reach in such a small amount of time.

If you don’t have a website, you can easily create a web page for your property using Facebook.   Facebook can be a very simple and time effective way to update your web presence constantly and improve your prospective renter leads by posting new photos of the property, advertising amenities and providing contact info and directions. This is also a great way to communicate with residents about property news and events and post reminders to pay rent online with RentPayment.

4. Reach out to partners for promotional leasing incentive opportunities and programs.

There are numerous opportunities available for property managers that just rely on asking. Vendors often have partnerships with properties and offer deals to new renters and Property Managers. Call around to vendors to see what promotional opportunities they have available to encourage renters to sign leases at your property. By offering these incentives you can differentiate yourself from the competition and show potential renters you care about providing them with value for their money.

5. Sell your properties amenities.

The amenities at your property are important selling points to renters when comparing properties, so remember to flaunt what you’ve got. Little things like water saving toilets, professional landscaping, parking spaces, a gym, and on-site laundry can help close a deal. It’s also important for leasing agents to know businesses and attractions within a 5-mile radius because these are important details to someone who is considering the community for their new home.

Since potential renters may not have heard about RentPayment, be sure to mention the electronic payment options and their benefits. Remember, the ability to rent with a credit card and pay rent online are unique amenities that you’ve added for the convenience of residents, so let potential renters know you are up-to-date with technology.