5 Ways Online Rent Collection Simplifies Rental Management
Rent collection is the backbone of any real estate rental business. To maintain healthy cashflow, you need to ensure you are consistently collecting rent payments on time and in full.
Traditionally, rent was paid with cash or paper checks, but in the age of the internet, these methods are no longer the best options.
Online rent collection, specifically through property management software, makes the rent collection process easier for you and your tenants.
Here are five ways online rent collection simplifies rental management:
- Flexible Payment Options
If you don’t collect rent online, you must deal with physical payments in the form of cash or paper checks. To receive these methods of payment, you and your tenant must align your schedules to meet in person. There’s also the possibility of sending the payment through the postal service, but this runs the risk of being delayed or getting lost or stolen in transit.
Online payments, on the other hand, can be paid/received from anywhere, as long as your tenant has access to a smartphone or computer. Rather than being limited to paper money, online rent collection gives your tenants the option to pay with credit cards, debit cards, or ACH payments.
- Recurring Payments
Online rent collection gives your tenants the option to set up automated payments. With autopay, all your tenant has to do is set up their method of payment once, and then the software takes care of the rest. Your tenants won’t have to remember to make the payment every month, it’s taken care of automatically.
Not only does this make life easier for your tenants, but it helps you as well. With recurring payments, the likelihood of receiving a late or incomplete payment significantly decreases. Because it’s all automized, you can rest assured that you’ll consistently receive rent payments on the due date and in the full amount.
- Enforceable Late Fees
With recurring payments, you won’t have to deal with as many late fees. With that said, late fees are still a necessary measure for your rental business. Enforcing them is never fun. It usually entails tracking down a tenant and having an uncomfortable conversation that makes you feel like the bad guy. It’s important to remember that late fees are nothing personal, and your business can’t afford leniency when it comes to overdue payments.
Rent collection software makes this process as simple and foolproof as possible. After you set the late fee amount and grace period as determined by your lease, you don’t have to do anything. When a tenant doesn’t pay on time, they are automatically charged a late fee, which they must pay on their next statement (in addition to the normal rent payment). Rent collection software also lets you send automated reminders when rent is due, which adds an extra layer of communication between you and your tenants.
- Automated Bookkeeping
Paying with cash or check requires that you stay on top of your own bookkeeping. This can be time-consuming and tedious, and there’s always the possibility for human error. With online rent collection, you won’t have to worry about any of this. Whenever a payment is made online, the transaction is automatically recorded and documented, saving you all kinds of trouble.
Additionally, rent collection software allows you to export these documents whenever you need to. You can easily back up records or share them with partners or accountants.
- Saves Time
Features of online rent collection such as recurring payments, enforceable late fees, and automated bookkeeping are designed to simplify rent collection and save you time. But these aren’t the only ways that online rent collection saves you time.
Physical payment methods usually require trips to the bank to make deposits. If you have multiple tenants making payments, this can quickly become a hassle. Online rent collection eliminates any need for this. All you have to do is sit back and let the payments come in electronically.
Conclusion
While cash and paper checks are still viable ways of collecting rent, online rent collection is better in almost every way. Rent collection software makes the entire process so much more convenient for you and your tenants. If you haven’t started collecting rent online yet, then now is the time to make the switch.