We often talk to rental property owners who have a hard time collecting rent from tenants. When you have a system in place that makes it easy for tenants to pay, you’ll be more effective at getting your rent on time.
Online Rent Payments
Keep in mind this is not 1970 or 1980. Cash and checks in the mail are no longer good options for collecting your rent. So many owners we know are still driving around and picking up rent in cash from their tenants. It’s inefficient to go from property to property because gas is expensive and you never know if the tenant is going to be home. Plus, it’s not safe to carry all that cash around. Let’s modernize you rent collection. It’s 2016. Be electronic. You can collect rent from tenants online, where they electronically transfer the money from their account to yours.
Tenant Ease of Payment
The whole bottom line is to make it easy for tenants to pay rent. They want to do this with their cell phones, computers, or even the local 7-11 store. We have tenants pay rent where they are – online. Our program uses top of the line software to collect rent, and people simply log in and pay. Or, they can set up automatic deductions. You don’t need a property manager to do this; there are programs that can help you. Maybe your tenants are not very computer savvy. They pay water and electricity bills at 7-11 or Ace Check Cashing. We use a program so our tenants can pay in cash in those places as well. This is more efficient and has increased our rental collection rate.
Your rent collection system must boil down to making it easy for all your tenants to pay rent. It’s 2016, so don’t take cash because you can’t track it and that increases your risk. The mail is slow and unpredictable. Go online and let your tenants pay at select convenience stores
If you’d like to hear more about rent collection, please contact us at McCaw Property Management.