Product of the Month: Pay rent by text: Yardi helps property managers minimize delinquency/increase resident satisfaction with more mobile payment options

RENTCafé by Yardi now offers residents a convenient and secure mobile option to review balances and make payments via Short Message Service (SMS) text messaging. This feature supplies immediate confirmation to users paying from a bank account with a debit or credit card. Rent payments are automatically entered into Yardi Voyager, saving property staff time. Residents opt in to the service through the community's resident portal, then set up the account from which payments will be deducted. Whenever they'd like to make a payment, residents can text "pay now" to a short code and then verify the payment. A confirmation marks the completed transaction. The text payment service is free to residents and property managers as part of the RENTCafé resident services package. This mobile feature helps decrease delinquencies by providing residents with another way to conveniently make rent payments. Those who prefer face-to-face interactions can still pay in person. Those with steady fund availability can schedule recurring payments on-line. Residents preferring cash options can utilize the Yardi WIPS program. And those who desire the greatest degree of flexibility can now pay via text message. The flexibility of when, where, and how to pay rent is placed in residents' hands. Patrick Lawler, director of RENTCafé product development with Yardi, believes that it's the convenience of text payments that makes the tool so effective. "Today's resident wants everything to be quick and easy, and it doesn't get much quicker or easier than texting your rent payment," said Lawler. "By enabling text payments, apartment managers can implement the kind of convenience their residents truly appreciate—and that leads to improved retention and timely rent collections." As an added bonus, text payments save time for managers by reducing the workload of on-site staff and minimizing the risk of human errors. By offering a variety of payment options, property managers can help residents work around barriers that used to hinder on-time payments. Limited leasing office hours, lack of checks, no stamps, federal holidays—those delays are a thing of the past. On-line resident portals with mobile payment options make viewing and settling account balances simple and convenient. Everyone stands to benefit. "Does it decrease delinquency? Absolutely," said Lawler. "We see greater traffic in our resident services application between the 25th and 5th of the month. During that period there is a spike in on-line payment activity. Approximately 90% of payments are made within this time." While mobile payment options help hedge delinquencies, Lawler and his team acknowledge that promoting recurring payments is still the best option for property managers who want to improve rent rolls. "By having scheduled recurring payments, property managers can project out into the future on the rent roll with a greater certainty, giving them a more accurate view into their communities' available cash flow," said Lawler. Encouraging residents to set up recurring payments while they are signing or renewing leases could be beneficial for on-site leasing staff. Each method of payment through RENTCafé offers the reliability and safety features that residents have come to expect. "We employ multiple layers of security on all of our resident services applications, so from the moment you log in to the moment you log out, it's all on a secure channel, just as if you were logged into your bank's website. We have a high regard for user security and privacy," Lawler said. By offering a variety of secure, convenient payment options for clients, property managers can minimize delinquencies, save time for on-site staff, and gain a competitive edge in the multifamily market. "It's safe, easy, and immediate. That's what residents want," said Lawler. Erica Rascon is a creative writer for Yardi, Santa Barbara, Calif.