Source:


Deaton Investment Real Estate & The Wake County Apartment Association



Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Build it and they will come

Have a Web site to attract tenants? Yeah, I know, it's not all that easy for the individual owner/operator. Nevertheless, in these competitive times, it may be something to start thinking about.

Apartment management company UDR has reported 1 million visitors to its Web site through September of 2007, demonstrating that the move to the online apartment search is complete. In fact, UDR is aiming to make the process about more than simply looking for apartments. With their "always open" service code, current tenants can pay rent, request maintenance and find rent incentives.

What I find pretty intriguing is that the company to which they outsource (they may own them, I didn't delve that far) online rent payment, www.erentpayer.com, could be something the small apartment owner could use, especially in the student market, where they even by beer online.

Do you use PayPal? That could be a real easy way to accept rent payments electronically. Remember, the easier you can collect your rent the more apt you are to get it. If your tenants don't have it, they don't have it---online payment options won't make that any easier. Still, even the more loyal tenants forget when rent is due. Why not do all you can to help them out? By using Outlook, you could trigger an e-mail to distribute to all your tenants a rent reminder notice, complete with a link to your PayPal account.

I'm sure some of this is harder than simply writing about it, but remember that investing in rental property is all about collecting rent. A 10 cap isn't a 10 cap if you can't collect the rent.

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