If you want to keep your rental property running smoothly, you’re going to need an online portal that’ll help you to collect rent, register complaints, and advertise available units. It’s not enough anymore just to post a few pictures, list your rates, and call it a day. Tenants and potential renters in this technological era are expecting more than that. Here are four features a good rental website needs to keep you on the cutting edge.
The New Push for Tenant Portals
A few years ago, no one was even considering portal systems for rental management, but today, you simply can’t do without one. Portal systems simplify the work of a landlord by basically allowing you to go paperless. Rental applications, property damage reports, and rent receipts let both landlords and renters easily keep track of important paperwork.
Even more importantly, tenant portals are not an isolated technology. As Jim Gallant at Buildium points out, tenant portals can replace the need for background checks by allowing landlords to compare notes and avoid troublemaking renters or tenants who’ll skip out on the rent. That’s a problem we’d all like to avoid.
Online Rent Payment
We’re all tired of writing rent checks when, in the rest of our lives, we bank and pay almost exclusively without paper, so why are we still doing it? It’s time for all landlords to move to an online rent payment system. This is preferable to verbally collecting credit card info or gathering hard copy checks, both in terms of convenience and information security.
When switching to an online rent payment system, there are a few things to take into consideration. Green Residential recommends choosing a known payment collection brand in conjunction with your portal or website. These companies are experts at handling data security and are set up to do the job. After all, why reinvent the wheel?
Make An App Happen
If you really want to win over your tenants, it isn’t enough just to build a website. You need an app. Even responsive design that moves easily from computer to mobile devices won’t have the same level of accessibility as a mobile-centered app.
By providing a mobile app, you’re telling your tenants that you care about their convenience. You’re offering them an experience designed for the platform they probably use the most.
Apps solve the problem of restricted space by sidestepping standard website structures and trying to fit a standard website on your screen can mean almost invisible menu buttons. Those don’t help anyone. Apps make all of your web components visible, without all of the fumbling around.
Going From Photos to Video
Part of the standard protocol for building property websites is to include pictures. There’s a good reason for this: according to Apartment Management Magazine, for any article, adding images dramatically increases page views. In fact, images can double your traffic and help to keep reader attention. But does it really make a difference if any property worth its weight has pictures on its website?
This is where new media formats can make a difference. Any great property management website now comes with video. Try incorporating a video tour of the property that highlights what makes your property different. Is it how friendly your tenants are? Do you have beautiful landscaping? Tell web users about it, and they’ll flock to your property to see it all in person.
A Recipe for (Web) Success
If it hasn’t yet, it’s time for your property to make its full web debut. By integrating these four key ingredients, not only will you have a great website that draws renters to you, but you’ll also have a strong foundation for your work as a landlord with a portal that doubles as a digital records management system.
At the end of the day, a great website is beneficial for everyone involved. With total ease of use and mobile platform optimization, you’ll spend less time chasing delinquent rent payments and tracking maintenance issues, and more time improving your properties. Isn’t that what we all want?
