Seems like every time someone needs something at one of your properties, it means a road trip for you or your manager... Think about it:
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Prospective tenants want to see your place, but then decide they need more bedrooms and move on. You just wasted a trip.
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Contractors need access to your places at the most inconvenient time for you.
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Potential buyers are lining up, but none of them can see it at a time that’s close to other interested people, requiring you to make multiple trips to show the place
Wouldn’t it be nice if prospective tenants, buyers or contractors could just let themselves in, do what they need to do, then lock up and leave? Just like a self-service gas station, nobody needs to come out and assist the customer.
Of course you could leave a key in a lockbox. But do you really want a stranger going through your property – especially if you have no way to monitor them or go after them if something happens?
Sound a little scary to not be there?
Up until now, it was. Not anymore. There is now a way to show your properties or allow contractors access without you being there. And without you having to worry.
Save All Kinds of Time with Rently
Time to check out the website Rently. Rently was made to save time (and money) for property managers or real estate investors.
Rently has all kinds of processes and accessories that allow tenants and buyers to view the property, or contractors to work on the property, without the manager or owner being there. For companies that have lots of properties, it might mean savings in the thousands each month as they do not have to pay someone to constantly be driving from property to property.
When you sign up with Rently, you receive a ‘smart lockbox’ to put on the door of your property. You can set up the lockbox to provide people a time-sensitive code to let them in. The lockbox will also record the time people open it to get the key, until the time they put the key back. You will quickly know if someone is taking too long and something suspicious is going on.
So far it just sounds like a traditional lockbox with a few bells and whistles... Well, not really.
The lockbox really communicates with you and the person who wants to view the property. Here are some scenarios and what Rently can do...
Prospective Tenants and Buyers
When you put a traditional ‘For Rent’ or ‘For Sale’ sign out on the curb, you add a phone number and wait for phone calls.
With Rently, the ‘For Rent’ sign has a QR Code, which the renter can scan with their cell phone. Rently then asks the prospective tenant to fill out an online form with all their contact information, and credit card number.
The sign and the QR code ensure that the prospective tenant is actually at the property before they are given access. Owners and managers can also receive QR stickers from Rently to put on their own sign.
If the prospective tenant fails to give this information, Rently will not allow them in the property. The renter also has to pony up $0.99 for the service to make sure their card will work. It will also screen out the ‘looky-loos’ as their site says.
What if you deal with prospective tenants or buyers who are not smartphone savvy? You can still give them codes over the phone after you qualify them. Then when they enter the house, the magic lockbox still records their entry and exit times.
Once Rently has all the relevant information, it provides the tenant with an access code. The tenant then types it into the lockbox and receives a key to view it. After seeing the property, the tenant enters their key ID and puts the key back in the lockbox.
Rently records the time in and out of the property for each tenant, and notifies the property owner or manager of everything that is going on.
After seeing the property, Rently will also send a survey to the prospective tenant asking them to provide feedback of what they thought about the property. The feedback can be invaluable in improving your properties and being able to charge the highest rent.
The same procedures can also be used with prospective buyers for a property you are flipping or wholesaling.
Contractors or Other Service People
You can also give contractors access easily through Rently. Contractors can scan the QR code when they arrive to verify their identity and gain access. Or they can call you for a code.
Either way, you will know when your contractor entered the property and when they left. If the contractor decides to add a few hours on to his fee, you will be able to show them the exact times they were there.
Rently currently charges a set fee of $30 per month for the lockbox. You could just rent it for a month and then turn it back in after you have a property rented or sold. Or maybe it makes sense to hold on to it for contractors and other visitors if you are an absentee/long distance landlord?
Rently is trying to do rental houses (and possibly wholesaling or selling houses) what Zipcar has done for rental cars. Get on board.
Holla at Us
Have you used Rently? Share some feedback with us in the comments section below.
Do More with Less – The less work you have to do to get the same results, the more results you can get in the same amount of time.
Make Things Convenient for Your Customer – Rently allows 24-hour access to your properties if you want to allow it. Potential customers of yours want convenience. Think of ways to give it to them.
Look at Other Industries – The founders of Rently looked to self-service gas stations and Zipcar as idea generators for their business. What can you apply from other industries to your real estate investing?
JP Moses
is a real estate investor in Memphis, TN, with experience ranging from land lording to note buying, rehabbing, and wholesaling. However, wholesaling is the area that he enjoys most and where he bring the most experience and expertise to his students.