What are the best practices for transitioning tenants from Schedule My Rent to Rent Manager. Cash pay is an imperative because 30% to 40% of our tenants currently pay with MoneyGram via Schedule My Rent. Rent Manager streamlines payments with a different software, Zego Paylease.
From the tenant perspective, they can go to the same location (Walmart) to pay rent but they will need a different account number. Many of our tenants do not have an email and only speak Spanish. The mail service is unreliable in this area.
Do you have any recommendations for ensuring a smooth transition? We plan to send a picture of the new ID card and send emails/mail as well.
Hello. Though, I dont have an answer to your question… I have a question of my own.
We currently use Schedule My Rent and are pleased with it. One (major) plus that you already touched on is the acceptance of MoneyGram via SMR. Tenants really like they’re paying by money order. Why are you looking to make the switch to Rent Manager?
It was highly recommended by several other park owners for accounting, resident management, maintenance, and home asset tracking. Rent Manager just brings everything into one program. I love Schedule My Rent though - it was so easy to ramp up.
From a payment processing perspective, the only plus is that a resident doesn’t have to verify a bank account. In Schedule My Rent, they ask the resident to verify two small amounts (less than $1) before they can pay rent and this typically takes two business days.
What accounting software do you use? How do you keep track of your interactions with residents?
@lgolden yes, getting the tenant to link the bank account has also been a challenge for us. However, you could say it doesnt really matter, as other payment options are afforded them (and frankly, no matter the process, many tenants would still not use bank ACHs regardless)
As for accounting software, admittedly we continue to transfer data manually into spreadsheets. It’s not the best way, but we have system that works for us.
Tracking interactions with tenants is done via text and with manual note taking. Again, there is likely a better way here.
My recommendation is to do a soft launch with both services overlapping for a short period of time. You will need to send notices well in advance, advising the tenants how to pay using your new system. Some will switch right away yet others will stay with the old system. You can work out any glitches with a few people that start right away and then over a couple of months. In your transition, you should have a hard cut off when the system will be shut down.
People don’t like to change, but when you make it imperative, they will figure out how to make it work.
I have never used Schedule My Rent, so I cannot comment on that service, but judging by their website, it appears to simply be a payment processing service. That means you have to do accounting in other software. With Rent Manager (and other property management programs), you have full accounting in one software program. If you are doing accounting on spreadsheets, I can assure you that you are spending much more time on accounting that you need to, or you are not accounting properly. I could not fathom how somebody would be doing accounting these days without some kind of accounting software.