Last month we started using zego/paylease which ties in to rent manager. So far we’ve had about 10 percent of tenants sign up (55+ park). We haven’t offered any incentives. My question is what is a reasonable expectation for tenants to switch over? I will give progress updates next month as this is brand new to us. Also implementing in an all age with rv component park this month. Hoping to get a better response with younger/transient tenants.
Thank you
My suggestion based on our experience is to not make signing up optional. If you are accepting cash or checks, simply send out a letter noting that as of a certain date, they will no longer be accepted but you are offering the convenience of online payments now. If you haven’t already, I’d suggest getting access to use Zego ‘cash cards’ which allows residents to pay with cash or debit cards at Walmart and other affiliated establishments. This allows those that don’t want to pay online an option to continue using cash to pay, just not to you directly. You might get some grumbling for the first month or two, but everyone will get used to it and actually we’ve found most residents prefer using the new methods once they try it out. Good luck, changing to the method of not allowing cash or check payments to the manager was one of the best decisions we ever made and I think you’d find the same.
Getting everyone on board can be challenging in some parts of the country. With the proper notification and communication, we let residents know that Zego/Paylease is “Free,” but if the continue to want to pay using a check we charge a $10.00 processing fee. We also charge a $5.00 statement fee for anyone not wanting to receive an electronic/email statement. With the exception of some very stubborn holdouts, most convert. While the suggestion for the “Cash Pay” card is good, we tried using the physical card, but we learned that it was not practical, BUT we do create a Cash Pay number from within Rent Manager for every new tenant and we automatically include that Cash Pay number on the monthly statements. We also have some tenants that do not know how to use the internet the option of signing up for Autopay that we set-up inside of Rent Manager, which is also reflected on our monthly statement. I have also included a sample of our Autopay form. TV_FORM_AutoPay_2021.pdf (173.1 KB) TV_FORM_AutoPay_2022.pdf (71.1 KB)
I have attached our Rent Manager statement, which does require User Defined Fields UDF’s set up for the form to work correctly, but it should give you an idea of how we use it. Every month our statements for both email and virtual post office are auto-generated and/or automatically mailed out every month. We have been doing this for more than five years with great success.
P.S. This forum would not let me upload the native Rent Manager file you can import into Rent Manager so I had to rename the file with a .pdf extension. If you download and import into Rent Manager, rename the extension to .rmf. Tenant Statement_2024.pdf (851.2 KB)
Same thing, I could not upload the .docx file so to use that file you will have to rename the 2022 from .pdf to .docx. the 2021 file is a the native .pdf file.
Like everything tenant management related, anything with an option doesn’t work. Letter goes out that notifies of the payment change, as long as the lease terms allow for a change in payment method. The only exception to it not working is if it is a tiny town with no cash pay locations and there are some tenants that can’t pay by credit card or cash pay.
SDGuy- can you share with us why you picked Manage America? Are the deposits insured? Turn around time to have the money in the account? I looked into Paylease in the past and the turn around was a few days and it seemed they did not have insurace.
We switched to online payments years ago, and I recall that the initial adoption rate was somewhere in the 20% to 30% rate. Not being happy with such a low rate, we made it mandatory. Now that it is mandatory we have 100% adoption.
To spread out your efforts to “coach” your tenants, it might be good to have a three month plan. In month one you let the early adopters sign up on their own. In month two you offer a raffle available to anybody who pays their rent online that month. In month three you make it mandatory.
By the way, we did an acquisition on August 27 and transitioned to online payments by September 5. The prior owner would send the manager on site on the 1st through 5th to collect payments. He also had tenants mail checks to the offsite manager’s home address. Of course we were not comfortable with any of this so on August 27 we hand-delivered a notice to pay online and got full compliance. Several people paid the first day on their own, and payments continued to trickle in. Starting on September 2, we started messaging any tenant who did not pay to see if they had any trouble. By September 5th, most people had paid. We called the final holdouts to help transition as needed. A few people paid late, but they still paid online.
For those who truly believe the Internet was created so uncle Sam could spy on you, you can pay at Walmart for a $4 fee and from our perspective the transaction is purely electronic.
I picked Manage America initially because we were switching to Metreon Water meters. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out.
We looked at Rent Manager and Yardi Breeze. Rent Manager does not have the right solution for Sub-Metering utilities for us here in CA, and using them would have been a pain in the rear.
We previously used Yardi Breeze at one of the Parks. It was fine. I never used it, but my brother and Regional Manager used it.
I am not sure on the insurance issue. We only get a few payments each month via Paylease. We mostly get ACH Payments, Credit Card Payments, and Physical Checks to the manager.
I like the reporting MA offers. It’s straightforward for me to see “Rents Due” per park and globally.
For most deposits, the turnaround time is instant. If the person pays with CC, we get the money that evening. If they pay via ACH, it takes one or two days to clear the MA, which is deposited into my account. The Funds are available immediately once deposited. When the manager uses the Check Scanner, we get the deposits the next day.
Here is a screenshot of the payments being paid by the Resident and when they were posted to my ledger. The ACH for Space 10 and 2 was deposited into my account on the 2nd of October. Space 13 was deposited on the 3rd.
The younger the people the faster they are to pay online. I have found that a lot of seniors are not tech savy and can’t seem to figure out paying online. We are using paynear me to tie into Buildium software as it allows people to pay in person at walmart. At my older properties we are using apartments.com which is simpler but has fewer options and not as good imo.
Agreed. Make it mandatory. Give them 3 options to pay: ACH, WebPay or Walmart. Your policy should be no Checks, no Cash, no Money orders accepted. We have 100% adherence.
Thank you all. We will be moving towards mandatory payments after we digest the payment system and getting all the parks online. We’ve already had a few issues with just 1 park and a few payers. Will keep you guys posted on park 1 and 2 adoption rates for Nov/Dec. Thanks again for all your input.
A reasonable expectation for tenant adoption of online payments varies, but without incentives, a 10-30% adoption rate in the first few months is common, especially in communities with older residents. Younger and more transient tenants, such as those in RV parks, may be more inclined to adopt digital payment methods, potentially increasing participation. To boost engagement, consider offering small incentives or simplifying the sign-up process. Additionally, providing alternative digital payment options like Cash App can be beneficial tenants can easily download the Cash App APK from thecashappapk.com to streamline their payments.