All posts by Jackie Trimper

A Handy Dandy Video About Rentbot

For Real Estate Developers, Good to Know, Leasing, Let's be honest, Marketing tips

At Rentbot, we believe in making things easy. That being said, if you’re a property owner, manager, or developer, you’re probably wondering what Rentbot does, exactly.

With that in mind, we created this handy dandy video to explain how we make everything easier for professionals in the apartment industry.

So grab a mini bag of popcorn and enjoy the film!

Choose Rentbot

Ease of use, convenience and time saving are all great reasons to look into Rentbot. If you’re searching for a way to make your website apartment better, get and keep more tenants, and just make life easier, choose Rentbot today.

3 Things That Renters Really Want

Leasing, Let's be honest, Maintenance Staff, property managers

Every Property Manager dreams of working at a property where the available units lease themselves and the tenants are happy. But, often that doesn’t happen. Still, good Property Managers try their best. That’s why it’s good to get inside the head of your residents and see what they really want in a rental property.

1. A Staff that Cares

Managing rentals is a tough job. Too often though, residents find themselves living in a rental property where the Property Managers are either too busy to run business efficiently or they simply doesn’t care. When the staff is made up of professionals with a desire to improve the community, they will take initiative and work hard for their residents. Residents want to feel secure and taken care of; this is their home after all.

2. The Ability to Request Maintenance Online

Believe it or not, residents don’t love to hike to the leasing office every time there’s a screw loose. They would much prefer a quick, easy way on the property’s website to enter maintenance requests. That’s why there’s nothing is more frustrating than a website that doesn’t actually do what it needs to. When you’re website it down or constantly buggy, your residents end up feeling frustrated and are forced to take time out to tell someone in person about their maintenance request.

3. Options for Paying Rent

Some residents may actually prefer to pay their rent in-person with a physical check, but more and more those people are the exception rather than the rule. Most residents would rather go online during their busy day and just click a few buttons to pay their rent. An apartment website that lacks such a basic capability is unfortunately all too common. Property Managers may not realize how much work their website should be, and could be, doing for them.

A well-crafted apartment website offering free online rent payments, and easy online maintenance requests, allows the property manager to improve their property in ways they never previously had time for. Resident’s will appreciate the convenience and the major community improvements that are sure to follow.

With Rentbot Apartment Websites Residents will Rejoice!

Residents are happiest when they have an apartment staff they can turn to. A staff that has a caring attitude, and respects residents’ time and money by offering free online rent payments and easy online maintenance requests, is one the ultimately will have happier residents. That, in turn, means lower turnover, lower delinquencies, and a better community. Luckily, Rentbot Apartment Websites offer everything residents want at a cost that makes Property Managers and staff oh-so-happy.

About the author

Jacquelyn Trimper joined the Rentbot team in 2014 after surviving 4 years in property management and marketing. She loves marketing, sales, and writing to help apartment owners and property managers.

Make Life Easy with Rentbot

For Real Estate Developers, Good to Know, Leasing, Let's be honest, Maintenance Staff, Marketing tips, Online Applications, Online Payments, property managers, , , ,

Life isn’t always easy in the rental apartment world.

Property Managers and Developers don’t always encounter smooth sailing. Leasing agents and maintenance staff are often swamped as well. And, from a tenant’s point of view, there are high monthly payments without the benefits of a long-term investment like that of home ownership. Plus, tenants expect to have almost immediate action when they have a problem.

That’s why tools to make everyone’s job easier are key. One of the most user-friendly tools currently on the market is Rentbot. Featuring apartment websites and special functions, Rentbot makes everything easier with built-in-features for the property manager, staff and resident.

Real-time Availability Checking

When prospects go online, they want to see which units are actually available. With Rentbot, they can view floor plans, prices and available units. Prospects are even able to lease units online if they like. No phone calls needed.

Online Rent-Payments

Having a website that offers online rent payments that actually work, and without an outrageous fee, is a huge time saver for everyone. Rentbot makes sure that residents aren’t inconvenienced, and managers can easily balance the books with more timely payments and fewer personal checks. Residents are even able to pay their one-time deposit fee online to really speed up the leasing process.

Online Applications

Prospects won’t always be ready to lease a unit right on the spot. With Rentbot’s easy online applications, interested prospects can fill out an application in the comfort of their own home, saving paper and time for the prospect and the manager.

Maintenance Requests

Whether residents need a light bulb changed or their toilet unclogged, they don’t want to put up with the hassle of a maintenance request and or wait a long time for their problem to be resolved. And, if a property manager is out showing the property, they are unable to answer phone calls about maintenance.

With Rentbot, maintenance requests are easy to submit and easy to track. Rentbot’s websites offer easy online maintenance requests without a big fee, making service requests easy for residents and managers. So, tenants stay happy and your team stays focused.

Choose Rentbot

Ease of use, convenience and time saving are all great reasons to look into Rentbot. If you’re searching for a way to make your website apartment better, get and keep more tenants, and just make life easier, choose Rentbot today.

 

About the author

Jacquelyn Trimper joined the Rentbot team in 2014 after surviving 4 years in property management and marketing. She loves marketing, sales, and writing to help apartment owners and property managers.

Apartment Websites: The Details Matter

For Real Estate Developers, Good to Know, Leasing, Marketing tips, property managers, ,

If you’ve looked at the pumps lately, you know that gas isn’t cheap. So, the average apartment prospect will not waste their precious gallons to drive around aimlessly from one apartment to the next, without first doing their research.

Instead, most renters will start their search online. Prospects want to know everything about a potential apartment home before they commit to using their gas and fighting traffic, especially after a long workday.

The best online presence wins

Property Managers and Developers often make the mistake of believing that a mediocre apartment website is okay. They mistakenly think that the units and property will do the selling once the prospect actually arrives.

The thing is, times have changed. It’s not the best property that wins; it’s the best online presence that wins. Apartment prospects will always choose helpful online resources over burning fuel and wasting time.

These savvy searchers first go online and search for what they are looking for. They will compare prices, policies, floor plans, location, amenities, hours of operation, and anything else that might be on their wish list.

What is a must-have for one prospect is different from the next, so it’s imperative not to leave any detail out. And everything should be easy to find and spelled out clearly. Pet policies for instance, should be listed, concise, and provide prospects with next steps if they are interested.

Well-crafted websites work

A great apartment website should be clean, clear and uncluttered. Flash intros, cheesy music, and other forms of digital gimmicks, will only distract your visitors and make it more difficult to find what they need.

Every single element of a well-crafted apartment website—color, theme, contrast, typefaces, font size and style, should make the site easy to read and reflect the overall feel of the property. There should be no major disconnect from one site page to the next. Instead, each site page should have a consistent look and feel. All pages should be clearly labeled, and offer quality content based on the page title.

Provide value to your prospects

For apartment prospects, the apartment-hunting process can be very stressful. Providing a current, helpful, and easy-to-navigate apartment website, will send the message to online visitors that you respect their time. Offering valuable information like current rent specials, real-time availability and HD photos of actual units will let the prospect know that your property is running like a proper business.

Rentbot apartment websites include all the details

Rentbot offers well-crafted websites in a variety of designs and color-schemes. Attract prospects with a clean website full of all of the little details. They’ll be able to view available units in real-time and view HD photos to pique their interest. Contact Rentbot today because the details definitely matter.

About the author

Jacquelyn Trimper joined the Rentbot team in 2014 after surviving 4 years in property management and marketing. She loves marketing, sales, and writing to help apartment owners and property managers.

Mobile-friendly apartment websites are now a must-have

For Real Estate Developers, Good to Know, Marketing tips, Press, , ,

If you’ve been keeping your eye on marketing news sites, you know that April 21 was an important date. That was the day that if you want your website to be easily found via Google searches, then it better be a mobile-friendly site. Until recently, having a mobile-friendly website has been a competitive advantage. Now, having a mobile-friendly website is simply expected.

What this means for property managers & Developers

This means that if you’re still using a poorly crafted website that isn’t mobile-friendly, then the 91% of prospects that are using their phones to search for their next rental, won’t be able to find you! The rental world is competitive–way too competitive—to skip the step of having a beautiful, well crafted website that is, above all, mobile-friendly.

Is my property website mobile-friendly?

If you’re not sure if your property’s website is mobile-friendly, Google has made it easy to find out. Simply paste the URL of your website here https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/ and then click “Analyze.” Within seconds it will let you know if your property site is or isn’t mobile-friendly.

Turn to Rentbot

If you’ve discovered that your property website is not in fact mobile-friendly, then it’s time to contact Rentbot. Mobile traffic in the property management industry has surpassed desktop traffic, so it’s important that you make this change right away. Rentbot’s apartment websites are clean, well formatted, and designed to work on smartphones, desktops, tablets, and laptops. Google will love your new mobile-friendly property website, almost as much as you will!

About the author

Jacquelyn Trimper joined the Rentbot team in 2014 after surviving 4 years in property management and marketing. She loves marketing, sales, and writing to help apartment owners and property managers.

A Seamless Experience for the Apartment Prospect

Good to Know, Leasing, Let's be honest, Marketing tips, property managers, , ,

Shopping for a new apartment can be exhausting. There’s the initial online research, the driving, the discussions about rent and employment history, and of course, finding just the right unit to call home.

There are a number of ways that you, as a property manager, can make the apartment hunting experience a more seamless and enjoyable one for apartment hunters. Here are some best practices:

Start with a well-crafted website

94% of prospects start their apartment-hunting journey online. That means before they see your property in person they check out your website to decide if they want to take the next step and visit the community. Do they see quality and enticing photos? Are they able to quickly view what units are available in real-time?

If not, you are already setting the prospect up to not choose your property. Maybe you have the best-kept grounds around, maybe your units are reasonably priced and gorgeous but, if your website doesn’t reflect this, you’re missing out on a ton of qualified tenants.

Offer Beverages and parting gifts

It’s likely that your property is not the only one that prospects will visit while shopping. But, there are some ways to be more memorable and leave them with a positive impression. Having a nice-looking pitcher of fresh water available is a great way to show that you’re thinking of the prospect and that you will go the extra mile to improve their experience. Add some fresh cucumbers or lemon and it serves as a lovely decoration as well.

Another way to help prospects remember your property is with a parting gift. Take a trip to the Dollar Store and load up on candles, stickers, and other items, and then customize them by tying your business card or brochure to the gifts. Your future tenants will love the gesture and you will see a return on your investment with more leases.

Online applications

After a long day of apartment searching, the last thing your prospects want to do is continue sitting in a leasing office filling out a lengthy application. Once you’ve made a great impression on your prospect, direct them to your website where they can easily fill out an online application in the comfort of their own home. They will appreciate you saving them time and will love that your property’s website makes everything simple and convenient.

Start by Choosing a Rentbot apartment website

Rentbot offers well-crafted websites in a variety of designs and color-schemes. Attract prospects with a quality website that shows off all of your property’s best features. They’ll be able to view available units in real-time and view HD photos to peak their interest. Best of all, once apartment hunters have fallen in love with your property, they can go home happy and fill out an online application. Contact Rentbot today. Our websites do the work for you..not the cutting of the lemon though, but everything else.

 

Free-trial

Make your job just a little easier with a website from Rentbot. Call us today trial at 844-4Rentbot (844-473-6826) for a free 30-day trial.

About the Author

Jacquelyn Trimper joined the Rentbot team in 2014 after surviving 4 years in property management and marketing. She loves marketing, sales, and writing to help apartment owners and property managers.

Branding & Marketing 101 for Property Managers

Good to Know, Marketing tips, Press, property managers, SEO, , ,

One of the lesser-known job duties of a property manager is the responsibility of marketing and branding the community in order to stay competitive in the rental world.

At Rentbot, we want to make the job of the property manager a little easier. So, we’ve gathered some best practices and tips when it comes to the branding and marketing of your community:

Be consistent with your brand and look

Your business cards, website, newsletter, email signature, and property signage should all display the specific brand of your community. Choose a specific font and only use that font for all of your messaging. The color scheme and style of your website should also be consistent and reflect your community’s brand.

Pictures are worth a thousand words

Once you have decided on a color scheme and font for all of your community’s messaging, make sure to represent your community with quality high-definition photos of the best aspects of your community. If all of your branding reflects an upscale property, but the pictures are from the dark ages, you won’t be doing the brand, or your community, any favors.

Quality customer service

Nothing promotes a community better than a current satisfied resident. If you and your leasing team give quality customer service everyday to current residents, then they will be excited to tell their friends and family. Offering referral programs to encourage word of mouth marketing is always a good way to get more great residents!

A well-crafted website

Apartment searchers are online right now, looking at floor-plans and pictures of the community. Do you cringe when you think of them looking at your property’s website? It doesn’t have to be complicated; Rentbot Apartment Websites offer well-crafted sites for the savvy property manager. Marketing your community starts online and having an SEO-optimized website is an absolute must-have.

Rentbot Apartment Websites do the marketing for you

When it comes to building your brand, you should leave nothing to chance. Rentbot’s custom logo designs and website options offer property managers the tools they need to build a brand they can be proud of as well as a brand that prospects will recognize and trust. We even have professional real estate photographers and provide quality HD-photos of the best parts of your property.

 

Free-trial

Make your job just a little easier with a website from Rentbot. Call us today trial at 844-4Rentbot (844-473-6826) for a free 30-day trial.

About the Author

Jacquelyn Trimper joined the Rentbot team in 2014 after surviving 4 years in property management and marketing. She loves marketing, sales, and writing to help apartment owners and property managers.

 

 

 

Get Lucky with Rentbot

Giveaways, Good to Know, , , ,

Enjoy the luck of the irish with 10% off Rentbot!

Corn beef and cabbage, leprechauns, and green beer—these are the things that come to mind when you think of St. Patrick’s Day. This year, there’s something else that will have you feeling extra lucky—a beautifully crafted Rentbot apartment website for 10% off!

At Rentbot, we’re here to make the job of property managers and developers a whole lot easier. The process is simple: choose from one of our gorgeous designs, tell us the property details, and enjoy more leases and better tenants or your money back.

Save now through March 31!

From today until March 31, 2015, get lucky with 10% off the regular price of a new Rentbot apartment website for a full year. Think of it like a big old four-leaf clover that will make your work ten times easier.

So, even when you’re out meeting with tenants or enjoying St. Patty’s day, your website will be working for you. The features that come with every Rentbot website can help you find the best prospects and handle work orders for current residents day in and day out. Feeling as lucky as the Irish now, aren’t you?

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from Rentbot!

 

The Leasing Agent’s Best Friend

Good to Know, Let's be honest, Online Payments, , ,

Most larger apartment communities have a property manager and a leasing agent. Though technically lower on the authority scale, the leasing agent has a hefty load of responsibilities, all of which determine the overall success of the property.

Leasing agents have to sell

The job description of the leasing agent (or leasing professional) has some commonalities with that of a property manager, but are perhaps even more intense because leasing agents are typically the first face prospects see when they visit a property. Typically, they are paid a lower hourly rate with a commission incentive. So, leasing agents must keep track of all vacant, occupied, and pre-leased units, ensuring that occupancy is high throughout the year. Essentially, the leasing agent must sell.

Learning the best features of an apartment community and emphasizing them to prospects is the best way for agents to lease apartments and earn commission. Whereas residential real estate agents might work with one or two clients a week, leasing agents are working on rentals with 10-15 prospects a day.

However the property looks, the leasing agent must highlight the good and, in some cases, hide the bad. Often agents will buy props and everyday items to “stage” units in need of a tenant. Placing scented candles on surfaces and flowers over stains. The idea is to show the tenant what the place could look like, and provide inspiration.

Using a website to make work easier

Sounds like a lot of work? It is. But, there is one big thing that can ease the workload and increase occupancy: the property’s website.

A great-looking website, like the kind you find at Rentbot, is the leasing agent’s best friend. A hard-working website can make life so much simpler by providing quality leads, taking online applications and deposits, and allowing prospects to view available floor plans.

For the apartment shopper and the leasing agent, a website that displays the best features of a community creates a better working relationship and less time is wasted. This means the leasing agent doesn’t have to use precious time showing units to prospects who won’t find what they want. It also means the prospect will have a better first experience because they are prepared with research from the website. Interested prospects can go home and fill out an easy online application rather than being rushed to complete one in the office or risk loosing a unit.

The job of a leasing agent is tough, and the apartment shopping experience can be even tougher. But, with a website that highlights the best features of the property, handles rent, and accepts applications, you can have a best friend any leasing agent could ask for.

About the Author

Jacquelyn Trimper joined the Rentbot team in 2014 after surviving 4 years in property management and marketing. She loves marketing, sales, and writing to help apartment owners and property managers.

The Struggle of a Single-Family Property Manager

Let's be honest, Online Payments, Single-family Property Manager, , ,

For the single-family property manager, the first of the month usually comes with some struggle. Ensuring all of your tenants have paid the right amount, and you have it in your hand by the first of the month, means that all of the stars in your universe have aligned.

The average single-family property manager has a very full-time job looking after properties that they own and rent out to tenants. But, having a website solution that works for the single-family property manager, is one of the most effective tools he or she can use.

Personally Collecting Rent Checks?

Do you still have to deposit rent checks that you receive? Or worse yet, pick rent checks up from your tenants? If so, Rentbot’s apartment websites offer an easy solution. Offering easy online rent payments for your tenants is a win-win solution; they can pay with credit card or debit card, and renters are able to view how much they owe through the Rentbot site. As the property manager, you can even add a late fee. Instead of answering text messages and emails about rent payments, you can simply direct tenants to your website.

Advertise your Available Rentals

With a Rentbot website, your available properties will be displayed in real time. Entice prospects with pictures, floor plans, and pricing for individual properties. They can also submit online applications right on the site, helping you fill vacancies quickly with qualified tenants.

Online Maintenance Requests

When you’re a single-family property manager, you are responsible for repairs as well as for protecting your investment. With a good website, all of your tenants can easily submit maintenance requests, and the phone calls and texts about repairs you will receive will be minimized. Plus, you can easily organize and prioritize what needs to be done.

A Website that Speaks for you

Tired of negotiating? Rentbot’s websites will relay the rules and policies for your rentals. In addition, the custom designs and color schemes offer a chance for you to create a brand identity for your properties. Even if your property manager job is one you do part-time or on the side, the right branding and consistency will help your business grow with fewer headaches.

Contact Rentbot today

Your single-family properties are important to you because they’re your investment. Forget wasting your weekends chasing after rent checks or talking on the phone about repairs. A Rentbot website is like your own personal assistant, available day or night to answer questions about your properties, and effectively market them for you.