Why should I pay for this?

RentHelper is free for renters. The top questions we get asked by landlords, owners and property mangers are:

We are a virtual officer manager that you hire.

If you compare RentHelper to “free” you miss out on our people. You can’t do everything. We manage one part of your renter relationships so you can focus on what matters: maintenance, your next renovation, your next investment. You cannot hire a virtual office manager with our experience anywhere near our price. We work for you.

Low-cost rent collection services don't survive.

More rent collection services have shut down than survive today.

Cozy.co is a recent infamous example. They enrolled landlords at a loss, only to be acquired and in large part shut down. Their nationally famous site Landlordology no longer exists in any form anywhere. Other defunct services:

Okupied.
Rentific.
TrueRent.

Rent collection services may have ulterior motives. They may want to overcharge you for basic banking service or tenant credit reports. They may be selling your information or your renters’.

RentHelper lasts because our incentives align with yours.

"Free" options aren't really free for landlords.

The top “free” options are PayPal and Venmo. If you ask a renter to “send money to a friend” using the PayPal or Venmo free option, then your renter “friend” can later pull it back. There are many other problems:

PayPal and Venmo require landlords to pay a fee to avoid this, which is roughly 5x what RentHelper charges.
Your account could be locked and funds frozen for failure to pay the fee.
The renter can push money to your account without your permission and cure an eviction, even when you just want them gone.
There is no one at PayPal or Venmo helping the renter make on-time payments or to recover from overdraft.

We don't earn interest on your money.

We send your rent to your account the same day it clears. We simply do not have any incentive to hold your rent for any length of time. You get your money as fast as possible, faster than most other services.

Did we mention you'll save time?

In addition to all our other time-saving features, RentHelper reduces time spent reconciling.

Your bank account will receive rents exactly in the amount you expect, without our fee deducted messily. Each payment has a customizable 10 character descriptor that helps you identify who paid. Our deposits will reconcile easily. Plus your owner dashboard lets you see everything at any time. Some owners use our system as their sole bookkeeping system for rents.

Renters basically do pay for RentHelper through rent. Best not to charge extra.

In the end, renters do pay for RentHelper even though you as the landlord see the service charge. This is because your rent covers your operating expenses at the end of the day. We’re ahead of the general trend of consumer protection law in the US. Renters should not be made to pay additional fees on top of rent, as this could be argued a “bait and switch.” You can read more about the trends in consumer financial protection on Wikipedia. If your rent does not cover your expenses, raise it.

There is no bigger expense than a failed tenancy.

The worst thing that can happen to any landlord is a renter who does not pay rent, drives good renters next door to move out, trashes the apartment and cannot be evicted. If you start each renter with RentHelper, odds are much higher they will all succeed at paying rent. Should any one renter fall on hard times, our credit reporting gives a strong incentive to settle amicably and move out before people dig in. No other service gives you such strong protections against disaster. The MassLandlords eviction data from Massachusetts paint a sobering picture of your alternative.