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Online leasing is one of the most popular trends in real estate property management, and for good reason. Online leases offer a range of benefits available to landlords. It’s no secret that organized and thorough leases are stronger and better in times of crises. Online leasing can help you shape those strong leases and implement them in a simpler, more efficient way.
On the other hand, traditional pen-and-paper leases offer substantially more challenges to landlords.
You may be accustomed to the inconveniences of printing leases, signing them in person, and providing copies to residents, but you no longer need to worry about any of these tasks with online leasing.
Here are eight benefits of leasing online to convince you to transition your rental agreements to the cloud.
#1 Increase Occupancy
One advantage of online leases is that they are much faster to create.
With the use of online lease templates and editing tools, you can create leases, distribute them, and have your tenants sign them much more quickly than you would if you had to complete the process on paper.
And the quicker you can get your lease signed, the quicker you can move your tenants in and focus on finding new ones.
Online leasing expediates the entire leasing process, and the time you save by using it can help you fill your vacancies in less time.
#2 Decrease Turnover Time
Likewise, online leasing also decreases turnover time.
The longer it takes you to screen tenants, choose one, compose a rental agreement, and get it signed, the longer tenant turnover will take.
Online leases have a variety of features to speed up the leasing process. For instance, you can automate leasing by designating repeated fields like initials or dates. These features make creating and signing a lease take up less of your valuable time so you can focus on filling more units.
#3 Eliminate Errors
Whenever you do something by hand, there’s always the possibility of human error. Paper leases introduce that possibility both on your end and your tenants’.
For instance, renters who sign paper leases may accidentally miss signatures, initials, or dates while reading through the document.
With online leases, these mistakes aren’t possible. Most digital lease signing platforms won’t allow renters to submit their lease until all required fields are completed correctly.
#4 Be Environmentally Conscious
Most leases are dozens of pages long. All those pages quickly add up in terms of wasted paper. Plus, if your renter needs extra copies of the document, you’ll quickly run out of ink and paper supplies in your office.
Rather than wasting a stack of paper on every lease, switch to online leases. Online lease documents are just as effective, but with the added benefit of being environmentally conscious.
#5 Improve Accessibility
Another benefit of online leases is that they are far more accessible than paper ones. Your digital records follow you wherever you go because they are stored on the cloud. Whether you’re on your home computer or out and about on your mobile device, you’ll always have access to your records.
#6 Boost Security
Paper documents are vulnerable to a variety of risks: they could be misplaced, destroyed, or stolen.
On the other hand, leases stored online are saved on the cloud, meaning you’ll never lose them unless you delete them. They are also protected by encryption and audit trails, so no one with ill intent can access or view your records.
Thanks to the ESIGN Act, landlords can also use eSignatures to bolster security. Electronic signatures are legal, fully recognized by the US government, and much more secure than paper ones in that they track the signer’s email and IP address.
#7 Automate Lease Creation and Renewals
Here’s another benefit online leases have over traditional ones: automation.
With online leases, it’s possible to automate the lease creation process with a rental agreement template. Instead of designing each field by hand, you can choose a template and simply fill in the relevant details.
Online leasing also allows you to automate renewals. Instead of trying to track down your tenant to renew their rental agreement, you can simply allow software to remind your tenant by email. You can make all the term and fee modifications beforehand, so renewing is as simple and quick as possible for both parties.
#8 Integrate with Property Management Software
Finally, online leasing allows you to integrate your lease documents with property management software.
From using online rent collection to assigning a grace period for rent payment and tracking late payments, property management software has all the features and functions you need to successfully operate a rental business.
Instead of performing tasks by hand, have your software integrate all your critical documents, dates, and tenant information.
Conclusion
If you’re accustomed to traditional leasing, switching to online leasing might be worrisome. However, you won’t regret the transition. Due to the variety of benefits offered by online leases, both you and your tenants will appreciate the switch.