Pub. 5 2020 Issue 1

4 www.ctaahq.org Why Online Rent Payments are Gaining Ground in Property Management M illennials are dominating the rental market and using their size and influence to dictate digital and social trends. At more than 80 million strong, the generation is changing the multifamily housing industry from the nation’s largest portfolios to medium and small property management companies. eir desire to live, work, and play online has inspired the new market segment “Gen C,” or the “Connected Generation.” This group embrac- es technology to buy, communicate and connect via digital interactions. Whether paying bills or catching a ride, “Gen C” often pays through dig- ital platforms, usually mobile devices. Paying by paper checks and money orders isn’t much of an option. e Center for Generational Kinetics notes that millennials are paying for prod- ucts and services that are di erent than other generations. In 2016, the research group cited that 5 million millennials didn’t have a checking account, and a more recent study showed the generation carries very little cash. e center says that businesses that want to attract and retain millennials must make it easy to pay with a credit card. On the heels of this generation is Gen Z, which is the multifamily units next target renter group, and one that doesn’t remem- ber a time before the digital world. Today’s renters expect to use electronic payment technology e arrival of these generations and their digital briefcases is transforming the way apartment managers receive rent. Rent payments are going paperless and online more and more, a less risky proposition than manually receiving checks and money orders, or processing credit or debit cards in the leasing o ce. In the last 10 years, renters have come to expect to have access to at least one elec- tronic payment technology. It’s becoming the rule rather than the exception. e National Multifamily Housing Coun- cil (NMHC)/Kingsley Renter Preferences