There are frequently small improvements which get added to Rentec Direct which often do not get the attention they deserve. Someday we hope to have a complete changelog posted of every little update, no matter how insignificant, for those who may be interested. In the meantime, here’s a few updates that have happened so far in 2009.
Attachments to existing transactions: While it’s been possible for some time to add an attachment to a transaction as it’s being built, you can now add an attachment to any existing transaction by editing the transaction, and choosing ‘add attachment’.
Review deleted tenants and properties: Prior to this improvement, when a property or tenant was deleted, they were gone forever. Now, you can review any deleted tenant or property by clicking ‘Show Deleted Tenants’ or ‘Show Deleted Properties’ in the lower right corner of the screen. This gives you the added advantage of expiring tenants for which you no longer interact with so they do not take up screen real-estate, but the ability to review all their details if the need arises.
Tenant Portal: A full announcement can be found here. The tenant portal allows tenants to login and review their own accounting and make minor setting changes for email preferences. Soon tenants will be able to make payment arrangements within the tenant portal.
Online Applications: Save the paper and hassle of delivering paper applications, and storing them in the endless file folders most of us keep. Take applications online through Rentec Direct’s new online application system. Full announcement here.
Small bug fixes: Rentec Direct is a dynamic web based application. Every now and then a Rentec user might use the application in a way we had not anticipated. Sometimes that can result in the system not understanding the data, or treating it in a manner that is not anticipated by the user. This happens with every application ever developed by any software company in the world. Rentec Direct is on top of these when they happen and fix them on the spot. These repairs, although infrequent, happen behind the scenes and your version of Rentec Direct is automatically updated when they do.
Product Update
attachments, online applications, tenant portal, undelete
We’re very pleased to offer two very useful new features. These features are especially exciting because they save landlords money *today*! Setting up a website for advertising properties usually has a monthly expense of at least $20/mo plus the costs for the application or web designer to create the pages which may cost hundreds or more. We’re offering this today for the best price ever, FREE!
A benefit of the transaction attachments and file library in general is it provides landlords a permanent backed up medium for important documents. They will never be lost even if your workstation crashes. This is a service offered by online backup companies for a fee, and again we’re including it FREE!
Here’s more details on these new features.
- Instant Online Advertising - Using Rentec Direct you can now instantly publish your properties online with minimal effort. To use this new feature use these steps: Step 1) Once logged in, edit your vacant property, and (if you wish) add some pictures of the property via the file library. For public pictures, select the checkbox to the right of the file name to use it in your online advertisement. Step 2) Back under the edit property screen, click Property Advertising / Profile and enter the necessary information for the property, and enable the listing with the check box on the bottom. Instantly you have an online ad available for publishing in your local classifieds or other media. Step 3) Your property listing will be available under the domain rtd4.com, for instance, a property listing might look like rtd4.com/123. Your exact listing link will be shown at the bottom of the page. We’ve kept the domain short on purpose to keep your classified ads purchases cheap with fewer characters.
- Per Transaction Attachments - Every time you post an income or expense for a tenant or property you now have the option to add an attachment. Doing so will allow you to upload a file (receipts, invoices, etc) which will be attached to that transaction. When viewing a ledger for a property or tenant, any transactions which have an attachment will have a paperclip icon next to them. Clicking the paperclip will show you the attachment.
These are Pro features we’re giving away to all current and future Rentec Direct customers, until the Pro version is released. Your feedback is appreciated at any time on these, or any other features that we’ve implemented. Try them out and let us know what you think. Please email any comments or suggesstions to support@rentecdirect.com.
Product Update
advertising, attachments, property advertising