How Azibo Solves the Pain Points of Rent Collection

One of the biggest pain points of owning rental properties is collecting rent. From communicating with tenants, waiting for checks to arrive in the mail, managing multiple payment methods, and staying on top of bookkeeping, rent collection takes up a massive chunk of landlords’ day-to-day responsibilities. 

Online rent collection platforms like Azibo help landlords address this pain point so they can spend less time tracking down rent, and more time optimizing their real estate portfolio. In this article, we’ll explore the features and benefits of Azibo's innovative approach to rent collection, share insights from real-world Azibo customers, and provide a step-by-step guide on how to get started. 

Azibo rent collection: An overview

Azibo was designed to alleviate the stress of collecting rent every month, allowing real estate investors to manage their properties, tenants, and payments in one place. 

Our platform streamlines monthly rent collection with secure, flexible payments and fast payouts. Landlords can use one platform to accept multiple online payment methods including credit card, debit card, and ACH bank transfer — as well as checks via mobile deposit. 

Jua McMillan, a Chicago-based real estate investor and Azibo customer, found that by eliminating the need to coordinate with tenants, set up their payment methods, and track Venmo transactions, Azibo saves him four hours per month. “I can't say anything but positive things about Azibo,” he notes. “It's been a lifesaver.”

Landlords are able to access all of these tools at no cost, since Azibo’s core offerings are free. That means rental property owners don’t have to sacrifice their profit margins to use Azibo’s property management platform.

What’s included in Azibo rent collection?

With Azibo online rent collection, you get access to the following features: 

• Online rent collection: Streamline monthly rent collection with online payments and fast payouts.
• Flexible payment methods: Securely accept multiple payment methods, including credit card, debit card, ACH bank transfer, and check.
• Rent dashboard: View real-time rent payment status for tenants across all properties. 
• Automatic reminders: Automate key tenant communications, such as rent reminders and late fee notices. 
• Integrated property management: Get access to Azibo’s all-in-one rental property platform, with solutions for every part of the rental cycle.  

How Azibo solves the biggest pain points of rent collection

With Azibo, landlords and tenants can enjoy a seamless online rent collection experience. Here are the key benefits of using Azibo to collect rent:

1. Save time

Azibo helps real estate investors spend less time coordinating with tenants and tracking rent payments. Steven Toth, a Tempe, Arizona-based real estate investor, says Azibo saves him between 5-9 hours every month. 

“I just log into Azibo a few times per month, take a quick look, make sure my transactions are all set correctly, then I’m done,” Steven says. “It really saves me a lot of time.”

2. Simplify record-keeping

Collecting rent on a single platform is not only convenient, but helps simplify the administrative side of real estate investing. Azibo provides a clear record of payments from all tenants and properties in one place — including a real-time rent payment status dashboard so you can instantly see who paid and who hasn’t.

Landlords who currently collect rent on Venmo, PayPal, or other mobile payment platforms are likely frustrated by transaction limits, additional fees, and the added complexity during tax season. "Before Azibo, I was taking payments on Cash App, Venmo, PayPal, and checks," real estate investor Andrew Winter explains. "Now Azibo is the one source of truth for all payments, which makes things easier." 

3. Improve profit margins

Real estate investors are able to access all of these features — plus Azibo’s other property management solutions — at no cost, since Azibo’s core offerings are free. That means that unlike other property management platforms, you don’t have to pay a subscription fee and sacrifice your profit margins.

4. Offer flexibility to tenants

Azibo allows landlords to let tenants choose their preferred payment method — whether it’s ACH transfer, credit or debit card, or check — without having to track multiple channels. "The rent collection is nice, especially the ability to give the tenant the decision on how they'd like to pay," explains Andrew. "I've been asked if I take credit card before, and now I can say, 'Absolutely.'"

Tenants also may want to pay on different days of the month, depending on their move-in date or when they receive their paychecks. Azibo enables landlords to offer this flexibility without having to manually track each rent deadline. “I like that I'm able to provide that flexibility to tenants and still have it automatically tracked through Azibo,” Steven notes.

5. Automate rent collection

Azibo sends automatic rent reminders to tenants via email or text, rather than landlords having to do that themselves. “It's taken away the need to always have to reach out to my tenants to pay rent,” Jua says.

Azibo notifies landlords when tenants make a rent payment. These automations increase transparency and accountability for both parties by documenting their communications. Jua notes, “I love the fact that it's automated. You can pretty much set it and forget it until it's time to renew the lease.”

Azibo also helps encourage on-time payments by allowing tenants to schedule payments in advance, and landlords to set up automatic late fees with customizable grace periods, or accept partial payments.

6. Get all-in-one property management

In addition to rent collection, Azibo customers get access to property management solutions for each stage of the rental cycle — including rental applications, tenant screening, lease generation, accounting, property insurance, and more. 

"It's nice that it's all in one system,” Andrew says. “That's really the kind of power you can have with Azibo."

A step-by-step guide to Azibo rent collection

We’ve designed the Azibo onboarding process to be straightforward and hassle-free. Jua agrees: “I just like the simplicity. I was able to get started without a strenuous setup.”

Here are the steps to start collecting rent with Azibo: 

1. Create your free account: Sign up for Azibo using your name, email, and mobile phone. If you have a business name or DBA, you can add that later.
2. Add your rental properties: Input your property details and organize them into portfolios. 
3. Link a bank account: Choose where you want payments to go, either in an external bank account or by creating an Azibo bank account. You can set up multiple bank accounts to receive rent from different properties.
4. Verify your bank account: At Azibo, security and safety is a top priority. Every customer must verify their identity before transacting on the Azibo platform.
5. Set up payment terms: Enter your payment terms, including your lease start and end dates, rent amount, rent due date, and any fees.
6. Invite tenants to Azibo: Add tenant details and invite them to create an Azibo account so they can start paying rent on Azibo.  

Once you and your tenants successfully set up Azibo accounts, you can start collecting rent online. You can also use Azibo to track rent payment status, better understand your financial performance, and tag expenses to simplify tax prep.

What is the Azibo rent collection experience for tenants? 

Tenants can start paying rent with Azibo in a few simple steps. First, landlords invite their tenants to create a free Azibo account. 

Next, tenants will confirm their lease and payment terms are correct and set up their payment method. Tenants can link their bank account to pay rent via ACH transfers for free, or add their debit or credit card to pay rent for a 2.99% fee.

When they’re ready to pay rent, tenants will go to the Azibo dashboard, select “Pay,” and confirm the payment amount is correct. Azibo renters can automate rent payments by scheduling one-time or recurring payments in advance. 

Once they’ve submitted their payment, renters can track the real-time status in Azibo, as well as view upcoming scheduled payments and payment history.

Lastly, one of Azibo’s differentiators is the value we provide to tenants. In addition to flexible online payment methods, we provide access to comprehensive renters insurance and empower renters to improve their credit score through our Credit Boost rent reporting tool.

Azibo: All-in-one property management platform

Azibo provides the simplest way for real estate investors to manage rental properties, with solutions for tenant applications and screening, lease creation, rent collection, accounting, insurance, and more in one convenient place — while also providing an excellent tenant experience. 

Landlords can manage their entire rental business in one platform, with one login — for free. That’s right — Azibo offers the following real estate solutions at no cost to property owners:

• Rental applications: Easily screen the right tenant for properties with the information that is most important to a landlord
• Tenant screening*: Verify quality tenants with access to full candidate screenings, including a credit check, criminal background check, and eviction reports.
• Custom lease agreements: Azibo’s state-specific rental lease agreements allow landlords to stay compliant and invite tenants to sign online versus hiring an attorney or using an additional third party platform.
• Simplified rent collection**: Help tenants pay rent on time with flexible payment options including ACH bank transfer, debit card, credit card, or paper check.
• Financial management: Optimizes finances with the only accounting and tax prep tools designed for real estate investors.
• Affordable property insurance: Offers transparency and speed in the rental property insurance process, helping landlords get the right coverage at the right price. Azibo customers  have seen up to a 25% savings on their portfolio.

Learn more about Azibo’s pricing and business model — and why we are able to offer our platform at no cost to landlords. 

*Azibo tenant screening services are free for landlords, but prospective renters undergoing a background check through Azibo pay a one-time fee of $39.99 per application.

*Tenants who choose to pay rent via debit or credit card through Azibo are charged a 2.99% transaction fee.

Streamline rent collection with Azibo today

Embracing technology is key to success in today’s real estate market. Simplify rent collection and property management with our all-in-one platform. With Azibo, you’ll save time, increase efficiency, and get peace of mind.

Get started with Azibo online rent collection today.