Newton, Mass.—January 8, 2008—Tenants and landlords have long-been on opposite sides of the fence, withholding information from each other and living a relationship of necessity. Landlords need tenants to pay the bills and tenants need landlords to take ownership of the property. Payments and information requests trade hands, but little more. Now Investment Instruments Corporation (IIC), the only company devoted to increasing transparency in the real estate rental market, aims to change that with Rentomatic, a service that gives both tenants and landlords access to the communications and information they need to conduct business with a high level of trust.

The majority of landlords own just a handful of units. Until now, managing these properties often meant a mash up of spreadsheets and desktop accounting applications with payments only accepted by paper check. Rentomatic streamlines this management process while also providing an easy way to pay rents, provide billing statements, advertise vacancies and manage maintenance requests.

The Only Complete Rent Management™ Solution

According to a recent study conducted by the Federal Reserve, more than two-thirds of all non-cash payments conducted in 2006 in the United States were made electronically. For many people the only regular paper check they write is for rent. Rentomatic is the only site that provides Complete Rent Management™ making it easy for all landlords, regardless of size, to accept electronic payments, e-checks and paper checks, with the ability to pay by credit card coming in early 2008. This provides tenants with a guarantee that their rent payment is cleared on-time and not sitting in their landlord’s desk drawer for weeks, while also tracking payments so tenants can create and maintain a long-term rent credit history.

Once a payment has been processed IIC records the payment progress in both the tenant’s and landlord’s Rentomatic accounts and updates the landlord’s rentroll, accounting systems and payment alerts.

“Many of my tenants are located hundreds of miles away and the only way to collect their rent is by receiving a check through the mail. This means that rent payments are rarely received on the same day requiring that I make multiple trips to the bank,” said Ricardo Hamilton, a New York-based real estate investor. “A service that automates the rent payment process and updates my records is not only a time-saver but it will also help to better manage my properties and form a stronger, more trusting relationship with my tenants.”

Online Property Management

In addition to a convenient way to process and track rent, landlords are provided with a secure environment to manage properties and can quickly view upcoming or critical events for each property. Rentomatic also provides real estate centric income and expense tracking tools, enabling users to track rent and run cash flow and tax reports. Landlords can also easily advertise multiple listings online, track important lease, rent and tenant information and create detailed income and expense items.

“Transparency is the key to trust and trust is the basis for a solid, predictable landlord-tenant relationship,” said Owen Johnson, president of Investment Instruments Corporation. “With Rentomatic we’re giving the tenants an easy way to pay their rent that benefits both the tenant and the landlord. We’re also helping the tenant to build a credit history, so they can bring that to the next apartment and start that new relationship with a layer of trust.”

Through the easy-to-use web-based system Rentomatic also gives tenants and landlords a straightforward method of communicating and tracking information such as maintenance requests. Once a tenant reports a problem through their Rentomatic account, both the landlord and tenant are provided with a location to track responses to those requests and obtain progress reports. This provides both parties with an open line of communication and removes the nuisance of daily phone calls and tedious in-person visits.

Pricing and Availability

Rentomatic is online now with both free and advanced services available to real estate investors. With the advanced service plan landlords can handle an unlimited number of leases for just $30.00 per month. Complete Rent Management™ is available under both plans on a lease-by-lease basis for a $5.00 monthly fee, at no cost to tenants. On behalf of users IIC will provide tenants with billing statements, process incoming rent and alert tenants when their rent is overdue.