RealTimeRental.com makes renting vacation property hassle a thing of the past

Everything seems more complicated in the fast-paced 21st century world we live in. But thanks to the Internet and an ingenious new way to utilize it, there is a way to make renting vacation properties easier for the owner, Realtor and the perspective tenant.

Designed specifically for the resort and residential real estate market, the RealTimeRental.com internet-based software application provides a complete full-service reservation and accounting system for real estate operations.

Virtually every detail of a rental transaction -- from the initial search of rental properties to the issuing of commission checks -- is managed by RealTimeRental.com.

“The beauty of our system is that we designed this software specifically to help Realtors,” said Joseph Testa, President and CEO of Strategic Planning and Management, the parent company operating the software package. Testa said his firm has 40 clients located throughout Cape May County, with about a half dozen in Ocean City. The more that sign on, the better the system works.

“We think that we have invented a better mousetrap,” said Testa. “The industry is accepting it as if we have developed a better mousetrap.”

Based in Ocean City and geared around Cape May County, RealTimeRental.com is nationwide. With 65,000 leases in 18 states around the country, the company generated $148 million revenue to about 125 Realtors.

“It’s done in real time,” said Testa. “That’s what makes it unique. As soon as the lease agreement is generated at a real estate office, the software takes the rental property out of the available properties listing.”

Testa said the software eliminates a series of phone calls and phone tag between Realtors.

“How many times do you think it happens that a rental property listed with two or three brokers ends up being rented at the same time by two different parties?” he asked. “The problem is, that Realtor A has to call Realtor B and tell him that the property was rented on a specific week and all the details. Sometimes messages get confused or mixed up. With this software, there are no disappointing phone calls to tenants telling them that the property is not available. The software will not allow double booking, it will prevent things from falling through the cracks and mistakes from being made.”

Because the information is Internet-based, it can be accessed at any time from anywhere. Property owners and Realtors can limit the amount of information available to perspective tenants. A property owner can sit on the beach in Bermuda and check to see whether his property has been rented.

“They can be anywhere,” he said. “A perspective tenant can log in at home, do the initial research, narrow down the choices and then go see the Realtor. The Realtor can log in to see how a particular rental is doing, if someone from another office booked it, and the property owner can see how his property is faring. For someone looking to rent, it’s great because the software presents the ideal choices for them, based on what is available in their price-range on the weeks that they want to be on vacation.”

While benefiting the business needs of the Realtor, this system also provides an easy, efficient way for potential tenants to search for rental properties.

“They can do it from home,” said Testa. User-friendly screens prompt the prospective tenant through the process, giving the Realtor peace of mind.

The prospective tenant first selects the preferences they desire, such as dates, price ranges, locations, sleeping accommodations and other amenities. Then they view the rental properties that meet their criteria, and are available for that time period. Color photographs and detailed information about each property are displayed. Detailed descriptions can be printed out giving the tenant a heads-up on each property. A personal inspection of the properties that potential tenants would like to visit can be arranged by the Realtor.

“Each property and key are assigned numbers, which makes the process really easy,” said Testa. “Realtor A can say to Realtor B, ‘we want property 123’ or whatever. There is no confusion between people with the same last name. A history of each tenant is stored for future reference.”

At this point, RealTimeRental.com does all the work, according to Testa.

“The Realtor provides the information, and the program automatically generates the lease, and at the same time sets up all the financial bookkeeping for the tenant, the property owner and the broker,” said Testa. “You don’t have to go through separate steps to make sure that you have a record of deposits and commissions. And, you don’t even have to figure out the money owed to the owner because the program has a full accounting package and does all the work for you. It actually prints the security checks, commission checks, pays the service representatives and creates many different reports for the broker.”

Testa said the system is capable of dispatching a plumber to fix a clogged toilet.

“If the problem was the tenant’s fault, the system automatically deducts the cost of fixing the toilet from the security deposit,” he said. “You could be on the Boardwalk or sitting in a bar, and the toilet in your rental property is fixed.”

Though he and a small staff work from an office in Ocean City, the software works from Dallas with backups in Chicago.

“The Realtor is investing in software,” said Testa. “It’s interesting, but the work is really not done in our office. It happens instantly over the Internet from a Dallas-based system.”

Testa said his firm’s software was recently approved for use in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

“Some people say ‘so what, it’s North Carolina, why do we care in New Jersey?’ But North Carolina is a very difficult state to get approved in, and we were the first software company to gain approval. They’re very strict, so we had to pass a rigorous inspection. The reason that North Carolina is important is because there are only two or three states that have a review process. North Carolina is the toughest in the country,” he said.

The software is not cheap, but Testa said it costs less than paying professionals to do some of the reports the system generates. The system costs a Realtor a licensing fee of $8,000 with an additional yearly fee of $4,000.

“It’s relatively inexpensive compared to our biggest competitors,” said Testa.

Testa, has over 25 years of business management experience.

“I’ve taken some start up companies from inception to well established business ventures,” he said. Testa has a degree in accounting and finance from Susquehanna University and worked for Prudential.

“We sort of stumbled on the idea for this company,” he said. “We are the first company in the United States that is truly software. This company was truly built from the ground up to industrial strength e-commerce. We’re really proud, we have 14 employees and they are all local residents.”

Testa said it was tough leaving Prudential as the company eased out of Linwood, but he does not look back.

“It’s a nice little growing company,” he said.

Ann Richardson can be reached at ocoffice@catamaranmedia.com or you can comment on this story by call 398-7964, ext. 27.