Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa March/April 2019 | Page 64

TECHNOLOGY
Treat Yourself
New app launches
first rental awards
for tenants
T
enants in South Africa could get up to 20% of their rent
back in rewards, every month, all thanks to Flow – a free
mobile app which is now available for download from
the Apple and Android app stores.
South Africans are well aware of how rewards programmes
work. From our healthcare to our grocery shopping, we’ve all
quickly cottoned on to the idea that we can be rewarded for
certain types of activities and behaviour. We all live for rewards.
Swiping = Points. Gyming = Points. Driving well = Points. But
as popular as these rewards programmes are, they still don’t
reward us for our largest monthly expense: property rental. That
is, until now.
With Flow, the first app of its kind in the world, tenants in
South Africa get rewarded for registering, adding their property
details, paying their rent on time, looking after their homes, and
much more.
Tenants can use the app and be rewarded for good rental
behaviour even if their landlord isn’t active on the app (although,
there are many benefits for landlords to sign up to Flow too).
Great tenants can earn thousands of points every month,
increasing their Flow score and accessing incredible rewards.
For these rewards, Flow has struck partnerships with a number
of leading brands in the lifestyle, entertainment, homeware,
fashion and travel space, plus a selection of airtime and
electricity providers, all of which are valuable within the lives of
millennials (those between the ages of 22 to 37) – a group which
makes up a large portion of renters in South Africa. Some of
these brands include Superbalist, Weylandts, SweepSouth and
OneCart (with more to be launched in the coming months).
Flow will save tenants time and money, enabling them to live
a more seamless and affordable lifestyle. And, a happier tenant
being rewarded for good rental behaviour makes for a happy
landlord which in turn makes for a happy home.
The better the tenant, the more Flow Points they earn, the
more they get rewarded.
Great tenants could get up to 20% of their rent back in
rewards, every month.
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MARCH/APRIL 2019 SA Real Estate Investor Magazine
The growth of Generation Rent in South Africa
Long term rental is one of the fastest growing markets in
the world. Why? A few decades ago, people renting property
typically tended to be between the ages of 21 and 25. After that,
they’d usually settle down, buy a property and spend the rest of
their lives paying it off. But in recent years, there’s been a huge
social shift.
Gil Sperling, CEO of Flow, notes that these days, millennials
are putting off buying property and renting for much longer
than they used to. “We call this group of millennial renters
‘Generation Rent’, and while this trend is true for South
Africa, it’s true for much of the global population too. The
older generation may attach a social status to renting, but
millennials don’t see it that way. For one thing, the property
market has changed, meaning that the price of property has
put home ownership quite firmly out of most millennials’ reach.
The rollercoaster that is the South African economy doesn’t
help much either. Millennials are therefore more interested in
owning their lifestyle than owning their home.
“By renting a property, they have extra money available to
see the world, start up a business or study. After all, the world
is more connected than ever before, so a lot of millennials are
looking for opportunities to work and travel – and owning a
property doesn’t feature heavily in this plan. Millennials are
seeking the ultimate flexibility in most aspects of their lives, and
it was this trend that resulted in our idea to create Flow - the
first app, globally, to reward good tenants,” says Sperling.
Flow, co-founded by Gil Sperling, Daniel Levy and Jonathan
Liebmann – some of South Africa’s biggest disruptors in the
property and technology industries - has raised R20 million
in seed investment. This funding will be used to accelerate the
development of South Africa’s number one app for tenants; to
fuel growth and increase the base of tenants already using Flow;
as well as to increase the range of rewards available to tenants.
The app can be downloaded for Apple or Android devices
and you can connect with Flow on Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, LinkedIn or on their website: https://flow.rent/