Property managers work long hours and wear multiple hats; achieving any semblance of a work-life balance practically requires the adoption of automation and cloud-based systems into your process.
A multitude of repetitive daily rental activities can now be automated with online software, which can free up your time and help you present your business as organized, proactive, and professional to potential applicants.
Paper and hard drives are inconvenient
How often do you need to access data while you’re out on the property showing a vacant unit to tenants or dealing with an emergency? The more information and resources you store in a cloud-based system, the less paper-based information will sit inconveniently on your desk or in a filing cabinet while you’re fifteen minutes away from it.
The same holds true for spreadsheets and forms sitting on your computer’s hard drive. They are useless unless you’re sitting in front of your computer, which isn’t always possible for a busy property manager.
Moving your process to a cloud-based system means you’re free to handle most issues with the smartphone at your fingertips, whether you’re on or off your property. Switching to rental business software enables customers to interact with your company even when you’re not available. It also enables integration of different tasks like accounting, inventory and sales and makes it easy to track all of them in one space.
The internet is always on
Today’s customers are accustomed to having immediate access to information. Putting as much commonly requested information and forms on your website is another important way to automate your business and reduce unnecessary calls and emails which can suck up your time. Include links to your FAQs page in your email and text signature as a courtesy.
Online sites like Instagram, Facebook, Craigslist, and more can be leveraged as low-cost ways to advertise vacancies. In some cases, you can automate these posts by scheduling regular reminders or deals ahead of time for drip marketing campaigns.
Research shows that having a plethora of high-quality images in a property listing significantly increases interest in your property. So capturing and retaining photos for all your rental units should be a high priority.
Once you’ve taken the time to capture high quality images that frame your rental in the best possible light, don’t risk losing them by leaving them on your smartphone or digital camera card. Use online photo storage to maintain easy access to your photos no matter where you’re working, and to ensure your photos will still be available for years to come.
This level of organization enables you to post a listing on social media, print out a flyer for a bulletin board, or send an email blast to a potential customer database within minutes.
Make repetitive tasks obsolete
Completing and delivering paper-based forms can take much longer. Not everyone has access to a printer, or your applicant may be relocating from a thousand miles away. Moving repetitive tasks like applications, maintenance requests, and accounting to cloud-based systems can enable your customers to interact with you in minutes rather than days.
Software integrations between property management software and accounting software, for example, can save you a great deal of time by reducing repetitive data entry. Invoicing and late payment reminders can be automated, saving you even more time. You can also differentiate yourself from other onsite leasing offices that charge applicants for credit checks by using cloud-based systems to offer free tenant screening, rental payment options, and much more.
Organization and proactive management are the foundation for keeping tenants happy and vacancy rates low. Use the power of the internet automation to reduce busy work, improve consistency, and free up your time for the things that matter most.
