Property Management Consulting Blog

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Research reveals up to 30 percent of your assets may be left to the wayside simply because you don't know they are there. For those operating in the real estate industry, it is vital to keep up with all assets at all times. A thorough picture of your assets is key to maintaining cash flow, reducing expenditures, and shortening vacancy cycles. 

Tenants, vendors, owners, your leasing team and that inspiring “quote of the day” filling up your inbox? Do you frequently hear, “I emailed that to you already” when talking to vendors or coworkers? Are there 3 or more digits in your unread emails icon? If you are a property manager drowning in emails, we’re here to help.

Property management involves many stakeholders, all of whom want answers with quick turnaround. You are managing someone’s investments, but you’re also managing someone’s home, and as you already know, “I must have missed your email” doesn’t cut it when you miss a work order or form. To avoid upset tenants and angry owners, use these unique tips to help you stop drowning in emails.

Property management has many tasks that are repetitive. While owners and tenants change, the process of onboarding them and managing their property either does not change or changes very infrequently. When you have your standardized methods defined, you can start to look for tasks you can automate to save yourself a significant amount of time.

In this series, we are covering the basics of property management accounting. Part 1 discussed some of the more common accounting terms you will encounter throughout this series. In this part 2, we will cover books and accounts, both for your property management company and your clients.

Part 1: The Basics

In this series, we are going to cover the basics of property management accounting. Property management accounting is different from standard accounting because you not only need to keep track of your property management company’s finances, you are also managing separate accounts for the properties you manage.

There are two ways you can run your property management company: as a landlord or as a property manager.

The Ins & Outs of Make Readies

Do you dread make readies because they are inefficient, taking from your bottom line? Successful property management companies create a workflow for their staff to follow to minimize the time a property is in the make ready stage of the property management lifecycle. While each property management company is going to have different needs, here are four elements we have found that help successfully turn a property on a dime for everyone.

Pitfalls to Avoid

The move-out process can be as pain-free as the move-in process if you are prepared ahead of time. Well documented workflows and expectations make it easier for everyone involved to plan and meet expectations. The best part is, once you build the process, you can use it every time - spending a little time now to save time when you have a move-out.

Property Management is a Help Desk Business That Happens to Manage Real Estate

When you look at the day-to-day tasks of property managers, it quickly becomes clear that they are operating a customer service help desk.  Your staff spends the majority of their time fielding tenant, owner, and property issues.  To be successful in property management, it is critical to have a highly-tuned customer service machine.

What does that actually mean?  Well, it means that you will need to look at your business differently.  Communication with owners and tenants, your ability to manage outstanding tasks, and your efficiency in handling your operations will be the deciding factors in how successful your property management company will be.