Property Management Hacks - 3 Simple Tricks
You always want to be sure that your rental properties are in the right hands and are properly cared for. With so many different aspects to keep on top of between tenant communications, maintenance, and finances, it can be easy to get overwhelmed.
However, real estate investing and property management does not have to be overly complicated or overwhelming. In fact, there are plenty of tips and tools you can use in order to make the process much more manageable for you to keep track of.
So, in order to help you take control of your property management and achieve long lasting financial success, here are three simple tricks you can use in your investment strategy.
However, before we dive in, if you want to learn how you can use your mortgage to free up funds in your budget for expenses such as property management, click the link below for a free strategy call today.
Have a Dedicated Real Estate Investment Account
This first property management tip is one that becomes more valuable the further you grow your portfolio. Instead of routing your rental income into separate accounts or managing your investments out of your personal bank accounts, you should open up a single dedicated account for your real estate investments.
Why Should You Use One Account?
This account would be used for the majority of your real estate expenses including collecting rental income, paying your mortgages, covering recurring expenses such as property tax and insurance, and storing back-up funds in the event that you encounter an unexpected expense. This will create a very streamlined process for you as an investor that you can gradually automate to spend less of your time working on your investment finances each month.
Automating the Process
In order to automate this process, you should start by setting up automatic rent payments with your tenants, that way you know that each month on the same day at the same time, your rental income will enter the account. From there, you can set up your mortgage payments, insurance, and property taxes to all withdraw from the account directly.
That will leave you with strictly your profits sitting in the account. Of course, you should maintain a few thousand dollars in savings for each of your properties just in case of a vacancy, sudden expense or if you decide you would like to update the property. While that can be a steep hurdle for new investors, it will become easier as you purchase more cash flowing properties over time.
Then, each month you can choose to bolster your savings or pull out the profits you have made that month for other uses.
Discover Residential Property Management With This Step By Step Guide
Take Advantage of Digital Property Management Tools
Say goodbye to the era of filing cabinets and folders full of property documents and file management. Instead, take a step into the digital age and enjoy the ease of use that can be found with digital property management tools.
Scheduling Tools
One of the easiest and most useful tools you can use to help simplify your property management experience is online scheduling tools. These are incredibly versatile and can be used to suit all of your needs. Not only can they be used to keep track of important events and upcoming dates, but most of them also provide the option to send reminders as these moments draw near.
For example, if you are regularly sending property inspectors, property management staff and scheduling routine maintenance – which you should be doing already – this process can be made simpler with online schedulers. This way all of your upcoming inspections and maintenance dates are marked in a calendar for you and your tenants to see. Additionally, you can program them to send reminders when these events are scheduled as well as before they are set to occur so that your tenants can be adequately prepared for you and your workers to arrive on the property.
As well, these tools can be used to make reminders for lease renewal, rent increases, and open houses for properties you plan to sell.
Virtual File Management
Keeping track of property documents can be incredibly tedious, and very annoying. After all it can be hard to properly store and track every important file that you may need in a single, secure location. So, that is where virtual file management systems come into play.
By using these systems, you can store your files online where they cannot be lost or destroyed on accident or in an emergency, safely backed up on hard drives and the cloud. Then, you are able to sort them by property, type of document and use, making it much easier to find and produce required documents whenever you are required to do so for tax or investment purposes.
Streamline Your Tenant Communications
Finally, one of the most important things you can do to improve upon your property management systems is to streamline your tenant communications. Whether your tenants are dealing directly with you, or if they are speaking to a property manager, there should be one dedicated spot where the communications are directed. That can be a dedicated phone number for your investments, an email server, or an online database, but they should not be split up across multiple communication streams or mixed in with personal communications so that you can avoid any missed messages or scattered information.
You may want to split up urgent and non-urgent communications. For example, providing a phone number for anything urgent and an email for anything that can be handled later. However, try to keep those separate so that tenants do not get them mixed up and wind up putting a rush on something that could have waited, or waiting days to hear back about an emergency because an email was not seen.
To continue simplifying your real estate experience, let us help you enjoy a hassle-free and easy mortgage experience here at LendCity. For more information as to how we can help you, visit us online at LendCity.ca or give us a call at 519-960-0370. Alternatively click the link below for a free strategy call today.