Time Management for Property Managers
Time is that one thing there’s too little of. And while landlords and property managers have had a routine way of managing their daily tasks, it seems more and more is being loaded onto their desk.
If you’re struggling and getting frustrated in handling 5 to 20 properties, micromanaging incidents, doing account updates, finding lost paperwork, fielding tenant inquiries, and controlling/managing contractors, then when you’re asked to handle 50 to 100 properties, you’ll feel your blood pressure rocket.
The problems you face aren’t really money, energy, and service quality issues either. It’s just the time crunch. When will it ease? Probably never because you’re expected to handle it. If you don’t someone else will.
9 Tips to Tone Down the Time Waste
Even if you’re using a good property management software to ease your workload, you can still observe these 8 tips to streamline your timeline:
- batch your work – do similar work types such as bookkeeping, accounting, payments, and reports together so you don’t feel you’re pulled in a hundred directions
- schedule everything – schedule contractors, tenants and work so they respect your time and you can get things done. Consider using a time management app.
- take notes on properties – so you don’t do rework
- write your rental ads more carefully — so prospective renters understand clearly your terms, price and the features of the unit so they you have to field a million questions from un-qualified renters
- keep team communication stong – so you don’t diverge on responsibilities and land in hot water
- outsource your toughest tasks – including maintenance management and tenant prospecting
- use a property maintenance program — keep everyone organized and on track
- create a detailed FAQ section on your website — let tenants help themselves and keep you free of having to deal with burnt lightbulbs, clogged sinks, and furnace filters.
- create a process for screening tenants and on-boarding them – don’t wing it because you’ll waste time
By getting streamlined, you can scale up much more easily and grow your revenue exponentially. When you do it well, your profit margins increase much faster. Here’s a little pep talk to remind you of what is wrong with the old way of doing property management and how you make that pain go away.
By automating tasks, you gain back control of all the micromanagement tasks, tenant communication time, and improve reporting for your owners
Avoid Micromanagement
There’s moments when you diminish what a property manager’s work is. It happens, but no, it’s not micromanagement. Your real work is keeping tenants happy, units operational, and protecting the owner’s profits. You need all of your time for that.
By using software automation, you’re smoothing out communications, maximizing real time reporting, and controlling documents expertly. That’s the real core of your value as a property manager. It may be tenant communications that is most important task that’s optimized by software.
Hiring a property management company may not solve the communication issue, unless they use the best property management software solution. In other posts, we discuss why ManageCasa is the best in that regard. Simple, reliable communication.
So there’s 2 ways to upgrade: hire a property management company or, adopt a whole new approach and attitude about property management so your time is well managed and tenants are happy. Property management software will play a key role.
Brainstorm: Let’s Outsource to a Property Management Company
Before you jump to the conclusion that you do need a property management company, consider that hiring one could wipe out your earnings and bring in an additional conflicting management philosophy, bad business habits, and interpersonal challenges. And that’s not to mention the specter of contractor fraud.
A recent incident I’m reminded of is with a property management firm which a friend of mine was temping with. The property manager was falling behind on repairs and maintenance. Would temps fix the real business issues or does it show that micromanagement was the real problem?
An angry tenant actually confronted a man in the company office who wasn’t even working with the property management firm. He was helping out from the goodness of his heart. She added another complaint that snow was keeping her out of her unit. She was hostile and began venting her anger on the man.” He was flustered and eventually lost his cool. It wasn’t a nice scene and relations were definitely damaged.
One month later, the property manager was fired.
“Stuff Happens”
Sure, stuff does happen if it’s allowed to.
The avalanche of little problems reminds us that when the big stuff doesn’t get done right, the little spin off issues can bury you. The modern approach is to make the sure you see less paperwork, have to give less interpersonal assistance to focus on key service delivery moments, and do fewer location visits.
Software Automation Ensures the Big Picture is Take Care of
The best way to launch this simplified approach is with simple property management software. The best software helps organize with a top down approach, one that prevents or minimizes the drain on your time. And it respects tenants and contractors time too.
An efficiency expert might come in a set up a rigorous micromanaging schedule for you, but few property managers want that. Instead, most want a day that’s interesting and not tethered to a desk. The only way to get that kind of work life is to reduce the number of tasks. That gives you room to work with.
Focus on the Top 3 Benefits of the Best Property Software:
1. reduces paperwork and helps you stay on top of things
2. reduces time spent with tenants and dealing with micromanagement
3. lets you manage anywhere, anytime and improve communication
If you’re going to grow your rental property portfolio, efficiency is key. The best software helps you achieve a top down management philosophy that prevents wasteful micromanagement.
If you’ve procrastinated on reviewing software alternatives, we understand. You’re in one of the most demanding and complex areas of business. Think positive and take a test drive of ManageCasa right now.
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