Landlords and property managers wear a lot of hats! Especially those of us dealing with the rules & regs of the city of Minneapolis.
From late-paying tenants to vacancies to compliance with local, state, and federal laws, it seems that the merry-go-round of landlords never stops. The good news is that there’s this great influx of technology that can save the day…None of which are a 1 size fits all solution.
More than just day to day management of your portfolio, your software should be designed to make your life easier. It’s designed to help you easily perform those routine tasks like collecting rent payments and scheduling maintenance requests. It also lets you maintain records and run reports, which are always helpful at tax time!
Most property management software runs in the cloud, which is just a fancy way of saying you don’t have to install anything—just go online and log in to access your information at any time and in any place. Think of property management software as a personal assistant that’s, well, not a person.
I’ve managed my properties on paper or in Excel for years, so why should I use a property management software?
Think of software as a personal assistant that is your one-stop-shop source of truth. While software can’t automate every aspect of your day to day, it can be an inexpensive and simple solution where property managers and landlords can manage properties, accounting, and marketing all in one place—anywhere, anytime, and on any device.
Here are some of the key tasks that software can help you with.
Doing the Books!
What would your life be like without having to manually update Excel spreadsheets? The thing that I love most about the property management software I use, you can get a complete financial picture for your properties and owners. Track income and expenses, and run key financial reports on demand.
Payments
Has this ever happened to you? You tenant claims he gave you his rent check, but you have no record of it…With software, you can allow tenants and association owners to make payments online, via ACH or credit card. And you can pay your maintenance folks through one centralized systems too.
Maintenance Requests
If the tenant’s kid kicks a ball through a window, you don’t need to get called at one o’clock in the morning. With property management software, you can accept and respond to maintenance requests via automated text 24/7. Using a work order system, you can easily deploy the vendor of your choice, track outstanding requests & pay in a timely manner. Best part, you have detailed records stored at the UNIT level. Meaning, you’ll be able to analyze each properties UPKEEP over time. Pretty slick.
Access to Your Information
Property management software is available for use on the go! So, all the features are available to you and your tenants 24/7. No longer do you have to drag around your laptop and find a Wi-Fi hotspot in order to check on maintenance requests, rental applications, or rental payments. Spend more of your time meeting with tenants and growing your business.
Advertise & Screen for New Tenants
Many property management software options will allow you to largely automate the process of rental listing syndication (advertising vacancies to sites like Craigslist or Zillow), handle rental applications, and even facilitate background checks. Then, once the applicant becomes a tenant, your property management software will let you manage that relationship so it benefits both you and your tenants. You can also reuse your marketing pages for the next time the unit becomes vacant! Saving you a butt load of time!
It’s also easier than you think. Property management software companies spend a lot of time listening to their customers! With ZenLord Pro, we are hyper focused on the Twin Cities & want to build the best possible solution that caters to the nuances of our market specifically.
Happy wife=Happy life. Same applies to happy tenants!
Still on the fence about converting to using a software solution? Let’s break it down. By using software, I guarantee you will be more efficient, and you’ll also make life a heck of a lot easier for your tenants. By streamlining those repetitive/tedious tasks, you can focus on what’s really important – which is interacting with your tenants and building a stronger relationship with them. BY investing the time in your current tenants, you have a higher likelihood of keeping them around which eliminates the time needed to find new ones. Reducing churn is one of my key performance indicators at the end of the year as it impacts my vacancy rates, which ultimately impacts my bottom line.
You’re making your tenants’ lives easier and showing them you’re paying attention to their needs. They simply log in to the tenant portal to pay their rent, manage maintenance requests and communicate with you. In short, property management software gives tenants easy access to their account information whenever they need it.
Here’s a great example from one of our ZenLords as to how it’s made life easier for tenants and property managers alike:
“We recently took over management of a property in Brooklyn Park. It has 106 units, and we were expecting 25% tenant turnover. In the end, though, we had only six tenants out of 106 leave after we took over. That’s something like 5% turnover, and we’re convinced it’s because of how ZenLord Pro made it easier for them to make maintenance requests with us, leaving a paper trail, and knowing that someone on the other end will be there to respond. A lot of residents used to think no one’s accountable, but we hold our property managers accountable. In fact, we download all our data into a Google Spreadsheet and track things like the time it takes for our property managers to respond to tenant requests. The ones who do well get bonuses, and tenants love that we’re creating a transparent process.”
Become More Efficient and Grow Your Business
The sneaky value of property management software is that it will ultimately help you grow your business.
f you can spend less time on paperwork and handling other routine tasks, you have more time to pursue new investment opportunities. Using property management software, some property management companies .& independent landlrods have grown their business from just a handful of units to hundreds or even thousands.
If you’re interested in trying property management software, you can sign up for ZenLord Pro. It’s free. It’s built specifically for Minnesota landlords & it’s pretty much the best thing since sliced bread
