Property Management Software Can Save You Time & Money
For this reason, it is so important to find ways to cut-out the busy work of management. Fortunately, property management software can help. Modern property management software is more accessible, easier to use, and more effective than ever. As a landlord or real estate investor, you’ll find property management software can save you serious time and money. Here are four ways it can help:
Online Collection
How it can save you time:
Adopting property management software that offers online payments means you’ll spend less time chasing down checks, less time running to the bank, and, generally, less time collecting rent. A study by the National Apartment Association (NAA) found that landlords and property managers who adopt online rent collection spend 65% less time processing rent. In an eight-hour work day, that’s a savings of over five hours.
How it can save you money:
Most rental management software will include reminders for tenants, the ability for them to sign up for autopay, and late fee enforcement features (that actually work). All-in-all, these features mean more tenants will pay their money on time. When necessary, you’ll also find your late fee collection more successful than ever before. You’ll receive your money faster and, when you don’t, you’ll actually be able to collect your late fee.
Document Signing
How it can save you time:
A prospective tenant decides they want to rent from you. You email her a copy of your lease. She doesn’t have a printer so she has to track one down. She finally does, prints it off and signs it. But she needs to wait until she sees her soon-to-be roommate to get her signature as well. She finally does, scans the document with her phone and sends it back to you. She was a bit careless with her picture capture and you have to ask her to retake it. You finally receive it, print it off yourself, and sign it.
A process like this can take hours of your time and days or even weeks to complete. Adopting a platform that allows you to create lease templates that can be signed digitally turns hours into minutes for both you and your grateful tenants.
How it can save you money:
Online document signing can save you money in two ways. Firstly, it means less paper, less ink, and less driving around meeting prospective renters to collect signatures. This may not seem like a lot, but overtime, these costs add up. Secondly, signing documents online means you’ll rent your properties faster. This also means you’ll lower the risk of a tenant finding a different place to live. Increased leasing velocity means a lowered vacancy rate which equates to real dollars in your pocket.
Maintenance Management
How it can save you time:
Coordinating maintenance is one of the most frustrating and least rewarding parts of being a landlord. Fortunately, property management software can move the entire process into a centralized location. Tenants can submit maintenance requests including pictures, videos, and description. You can share these detailed work orders with your maintenance staff, or review them yourselves.
The ability to communicate directly with tenants means you can get to the source of the issue faster than ever and coordinate a convenient time to come and resolve the issue.
How it can save you money:
If you’ve been around long enough, you know that repairing and maintaining your properties costs a lot less than replacing. But if you don’t have tenants that communicate maintenance issues to you or if you don’t have a means of tracking and managing necessary maintenance, you’ll find yourself lagging behind. Unfortunately, this can mean big long term costs for you.
Tenant Communication
How it can save you time:
Tenant communication is one of the least considered yet most critical aspects of managing properties. In fact, over 60% of tenants say that communication with their landlords is their top priority as renters, but only 18% of landlords make it one. Your tenants want clear lines of communication and if you don’t provide them, things can get ugly. Bad communication is often the culprit behind all sorts of negative outcomes. If your tenant isn’t aware of the rules, they’re going to break them. And if they don’t feel like they have a dialogue with you, they become frustrated.
The reason so few landlords make communication a top priority is because it can feel like a full time job. Fortunately, property management software can automate 90% of it. The features we mentioned above are all peppered with examples of automated communication, from automated rent reminders to the ability to comment and chat about a maintenance ticket. Adopting software means you can focus less time on communication with your tenants while still making it the priority they expect.
How it can save you money:
Tenant turnover is expensive. Establishing good communication helps you maintain a good tenant-landlord relationship. And happy tenants are better tenants that stick around longer. This means fewer vacancies, improved maintenance, more on time payments, and a slew of other financial benefits.
The Cost of Property Management Software
Of course, in the context of these features, property management software sounds great. But, while it obviously can save you time and money, how much of both will it ultimately cost you?
An answer to that question twenty years ago may have been severely dissatisfying, however, times have changed. Modern property management software platforms are simpler to user, more intuitive, and yet more feature-rich than ever before. And, surprisingly, the cost structures have also moved to benefit landlords.
Nearly all property management software has come down in price over the years, and some, like Innago Property Management Software, actually offer their services at no cost to landlords. Free property management software may sound too good to be true, but it truly isn’t. The value structure these property management providers have settled on enables them to offer robust and easy to use tools completely free of charge for landlords.
If you’re not currently using any form of management software, it’s time to take a look. It can save you serious time and serious money.
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