Every rental property owner’s been there. The beginning of a new month, which means, all the bills are due. Also, the rents are coming in. This will include all sorts of things, from home owners’ association dues, to mortgages, to utilities that you cover. If you’re still shoeboxing it: this is nerve wracking and you may be losing money.
Setting up online bill pay for the utilities and mortgages is the first step. This is one of the simplest and easiest ways of taking care of at least a chunk of that organizational nightmare. However, this becomes problematic when rents are not paid on time.
Using a property management software is one of the smartest things you can do and I’m not just saying that because I happen to write for the RentPost blog. I’m saying that because being able to receive electronic rent payments makes it easier for people to give you money. Think about that automatic bill pay online above. Wouldn’t the same hold true for your tenants? This also prevents issues with rent checks getting lost in the mail or bouncing.
Additionally, having it all in one place makes tax time a lot less harrowing: when all you have to do is hit print and have all those records at your fingertips, it beats rifling through the filing cabinet by a longshot.
You probably already know that it’s a good idea to document everything. If every day, you take a little time out to print emails from the owners of your properties, emails from tenants, and repair companies to keep them filed- you have a lot less to do at the beginning of the month. When you take notes during calls and otherwise, having these things kept on record is just smarter business. It also helps with keeping your income flow efficient and on track. Online record keeping takes care of the mess, while having an effective property management software will make it easier to prevent said mess in the first place.
Computer software and online databases help keep things productive, but really, they don’t help much when you have a power outage or have to wait on the IT guy. However, if all you have is an overflowing file cabinet full of handwritten notes- this becomes a problem. So, when you use a property management software, having one that’s organized and user friendly enough that printing these things up for that file makes life much easier.
