As a landlord, you’re in the business of making sure your tenants are happy. But as we all know, being a good friend and neighbor is about more than just putting out fires when they come up.
It’s about building relationships with your tenants so that you have a solid foundation for future interactions and can increase the odds that they’ll be loyal to you over time. So how do you make sure you take care of all those little things that are critical to keeping things running smoothly? In this post, we’ll explore five easy-to-implement tips for staying on top of your responsibilities as a landlord without sacrificing time or energy:
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Understand your responsibilities.
The first step to managing your property is to understand your responsibilities. As a landlord, you have a legal responsibility to make sure that the property is kept in good repair and safe condition. You also have a financial responsibility, which means ensuring that all bills are paid on time and that there are no unexpected expenses.
In addition, managing a rental property requires an understanding of emotional requirements: how renters feel about their homes and whether they’re happy with them or not. This can be very important when making decisions about maintenance work or repairs—if tenants aren’t satisfied with their living conditions because of something you’ve done or haven’t done, then they may choose not to renew their tenancy agreement when it comes up for renewal.
You’ll need to understand physical requirements too; this involves having an eye for detail so that things like rubbish bins don’t overflow before they’re emptied by waste management services each week (which could lead directly into legal liability).
Finally—and perhaps most importantly—you’ll need social skills such as empathy towards others’ feelings as well as patience during stressful situations (elderly people often move into retirement homes).
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Hire a property manager.
Hiring a property manager is a great way to make your life easier. While it can be tempting to manage the property yourself, there are many advantages to hiring a professional. Property Managers:
- Know what they’re doing.
- Have systems in place for handling maintenance requests and other tasks.
- Are able to serve multiple properties at once while still giving each one the attention they deserve.
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Use the right tools.
For any Property Management Pascoe Vale business, it’s important to have the right tools. Using the right products and services can make all the difference when it comes to saving time and money. Here are some of our favorite time-saving software solutions:
- A property management software that allows you to manage your properties from your phone or tablet. This is particularly useful if you’re traveling a lot because it helps eliminate the need for paper records and lets you keep track of everything from anywhere without needing to be in front of a computer.
- A property management software that allows you to manage your properties from home or work (or anywhere else). Having access to information about each tenant in one place makes it easy for everyone involved with managing a property—from managers who live far away from their tenants’ homes right down through maintenance workers who may not have an office—to access all relevant details at any time of day or night.
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Don’t let tenants avoid you.
The most time-saving property management tips are:
- Don’t let your tenants avoid you. If they tell you they’re going to be away, find out when and where they are going and when they’ll be back. If they don’t want to talk on the phone, ask them to send an email or text message with the information you need.
- Use a system for communicating with tenants and other landlords as needed (e.g., emails/text messages). This allows all of your communications to be centralised in one place rather than scattered across multiple communication channels such as telephone calls, in-person meetings and handwritten notes on paper napkins that have been lost in the wind (or worse).
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Be prepared to give incentives.
Incentives are a great way to get your tenants to do what you want, and as an added bonus, they can also help you save time and money. If your goal is to have the tenant pay rent on time, offer some type of incentive for prompt payment—they may even agree to pay cash if you provide an incentive.
For example, let’s say a tenant has been late with their rent in the past. You could offer them one month free if they pay the next six months’ rent on time. Or perhaps they are struggling financially and need help getting caught up with payments—offer three months free if they sign a new lease agreement with you that includes paying back what they owe plus any penalties associated with being late or having unpaid bills from previous landlords who evicted them because of nonpayment issues (if there were any).
Conclusion
We hope these tips can help you save time and money on your next property management project. Remember that property management doesn’t have to be a headache; it can be a fun and rewarding experience!
