5 Property Management Organization Tips
Searching for an experienced partner to manage your rental property? Palmetto State Properties is known for their ability to manage, market and maintain rental properties in the greater Charleston, SC area. Contact us today.
Why Is Being Well-Organized So Important for Landlords?
Property owners need to be well-organized to stay on top of the financial performance of their real estate investments and work with the IRS and their state tax department. Keeping accurate financial records and retaining business-related documents is crucial. You’ll need them for your own business management and planning purposes as a landlord as well as for tax returns (whether prepared by you or a CPA). You may also need them to obtain financing from a lender to purchase additional properties.
Consider the information needed to compile an accurate Profit and Loss statement or calculate the return on a real estate investment. You’ll save a lot of time and hassle if you maintain a well-organized filing system—paper or digital. Good property management organization enables landlords to focus on the most important issues, knowing that any information passed on to an accountant, lender, tax authority, or property management company is complete and correct.
Property Management Organization
Tip 1: Set Up an Office and Filing System
You may work from home, from a space in your rental property, in an office building, or anywhere else. But you need a place to set up your files, safeguard important documents, make business calls, and keep everything needed to run your property rental business in one safe space. If you’re already working with a property management company or plan to do so in the future, you won’t need as much space.
When you work with Palmetto State Properties, we will handle a lot of the paperwork for you. For your records, your expenses are captured and included in an annual statement along with a 1099. We collect and maintain records for income, expenses, etc., so you can use your time more effectively.
If you want to do this yourself, you’ll need to be able to store and access paper documents as well as digital versions. (It’s amazing how much paper is still generated in this primarily digital world.) And some of the information is sensitive and needs to be secured under lock and key (or digital combination lock!). Set up separate folders (physical and electronic) for things like:
- – Tenant applications and lease agreements
- – Insurance policies
- – Documents related to your purchase and ownership of each rental property
- – Inspection reports
- – Bank statements
- – Invoices and expense receipts
- – Correspondence with tenants
- – Tenant complaints
- – Monthly financial reports
- – Equipment and appliance warranties, and more
You’ll also need a secure place to keep all of the keys to your rental property and the vehicles and equipment used to maintain it.
Tip 2: Set Up a Computer System or Network
Here are some systems you may need:
- – It’s best to keep your personal and professional resources separate. Using the same email address for business and personal correspondence makes it difficult to shut off from work.
- – Most businesses these days rely heavily on a cloud drive and share files electronically with those who need certain documents or information.
- – Digital signatures are acceptable for most purposes, even for signing leases.
- – Install whatever bookkeeping and basic accounting software you’re comfortable using.
- – If you’re going to be managing your properties yourself, install a basic property management software package.
Tip 3: Put Everything in Writing
Oral agreements, whether arrived at over the phone or in person, don’t give you a leg to stand on in court. While you don’t want to end up in court with a tenant or vendor, if you do, you need to prove your claims, and that’s hard to do without documented evidence. When you commit everything to writing, there is a record of who said what to whom and when. Take notes on every phone call or meeting, and keep them where you can find them when you need them. Many landlords rely on their cell phone notes to function.
Tip 4: Manage Your Time Effectively
For one full day, keep track of how you spend your time. You’ll be surprised how much time you spend on relatively unimportant things. There are plenty of good books and self-study courses on time management. Learn how to set goals and priorities and establish a daily schedule that makes the most of your time. Something as simple as jotting down a to do list every morning can make a big difference.
Tip 5: Outsource What You Don’t Want to Do Yourself
Life is too short to spend any more time than necessary doing things you don’t want to do. And no landlord is equally good at or interested in all the tasks required to manage rental properties effectively. Your best bet is to delegate things to a professional—a tax advisor, real estate attorney, property management company, etc. That way, you can concentrate on what does require your personal attention, such as setting goals and devising strategies for achieving them, looking for new investment properties, and so on.
What Are the Benefits of Outsourcing Property Management?
Often, the best way to manage even a single rental property is to engage the services of a professional property management company. Landlords who own multiple properties have even more reasons to outsource property management.
Property managers can take over as many responsibilities a landlord wants to delegate and is willing to pay for. That can include advertising and filling vacancies, screening applicants, collecting rents, handling tenant complaints, managing maintenance requests and routine maintenance procedures, conducting move-out inspections, handling evictions, and more.
By working with a property management company like Palmetto State Properties, you can reclaim valuable time and freedom from the pressures of operating a property rental business. From there, you can concentrate on building your rental empire.
Get in touch today to find out how we can help.
