The Professional Guide to Efficient Property Management

A property manager, also known as an estate manager, is an individual or a property management company paid to take care of a real estate property on behalf of the owner. They usually handle marketing, tenant screening, maintenance, rent collection, and finances/accounting. Simply put, the property manager ensures the smooth running of the property. 

A closer look at the above definition shows that a property manager is a multitasker. They are required to build a close working relationship with the owner, tenants, and artisans. That means, to be successful in this endeavor, they need a high level of efficiency and responsiveness — which most don’t know how to develop.

In this post, we’ll be discussing some of the efficient property management ways to do things without stress.  Below are the ways to get your work done more efficiently.

Planning for a More Efficient Property Management

Planning is one of the general rules to achieve any desired goal more efficiently. It’s a way to prepare yourself mentally for the tasks you want to do. As a property manager with demands to meet targets, it’s necessary to be mentally ready before doing the job. So planning is essential for the success or failure of a property manager. The question now is: how do you effectively plan your day or your activities to improve your efficiency? Read on.

1. Create a Checklist of Recurring Tasks

As a property manager, there are definitely some recurring tasks (like calling clients and tenants, sending payment reminders and acknowledgments, replying to calls and emails, and so on) that would come up either daily, weekly, or monthly. One way to prepare for these recurring tasks is to note them down and classify them into how often they’d be repeated — either daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly. This makes it easier to map out what your tasks for the day would be.

2. Plan Your Day

Now that you have a mind map of what your activities would look like and how often they occur, it’s now time to fix them into your schedule. Here are two things to remember when you’re planning your day.

• Ensure that you schedule the most urgent tasks first. 
• Group tasks into what you can easily do together. For example, if you want to visit a bank on the same route to the property you want to visit that day, schedule both tasks together. Plan to visit the bank while going to the property. That will conserve your energy while improving your efficiency.

3. Schedule your time

After planning your activities for the day, scheduling your time will help you develop a timed road map to get all the tasks done. Timing yourself for each work will not only prevent you from time-wasting activities but serve as your guardrail throughout the day. 

Communication

Communication is also another key to being an efficient property manager. You need to effectively communicate with the tenant, property owner, and artisans. Without this, you’re leaving a negative impression on everyone around you, which is very dangerous for your success. 

If communication is not properly managed, it can also mar your success as a property manager because you’d spend most of your time discussing less urgent tasks. So, if less communication will make you less effective, and over communication will make you less efficient, how do you communicate without sacrificing efficiency and effectiveness?

1. Always send Explicit Instruction Out

One of the time-wasters is the inability of the receiver to grasp your message once. For example, if the contractor or tenant doesn’t understand your information, you’d need to re-communicate the same instruction again, either over a call or email. And this time, you’d be spending the time you should use for other scheduled tasks to repeat the information. So, if you’re sending out instructions, ensure your message is simple and understandable.

2. Set times to Answer Calls and Emails

Unless it’s urgent, avoid answering calls and replying to emails as you receive them. That will not only affect your productivity but make you easily distracted. To prevent distraction, ensure you have a pre-planned time to return calls and reply to emails.

3. Use Chatbots

Chatbots are computer programs that simulate real human conversation. Apart from not requiring you to be present at all times, Chatbots make it easier for tenants to be direct in their inquiries. There is no time for unnecessary chit chats — just the question or request.

4. Build a Template to Work With

As you already know, most of the tasks of a real estate property manager are usually recurring — sending out payment reminders and acknowledgments, routine checks and maintenance, sending property reports to clients, and so on. So one way to avoid repetitive tasks is by building a template for each of these tasks. 

For example, instead of developing a personalized payment reminder every time, you can write a template with a generalized message with spaces to add the current date, name, and some necessary information to make it suited for different clients. By this, you wouldn’t have to waste time writing messages from scratch every time.

Related: A Guide for Effective Communication with Your Real Estate Clients

Team Work

Success as a property manager also depends on the people you work with — contractors, administrative assistants, lawyers, bookkeepers, and so on. So, having a team of experts you can trust to get any job assigned to them done will not only ease the pressure on you but make you more efficient. This means if you’re still working alone, you need to set up an efficient team of experts. However, if you have a team, here are steps to work more efficiently with your team.

1. Delegate task

An efficient property manager doesn’t have to do all tasks by themselves — do what you’re required to do. So delegating tasks to your team members is another way to increase your efficiency. Instead of doing the routine maintenance yourself, you can send a team member. Also, an experienced member of your team can screen tenants. You’re only required to handle tasks like meeting and reporting property updates to clients, and so on.

2. Don’t Micromanage

Micromanagement is a management style where the employers closely monitor, observe, and control the employees’ work. To improve the efficiency of your teammate, don’t micromanage them. Micromanagement reduces not only efficiency, but it’s also one of the causes of poor services. If you trust a contractor to be part of your team, you should also trust them to get the work done. 

Integrate Technology into Your Business

It’s no longer news that technology has become an essential part of our everyday life. Technology prevents workplace stress, makes us more organized, and helps us get more things done in less time. 

So, to be a more efficient property manager, you should also use technology to your advantage. And the good news is that there are specialized applications you can also use as a property manager. Let’s check how you can also increase efficiency with technology. 

1. Automating Rent Payment

One of the most tedious tasks for most property managers is rent collection. With technology, you can automate this task. That means you don’t need to send reminders to your tenants manually and you don’t also need to go to the bank as often as before. Rent payment automation will make it easier for your tenant to pay directly from their bank, or the platform can automatically deduct the fund from the tenants’ account.

2. Accounting and Bookkeeping 

Property management platforms can also prevent the hassle of doing the accounting and bookkeeping tasks yourself. All you have to do is log in to your account, input your figures, and let the software do the rest. So instead of stressing yourself whenever you want to send a report to your client (homeowner), you’d only need to download and print the file or send the document to your client through email.

3. Marketing and Lead Generation 

Part of your job as a real estate property manager is to fill in the vacancy in the property. And one way to do this is through marketing and lead generation. However, with the help of a property management tool, like Mashboard, you can get this done with ease. You can market your property, generate leads, screen tenants and sign the agreement online. 

What is Mashboard, and How does it work?

Mashboard is one of Mashvisor’s real estate management tools designed for real estate investors, agents, and property managers. This innovative tool is used for efficient property management. What to do to use this platform is a subscription to the service and an active internet connection. Here are some benefits of using Mashboard:

• Easily generate Real Estate Leads
• Share report analysis with clients
• Gain access to prospective renters’ information for screening
• Access to a rich information database
• Direct access to MLS listed properties 

Get to know more about the Mashboard here

Efficient Property Management: Final Words

Efficient property management is essential for your success as a property manager. So to increase your efficiency, plan your tasks, communicate effectively, integrate technology into your business, and build a trusted team of experts to get things done.