Successful property management is no walk in the park especially when you are offering the things that your clients want. Having one piece of property in your portfolio can be tasking enough. So, how can you properly manage a growing portfolio? Also, still build and keep a good reputation and relationship with your tenants? Keep your sanity too!
Here are a few pointers that you can use.
Manage Your Time Effectively
As a property manager with a growing number of real estate under your care, you must know how to use your time well. As your portfolio grows, you will need a team of maintenance staff, supervisors admin staff and so on, who will need your attention every day at some point or the other. Being able to distinguish between the important things and mere distractions, is an art you must master. Managing your time well and having enough time to kick back and relax is very important.
Know A Little Bit About Everything
You know how it goes- the plumber might show up angry one morning or be a bit under the weather resulting in a shoddy job done in your tenant’s kitchen if you are not able to tell the difference between good and sub-standard pipes. Have a look online to find out what good plumbing work looks like so you’ll be able to identify problems sooner.
Know a Lot About the Legalities
Tenants of the property you manage are going to want to be sure that you can answer their questions correctly about the laws that govern renting, leasing, insurance, and so on. Being a member of the Institute of Real Estate Management is a great way to stay abreast with policies and developments in the real estate sector.
You Can’t Do It All Yourself
Yes, it is important that you should have a working knowledge of just about every aspect of your business. But with an expanding portfolio, if you are going to be able to properly attend to tenants’ needs and ensure that all of your property is properly monitored and maintained, you are going to need skilled support staff who you can rely on.
You will also need a structure in place that takes effective care of property maintenance needs, tenants’ needs and complaints, payments, expenses, rent reminders etc. as easily as possible and in an organised manner. Having software that can help you set up such a system is the way to go.
Relationships with Tenants are Key
Without becoming too attached (just in case you ever have to give any of them the boot), you must build relationships with your tenants and ensure that existing ones don’t suffer as your portfolio grows and you have new tenants who get what they’re looking for. This is for the purpose of gaining their confidence and trust and keeping them informed at all times on all that they need to know. This will create a layer of trust which should leave you with reliable tenants for years to come.