Some important facts of property management.
Monday, December 27th, 2010The real estate market, specifically property management market for United Kingdom and Spain, evolves constantly and requires all experience and commitment of management professionals to satisfy the necessities for construction, buys and sale of buildings for more demanding clients every day.
And why I say this? Then, the property market is more and more competitive, actually: new companies are born, the technologies innovate constantly and produce new materials, the geographic breach is not more a limit thanks to the increasing and solid commercial relations generated through the Internet, and the receiving public is allows of competitiveness and quality of the present properties management services.
Therefore, it is strategic and relevant that management professionals fuse in an only quality service those points that the receiving market delay of them. A qualified service that integrates:
Simple and realistic budgets.
Projects to the measurement of each one of clients.
Excellent yield at pricequality relation of project.
Excellence of external contracted services.
Flexibility, security and confidence.
Fluid communication channels.
All these points of property management interrelated to each other and verified throughout the process, to principle to aim, establish a relation that offers clarity and confidence between involved parts.
It fortifies communication channels, it clarify the aims and it is the most effective instrument at the time that it is necessary solve no predicted questions that arise like result of new ideas and modification made during the same project development.
The present challenge is create communication channels between the different professionals from the sector to generate integrating strategies, which satisfy a demanding market.
The constant qualification, the multi-sectorial relations, handling of new technologies, the international projection and a solid position through the time are factors that will contribute to that the management of properties be an integral service more and more sophisticate and attractive.
Rental Property Management – Ten Questions
Monday, December 20th, 2010Why hire rental property management? Because doing it all yourself is the surest way to make your real estate investment experience a bitter one. You also have more time to find the next deal when there is someone taking care of the details for you. Hire a good property manager, but first ask the following questions.
1. How much is the fee? Fees vary around the country from as low as 4% of gross rents for larger buildings, to as high as 12% for single family homes. Be sure the fee is clearly stated and understood.
2. What other properties do they manage? It is best if they handle rental properties that are similar to yours. It is also helpful to drive by their other properties to see how they are maintained.
3. Who will actually handle your property? It is best if one person handles your building all the time. They should also have some experience. Get their name.
4. What costs extra? Is it extra for showings? Do evictions cost extra (beyond the legal fees)? Any other extras?
5. How is the fee collected and when? Will you be billed, or will it be deducted from your account directly? Monthly? Quarterly?
6. What type of advertising? How do they advertise the units and what does it typically cost you?
7. Cost and time to prepare units? What is the typical cleaning fee on a vacancy, and how long will it normally be before it’s rented out again?
8. What needs owner approval? What pound amount needs your authorization, and is this negotiable?
9. Hours of operation? What are their business hours, and who takes weekend calls?
10. Accounting? What reports do they send? How often? How are accounts set up?
There are probably other questions you’ll have as well, based on your particular needs and the particular property. Ask everything up front, and you’ll have fewer misunderstandings. With good rental property management, real estate investing is a lot less stressful.
Property Management Software as an ASP
Monday, December 13th, 2010It used to be that in order to manage your properties, be it apartments, mobile homes, or office space, each of the managers would have to store the data on their own machines either on software built for that purpose or with an assortment of personal databases andor spreadsheets. In order for a central office to be able to view that information or do any sort of reporting, the individual managers would have to mail a floppy disk to the central office, or, as things became more advanced, email or ftp that information. IT Managers hoped that the property managers were backing up their software in case of computer crashes, but never actually knowing if that was occurring or if the backups were valid. Among the other problems that were sure to occur in these scenarios were differing versions of the software, being tied down to a specific operating system, being tied down to a specific computer (the one with the installation), and difficulty correcting problems in the data from a remote location.
I talk about those things as if they are archaic when, in fact, many companies still rely upon these decentralized programs and databases and outdated methods to manage their properties.
Recently, however, companies that wrote these personal solutions have begun to develop centralized solutions based on web servers. And they are not the only ones. Intense competition from Internet startups with savvy web developers backed by knowledgeable property managers and property management companies have appeared, sometimes overnight.
Is it worth it to try one of these out? What does it buy you?
Whether you go with a proven player in the property management software market or a program written by a fledgling company, moving to an Application Service Provider (ASP) most likely provides you with the following important concepts. This list is by no means all-inclusive.
Centralized Data and Software
With data in one location, you can ensure backups happen on all of the properties as many times as you deem necessary. You no longer have to worry about whether your managers are backing up data.
With data in one location, you can run reports on all of the properties at the same time without waiting for managers to mail or email you their data. You can even view these reports with real-time data.
All of your managers machines are always running the most up-to-date version, and the ASP doesnt have to take time building and testing the patches to make sure they patch the program properly on all supported operating systems. They can just make and test the changes on their own servers, and move those changes to where the property managers themselves can use the modifications.
Data fixes do not require the data to be zipped up and sent to the programming company, nor do they require access into your computers or networks.
Versatility and Convenience
No more are the days when you have to buy the Windows version, the Mac version, or, if you are especially daring, trying to get the version of the software to work with the flavor of Unix or Linux that you have selected. If done properly, property management software will run on any of the more popular web browsers on any environment you choose.
You no longer need to bring the computer with you that has the installation on it. You can access your properties from any library, school, Internet caf, home, or work location at which you find yourself, as long as you have a connection to the Internet.
Cost
How many property managers honestly want to pay a team of IT professionals to manage all of the software and its upgrades at all of their properties?
There is really no need to keep using antiquated alternatives. If the convenience of easy access from anywhere using any web browser doesnt provide enough of an incentive, the easy and less expensive management and real-time statistics and reporting should. Take a look at some of the choices in online property management software today, and see how easy managing your properties can be.