Do you own and operate a property management company? If so, you may be looking for more ways to grow your business and increase your success.
Whether you know it or not, the organization of your company can make or break your business’s ability to grow. In this article, we will help you learn how best to organize your company, and how it can help you in the long run.
Why Is Organization So Important for Your Business?
As mentioned above, we know that keeping your business organized is crucial for your success. But why is that?
Property management can be a difficult job that may cause you to have to handle multiple problems and situations at once. Being organized will help you stay on top of everything you need to without missing important details. This will allow you to provide your clients and tenants with a higher quality of service, helping your business grow.
When your company is well organized, gone will be the days of asking yourself questions like “Did I follow up with that lead?” or “Do I have all the documents I need to file my taxes this year?” With this business model, you can feel less overwhelmed, get more work done, and earn a higher income.
Property Management Organization: 8 Items to Keep Your Business Organized
1. A Filing Cabinet
As time goes on, more and more businesses are dealing with a digital approach to their records. While we recommend doing this wherever you can, you will most likely still have to handle some physical paperwork over the years. As such, you will need a filing cabinet to keep all of your documents secure and organized properly.
Try separating your filing cabinet into the following categories to help you keep track of any information you may need:
- Insurance paperwork
- Purchase documents
- Hard copies of signed lease agreements
- Monthly reports for your finances
- Bank statements
- Expenses and receipts
- Tenant notes and complaints
- Maintenance records
- Miscellaneous info
2. A Tray for Your Desk
Your desk tray will ideally be used for anything that requires your attention as soon as possible. As a property manager, you will have many responsibilities and duties on a day-to-day basis, and it is unrealistic to expect yourself to keep all of this in your head.
In order to make sure that you have addressed every urgent matter that you need to, keep it all in one desk tray, and then file away the documents after.
3. A Key Box
As a property manager, you will most likely be dealing with a lot of keys, as this is part of the job. However, it is absolutely crucial that you have a solid method of storing and handling these keys. After all, you don’t want to be losing the keys to the properties that you manage, as this will result in losing all of your clients!
We recommend investing in a secure lock box where you can store all of your keys for each property you manage. Make sure to label each one, however, do not put the address on the key. Should the key ever get lost, you don’t want the stranger who finds it to know the address!
4. Google Drive
Now that you have a physical filing cabinet, it would be a great idea to have a digital way to organize your records. Google Drive is the best place to do this.
In the app, you can create folders to help organize all of your important documents. We recommend the following categories:
- Operating procedures
- Invoices
- Insurance records
- Signed contracts and lease agreements
- Forms
- Miscellaneous information
An added bonus to having a digital filing system is that your whole team will be able to access this information from anywhere as needed! For example, if one of your employees is doing a tour of a property with a prospective tenant but can’t remember the exact criteria for applicants, they can simply use their phone to check the digital drive for more information.
5. A System for Your Bill Payments
As your property management continues to grow and manage more rental homes, you will need a proper system in place for keeping up with any and all bills that must be paid on time, and which property they are associated with.
We recommend keeping this information in an online storage box that all of your employees will be able to access at any time. You can use Google Sheets to make a spreadsheet. Then you will be able to store it in Google Drive with the rest of your information and share it with anyone you need.
Through this spreadsheet, we recommend tracking all of the bills that you need to pay. Include an extra column that allows you to check off each bill as you take care of them.
6. A Contact Directory
Regardless of how many rental properties are under your care, it is always important to keep a directory that is full of all your tenants’ information such as their full names, contact information, addresses, and lease agreements.
In a similar fashion to the other items on this list, we highly recommend using Google Sheets to do this, allowing you and your employees to access any necessary information on the go.
7. An Email Address for Your Company
While this one may seem obvious, not every business owner has separate contact information for their personal and professional communication. If you want your property management company to be efficient and organized, we highly recommend creating a separate email address that is specific to your business.
This means that you can allow yourself to disconnect from your work when you are away from the office and manage your time more effectively. If there’s an emergency, they will call you!
8. Property Management Software
This item may not be as necessary if you are a smaller property management company with only a few doors under your belt. However, if you plan to grow your business, it can be extremely beneficial!
Property management software can help you organize everything automatically, saving you time and energy. It will help you track rent payments, ongoing repairs, applications from prospective tenants, and more. This will be crucial for your business operations if you are going to be caring for a large number of rental properties in the future.
With a wide range of property management software companies to choose from, we are sure that you will easily be able to find one that meets your specific needs.
Property Management Organization: Bottom Line
The organization of your property management company will ultimately dictate your overall success in the long run. That’s why we believe that it is crucial to invest in this aspect of your business early, as this will only set you up to succeed.
If you have any more questions on how you can make your property management company the best that it can be, contact Blanket for our expertise!
