Last Updated on: 22nd November 2023, 03:28 am
When it comes to property investment, whether one is a novice or an experienced individual, property consideration is a matter that requires careful consideration. Sometimes it sounds quite simple and easy, right? Look for tenants, collect the rents, carry out repairs, and then renew the tenancy agreements! But this is not as simple as it appears to be, says estate and letting agents in Buckingham.
Property management when multiple properties are involved must be taken seriously. You cannot use ignorance as an excuse and a wrong move can turn out to be costly. You can run into various issues such as lengthy evictions, tenants not paying rent, facing maintenance issues and all of these things leading to relationship breakdowns. If you are considering cutting corners or ignoring the law, it could result in huge amounts of fines, litigation and worst- a prison sentence.
Multiple properties need systemised property management where you can organise and outsource menial tasks. It requires time to learn and keep everything up-to-date with the legislation and also exercise a certain level of expertise in order to find the correct tenant and for you to be able to proactively manage the properties and their tenancy and maintain relationships.
Here are five tips for managing multiple properties:
Having an effective on-site linkage
Whenever you are managing multiple properties, you need to remember that you cannot be everywhere at the same time. So you require contacts who are in the vicinity or live on the property in cases of a multi-unit structure. Although on-site liaisons are only good as a buffer, at times tenants feel more comfortable when they have a face-to-face conversation.
When you have people on-site, they can make notes and then pass them to you for making the maintenance calls, so you will save yourself a trip. If you have vacation rentals, then you might have a scheduled housekeeper who would act as your on-site contact. Make sure to offer incentives, and if you are not hiring anyone, then you can assign this task to a tenant whom you can trust.
Establishing methods of effective communication
After you have an on-site contact in place, the next step for you would be to establish an effective manner to communicate with them. Virtual discussions through the help of chatrooms and different online tools other than emails and texts must be encouraged.
Be careful when screening tenants
One of the best ways of avoiding any serious issues is to screen tenants very carefully right at the beginning. When you make haste with the process of screening your tenants, it often becomes the root cause of various issues with other tenants. So save yourself from this domino effect of chaos and disorder for your properties make sure that all of your tenants are screened right at the beginning. Along with on-site issues, the last thing you would want to deal with is unpaid rents. So check for credit scores and credit history.
Setting up an online request
When you are managing multiple properties, make sure to set up a separate account for maintenance requests so that you are not swamped with continuous phone calls and numerous voice mails. By setting up a separate email, you will have all your property management matters together in one place.
One of the easiest ways to set this up would be to ask your tenants to fill up a Google form when they are moving in. google forms are free of cost and very easy to create. Simple details such as their names and contact information along with which property they are going to occupy, the kind of complaint, any non-urgent questions, and then a space to describe a problem itself. This process will help you prioritise different problems on the basis of their urgency.
Create ways of routine prevention
When you have your on-site contacts in place, make sure they inspect problems on the basis f a routine to avoid any problems that have the potential of becoming too serious. They should be able to identify threats much before they turn into an issue. With the help of routine inspections, your tenants will also know that you are proactive and hence decrease the number of demands from renters.
In a nutshell,
Managing multiple properties is not an easy business. It takes proper expertise and guidance to be able to manage several properties at the same time. We hope these tips helped you to become a better property manager and avoid any unpleasant circumstances for you as well as your tenants.
