Every property management office--yours included--can vastly improve its efficiency through automation. This article will explain just some of the benefits that automation can provide. By David Levy, MBA.
You have have probably already upgraded from typewriters to computers and from paper memos to emails, and found a noticable savings in time. Well, the time saved by upgrading from Excel and paper to a good property management software system (PMSS) is even greater. Not only would you become more organized and accurate; you would save valuable time and money.
The ideal PMSS allows for an unlimited number of concurrent users, with people's levels of access depending on their job duties. The superintendent enters, directly onto the system, the monthly rent received. This data is then securely sent to the computer server, and can immediately be viewed by the manager at his office.
Work orders are much easier to track with a PMSS. Orders can easily be entered into the system as soon as they arrive, then printed centrally, prioritized, and distributed to all relevant parties. You can attach the order to a particular tenant and/or unit, whichever you prefer, and the PMSS will store it for easy retrieval if the need ever arises, even years later.
The manager can keep track of all of his properties with a PMSS. You would have easy access to all the data by logging onto the system from anywhere the internet is available. Once logged in, you could easily perform any function, just as easily as if you were at your office.
One click of the mouse does all the calculations for N1 forms. Another prints up the form completely filled out, down to the manager's signature. Any other legal form, including N4 and L1, is produced just as easily. If you're still filling forms out by hand, you can imagine the time savings from this alone!
A PMSS can track a tenant from the day he fills out an application through the day he moves out. (The information is stored on the system even after move out.) With a single click, you can run a credit check on an applicant, print tenant account histories and signed tenant receipts for any time period, or produce an individualized signed letter explaining the calculations behind the tenant's LMR updates.
If any issue arises the manager can send a message to staff through the system. No change to the system is permanent: if someone makes a mistake, it can easily be undone by anyone with the same level of access. The system has customizable ways to report tenant data, with many sample styles included.
Backing up data used to mean either photocopying or printing; both are time consuming and involve lots of filing. With a PMSS, backing up data is easy as a mouse click. You can store the backup on a CD, or for even more convenience, arrange to have a daily backup through a secure Internet connection to a secure server.
To summarize, there are major benefits to having a PMSS: your property management office would be much more efficient, saving you money. See for yourself what programs are on the market and how they can help you improve your business's bottom line.
David Levy, MBA, is the VP Operations of Rent Magic Software, a Toronto-based software company that develops cost-effective property management solutions that are powerful, yet easy to use. Their website is http://www.rentmagic.ca.