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30 Tweet Ideas: Part 2 of the Twitter Series for Property Managers

Charity Hisle — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:00:17 +0000

Twitter is one of the most difficult social networks to explain and to learn for property management professionals. Often I hear questions like, “What do we say?” or “Who are we talking to?” Let’s try to clear up the confusion today! Assuming you already understand what Twitter is (link to post #1), we’ll get down to the nitty-gritty details.

What do I Tweet About?
1.   Upcoming events at your community: parties like pool, holiday, Superbowl
2.   Introduce new employees: include a photo and first name
3.   Welcome new residents: ask if new residents have a Twitter handle
4.   Make important announcements: power outages, pest control, etc.
5.   Share local community events: concerts, theaters, restaurants, museums, college game day, etc.
6.   Reply to questions about pricing and availability
7.   Share community pet photos
8.   Say thank you to prospects: ask for Twitter handle
9.   Share content like newsletters
10.   Share evergreen content: policies and emergency evacuation routes
11.   Participate in tweet chats
12.   Tweet with other local businesses
13.   Re-tweet local business tweets to share deals and updates with your residents
14.   Share other businesses via Twitter with #FollowFriday
15.   Resident referral bonuses (if applicable)
16.   Share photos from previous events
17.   Host a Tweet-up for your city
18.   Share updates from a movement or a charity (Movember, Breast Cancer Awareness)
19.   Share local coupons and deals from Groupon and LivingSocial
20.   Share the weather report for your area
21.   Receive and respond to maintenance requests
22.   Have a contest: think scavenger hunt
23.   Share fun trivia and quotes
24.   Use employees, residents and community pets in your profile photo
25.   Share individual Twitter handles on employee name badges
26.   Promote the out-of-work employee stories (What does Jane do for a hobby? Can you share Mark’s BBQ recipe?)
27.   Talk about things that aren’t business related
28.   Share green living and cleaning tips
29.   Share pet-lover updates: local vets, pet spa’s, pet sitters, etc.
30.   Ask questions about what people are doing this weekend or for a holiday.

What not to Tweet About?
Politics or controversial public issues
Religion or spiritual beliefs
Specials, sales or concessions
Do NOT complain about residents, employees or work situations

Try to keep it positive, upbeat and authentic and you’ll do just fine! For those of you that are just getting started, we have Twitter How-To’s coming up next.

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What is Twitter? Part 1 of the Twitter Series for Property Managers

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10 Tips for Property Managers Using Facebook

The Importance of Routine Maintenance

Mary Girsch-Bock — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:56:28 +0000

With marketing activity being ramped up in a tough rental market, property managers are sometimes guilty of neglecting property maintenance. Warning: you do so at your own risk. While the majority of property managers are very responsive to routine maintenance requests, sometimes we forget that performing some routine maintenance at regularly scheduled intervals can reduce and in some cases eliminate the need for that emergency maintenance call.

If you find yourself more times than not running around frantically, trying to respond to these maintenance requests, it might be time for a refresher course in Property Maintenance.

There are five separate types of maintenance that property managers should be aware of and on top of. They are:

Routine Maintenance – This area is usually the cause of least concern for property managers. They simply assign maintenance personnel a series of jobs that are to be undertaken at a scheduled time; typically daily, weekly, or monthly. These include items such as regular landscaping, cleaning, and vacuuming of common areas.

Preventive Maintenance – Preventive maintenance can be easily neglected, so it’s important for managers to keep their maintenance staff on their toes when it comes to scheduling preventive maintenance. Changing an air filter or inspecting a water heater on a regular basis keeps maintenance personnel on top of any smaller problems that can be taken care of before they become big problems.

Corrective Maintenance – Most property managers and maintenance personnel spend the majority of their time responding to calls to fix a problem. While a necessary part of property management, and one that will never be eliminated, many problems can be prevented with the proper preventive maintenance.

Cosmetic Maintenance – Cosmetic maintenance is most often performed during the make-ready process. New carpeting, fresh paint, and new light fixtures are often part of the maintenance that will need to be performed between tenant rental periods.

Deferred Maintenance – Deferred maintenance is often found in properties with little to no funds available for needed repairs. While deferred maintenance can provide property managers with a little breathing room, it’s important that repairs be initiated in the near future, or the value of the property can be negatively impacted.

While using good property management software with a solid maintenance module can make scheduling and tracking maintenance work easier, remember that it’s only as good as the person putting the information into the system. Make sure your maintenance staff knows what to look for and what needs to be tracked.

Related Posts:
The Importance of Property Maintenance, Part 2

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Maintenance Manners Matter

Eliminate Property Management Time Wasters

Mary Girsch-Bock — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 23:58:08 +0000

Lean staff and busy property managers mean that proper time management in the office is more important than ever. Falling just a few days behind can result in playing catch-up for days to come, something most offices cannot afford to do.

Streamlining office operations can go a long way toward instituting and utilizing proper time management techniques. Below are a few time-consuming procedures that you may want to consider eliminating in order to create more free time tomorrow. While you’re at it, take a look around your office – most of us all have our own time wasters that need to be eliminated.

Using obsolete technology has to rank as the biggest time-waster in any office. Double posting, creating reports that aren’t available from your current software, and checking and re-checking work because of inaccurate posting can take a major chunk of your time that is better spent looking for additional clients. Older computers and dated software can waste way more time than they will ever save, and should be eliminated when possible. Investing in newer technology and more integrated software will save office staff both time and frustration.

Using two or three separate software programs instead of one integrated one. Do you track your tenants in one program, while using a separate accounting program for company financials? Why not simply combine them? It will eliminate duplicate data entry (a major time- waster) and create a more accurate picture of your company’s financial health.

Copying, stamping, and depositing rent checks. If you manage less than 25 properties, this is probably not an issue, but for those processing hundreds of checks a month, this takes up a lot of time. Instead, encourage residents to pay rent online using a tenant portal. Money is deposited automatically, and tenants are provided with an automatic receipt, as well as access to their rent payment history.

Showing rentals to uninterested parties. Spending a few extra minutes pre-screening applicants can significantly reduce the time wasted showing properties to people with no plans to rent. Finding out a bit more about what they’re looking for, rather than explaining what you have available can help to eliminate those who are not a good fit.

The bottom line is that an investment in some newer technology and some common sense can have your property management office running lean and efficient on a daily basis.

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iPad – Beyond the Cool Factor

Heather Blume — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:39:26 +0000

If you’re trying to justify the purchase of tablets to your company, you’re going to have to have more than a strong, “I want it because it’s neat,” factor. With all the programs that have been coming out with great tablet integrations and apps, on site teams are salivating over these little toys. In fact, over the last 18 months I can’t even count how many people have told me how great leasing with a tablet can be. It’s cool. Prospects love playing with it. It gives you that nifty techie edge to your apartments.

But did you know that the uses of Apple’s iPad can extend straight to your bottom line? I’m talking about NOI here, ladies and gentlemen. Not the leases we might get, but the delinquencies that we already have.

That’s right – Your ADL can benefit from a little tech touch up.

I got turned on to this idea by a property manager out here on Mercer Island who, rather than just printing out the ADL letters and mailing/taping them to resident’s doors (which always looks so classy!), sends their people to knock on doors at the end of the day to remind residents of their balances in person.

Uncomfortable, you say? I would agree to an extent, but the diversion of the iPad makes this face to face, budget enforcing task a success for the property. When the resident answers the door, they greet the resident and let them know that they have an outstanding balance with the office, and then they OFFER THE CONVENIENCE of paying that outstanding bill, right there, online using the resident portal on their iPad browser.

Residents are more likely to pay right then and there because it’s not “out of sight, out of mind,” and they see it as a bonus that the management team came to them on their time and they didn’t have to remember to stop in at the office, or make time on a weekend to do so.

People will use your services if you make them easy to use by providing great customer service to go with them. Technology can enhance that level of service, and can enhance your budget and bottom line if you know how to get the most out of it.

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Track Your Energy Costs in Real Time

Aimee Miller — Sat, 14 May 2011 00:06:54 +0000

Anyone who lives in a house or apartment has to pay energy bills. Not only can these bills be expensive, you only find out what you owe after the month is over. Now homeowners and renters can use home-electricity monitors to watch energy use and see what it costs in real time. The device is hooked up to the breaker box and from there it wirelessly transmits the data to a display unit.

According to studies by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (in Washington DC), when people have instant information about the energy use of individual appliances throughout the home they typically save 12%. You can move around the house with the handheld device and see how it impacts energy consumption when you turn on a light or use the toaster. The monitor comes with software but online giants like Google are also offering the ability to review energy usage in real time.

What if you could offer this to a prospective renter – it’s a marketing idea that would definitely make the home stand out from the crowd!

Source: http://realestate.msn.com/real-time-energy-monitors-reduce-use-and-costs

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Choosing the Right Property Management Accounting Software

Mary Girsch-Bock — Thu, 12 May 2011 12:00:30 +0000

Has your current property management software program been giving you more problems than solutions? If so, you may be ready to look for new property management accounting software. Before you do anything, take a brief inventory of your needs, your employee’s needs, and what you absolutely have to have. If you’re not sure what you need, take these suggestions under consideration.

Remote Access
In my eyes, Remote Access is not negotiable. Being able to connect from anywhere is an absolute must these days, particularly for property management firms that traditionally deal with employees working in remote locations in different parts of town, or, in many cases, different cities and states. To ensure that all of your remote workers have the same access to the same data, invest in web-based software that is as easily accessible from Chicago as it is from Miami.

Portals
Think about how much easier your job would be if tenants could log into a secure account to pay their rent, check for any messages and send in maintenance requests. Just slightly less important than remote access, tenant portals allow your tenants to become more rather than less involved with the community, as they will have instant access to resident newsletters, rental information, and can have their own rental account set up and easily accessible.

Electronic Bill Payment
While companies that manufacture paper checks may not be too happy about this feature, paying bills electronically saves paper and toner costs, eliminates lost checks and delayed payments, and make it easy to track payments made. It also eliminates outstanding checks on your bank reconciliation, making that process a whole lot easier.

Website Integration
While almost any program provides some web access, you want to look for a software program that actually integrates with your company website. True integration allows potential tenants to browse your website, take a peek at floor plans and any property videos and photos you may post, and even arrange to view a specified unit. Some companies even post property diagrams where applicants can see which apartments are available and choose the unit they may be interested in. This also works well with single family homes, where an interactive map displays exactly where the home is located, allowing applicants the ability to choose whether they wish to look at the property prior to contacting leasing personnel.

While there are a lot of other features that may be on your ‘must have’ list, purchasing a software product with these features will eliminate the need to look at software again in the foreseeable future.

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Property Manager on Trial for Carbon Monoxide Deaths

Nora Betz — Thu, 05 May 2011 22:37:48 +0000

On Monday, the McDaniel family was found dead in their rental home in Toledo, Ohio. They were poisoned by carbon monoxide fumes during the night as they ran a space heater powered by a portable generator in the kitchen. Their landlord, Steven Snow, was aware that the house did not have electricity hooked up yet and gave Tammy and her 3 kids the generator to keep the space warm temporarily. Steven Snow is being charged with four counts of reckless homicide and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted for allowing tenants to live in these dangerous conditions.

“Each year, about 180 deaths in the U.S. are linked to carbon monoxide from appliances and small engines, like those in portable generators, running in enclosed spaces, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.” Several thousand more people are also treated for carbon monoxide fumes in hospitals according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CO detectors are necessary in interior spaces because the fumes are odorless and colorless and hard detect without them. Oregon passed a law requiring landlords to provide alarms in residential units where potential CO sources exist. There is no such law in Ohio however. The question remains if a property manager could be held responsible for harm caused by these deadly gases when a detector is broken or the batteries are removed and the resident fails to notify them.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110502/ap_on_re_us/us_monoxide_deaths_landlord_charged

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Using Excel Instead of Property Management Software Is Risky Business

Mary Girsch-Bock — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:11:47 +0000

It’s no secret that there are a lot of Excel users in the property management community. An outstanding spreadsheet program, Excel frequently plugs in the gaps commonly found in accounting programs. But there‘s a group of property managers that may find themselves relying on Excel a little too much.

In recent years, Excel aficionados, fed up with the intricacies of accounting software products, have begun using Excel as their primary accounting software. And while there will always be success stories about those who chucked their “non-functional” accounting software for an easier life with Excel, the fact remains that using Excel exclusively as your accounting software product will ultimately cause more problems than it fixes.

Here are things Excel lacks when compared to a dedicated property management accounting software system:

Data Integrity
Excel’s flexibility, an asset on most fronts, can prove to be a detriment to those who utilize it as a complete accounting program. While flexibility in a spreadsheet program provides users the ability to customize data and change formulas when needed, the downside to using Excel as a complete accounting solution is that it customizes data and allows formula changes. Even an elementary accounting product offers a semblance of controls to ensure data integrity.

Protection Against User Error
Excel offers no double entry accounting system. The accounting equation Equity = Assets – Liabilities has been used for centuries with good reason. It keeps books in balance. And while any information entered into a computer is only as accurate at the person entering it, the fact remains that an integrated accounting program offers a level of protection that Excel cannot.

Ease of Use
You have to be really skilled in Excel in order to utilize it as an accounting software substitute. Yes, there are numerous templates available that make this process a bit easier, but in order to keep an accurate and organized record of your business transactions, you’d better know your way around Excel. In contrast, accounting software products have made it easier than ever to set up a solid financial system that requires little maintenance.

Efficiency
It’s much easier to track transactions, balance bank accounts, and produce accurate financial statements when using a traditional accounting program. Again, while it can be done using Excel, a small property management company that does not wish to spend a lot of time on accounting would be better served using standard accounting software, rather than spending hours trying to set up an Excel spreadsheet to produce the same information. In addition, some property management software programs have integrated the accounting functionality with online rent payments.

Using Excel as the spreadsheet program it was designed to be will produce more benefits to the property manager than spending hours trying to shape it into an accounting program.

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Rent Week Pain Relief: What’s the Best Online Payment Solution?

Jim Semick — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 21:51:08 +0000

It’s rent week again, and all hands are on deck. If you’re like many other property management firms, you have an unwritten rule: no vacation during rent week. You realize that rent checks cost your property management company time and money with unnecessary handling, data entry, errors, staff frustration and other inefficiencies. Surely there has to be a better way.

Even if you have invested in check scanning, implementing the right online payment solution can streamline your operation, improve your cash flow, increase resident satisfaction, and most importantly, minimize your staff’s pain during rent week.

Most online rent payments are made using electronic transfers from a bank account (ACH). Credit cards are a less popular choice for rent payments. You can find these online rent payment options from several vendors:

Online rent payment companies. You can partner with a solution that specializes in property management payment processing. With these solutions it’s important that you be able to integrate the online payment data with your accounting solution.

Property management software provider. Your current or future property management software vendor may offer online payment capability. The benefit of using this service is that it is often tightly integrated with your accounting system.

Your bank. You can work with your bank to send and receive electronic checks and credit cards. This is often the most cost-effective solution, but the most time-consuming for you to implement.

Here are a few essential questions to ask when evaluating any solution:

How much does it really cost? Evaluate the total cost for setup fees, monthly fees, and per-transaction/convenience fees. Even if you expect your residents to pay the convenience fee, keep in mind that the higher the fee, the lower your adoption rate.

Does it integrate with your accounting? Look for a solution that seamlessly integrates with your AR system. Many systems can generate an export file you manually import into your AR system, but this adds another step and delays reporting.

Does it provide real-time access? Does your resident get real-time access to their upcoming charges and payment history? If you need to manually upload charges and payments to the system, the information is outdated almost immediately.

How easy is it to use? Don’t overlook this one. A solution that is unintuitive or packed with bells and whistles may actually decrease adoption by residents. How easy is it for your back office staff to use the reports, NSF notifications and data without training?

What is the settlement time? After your resident pays, how soon are the funds deposited and available in your operating account? The most common settlement timeframes are 24-72 hours depending on pricing.

Are there a variety of payment options? Make sure residents have the option of one-time or automatic recurring electronic funds transfers (ACH). If you give residents the option of paying by credit card, keep in mind that credit card fees can be as much as $10-30 per rent payment, so you may want to find a solution that allows you to pass these fees on to the resident.

How flexible is the solution? Will the solution match your monthly processes? Ask whether you can select which operating bank account(s) the payments should be credited to, whether the system can be incorporated into your Website, and how much marketing support the company provides to increase adoption by your residents.

In the end, the choice you make depends on how quickly you want to get up and running, ease of use, how seamlessly it integrates into your accounting system, and how much you want to pay. Choose the right solution, and who knows, you might be able to take a vacation day during the next rent week.

Related Posts:
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Your Paperless Office: Five Great Reasons to Move Payments Online

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SoftwareAdvice.com Survey: How Are Property Managers Using Technology?

Aimee Miller — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:00:19 +0000

SoftwareAdvice.com recently sent out a survey to learn more about how property managers are using technology in their business.

A few interesting highlights:

1. Almost half of the companies surveyed grew their business last year – either growing by increased revenue or more units. This is great to hear in a struggling market! But how did they do it? The companies that grew made use of technology – over 60% used property management specific software.

2. The survey also found that companies who used property management specific software managed an average of 102 units per employee, this is compared with those who use spreadsheets or more generic software – they averaged 61 units per employee. The SoftwareAdvice team believes this is because investing in technology enables business growth.

3. Although there is so much talk about Facebook and Twitter, there was no concrete evidence from the survey showing that businesses who engaged in social media tactics really had more growth. I think this is for a variety of reasons – the property management industry (and many others too!) is still building knowledge and learning about how best to use social media to engage with prospects and customers. Using social media tools like Facebook and Twitter is first about building loyalty and communicating with your existing customer base so it will always be hard to track the effectiveness with solid Return On Investment (ROI) numbers. It is like getting a referral from a few happy customers…you know they drive your business but this lead channel is always difficult to quantify.

For the complete survey, click here.

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