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Seasonal Rental Preparations

With summer slowly winding down it’ll soon be time for your tenant to move out of their summer home, meaning it’ll be time to prepare your rental for the next seasons tenants.

Since you’ll probably rent out your property again in winter (it is a seasonal rental, after all!), chances are, it’ll stay empty for at least a couple of months. Because your home will be used in two very different seasons, it’s important to make sure you prepare it properly after your summer tenants leave. What should you do?

  1. Clean the gutters! With all the flowering plants and leaves from spring, plus the rain from summer, your gutters are probably more than ready for a cleaning. This way, once the fall leaves start falling and the winter snows begin, your gutters won’t be clogged up.
  2. Check that there are no leaks caused by summer storms. Sometimes the more harsh summer showers may cause leaks that go unnoticed for months. Inspect your roof and see if there are any problems that need fixing, also be sure to check ceilings for stains that may indicate a leak. Fixing leaks now can help you avoid even bigger problems when it starts snowing.
  3. Landscaping. If you have seasonal plants that you’ve noticed may have not made it through summer, switch them out for other plants and landscaping decor that’ll fit with the next season.
  4. Change the A/C filter! With the heat, your tenant was probably keen on using the A/C often. Change the filter, and give it a tune up so that you know the unit will be working well. This will also help to ensure that the heater function will be working for your winter tenants.

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New User Questions

Work Orders: A Landlord’s Biggest Headache

One of the biggest challenges involved in being a landlord is keeping track of work orders. You have to connect tenants with contractors and ensure that the job gets done in time and the workers get paid. With so many tenants and so many contractors, there’s a lot of room for mistakes, and a lot of landlords make them. If you look at online reviews for apartment complexes and leasing offices, one of the most common complaints in negative reviews is a problem with work orders. They didn’t come in on time, or it took several calls before a response, or the order wasn’t satisfactorily completed. And organizational mistakes could also jeopardize your relationship with contractors. It’s essential for your business’s reputation to keep on top of your work orders.

Tenantfile makes that easy with our property management software. Our Work Order Program has everything you need to keep track of all your repairs and maintenances. It’s fully integrated with the other Tenantfile programs, so it can pull email addresses, phone numbers, and other information about each tenant. Each work order allows room for detailed information for your records, including supplies lists. Our program provides customizable listings of your work orders so you can keep track of each order’s status. We make it easy to print checks from the program to speed up delivery to the contractors. When the work order is completed, our landlord software generates automatic work order reports for the tenants, the contractors, and your own records.

With Tenantfile, you’ll never forget a work order again. We offer some of the best property management software out there, and this is just one of the many helpful tools available in our library. We also offer direct pay software, tenant screening programs, word processor software and much more. For more information, check out the Tenantfile website today.

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Ch-ch-changes to your property!

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As a landlord, you have to outline to your tenant what they can and can’t change as far as physical things in your property.

You should definitely give your tenant freedom as far as painting the interior, as long as they paint it back to the original color when they move out. This same kind of idea applies to hanging things on walls; your tenant should be allowed to hang things up on halls as long as they cover up the holes when they move out. You have to remember that your tenant is living in a home that isn’t theirs, so they want to make it feel as much theirs as they can. By personalizing your property, your tenant will feel more inclined to stay there for a long time. If your tenant doesn’t comply and return your property to you in its original state, take the repair and restoration costs out of their security deposit.

Your tenant may want to do bigger changes, like changing floors or even knocking down walls…yikes! These kind of changes become costly and may also be a hassle to deal with. Unless it’s something that absolutely needs to be done, like changing carpets to tiles become there is a risk of water damage from an appliance, it’s probably not in your best interest to allow your tenant to do it. This may also alter the value of your home, and not always in a positive way. paint

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Is your listing lost in the internet jungle?

The internet has proved to be a phenomenal tool for real estate. Properties can be shared on just about any site, becoming accessible to billions of people within seconds. That being said, with all of the content available on the internet, it’s pretty easy for your listing to get lost somewhere in cyberspace. What can you do to make sure that your listing is reaching enough people?

A good place to start is social media, specifically Facebook. Facebook has millions of daily users, all having something in common: the ability to share posts. If you post your real estate listing on Facebook and have your friends and family share it, the reach is automatically getting bigger. Their friends and family can also see the post and share it themselves, presenting your listing to tons more people. This constant sharing will keep it as a relevant post and will prevent it from getting lost amongst memes and family photos.

It’s also a good idea to post your listing on trusted real estate websites, like Zillow, or Yahoo! Homes. People trust these sites because their main focus is real estate, and that’s what they’re known for. It’s like buying a car; are you going to look on Craigslist first, or look on Autotrader, a site known for car sales? Take advantage of the credibility of these sites and let your listings be seen! Using Craigslist for real estate is useful, but it’s really more targeted towards your community. If you go for a bigger site, the listing will be seen by those who don’t live in your area (yet) but are looking for a home there.

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How can you help with your rental property?

Not too long ago we discussed the subject of property managers, and whether or not hiring one was the right choice for you; given the work that is required to manage a property, it’s usually in your best interest.

So, once you’ve found your property manager, or property management company, what can you do to make sure that they have the right tools to succeed?

It’s a good idea to set up an office of some sort. If your property is a small community (apartment complex, gated community, etc.) you can set up an office in the center of the property so that all of your residents have easy access to it. If your properties are separate, you can set up an office in a central location that’s convenient for you, your tenants, and your property manager. Having an office set up is nice because it provides your tenants with a place to direct any problems or concerns they may have with the property. It also provides you with an address where all property related correspondence can be sent. Definitely provides a sense of organization for everyone!

As far as maintaining the rental, you should set your property manager up with some kind of software they can use to keep everything organized. Tenant File is an awesome option as far as rental property software. Tenant File offers all kinds of features that’ll help keep your rental property organized. Your property manager will be able to keep track of tenants and maintenance requests, post rent, and email you and your tenants (plus wayyyy more) with the help of a single software program! If you think this rental property software sounds too good to be true, download a sample and see for yourself!

tenant file
The best in rental property software!

 

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How will you manage?

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Should you be working with a property manager?

If you’re looking into real estate and rentals, hiring a property manager, or property management company, is definitely something you should consider. Property managers basically serve as the middlemen between you and your tenants, keeping up with rent, tenant issues, and maintaining the property.  Also, property manager can also work with you if you’re investing in commercial real estate!

Property managers are well equipped to deal with tenants and issues they may have so that you won’t have to. If this is your first real estate venture, you’re already going to have a lot of different duties as far as getting everything situated and ready; do you really want to figure out property management on top of that?! I don’t think so. If your tenant has a maintenance problem, your property manager can find and hire a contractor so that you don’t have to.  If a system for rent needs to be set up, it won’t be your duty, it’ll be something that the property manager handles. With a property manager, you won’t have to invest tons of your own time into your property; they’ll handle the work

Property managers also know all the rules and regulations that you must abide by, and what kind of protocol needs to be used. Their jobs are to manage properties, so they know what they’re doing.

property manager

New User Questions

Money, Money, Money

In any lease agreement, probably one of the most important things is the issue of rent. How much rent will you be collecting? When will you collect it?  How will you collect it?

As we’ve talked about in the past, pricing is relative, so that part of your lease doesn’t require as much of your own personal preference as do the other parts. Once you’ve set the perfect monthly rent, you need to set up a date with your tenant when it’s due. Usually, this date falls at the beginning, middle, or end of the month, not just any random date. Choose this date and tell your tenant to make sure that they are financially prepared for it. As a sort of safety blanket, you can give your tenants a 2 or 3 day grace period to pay without being subject to a late fee.

After figuring out how much your tenant is paying you, and when, it’s time to figure out how they will be paying you. At this day in age we have all sorts of ways to pay people insmoney tantly, allowing you to have lots of options and choose what’s best for you. We all know the classic payment method: checks. Checks are easy because mobile banking now allows you to cash them instantly, but they still require your tenant to bring them to you. Online payments are great because they’re pretty quick for both you, and your tenant. An online system works well when you have a lot of tenants. Another way that people transfer money that’s becoming quite popular is via mobile apps. Mobile apps like Venmo and Square Cash have made it possible for people to transfer money to each other almost instantly. Though this is still fairly new, it may be something you want to consider.

 

Landlord Articles

Are you taking care of your tenants?

Are you taking care of your tenants?

If you take care of your tenants, they will take care of you. And that means paying rent on time, staying in the rental longer, maintaining your property, and giving you good reviews to others.

What is that worth? Everything. In this day of review obsession and social conversations, your reputation can mean the success of your property management business – or not. Your renters should be properly vetting to begin with and kept happy throughout their stay.

Keeping them happy means being attentive to their maintenance requests, staying in touch to let them know you care, and making sure the are aware of every aspect of the lease contract.

Keep your tenants happy and they will insure your happiness as well.

What you need to know about finding great tenants

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Communicate Effectively

How should you be communicating with your tenant(s)?

Sometimes it may seem a bit difficult to manage tenants and properties in an effective way, and that’s why communication is so incredibly important.

First of all, make sure you have the right information! Be sure to have at least one phone number for each tenant, a number that you’ll always be able to reach them at. Having your tenants email addresses is also a good idea because it allows for communication on  a bigger scale. If you have a property-wide announcement to make, you can send an email out to all of your residents. Tenant File offers this feature, check it out here.

If you have multiple properties and tenants, a great way to ensure that they can all communicate any issues they have (effectively) is to set up an online portal where residents can input different requests they have pertaining to the property. Tenants can have an online login that is linked to their property so that there is never any confusion about where the work needs to be done. All these requests can be sent to management in an organized way and be handled quickly.

In addition to the online portal, you should also have a phone line, aside from the normal phone line, that tenants can use in the case of an emergency. For example, if the pipes burst and begin to flood the property, waiting for the online request to be received may not be the best option. communication

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It’s All in the Family

Recently, we talked about the different benefits and costs that come with investing in single family homes vs. apartments (multi-family homes).  Like we talked about before, multi-family homes allow you to house several families, meaning toooons of tenants. Because of the cost and management, apartments aren’t typically everyone’s first choice as far as real estate investments.  Aside from apartments, what other kinds of multi-family homes can you look into?

Duplexes

A duplex is pretty much two separate homes, side by side, under the same roof. Each half of the duplex is equipped like it’s own mini-home, allowing for two separate families to live there. Duplexes are nice because you have two separate rental incomes coming in from one single property. If you have a big house that you might want to convert, a duplex is not difficult to achieve with the right permits.

Townhouses

Townhouses are multiple separate homes, side by side, usually within a communal style neighborhood. Townhouses definitely require more work than duplexes, because you’ll definitely have more than two families, but they can be less work than apartments. Like apartments, you’ll typically use a property manager to manage your property.

Two-Flats

Two-flats are structurally similar to duplexes in that they are pretty much built in houses. In a two-flat, you have one apartment on the top floor, and another on the bottom floor. Both usually share a common basement, and front entrance, because they’re constructed in what looks to be a normal house.

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Interesting property management articles and tips