New to Property Management? Quick Tips for First-Time Landlords

Being a successful landlord means juggling lots of hats and more importantly, doing so in an organized, efficient manner. Otherwise, you’ll quickly find yourself overwhelmed and unable to do your job effectively – whether that’s answering emails, fixing repairs, managing equipment or any number of the other tasks you’re responsible for.

Learn Everything Possible

As with any major venture, knowledge is key. Before you set out to buy your first property, get to know the market. You’ll need to understand everything from local employment statistics to generally accepted rental rates. Homee further recommends understanding local housing laws and getting familiar with common property management metrics, such as maintenance cost, turnover, and occupancy rates.

If you have very little experience in real estate investing or management, consider taking a course, such as Property Management 101 from Udemy. While, at less than $50, the course is likely not fully comprehensive, it can help you understand the fundamentals and shape your mindset so that you can be a more effective manager.

Find the Right Property

Finding the right property is a crucial element in your management success, especially if you’re looking to turn a profit. But, before you buy, it pays to know why, exactly, people move into apartments or multi-housing units in the first place. Single people will often choose an apartment for the safety aspect, while others may want access to a clubhouse, fitness center, and swimming pool that they do not have to maintain.

When saving money at the beginning is one of your top concerns, you’ll need to take your time deciding on a property. You might wish to speak with a realtor about purchasing a home in “as-is” condition. This is a property that will likely need some work but, if you don’t mind rolling up your sleeves and doing some of the upgrades, seasonal maintenance, and repairs yourself, you can get a good deal and an even better return. Do keep in mind, however, that homes with an active termite infestation or other significant issues may not be the best bet. You should also have the property inspected for any potential red flags and, if possible, include a cancellation clause in the contract should your inspections yield negative results. Real estate agency Redfin suggests having an attorney perform a title search and examine pertinent land records.

Staying Organized & on Top of Things with Concierge Plus

When it is time to open your new property for tenants, being organized is essential. You will need to be able to do everything, like maintaining a resident database, booking amenities, handling service requests, accepting card payments, and tracking visitor/tenant parking. This is where Concierge Plus comes into play. Our Resident Experience Management platform can do these things and so much more. Having a reliable property management app in your toolbox from the very beginning will help you grow and seamlessly add new properties to your real estate portfolio.

Staying organized may not solve all your problems, but it will help you look and be more professional so that you can manage your property effectively. Keeping accurate records, and knowing where those records are, will also save you money in the long run.

Owning your first tenants' property is a big job. It takes lots of preparations, from learning about local tenant housing laws to finding ways to save money from the very beginning. But, real estate is a rewarding endeavor, and there is lots of income potential.

Watch our On-Demand Webinar

We recently held a webinar on how landlords, property managers, and board members can use our resident experience management platform to help stay organized. 

Watch our webinar and learn about:

• Getting a straightforward snapshot of what’s going on in your community with our Daily Overview feature.

• Keeping track of all tasks with our Tasks & Reminders module.

• Keeping a digital record of every piece of equipment in your community with our Equipment Management feature.

• Distributing information about important happenings on site, or key knowledge that just needs to be handed to the next shift with our Pass-On-Logs feature.

• Securely storing and sharing all of your community documents with our File Sharing feature.