How to spring clean your property management portfolio

Article by Melissa Henricks Marketing Specialist 29 September 2020

Now that spring has officially sprung, the thought of spring cleaning jumps straight to mind. It’s widely common to spring clean your home, car and possibly office space but have you ever considered the steps that you could take to spring clean your property management portfolio? 

In order to spring clean your property management portfolio and generally get your tasks in order, let’s jump into our best tips to clean your property management portfolio this spring.

Consider upgrading to a cloud-based software

If your business is using a server-based software, it can be difficult to automate tasks and keep on top of paperwork. Consider the possibility of upgrading to a cloud-based software which can automate your workflows and give you remote access to your live and interactive data. 

Cloud property management software has a number of advantages. To name a few, it allows you to work from any location, can reduce add-ons, streamline communications and can assist with remaining compliant. You can also automate many repetitive tasks such as bank reconciliation, data backups and software updates, processing and paying bills, planning inspections and some communications. 

Schedule routine inspections

There are a lot of things that can get in the way of completing routine inspections on time. Spring is the perfect time to try to get any inspections which have been put off or missed throughout the year, done and dusted. Cloud-based software platforms such as PropertyMe have built-in inspection features so you can plan, schedule and conduct inspections, all in the one place. 

Alternatively, PropertyMe also has a tenant inspection app called InspectMe, giving your tenants the ability to complete routine inspections from the comfort of their home. Utilising this feature is an excellent way to catch up on old inspections as well as keep on top of upcoming ones all without having to leave the office. 

Manage preventative maintenance

There are a lot of maintenance items which can seem minor when working a busy day as a property manager, but if not well maintained can end up costing your landlord more in the long run. 

When doing your inspections, take notice of small repairs which could become long-term costly repairs. These might include cracks in tiling or enamel, falling cornices or skirting boards, potholes in driveways and structural cracks.

The PropertyMe mobile app allows easy access to your emails on hand wherever you go. This means when you are out of the office you can easily contact your landlord and coordinate a tradesperson all from the convenience of your mobile phone.

Complete overdue tasks

Smaller tasks can fall by the wayside when things get busy. Block out short time periods, i.e. 30 minutes per day, to catch up on overdue tasks such as editing tenant records, updating reminders and closing completed maintenance tasks. 

You can also catch up on outstanding communications that you haven’t had time to respond to. Return any missed phone calls over the past week or so and respond to texts and email correspondence which have not been replied to.

Clean up your trust account

If you don’t have a dedicated trust accountant who manages your trust account, it’s important to understand your trust account and do your best to minimise the risk of mistakes.

The first step is to get into the habit of reconciling your accounts daily. This is going to make it easier to notice any possible discrepancies in your account and minimises the likelihood of mistakes at mid-month or end of month.

To simplify your workload, consider switching to a modern trust accounting software with automation for bills, reconciliation and disbursements. Not only will this make it easier to document and track your trust account transactions and stay compliant, but it also saves you time.

Update out-of-date information

There is a lot of information which goes into the complete service of managing a property. Use this time to update any information such as tradesperson insurance certificates, smoke alarm service renewal dates, job reminders, landlord insurance and pool compliance. 

These types of dates and notes should be noted and tracked in your software program. The PropertyMe feature Reminders allows you to mitigate business risk by easily keeping track of important tasks.

Catch up on release notes

PropertyMe moves fast and develops quickly, meaning that our product is frequently updated and new releases occur regularly. Catch up on knowledge base articles and video tutorials which detail new features and updates. 

When it comes to practising new features yourself, you can also utilise our demo portfolio to practise and get comfortable with new features before you implement them in your portfolio. You should also consider registering for beta testing so that in future, you can trial new and upcoming features before other users. 

PropertyMe also films monthly Facebook Live sessions which are an excellent way to stay informed and be live and interactive with our PropertyMe community. You can watch our team cover new and exciting updates, share tips and hidden secrets and give general advice on how to improve your use of PropertyMe. 

Thanks for reading this blog on how to spring clean your property management portfolio! You might also be interested in:

• How to prevent and respond to negative tenant reviews
• How to help your landlords boost their rental yield
• How to grow your property management business using Google

Let us know your thoughts on how to manage your property management portfolio by emailing [email protected].