How Technology Can Help ‘Mom and Pop’ Landlords Handle Life’s Curve Balls
Last week we offered some tips for choosing the right rental management software. We had our plan, spent time crafting the article and had our support team ready to answer questions. Shortly after the newsletter went out, our website RentMindMe.com crashed. This unforeseen and unexpected outage lasted for 3 days. During that time, we were rushing to recover our images, icons, blog posts and other marketing content we’ve worked so hard to create. We learned a lot from this ordeal and made it a priority to expand our use of technology so this will never happen again.
The reason we share our story with you today is twofold. First, life throws you curve balls, and often when you least expect it. Secondly, our recent experience highlighted the importance of being prepared for those curves by using technology as your backup plan.
Make Technology Work for You
It doesn’t necessarily have to be serious, but what if you were hurt or got a bad case of the flu right before rent was due – would your family or business partners know what to do or who to contact? Who would you ask for help?
Our goal in sharing our experiences is to spark some ideas for how you can set yourself up with a backup plan and serve as a reminder that life can throw some pretty wild and unexpected curve balls.
Create Automated Processes
Collecting rent online is a huge time saver and a convenience for both landlords and tenants. But have you ever thought that online rent collection can also act as a backup plan in the event you or a family member becomes sick, disabled or have an emergency that pulls you away from your business?
When you have an automated system in place to send rent reminders, collect payments, send receipts and direct deposit the funds, it does the work for you and gives you the peace of mind to know that your business can keep going so you have the time to deal with life’s unexpected curves.
Easy, Consolidated Access to Information
Because rental management software provides a central place for things like tenant names, emails, phone numbers, lease terms and other important contacts management, anyone you designate can easily access that info in a matter of seconds. If a family member or business partner needs to step in for you, they’ll quickly have access to all the information necessary to help manage the operations of your rental business with little to no training. No rifling through file cabinets, looking through leases or trying to find tenants names and cell numbers.
Succession Planning
Do you have a succession plan to pass your portfolio to your children or someone you’ve mentored? Adopting technology can make that process much easier and less intimidating for your successors. The more defined and automated your business processes are, the less work is required to keep things going and the easier it is to train.
The Next Generation
We’ve talked to a lot of landlords who have expressed their disappointment that their adult children don’t have an interest in taking over the portfolio they’ve worked so hard to build. Reasons range from from living out of state to worries about the amount of manual work and time that’s required to manage a rental portfolio. Having to text, call or email tenants to chase rent month after month can be daunting for anyone, but especially when you have a full-time job, family and other responsibilities.
Having the ability to put a system in place to handle a large percentage of the work can give you the tools to make succession planning an easier conversation. Technology takes the pain out of managing rentals from out of town, having to play the role of bill collector and it can even ease the burden of managing maintenance by giving a platform to easily communicate with contacts and tenants.
Backup Plans Matter
As we recently experienced, you never know when life will throw a curve ball but doing your best to have plans in place for handling them should be a priority. Even if you aren’t tech savvy, there is always support available to help you get started and once it’s done you can just set and forget. Don’t wait for the next curve ball, get ahead of the game by using technology to put a system in place to help you manage your rentals.
If you like the idea of adding technology as your backup plan but aren’t the most tech savvy person, let us help! Visit RentMindMe.com and use promo code FREESETUP and our team will help complete your setup for you!
About Us
RentMindMe.com is an online rent collection and management software designed by landlords like you to streamline business processes for landlords, property managers and centralized business offices. Co-founded by Ben and Dina Lynch, RentMindMe combines their 40+ years of business experience with their 20+ years of rental management experience to provide you with an easy to use, intuitive rental management tool.
If you have questions, please call 419-318-0664 or email [email protected].
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