During times of strife, landlords make easy targets: it’s convenient for people who’ve never rented out property to assume that every landlord is outright exploitative, looking to make as much money as possible regardless of how it affects others. This is both unfair and inaccurate. They also don’t understand what goes into being a landlord. For many, it’s a full-time job.
In truth, while there are terrible landlords out there, there are plenty more who struggle to handle all their responsibilities but won’t lower their standards of service. This can leave them risking burnout and taking up time that they could be putting towards other things. If you’re a landlord, then it’s vital that you streamline your operation. Here are some tips for doing just that:
Take advantage of modern software
Whenever you can get something done without needing to actually do anything, it’s enormously valuable to your business, and modern technology can help you get so much done with little effort. There are various things you can plausibly automate. Financial management is one of the most meaningful since landlords tend to spend a lot of time dealing with payments and expense tracking, but then there’s all the administrative work you need to do.
There are countless great cloud tools for general-purpose financial management, so you can pick from them. When going to and from properties to resolve issues, you can track the money you spend on fuel using a fuel card from a site like iCompario (everything will automatically be logged online without you needing to do anything). When you’re writing a leasing agreement or arranging maintenance visits, you can use property management software such as Rentila.
Clearly establish your leasing terms
It’s certainly made easier by the use of property management software, but you need to ensure that you clearly define the terms of your business from the very beginning. If you leave anything unaddressed or express something vaguely, it’ll open you to up to time-consuming challenges and arguments down the line. It’s often worth having a lawyer review your paperwork first.
Provide a full copy of your agreement for each of your tenants, ideally in a digital (and thus searchable) format. This should make it less likely that they’ll come to you for answers to questions you’ve already addressed, and make it easier for them to address legitimate gripes without going overboard or expecting too much.
Maintain professional distance
Lastly, it would be easier in some ways if landlords were all exploitative, because it would avoid the instances of them getting too friendly with their tenants. You should be kind to your tenants, of course, and speak to them cordially when you can, but don’t make the mistake of viewing them as your friends — at least while they’re renting property from you.
The more you view them as friends, the more willing you’ll be to accept responsibility for issues that aren’t your fault, and the more often you’ll go the extra mile in trying to provide a superlative service. This is a problem because it can cost you so much time and effort that you can barely cover your costs. So be friendly, and be responsible, but don’t treat your tenants as friends.
