What Real Estate Investors Need To Know About Property Management

Once you purchase a real estate rental property, you virtually become the CEO of your own small business. Sure, you feel good about becoming a landlord and owner of your own private money-maker, but unless it?s raw land, your work has just begun.

Now you must manage the property. As a real estate investor who has chosen the renting of apartments as a business, your goal now is to keep the units full, and at the highest rent per square foot possible.

So let?s consider the big picture of property management and look at some rental management basics every real estate investor should be aware of inside real estate investment.

1. Property condition. Getting the best tenants and commanding the highest rent starts with a sharp-looking building that has good curb appeal. Keep the structure, landscaping, common areas, and parking in good clean condition.
2. Tenant applications and screening. Require each potential tenant to complete an application, and then follow up to verify their employment, rental history, and credit and criminal history. Remember, it is always easier to get tenants into your building then it is to get tenants out of your building.
3. Emergency repairs. Be sure you have reputable maintenance personnel on-call to service emergency repairs. This may be your job or someone you hire, just be sure the tenant has a repair ?help line? they can call 24 hours a day when something must be fixed immediately.
4. Aggressive marketing of vacancies. Get the word out about an upcoming vacancy instantly. Use signage, advertise in the newspaper, or post it on the web.
5. Move-in/move-out coordination. Always plan to get a unit ?rent-ready? within a day or two after it becomes vacated. Even when you don?t have a new tenant in the wings, a clean unit ready to show a prospective tenant does help.
6. Keys and locks. It is always a good idea to change locks each time you have a turnover in tenants. This added security is good for you and your new tenant.
7. Learn the laws about eviction. Know what you must do to evict a deadbeat tenant even when you don?t think it is necessary.
8. Keep accurate books and records. Maintaining a good income and expense history is vital to your rental property business and the cornerstone to profitability.

Many real estate investors simply turn their properties over to professional management companies. The advantage being that it relieves the real estate investor of the time and stress of having to deal with tenants and repairs, and puts matters like late rents into the hands of experts.

On the other hand, a professional management company is not free. Moreover, in cases where the property is small enough for owner management, the cost of outside fees for professional property management might not be justifiable.

You must decide whether you want to hire out the management out or to do it yourself. The important thing is not to neglect a sound plan for property management. Otherwise you could find that owning and becoming CEO of your rental property business can quickly become more unpleasant than profitable.

James R Kobzeff is an active real estate broker and developer of ProAPOD Real Estate Investment Software - Rental property analysis at your fingertips! Free real estate investing tips are available at ProAPOD's real estate investing blog

An Introduction To Real Estate Property Management Software

The real estate market is a booming industry. The success of the industry is a result of competition and the intervention of modern technology. Most people in the business prefer to use real estate property management software to stay ahead in the race. This software has been designed to cater to commercial and residential property, office buildings and apartments.

Real estate property management software is an effective and easy-to-use tool. This software helps people understand the real estate business. It is a quick response application that can store each detail of every transaction. This helps study non-payments and full-payments of rent, and maintains a detailed report of rent receipts and invoices.

Property owners are able to key inputs as and when required. The secured system is intelligent and allows changes from authorized personnel. Real estate property management software can evaluate an unlimited number of properties and units simultaneously. The software stores detailed data related to rent payments for all individual properties. This systematic approach eliminates any problems due to taxation.

Real estate property management software generates automated reports in cases of wrong payments and non-payments. The software does away with the practice of owners waiting for rent payments. All maintenance expenses or any extra revenue statements are regularly updated. The software also stores tenant information.

Residential property managers must select property management software that is most suited for their work. These applications are available with one-month money-back guarantees.

The residential property management system is considered to be time- and cost-effective for a manager and resident. The application can create a personalized website for an individual company in a relatively short time. This allows prospective and existing customers to visit the web site. This is a convenient method to view pictures of property, pay rent and submit maintenance requests.

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What Is An Asset Management Advisor?

An asset management advisor is a person that helps with the task of managing your assets. This is what an asset management company dose as well. The difference being, that one is hired to do the job of managing your assets and the other one is hired to teach you how to manage your assets.

Both are based on outsourcing the task of asset management; however, you will most likely want to hire a company that specializes in asset management if you want this task to be done in a professional manner, especially if you don't have the expertise or the manpower to do it internally. On the other hand, an asset management advisor is what you will want to hire to aid and advise your existing team of professionals.

Does an enterprise need an asset management advisor permanently?

If you are a medium to large size enterprise then you are probably in constant movement in regards to your asset management. There are daily procurements, requisition for procurements and the discarding of old assets. With this in mind the enterprise that already has a good asset management system in place that is uses exceptionally well designed software, should run in a smooth fashion. However, if your company is lacking in any of these areas, you will definitely need help from a outside source.

Without an accurate, automated systematic approach to asset management it is impossible even for a seasoned manager to make the right decisions concerning your companies assets. It is very important to have a good asset management team in place. Once you have a good team in place and the reports are flowing in it is likely that a good manager will be able to make business forecasts by looking at the utilization and requirements of the assets available.

The role of an asset management advisor

A good manager will always take the opinions of experts into consideration before making any critical decisions regarding the future of the organization, marketing plans and expansion of the company. He or she will also need the advice of an expert when it comes to financial investments and asset management.

An asset management advisor, provides expert advice by analyzing all of the given factors in an enterprise, and working out the required reports concerning any changes that take place in any organization, this includes expansion too.

If you would like to learn more about asset management and how an asset management advisor can benefit you or your company then visit http://www.assetmanagementinformation.com

Asset Management Software Online

Asset management software applications that are connected to an enterprise wide network or the Internet are referred to as online asset management applications. Connecting these applications to a network offers several benefits. In case of online asset management applications for manufacturing companies, trans-receivers are embedded in critical pieces of equipment which communicate with the asset management application allowing maintenance personnel to track the functioning of the equipment in real time, taking preventive maintenance measures and quickly attending to breakdowns. Online asset management applications also help companies manage their inventory from any location by simply using a Web browser.

Online digital asset management applications help information technology departments monitor all the hardware and software installed on the enterprise network. The advanced versions of these applications also help managers remotely control the hardware and software applications installed on the servers.

For media and advertising agencies, creative products like artwork, videos and images are also digital assets. Specialized web-based asset management applications for this industry help media companies automate the process of viewing, publishing, maintaining, and marketing their multimedia gallery or store. Software product development companies use online asset management applications for electronic distribution and management of the digital products they have developed.

Human resource online asset management applications help the HR department to track employee performance, manage talent and identify star performers. These applications also help in working out hiring plans, storing resumes, and tracking hiring status.

Several finance Web sites also offer their customers a feature to track their financial assets such as stocks and mutual fund investments online. These Web sites track stock price movements in real time and net asset values of mutual funds on a daily basis. Using the Internet a customer can log on anytime to these Web sites to get the latest status on their financial assets.

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Digital Asset Management Software

If your business relies on digital files for its day-to-day operations, then you should definitely invest in quality digital asset management software ? designed to let you track, organize and retrieve important documents, images and other digital files easily.

Digital asset management software has long been a necessity for industries such as digital photography, graphic design, advertising and publishing. Newer versions have features that are relevant to other types of businesses and more and more industries are jumping on the bandwagon.

Among the converts are document-rich organizations that seek to modernize their filing systems. Digital asset management software, although best known for their ability to quickly track image files, now also track and retrieve documents and other frequently-used Microsoft Office files. The software usually captures all of the data/text in the file and then records them into the database. A user can type in keywords or phrases and be led to relevant documents. It also works on PowerPoint and Excel documents, among. Users can also create customized catalogs for their files and cross-reference files in several catalogs. This digital asset management software is so effective that many businesses are migrating from the traditional filing cabinets to these e-files.

What?s more, most digital asset management software is affordable even to smaller businesses. There are single-user versions that go for less than $100, and it only costs $50 more to upgrade to a professional version. Business packages are also affordable at about $2,800 including license. These packages already include servers, multiple user accounts and constant manufacturer support. There are even free online demo versions available to hesitant buyers. These demos have limited functionalities, but business owners who want to try the product out before purchasing find them very useful.

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Commercial Property Management Public Relations

It is important always for property management companies to maintain a good standing in the community. This is why property management companies are always involved in civic events, service clubs and chambers of commerce. Often property management companies also operate parking structures and parking lots and are aware of the need to fill up as many parking stalls as possible for the maximum price point. There are many ways to do this. One of the most inexpensive ways is through free publicity. A car wash fundraiser on your lot during a slow time of the week may be just that opportunity.

Let?s say for instance that Sunday is your Lot?s slowest day a car wash for church or youth group might be an idea. Christian radio stations will play public service announcements alerting people the day and time and of course the location, Your Parking lot. The radio station will play the spots 5 times a day for a week. Free airtime and all you have to do is be a Good Samaritan. Just think every good Christian in town will remember to park in your lot, instead of a lot next door. Christian customers may also cut down on Hit and Runs and seldom break into the car next door.

Perhaps Saturday is a slow day you can have a local High School Group hold a fundraiser their. High School bands have annual budgets in excess of $40,000. They have 100+ kids in the groups and that means 1.5 parents per kid, who are all your potential customers. Sound good so far? It gets better. Sometimes for a big event you can get the radio station down to do an onsite remote and give away T-shirts and prizes. Thus promoting them selves on your parking lot. Each time announcing who is involved and what location it is at.

?Come on down we are at the corner of main and 5th street in the Central Parking Lot, bring the whole family.?

Great for you, the more people who know about your lot the better. Once a person is familiar with your parking lot they are more likely to feel safe pulling into your lot instead of a nearby lot. The price point between competitors may also not be an issue anymore. After all you are the community-oriented business, the other guy is just a parking lot. Just because you are in a business that does not appear to lend it?s self well to getting your name out there, does not mean you have to take a back seat. Be creative, think outside the box and get er? done. Think on this in 2006.

Lance Winslow, a retired entrepreneur, adventurer, modern day philosopher and perpetual tourist.