Property Marketing Tips and Tricks – Propertyware

Property Management Tools for COVID-19 Readiness

Jessica Rivera — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 16:39:47 +0000

No matter what is going on in the world, our mission remains to support property managers in every way we can—so that they can dedicate their time and attention to what matters most. There are undoubtedly unanticipated challenges ahead that COVID-19 will bring upon your business operations. The good news is that we are already seeing the power of knowledge sharing, community, and technology help us get through this together. The following post highlights the features of Propertyware for you, our customers, that can be quickly put into action. We realize this is a small piece of the puzzle that you are currently faced with solving, but in light of everything, we hope some of the information below will help bring this shifting day-to-day a little more online and a lot more within your control. We’ll continue to update this list and others as we find more resources that can help you manage “a new normal” during this time.

Managing Owner, Tenant and Vendor Communication and Payments Online

Tenant Portal

For whom: Your tenants
For what: A tenant portal for mass communications, online payments, online service requests, conversations and document sharing.
Why it helps: Encourages social distance. A tenant portal supports 100% digital communication from tenants’ phones or computers to you.
How to use it: Provide up-to-the-minute mass communication giving them a direct line to reach you. Allows tenants to both pay online and submit service requests in real time.

Text Messaging (Available for Plus & Premium Plans)

For whom: You and your tenants, owners and vendors.
For what: Fast communication, getting text messages out to your tenants, owners and vendors quickly.
Why it helps: Encourages social distance and is 100% online through Propertyware.
How to use it: Share important notices, documents and updates with tenants utilizing the text messaging platform.
How to get started: Enable text messaging in your account and invite tenants to participate in text messaging through Propertyware. If you do not have text messaging, please contact your sales representative or email sales@propertyware.com.
Ways to communicate with your tenants: Email, community bulletin and conversations within the portal and text messaging.

Online Payments

For whom: You and your tenants and owners.
For what: Collecting rent and fees, plus distributing owner draws, vendor payments and owner contributions.
Why it helps: Eliminates the need for personal contact to make payments and owner contributions or distributions. The funds transfer is initiated through smartphone or computer. Tenant payments can be set up as recurring.
How to use it: Tenants and owners can set up their payment accounts through the portal and initiate payments. Vendor account information is added to the Vendor profile under the ePay/Banking tab. Owner account information is added to the owner contact record under the ePay/Banking tab.
How to get started: If you do not have online payments set up, contact your sales representative or email sales@propertyware.com.

Owner Portal

For whom: You and your property owners.
For what: Allow owners to view real-time financials, work orders, and all activities on their respective properties, as well as share documents, statements and conversations with your owners. Owners also have the ability to contribute money to their properties electronically, ensuring there is no delay in payment to your business or vendors.
Why it helps: Maintains complete social distance. Digital access to financials and communications, as well as to electronic payment options, allows the business to operate fluidly and share information as they normally would.
How to use it: Share access with owners to provide visibility and reduce phone calls.
How to get started: Enable owner portals within Propertyware.
Ways to communicate with your owners: Through the community bulletin within the portal, conversations, text messaging and email.

Tenant & Owner Emails

For whom: Your tenants and owners.
For what: Communicating important messages in mass with owners and tenants.
Why it helps: Keeps them in the loop on important announcements and communications. Keeps the volume lower on your temporarily limited phone resources.
How to use it: http://propertyware.force.com/KB2/articles/Instructional/Send-Email-To-All-Active-Owners/?q=mass+email+to+tennats&l=en_US&fs=Search&pn=1, http://propertyware.force.com/KB2/articles/Instructional/Email-All-Tenants/?q=mass+email+to+tenants&l=en_US&fs=Search&pn=1

Managing your Applications and Lease Signings/Renewal Signings

Online Applications

For whom: You and your applicants.
For what: For applicants to apply for your units from anywhere through any mobile device.
Why it helps: All actions can be taken by the applicant, and you are notified in real time when an application is submitted. No need to meet in the office or at property—100% digital.
How to use it: Utilize the modern rental listing widget and application portal to allow applicants to apply online for a specific property.
How to get started: Customize the modern rental listing widget and application portal within Sites.

eSignature (Plus & Premium Subscriptions)

For whom: You, applicants, and residents.
For what: Applications, Leases, Lease Renewal Agreements and any document requiring signatures.
Why it helps: Eliminates in-person contact for the signing of leases. Allows applicants to sign a legally-binding application or lease electronically, without required physical interaction between the property management company and the applicant or tenant.
How to use it: Put in place customizable templates with required electronic signature tags and execute documents from anywhere. ESignature application settings are located in the Sites module.
How to get started: If you not subscribed to eSignature, contact your sales representative or email sales@propertyware.com.
Link to helpful information to get started: http://propertyware.force.com/KB2/articles/How_To/eSignature-Mail-Merge-PDFs/?q=esignature&l=en_US&fs=Search&pn=1

COVID-19 is unlike any challenge that we’ve seen before, and over the coming weeks, there may be new situations that arise as this pandemic unfolds. We’ll be in touch with additional insights and recommendations to put technology into practice, along with ways that we are seeing property managers work through it all. On Wednesday April 1, Join Propertyware VP Inaas Arabi and RealPage VP/Deputy Chief Economist Jay Parsons for the live webcast, COVID-19: Impact on Single Family Rentals. You can register here: https://propertyware1.wpengine.com/webcasts/covid-19-impact-single-family-rentals/ We are also adding live COVID-19 Q&A sessions to our instructor led training starting this Friday 3/27 and the following Fridays, 4/3 and 4/10. Log into your account to access Propertyware University and register.

The post Property Management Tools for COVID-19 Readiness appeared first on Propertyware.

How to Efficiently Market Vacant Properties for Rent

pwadmin — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 14:22:37 +0000

When reading the title of this blog, there is one word that is key: vacant. Many times, rental property owners skirt around this crucial step of the process. They will attempt to advertise an occupied home to prospective tenants. The obvious issue with this is that the rental home isn’t empty yet. It is still occupied, so how can you forecast when it will actually be vacated in some cases, and start preparing for a new tenant? You can’t, so don’t do it. Trying to coordinate showings, move outs/move ins, cleanliness, and deposit refunds becomes a tight rope to walk if everything goes hassle-free. Imagine lining up a new tenant to move in and your current tenants request another two weeks because their new home isn’t ready. What would you do?

First steps for vacant rental properties

Once a property becomes vacant and cleaned/prepared for a new tenant, you can start trying to attract the best prospective tenant. The key to efficient rental property marketing is honesty. When potential tenants view a rental home in person, they want it to match up with the expectations you provided online. If it doesn’t, you will have just wasted their time and yours! Show imperfections in your ads and photos, because they promote honesty and will provide you prospective tenants that are the best match for your rental home. A good rule of thumb is to share between 18-24 photos for a property. Take photos of all of the rooms, storage areas, parking, laundry, common areas and exterior. This will give the prospective tenant a solid idea of your offering. If you only show one photo, you are leaving a huge void in the mind of the prospective tenant. The more details you provide, the more successful you will be.

Save time with video to market vacant properties

The next way to create an efficient listing is to perform a virtual walk through with a three to five minute video. With nothing more than your smartphone, take a stroll around the rental home and provide commentary. Explain the dimensions of the room, features offered and any restrictions (For example, “Please note a king bed will not fit in this bedroom”). Details like this will engage your audience and bring you closer to a qualified, high-caliber applicant. A short video will not give the prospective tenant a full picture, and a video that is too long will probably lose their attention span.

Stick to the facts and forget the fluff

When you post a rental home listing online, include as many details as possible. Avoid subjective words that are up for interpretation. For example, instead of describing a property as: “Beautiful, Charming, Sunny 1 Bedroom in Great Area!” try a title with explanatory terms, such as “1 Bed, Hardwoods, Granite, Parking, Laundry, Pets OK, No Storage.” Factual titles provide clear information to prospective tenants. Your definition of charming and beautiful may not be the same as someone else. Avoid terms that are debatable. In property management, it is not about glamour and prestige. Unlike the house sales market, renters tend to prefer the basics in amenities and folks are usually looking for a clean, affordable place to live. Many property managers will also want to place “For Rent” signs outside the property. This will certainly attract phone calls, but the phone calls may be low quality. Most likely, prospective tenants won’t have any information on the rental home, other than the area it is located in (and whatever you can squeeze on the sign with a marker). If you follow these simple steps, you will find that your lead quality is much higher, and your time spent is boiled down to the minimum needed. In a world full of inefficient property managers, you can be ahead of the pack by light years—making you more savvy, respected and profitable! Nick D’Agnillo is the CEO & Founder of Nexus Property Management, a national property management franchise with offices in Pawtucket, RI, Fall River, MA, and Destin, FL. D’Agnillo’s company manages all types of rental property—from single family homes or condos to large apartment buildings and complexes.

The post How to Efficiently Market Vacant Properties for Rent appeared first on Propertyware.

Are You Still Giving Rental Property Tours on Site?

Ashley Chimal — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 23:43:00 +0000

There’s no question that choosing a home to live in is one of the most difficult decisions. It determines your lifestyle, your commute and the comfort of your day-to-day life. It’s also a lengthy process, which translates into a lengthy sales cycle for single family property management companies. Anything you can do to speed that process up is a definite plus. Fortunately, virtual reality is now in a position to do just that. After years of promises that virtual reality will change the world, it’s here. There are several VR headsets to choose from in all budgets—from Google cardboard to the Oculus Rift—that will literally put you in someone else’s shoes. To film, anyone can pull a smartphone out of their pockets and add a camera attachment like the Insta360, even shooting in 4K. When you’re ready, you can upload to YouTube360, a platform designed for the full immersion video that VR provides. It’s all there, on budget and ready for action. If you’re ready for a bigger production, you can hire a crew or put together a GoPro rig that will give you a higher production value. Regardless of your video’s quality, virtual tours can simplify the single family leasing process. Imagine a prospect doing a virtual tour of the property he or she is interested in renting and signing the lease right away. The benefits of providing property tours are overwhelming—the time savings, the increased interest in your property (prospects that take a tour are much more likely to lease), and the captive audience. In terms of time savings, not only does a virtual tour save travel time to your property, it also cuts down on cross talk when scheduling, not to mention the convenience of touring a property from one’s own home. Once the tour is done, you’ve essentially immersed the prospect in the features of your property, creating a connection viewing photos doesn’t quite reach. Finally, there’s the captive audience. Virtual reality is so immersive that it’s like being engrossed in your favorite TV show. These make up a unique value proposition. Don’t forget, there’s always the possibility of renting one of your other properties if the one they found doesn’t fit the bill. In addition, as your prospects are watching the VR experience, you can carefully monitor the metrics to find out where they pause with interest or end from apathy. Finally, with VR, you’re appealing to a younger generation that is not only comfortable with technology, but also expects you to offer more innovative features to make life easier. And while VR could still be considered as in its early adoption phase, the tools to exponentially speed up the leasing process are available now. With 25+ years of marketing communications experience and 20 years of digital, Brett Moneta is a consultant, strategist, and writer with a web, video, social media (and even print) background. Growing up with a family-owned swimming pool construction business, he learned the ins and outs of construction and real estate well. Brett has built content strategy for Fortune 50 companies and has been a national blogger for Talent Zoo’s Digital Pivot magazine. Presently, he works in Marketing at RealPage, Inc., a leading global provider of software data analytics to the real estate industry, where he’s been since 2015. Brett holds two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Texas at Austin: BS in Radio/Television/Film and a BA in English.

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5 Photography Tips to Improve Your Rental Listings

Marc Eiting — Sun, 26 Mar 2017 15:00:00 +0000

As a property manager, you’ve written many listings for your properties and taken quite a few photographs. You know photos are important to your prospective tenants because they help sell your property in a way that words alone cannot. According to Rentalutions, “96% of (tenants) begin their search online.” How can you make sure your pictures tell the story of your property and draw in prospective tenants? Take a look at our photography tips for property managers and help turn website visitors into new tenants who are ready to move in.

Think About Quality

You don’t need to be a good photographer to get high-quality images, you just need to use the right camera. Use a camera that offers at least 5-megapixel resolution in order to have photos that look sharp online. You can also try enlarging them in case a prospective tenant clicks on the photo. If your hands are shaky or you notice that your photos are frequently blurry, add a tripod to your camera to help keep photos looking sharp.

What Does the Tenant Want to See in Rental Listings?

Tenants look to photographs to get a feel for your property. Take a photo of the house from the outside, and try to include the house and yard. If you’re taking indoor photographs, make sure the previous tenants’ personal items are not in the photo, as this makes the photo feel like it’s of someone else’s space. Take photos with the best device you can, rather than relying on spur-of-the-moment shots.

Highlight your Property at its Best

Think about the light levels when you take your photo. Even if the weather is often rainy and the skies are dark, you want to show off the home when it’s at its best. Ominous gray clouds or rain might be realistic, but don’t make the best pictures. Take your photos on a sunny or lightly cloudy day, even the ones that are indoors. If you’re inside, open the blinds and consider adding a photography light to get the levels just right.

Take As Many Photos As You Want

Not every photo you take will be perfect, so be patient. Even if you’re not a pro, you can still take good photos: you just need practice to get the right shot. According to Inman, digital “pictures are disposable and of course, there are no printing costs involved, so click away!”

Don’t Worry, Just Edit

You want your photos to be truthful. However, you also want them to look appealing. Clean up the home before you take a photo to remove visual distractions, but leave basic furniture inside so that it’s easier to visualize the room when it’s furnished. Stage the home, adding fresh flowers or other classy touches that add to and don’t distract from your photo. After you’ve finished taking the photo, if there are some minor flaws in the photography itself or there is some cropping to do, edit your photos freely before you post.

“I like the fact it integrates everything together.” – Jim Stevens / Stevens Realty

Whether you’re filing photos or adding tenants’ information to a tenant portal, you need a property management system that you can trust. File your data, create reports, and develop outstanding websites with Propertyware. Schedule a few minutes to take a free online tour of Propertyware today.

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7 Tips for Staging a Rental Property

Leah Mendes — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 18:15:55 +0000

Surprisingly, when it comes to rental properties, most property managers and landlords think that home staging is irrelevant. But here’s a fact. Staging is not just for people who are looking to sell a home but also for people looking to rent their home. Your prospective clients are people looking for a home, not just a stark, vacant house. Moreover, when done the right way, staging rentals can help draw their attention to your property’s top assets and play down the drawbacks.

Here Are Some Benefits of Staging Rentals

Staging makes your house look more “homey” and lived in
Staging shows prospective tenants that you care about maintaining your property in top condition
Staging can help your property stand out from the competition
Staging can improve your listing photos and help you market your property more effectively to people who are out looking for home rentals
Staging can help you lower your vacancy rate, get better lease terms, and yes, even charge higher rent.

So what are you waiting for? Here are our top 7 staging tips and tricks for a rental property!

1. Choose Suitable Furnishings and Accessories

Tailor your furnishings to your prospective rental market. This means that if your rental houses are located in the downtown area or an up-and-coming neighborhood, chances are that your potential tenant can be a young executive or a busy couple. So in order to make the house appealing to them, you need to use furnishings that reflect their lifestyle, needs, and interests, for example, a casual dining set and an open entertainment area. Look for small items like fancy cabinet pulls or electric switch plates to spruce up the house at virtually no cost. Also, be ready to rotate your décor and accessories in accordance with the season.

2. Show Your Tenant How To Use The Room

Staging gives people a chance to envision themselves living in that home. Don’t waste space in your rental by not assigning a definite use for each room. For instance, a spare room can be set up as a home office if your clients are most likely to be young couples. But if you are managing a property in a great school district, your tenants are most likely to be families who would be more impressed if you turn that extra room into a kid’s bedroom and the under-the-stairs closet space near the entrance into a useful catchall for a family of five.

3. Emphasize Your Property’s Top Selling Points

Focus your staging efforts to enhance your property’s top selling points. Do you have a fireplace? Use lighting that helps highlight it as a focal point in the room. Do you have some lovely built-in bookshelves? Draw attention to their utility by placing coordinated groups of books or other accessories. However, avoid clutter. You don’t want the tenants to be more focused on the accessories – their attention should be on the possibilities. If you have a huge master bedroom in your rental house, don’t leave it empty. Instead, use furniture like a king-sized bed and matching dresser-nightstand combo or a small seating area to highlight the all that extra space and comfort. Remember that it is difficult to gauge the size of a room or understand how much furniture it can hold when they are empty. And again know your market, if you’re renting a house near downtown in a tech hub, present that small bedroom as a potential dedicated office space. [Additional Reading: Top 25 Websites for Advertising Your Property Rental Listing]

4. Get Rid of The Nasty Odors

An empty rental property that hasn’t had any people living there for a long time can have a very musty and damp smell. And if your last tenant was a heavy smoker, that’s just going to add to that terrible odor that hits you the minute you walk in through that door.

So if you don’t want your prospective tenants to run in the opposite direction before they even have a chance to see the rest of your property, do something about it. Air out the property well and give the carpets a thorough cleaning. Repainting the walls will also help remove most odors and smells. When you have a scheduled showing, make sure that you arrive at least 30 minutes early so that you can light some scented candles. This will impart a pleasant smell to staged rental and also add to the homey factor. And yes, don’t forget to leave the air conditioning on!

Propertyware Marketing Does What Others Can’t

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5. Cleanliness Is Next To Godliness

Removing smells is not the end of your efforts in presenting a staged property with an appeal. Even if it is an older property, that doesn’t mean it should not be presented like a gift-wrapped present to your potential renters. During your walkthrough, be aware that tenants want to feel as though they are walking into their new squeaky-clean home, not someone else’s old smelly home. Of course, your previous tenants should have done the required bare minimum of cleaning before vacating the property, but that does not mean you should accept their version of clean and ready. Signs of prior life may be all the rage in archaeology but it’s not what you want in your rental property. Remove any signs of past residents and create a feeling of newness for your renters. Polish floors and baseboards free of scuff marks, patch holes in walls and ceilings, replace damaged carpets or flooring, check all doors and handles are functioning.

6. Place Yourself In Your Tenant’s Shoes

Finally, walk through the property once as though you were a prospective renter. What do you see? Is there too little light? Do the rooms appear inviting or stark? Does everything look bright and clean? Do the rooms appear small or just right? Do the fixtures in the kitchen look worn out? Are there any appliances that can benefit from an upgrade? Remember your prospective tenants may have a long list of rental listings they’re considering in addition to your property. So if your budget allows, enlist a staging expert for advice or to help showcase your property to its maximum potential.

7. Don’t Forget Curb Appeal

Your rental house not being occupied is no reason to let the landscaping run wild. Curb appeal is as important to renters as to buyers. It is your chance to make a great first impression. So when you prepare a home for showing, make sure that you stage the outdoor areas too. Get someone to trim the hedges, pull out the weeds, cut down any wayward tree branches, plant some seasonal flowers, and clean up the exterior lighting fixtures. If your property has a good-sized patio or balcony, choose suitable patio furniture and accessories that help them see the possibilities of that space for relaxing and entertaining. A lovely wreath on the front door can be a nice way to welcome potential tenants into your property. If you are still wondering whether all the time, money and effort that you would have to invest in staging will actually prove worthwhile, here’s something to cheer about. Property managers who have successfully used staging in the past say that it has helped them attract better tenants who ended up signing long-term leases. That means more rental income for your landlords, lesser turnover and lesser marketing efforts. Now that’s something we can all get behind, can’t we?

The post 7 Tips for Staging a Rental Property appeared first on Propertyware.

Green Rental Properties – Interview with Gary Wollenhaupt of ProudGreenHome

Marc Eiting — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 11:00:00 +0000

“Through 2016, certain upgrades are eligible for tax credits, such as solar panels and geothermal heating and cooling systems, and specified types of water heaters.” Want to take advantage of these incentives and create green rental properties? Learn how in our interview with Gary Wollenhaupt of ProudGreenHome. Gary Wollenhaupt is editor of ProudGreenHome.com, a site devoted to inspiring and educating people to start their own green home journey. We recently checked in with Gary to learn more about green building trends and the benefits to property owners and managers of choosing more environmentally friendly options for their buildings. Here’s what he had to say:

Guide to Green Rental Properties – Expert Interview

What excites you about green living?

I get excited about living with less waste and reducing the negative impact my family and I have on the environment. There are so many ways each of us can reduce energy use, reduce our consumption and leave a legacy for generations to come.

What trends or building innovations are you following related to green living?

One of the biggest trends right now is the growth of energy audits and certifications in new single and multifamily home building. It’s the closest thing new homes have had to quality control. If a new house has a HERS score or is certified by a green building program such as Energy Star or Environment for Living, the buyer knows the home’s performance has been evaluated and meets the standards.

Rental Property Management Misconceptions about Going Green

What do you think the biggest misconceptions homeowners have about going green? 1. A green house has to look like a spaceship or some modern glass and steel design.

That’s simply not true. A very high-performing house can be almost indistinguishable from any other house. It might have thicker walls or solar panels on the roof; those may be the only clues.

2. Solar panels are the first thing to do.

Wrong. Spend money air sealing and insulating your home, and consider more efficient appliances, heating/air conditioning systems and water heaters. Reduce the demand for energy first, and then design a solar system for the lower demand. If you’re on a budget, do those other things first, then think about solar power.

3. Energy upgrades are too expensive.

If you need new appliances or windows, get Energy Star-rated products. Look at ways to air seal leaks around windows and doors and the attic and foundation, add insulation in the attic or wherever you can. Many of these things are within the ability of most homeowners.

What improvements offer the best ROI for property owners? How can these improvements benefit property managers?

Air sealing and insulation are hands down the biggest bang for the buck for property owners and managers. The properties will be more durable and comfortable, and whoever pays the utility bills will see a reduction from day one. Energy efficient HVAC and water heaters are also good investments, as are demand recirculation pumps for the water heaters.

What are the marketing benefits of green rental properties for attracting renters who care about reducing their footprint?

The rental properties should have better air quality and be more comfortable, and utility bills should be reduced. People care about what impacts both their comfort levels and their budgets.

Which upgrade or addition has the greatest impact on the environment with the least impact to renters?

Air sealing and insulation to cut down on energy loss will have the biggest impact on the environment; it depends on the building as to how much impact that would have on tenants. If it’s time to replace heating/AC, appliances, or water heater systems, invest in Energy Star rated products.

What types of improvements offer the opportunity for tax deductions for property owners? How can property managers make the business case to their owners to upgrade?

Through 2016, certain upgrades are eligible for tax credits, such as solar panels and geothermal heating and cooling systems, and specified types of water heaters. An energy rater or consultant can help determine what are the most cost-effective upgrades and determine a pay back period. Most upgrades will pay for themselves in a reasonable amount of time, over several years, and then the energy savings and improved comfort are free.

Want Real ROI for Rental Property Management?

Check out a free online demo of Propertyware today.

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Property Management Marketing: Build a Strong Foundation

Marc Eiting — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 10:00:00 +0000

Do vacant properties keep you up at night? Your future tenants are out there, and they need to know about your properties. As a property manager, make sure that your company is at the top of its marketing game. Competition is fierce: these diverse tactics will help you build a strong property management marketing foundation so you can find tenants for your single-family homes.

Connect With Your Future Tenants

Create a website that builds trust. Sometimes, visitors to your site are just browsing. They may be considering a move in the future but they’re not quite ready. As a property management company, your goal is to build trust with these prospective tenants. How can you develop this connection? Know who’s visiting your site, and know what advice they need to hear. Write blog posts for millennials who are sharing a property with friends. Write for seniors who aren’t sure how they will fit all of their possessions into a smaller home. Establish a rapport with solid information, then ask visitors to sign up for your newsletter. Build trust, then stay in touch with these visitors, building your engaged market over time. Be conscious of the amenities that your tenants love.

Know Where the Market and Your Audience Meet

When you’re marketing your properties, you need to understand how to best market them to a specific audience. According to an interview on NPR, “demand for single-family home leases is strong right now.” However, different groups of tenants like single family rental properties for different reasons. Downsizing seniors may not want to commit to living in one location for the rest of their lives. Mobile young families may need the ability to move to new jobs. Research what each group of tenants needs and mention these amenities in your listings. A listing targeted at young families could emphasize local parks, schools, and recreation centers and the property’s extra bathrooms and a fenced yard. A listing targeted to seniors can focus on a quiet backyard and a walkable neighborhood. Look at the keywords that your target audience uses to search for properties online, and make sure that you weave those into your web-based property management marketing.

Create Detailed and Attractive Listings

Your online property listings are the best way for you to promote your properties. You need to stand out from the crowd, and one way to do this is through photo and video. Hire a photographer to showcase your properties. Add an online video tour of each home. Seeing a photo gives prospective tenants a more comprehensive look at the home before they call. Add rich details as well: outline the basics like bedrooms and bathrooms, and move on to describe extra amenities, such as a backyard pool and gorgeous garden.

Have Your Portfolio At Hand

Keep a comprehensive portfolio on each property and each neighborhood. This will help you create effective postings on listing services because you’ll be able to easily describe the neighborhood, amenities, and vital statistics about each property. Keep a database of your properties using property management software so when a prospective tenant calls, you’ll have detailed information handy.

“We have about ten times more leads through Propertyware.” – Jerry Ryan, Resource Property Management

When you’re looking for marketing strategies for property managers, you need a support system. Whether you’re developing detailed property listings or creating a new website, Propertyware’s software and marketing products can help. Get pricing today.

The post Property Management Marketing: Build a Strong Foundation appeared first on Propertyware.

5 Tips for Providing an Informative Property Management Blog

Marc Eiting — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 14:55:42 +0000

Starting a property management blog can be overwhelming, but has huge benefits for your business. In fact, blogging is one of the most important actions you can take to keep your website up-to-date and make sure your tenants informed. Here are 5 ways you can use a blog to help turn site visitors into tenants:

1. Boost Your SEO

Your website is well-designed, and your SEO is top-notch. But to gain credibility, you also need to keep content fresh and diversified. Adding new blog posts not only educates readers posts, it also draws them to your website in the first place. A well-crafted property management blog features the keywords that speak to the content your visitors need. According to Hubspot, “It helps drive new traffic to your website and works closely with search engines and social media to do that.” Blogging increases the presence of the most important keywords on your site and can move your website up in the search rankings.

2. Get Social

Engage with social media by providing shareable blog content. Your web-based visitors will let others know about the content they find appealing or useful, and their friends will begin to browse your site, as well.

3. Stay Ahead of the Game

Successful property management professionals are constantly working to stay up-to-date on the latest research and trends. Whether it’s the most durable flooring to install or the best stain for a porch, you need to stay informed to maintain your properties appropriately. Developing a property management blog allows you to do this research and re-purpose it in your blog posts.

4. Keep Your Tenants Up-to-Date

While you may write about some topics that are relevant to a broad audience, you also need information specific to your owners and your tenants. For example, if your tenants need to know about the water-saving benefits of xeriscaping before you shift your properties’ landscaping strategies, you can create a blog post to inform them. You can also place the most pertinent ones in your tenant portal to remind tenants about annual maintenance or upcoming changes to your properties.

5. Establish Your Reputation

When you write an informative property management blog, your efforts as a blogger will be valuable to those within your company, your tenants and owners, and those far beyond your company. According to the Marketing Essentials Blog, “These new relationships you acquire may turn into potential leads for your company, and in addition, blogging may also help build stronger relationships with existing customers as it creates loyalty between you and the customers.” By building a reputation for exceptional content, you build a reputation as an exceptional company. Are you trying to develop your property management blog? Begin with a website that draws in tenants, owners, and visitors alike. Our digital marketing packages can help make your website stand out from the crowd. View a free online demo of Propertyware today.

The post 5 Tips for Providing an Informative Property Management Blog appeared first on Propertyware.

Rental Property Management Hacks You’ll Love

Marc Eiting — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 19:22:48 +0000

The success of your business rests on the systems you have in place. When you have the right processes behind your business, you can focus on improving and expanding your rental properties. If you don’t have effective processes, your business can falter. Check out these property management hacks that will give your business a boost.

Do Your Due Diligence

As you’re planning for business success, one of the best ways to save time is to accomplish certain tasks at the right time. For example, doing a thorough reference and credit check on a potential tenant can save you the hassle of sending repeated warnings or notices down the road. Make sure that your business processes happen at the right time to save time.

Create a Directory

Use property management software to have your details of the properties that you manage, the tenants who rent them, and the contractors you use at your fingertips. If you use cloud-based software, you’ll be able to access these details while you’re on the move as well, providing you instant answers to questions tenants might have or a list of contractors when you’re on site with a plumbing leak.

Get Your Business Online

Move your payment systems and tenant communication online to better connect with prospects and current tenants. In this increasingly digital world, this saves time for both you and the customer and allows them to easily get in touch with your business. It also decreases the chance that a check will bounce and greatly improves the ease of your cash flow.

Get Automated

It’s time that your business used technology to its full advantage. Whenever you can, automate your processes. Pay monthly bills automatically, and set up systems that automatically remind tenants to pay their rent or submit a form. You still need to take charge of the system and troubleshoot if something’s going wrong, but for the most part, automatic reminders, emails, and payments will greatly reduce your workload.

Look Back, Look Ahead

You probably use the data tracking features of your property management software, but what about the reporting and forecasting features? Your software products should be able to create reports that show you financial trends or recurring problems that need solutions. Take some time every few months to create these reports and consider how you’ll change your business practices in response.

Focus on Your Personal Productivity

Optimize your personal productivity at work. There are so many apps and sites that can help you stay focused and productive, from Inboxpause.com that puts a pause on your incoming emails to Rescuetime.com which focuses on showing you how you spend your computer time. According to Productive Magazine, there’s even an app called Coffivity which will provide you with gentle, productivity-enhancing white noise, because “a happy medium is a space where a gentle hum can be heard in the background.”

Learn From Your Mistakes

When you’re trying to upgrade your business processes, it’s easy to look at gradual improvements and harder to take a close look at your failures. Mistakes: we’ve all made them, and one of the ways to get better at what you do is to make them frequently, then debrief. Set up processes that help you learn from your mistakes and move forward. According to Entrepreneur magazine, “if you fail at something, remember that you need to reframe failure as an outcome you didn’t expect.” How can you become a better rental property management company? Sometimes, it’s about the organizational strategies you use. When you’re upgrading your ability to manage your properties, contact Propertyware. Sign up for a free tour today.

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How Lead Tracking Can Increase the Success of Your Rental Property Management Business

Marc Eiting — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 03:25:37 +0000

Who are your tenants? When you’re looking for leads, you need to understand your tenants, their needs, and how they find your rental property management business. You have many different interactions with tenants, and these can be difficult to track. Focus on achieving your business goals with lead tracking tools that increase the success of your rental property management.

Manage Your Relationships

To cultivate new leads, you need to view each lead as a relationship. If your leads are motivated, you can move that relationship forward until your leads turn into or help you find new tenants. Not all leads are equal, and to know who to pursue, you need information. Entrepreneur Magazine states that “to turn them into actual revenue, you need to efficiently manage them and develop relationships. That means separating real prospects from duds, organizing all the data and tracking your key leads on a regular basis.” Lead tracking software can help you manage your leads. Capture custom information about your leads, get the details about your leads so that you can follow up on specific dates, and easily connect to your calendar so that when your leads call to look at a property, you’re ready to go.

Make Sure You Have Quality Tenants

When you’re looking for new tenants, you want to ensure that your tenants come with excellent references and a solid credit check. With custom tenant screening forms and decision criteria, you can use tenant screening tools to see who is coming into your rental property management business, enabling you to choose quality tenants. You can also use inspection tools to monitor your properties and flag any concerns you have about ongoing maintenance or cleanliness issues.

Learn How Your Leads Find Your Listings

Tracking your connections with your leads is important since it gives you information about the people who are working with those leads and allows you to follow up more effectively. Call tracking also helps you understand where your leads are coming from. Fresh Business Thinking says that “call tracking lets you track two things: how many calls the different arms of your ad campaign are producing, and how large a fraction of your advertising budget each call represents.” When you know how your leads find your listings, you can use this information to further refine your marketing strategies. You can also monitor the performance of your employees so that you know who needs more marketing support.

Funnel Lead Information Back Into Your Marketing Efforts

With effective lead tracking and call tracking, you can funnel the information that you collect back into your marketing efforts. For example, lead tracking can help you with your market segmentation, and this, in turn, can help you develop new landing pages that speak to specific segments of the population. With good information, you can not only cultivate the leads you have, you’ll learn how to attract new ones.

“We wouldn’t be the company we are without Propertyware… it allows us (with only 2 people) to manage the entire business” – Jeff Shelton / 3rd Base Realty

When you’re trying to stay connected to your leads, Propertyware can help. With our Lead Tracking System, you’ll be able to effectively manage your leads and understand lead generation. Sign up for a free tour today.

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