How to Automate Your Rental Property Business
As a landlord, you know that there are a lot of moving parts to keeping your rental property business running smoothly. There’s a lot of paperwork to manage, tenants to communicate with, and repairs to oversee. But what if there was a way to automate all of those tasks?
This guide explains how to automate your rental property business using technology and online tools. You’ll learn how to streamline communication with tenants, automate rent payments and collections, and more.
How to Automate Your Rental Property Business
Check out these five things you can do right now to automate your rental business:
- Hire a property manager
- Accept payments online
- Screen tenants online
- Send reminders to tenants
- Create systems for everything
Here’s a closer look at each.
Tip #1 for Automating Your Rental Property Business: Hire a Property Manager
If you’re looking for a way to take a hands-off approach to your rental business, hiring a property manager is a great option. A property manager can handle all of the day-to-day tasks associated with running a rental property, from marketing and showing units to screening tenants and collecting rent.
Property managers typically charge a percentage of the monthly rent as their fee, so you’ll want to make sure that the cost is worth it for your particular situation. But if you’re looking for a way to automate your rental business, hiring a property manager is a great option.
In fact, if you hire a property manager, you don’t have to worry about the following four tips.
Related: Eviction from a landlord’s perspective
Tip #2 for Automating Your Rental Property Business: Accept Payments Online
One of the biggest hassles of being a landlord is collecting rent each month. You have to track down tenants who are late on their payments, and you might even have to go to court to evict someone who doesn’t pay their rent.
Instead of dealing with all of that hassle, why not automate your rental property business by accepting payments online? There are a number of online rent payment platforms that you can use, such as Cozy and RentMatic.
With an online rent payment platform, tenants can pay their rent electronically, and you can automatically deposit the payments into your bank account. This way, you don’t have to worry about late payments or bounced checks. And if a tenant doesn’t pay their rent, the eviction process is usually much quicker.
Related: Should you buy a flip or a rental in Silicon Valley?
Tip #3 for Automating Your Rental Property Business: Screen Tenants Online
Another way to automate your rental property business is to screen tenants online. There are a number of online tenant screening services, such as myRentScreening and e-renter.
With an online tenant screening service, you can automatically run a credit check, eviction history, and criminal background check on each applicant. This way, you can quickly weed out any applicants who don’t meet your criteria.
Tip #4 for Automating Your Rental Property Business: Send Reminders to Tenants
One of the most important parts of being a landlord is maintaining good communication with your tenants. But if you have a lot of tenants, it can be difficult to keep track of who needs to be contacted and when.
Instead of trying to keep everything straight in your head, automate your rental property business by sending reminders to tenants. There are a number of online platforms that you can use for this, such as Property Meld and ServiceBridge.
With an online platform, you can set up automatic reminders for things like rent payments, lease renewals, and maintenance requests. This way, you can be sure that your tenants are always kept in the loop.
Related: Landlords’ rights when tenants damage a property in California
Tip #5 for Automating Your Rental Property Business: Create Systems for Everything
One of the best ways to automate your rental property business is to create systems for everything. From rental applications to late rent notifications, there are a number of things that you can automate.
The key is to put together a system that works for you and your business. For example, you might want to set up an online form for rental applications. Or you might want to create a template for late rent notifications that you can send out automatically.
By creating systems for everything, you can save yourself a lot of time and hassle in the long run.
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