Four Things Property Management Sofware Can Do For You
If you are just getting started in the rental property business and only own one or two properties, you may not want to spring for the services of a full-time property management company to handle the day-to-day details of your business. However, since you likely have another job plus family and civic commitments, you need a way to easily track your rental business so that you can maximize the time you spend with it. That's where property management software can help.
What property management software can do for you
Property management software is a compromise between handling all of the details of your rental business alone and hiring a property management company to do it for you. This type of program makes it easy to see at a glance where you stand with tenants and vacancies. Just what can a good property management software program do for you?
1. Keep track of individual tenant accounts. If you have more than one tenant, it can get complicated keeping track of their rent payments, especially if everyone doesn't pay right on the first of the month. A good property management company can give you each tenant's current balance at a glance, plus add late charges or other adjustments to the account. You can also set it to flag seriously delinquent accounts so you can take the necessary legal action.
2. Show you what units are vacant. If you have several units, your software program can tell you at a glance which units are vacant, so you can discuss them intelligently with prospective tenants on the phone.
3. Help at tax-time. A good property management software program can also help to make your taxes easier by sorting your rental income, your expenses and your mileage.
4. Run credit checks. Your software program can even be set up to run credit checks on prospective tenants, making it much easier to vet your applicants and help avoid having to resort to legal action down the road.
While property management software may not be the right answer for every property owner, this type of program can make managing your rental properties much easier by keeping track of available units, calculating tenant accounts, sorting your documentation needed for preparing your taxes and even running credit check. If you haven't considered this type of electronic helper, this relatively small investment could save you a lot of time and energy. For more information, visit sites like rentecdirect.com.