AlumNet

This short article will show landlords, property managers and administrators of home owners associations some of the benefits which can accrue by using a web-based property management software package.

A good web-based package will allow the manager or landlord to set up web pages or web addresses for their organization. This will allow efficient ways of establishing contact with many different groups of people: new prospective tenants, established tenants, property portfolio owners, and maintenance contractors. Each group of stakeholders will be provided with the information which is appropriate to their needs, and you will in turn be able to get information (and rent payments) from them. It will also ensure that proper electronic security is provided for transactions such as online rental payments, and that proper financial records can be easily produced for tax and business purposes.

Managers or landlords can describe the features, location etc of properties in listings which they set up in the part of the web address which is accessible to prospective tenants. Prospects will find this information using search engines such as google. Once they get to your listings they will be able to search through them for the property of most interest to them. When they select a property contact details will be collected online straight away.

As the landlord or manager you would be immediately notified of this by email or by text message. You can then assess the prospect for suitability: a good system will provide a way to access checks such as credit history checks and criminal background checks.

A web-based system also helps managers communicate with existing residents. Residents can download lease agreements, maintenance schedules, payment histories and schedules whenever they need to. Residents can set up electronic payment schedules for their rent. They should be able to set up a regular payment schedule, such as a weekly or monthly payment, or just a one-off payment. A good system will achieve tenant confidence with proper privacy and electronic transaction security policies. A secure web-site is important otherwise tenants will not sign up to online electronic payment methods.

A web-based system is very convenient for residents to report any maintenance issues which may arise. Allowing both tenants and managers to monitor progress helps build confidence and trust in the system. As a manager you might also choose to allow your maintenance contractors to have their own access, and to issue their work orders via the system.

Another stakeholder group would be the owners of property portfolios, or the committee members of home owners associations. These groups would have access to the system to access the data which is important to them. For property owners you could for example let them access income and expenses for individual properties, or for their complete portfolio.

Lastly you should find that reports for financial planning, management and tax returns can be produced simply and effectively by a good web-based property management software system.