|
With a booming market, real estate has become an increasingly popular investment option over the past decade. But while Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and other publicly traded groups have grown, the majority of residential and commercial properties in the rental/lease market continue to be managed by smaller, closely held management companies and individuals. As any landlord will quickly admit, renting out residential and commercial property is not simply a matter of collecting rent and applying the revenues to proper accounts. Instead, property management is much like any business, with profitability requiring keeping on top of a multitude of tasks and issues.
Of course, the specific needs of each of these management concerns vary depending on the size and type of their holdings. Where larger firms with a diverse portfolio of multi-family, single-family, commercial and retail units across multiple states must deal with large staffs and remote offices, vast maintenance assets, distribution and related issues, smaller firms often face the obverse challenge of providing comprehensive service with a minimal staff. All property management businesses need to turn to technology to assist in maximizing their efficiency.
For most, the first rule of property management is to minimize vacancies. No lease contract on a unit equals no revenue for that unit. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. A tenant management module is needed to manage the lease contract process, from marketing to prospects, to move-in, and ultimately move-out. Maintaining properties, both while occupied and vacant, is also a vital concern, requiring the use of a work order management module.
Accounting is another key issue and requires keeping track of the rental receipts, security deposits, maintenance costs and other associated expenses. Some of the programs in this review contain complete GL/AP/AR accounting modules with audit trail functions, while others are geared for integration with a company`s existing accounting application. In either case, it is essential that detailed books be kept and, if possible, that information on the profitability of each individual unit be examinable. This is especially important for property groups that manage the property of other individuals or entities.
And finally, reporting capabilities must enable the management company to analyze data in further detail, readily show occupancy levels, show maintenance issues, and handle client correspondence issues such as late notices.
Of course, numerous other special issues need to be considered, as well, such as tenant screening, affordable housing compliance issues, community association management (CAM) functions, utility cost apportionment, asset management, electronic banking, budgeting and forecasting. The products reviewed here provide options for all of these tasks and more.
|
