How to Effectively Manage Your Multifamily Properties virtually during the Pandemic

We live in the times that will be remembered in history as the pandemic that captured the whole world hostage. There are numerous opinions as to when the world will be back to normal, but unfortunately, since a cure has not yet been developed for COVID-19, it’s anyone’s guess. In the meantime, a lot depends on the precautionary measures that each country, state, county and town are taking to “flatten the curve” and keep the pandemic in check.

No matter whether you are a beginner property owner or a hands-on veteran, you have to adapt to the world of new reality and adjust management of your apartment complexes, single family homes or condos. Your first order of business should be to protect your family, therefore it’s best to leave property management to the experts, so if you haven’t yet, it’s best if you hire a reputable property management company.

In this article I share the list of online resources that I have accumulated over several years based on my own positive experience, as well as on numerous conversations and interviews with other property owners about the features that they find most useful.  I found these resources helpful and beneficial, and I use many of them personally as a multifamily property owner to manage my business more effectively and efficiently.  Nearly all of these online resources offer many other services in addition to those features for which I give them credit, and this is my attempt to point out their strengths.  It is up to you to evaluate these online resources and decide which features work best in your particular case.

One additional note; I compiled this list of resources with the sole intent to help you and your tenants and contractors stay safe.  I do not receive any reimbursement from any of the vendors.

1. Listing an Apartment or House for Rent

While there are tons of websites that allow you to list your rental for free, such as Craigslist.org, Apartments.com (offers a free limited version), and Facebook Marketplace, there are also many other sites where you can list your property for rent for a fee that allows for an even larger access by potential renters; the most common for houses or condos is your local Multiple Listings Service (MLS). When a prospective tenant is represented by a real estate agent, that agent will usually consult the MLS first.

Since the enforcement of social distancing is a given in the foreseeable future, and prospective tenants are somewhat hesitant about visiting available rentals, you may consider a different option; such as, to record a video of the entire rental and include the video in the listing. This allows potential tenants to view the property, and to make a preliminary decision whether it is worth considering a visit based on their virtual evaluation.

2. Background and Credit Checks for Prospective Tenants

Cozy.co offers free background checks of your prospective tenants, so that you could run a credit check and verify whether their history includes evictions, criminal history and other details. Another site offering similar services is VerticalRent.com, which likewise, offers easy-to-use tenant screening and rental property management software.

3. Landlord-related Online Resources

Landlord.com is a terrific online resource for novice property owners and for property investors, who are in the early stages of their buy-and-hold rental property business. It has a ton of educational articles for landlords as well as a lot of free templates for various things such as for instance, sample lease application.

4. Rental Management Application

As a property owner, you need to have a way to communicate with your tenants. Online resource providers offer free or low-cost resources for property owners that are still in the process of scaling because they hope to have your business as you grow your properties.

TenantCloud.com is such an example of a rental accounting and management resource that allows to manage your tenants, do tenant screening, submit and receive maintenance request, and even perform bookkeeping of your rentals. TenantCloud.com is free to landlords who own less than 75 units (which was the threshold at the time that this article was written, but may change in the future).

Another great example of tenant management application is SparkRental.com. It allows prospective tenants to complete rental application, landlords – advertise property and fill in vacant units, and complete tenants’ screening.

Some additional apps that also offer tenant management include but not limited to Cozy.co, Appfolio.com, QuickBooks.com, RentManager.com.

5. Instant Notification System

If you manage your own properties, or you own a property management company and need to communicate to all your tenants at once, then DialMyCalls.com is a great way accomplish mass notifications. The DialMyCalls.com app offers mass notification via placing either a simultaneous text or phone call to all recipients on your pre-selected list.

6. State and Local Landlord Law Resources

As a landlord, you need to know relevant state and local landlord-tenant laws and regulations. Landlord-tenant laws frequently change, so you will need to keep referring back to sites for additional details and clarifications. Landlordology.com (by Cozy) offers interactive resources, and allows you to pre-select your state and view the resources applicable to your specific state.

7. Keeping Track of Business Miles

If you happen to have properties in driving distance from your own home or business headquarters, and visit them, or if you need to attend business-related meetings, then MileIQ.com should be your go-to mobile-version resource to track all business travel miles. Just download the app to your phone and (obviously) carry your cell phone on you at all times. I set up my own MileIQ.com app to classify my business and personal trips on a monthly basis.

8. Keeping Track of Business Expenses

As a business owner, you have plenty of expenses. The easiest way to keep track of expenses is through another mobile app, Expensify.com; this app allows you to scan and classify receipts at your convenience.

9. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

When you run a business (no matter what kind), you have to maintain a database of all clients and contractors with whom you interact on a regular basis, or generically referred to as Customer Relationship Management (CRM). There are literally hundreds, if not thousands of different CRM systems and levels within each of them that allow you and your business to grow and select the next level when the time comes. Some of the systems that I have used and know others to use, include Pipedrive.com, ActiveCampaign.com, Hubspot.com, FreshSales.com, and many more.

CRM systems are very complex, and I suggest that you review multiple CRMS to evaluate their quality, offering and pricing to determine the tools that best suits your goals.

10. Marketing Tool

When you purchase an apartment complex (or any other large investment) via a syndication, you will need to communicate with your investors. MailChimp.com offers a basic solution for free. Of course, if you’d like a more sophisticated option, they offer paid plans as well. A few of my colleagues were also satisfied with the marketing features offered by ActiveCampaign.com. I felt that although ActiveCampaign.com may serve as a CRM, its strength is the marketing feature.

11. Bank Account with Online Access

I realize that having a bank account with online access nowadays goes without saying. However, I’d like to drive home one point that has a direct efficiency result.  Set up auto-payment bill plans for identical recurring monthly amounts.  This one simple task alone will eliminate unnecessary monthly tasks.

12. Podcasts and Audiobooks

We are all leading very busy lives.  Hopefully sooner than later, we will have a chance to go back to our normal on-the-go life, and in the meantime take advantage of listening to podcast interviews and audiobooks; they can be an awesome addition to your education. Sign up for accounts on Pandora.com to download free podcasts on your mobile device, and on Audible.com to have access to their vast collection of business audio books.

13. Everything “Real Estate”

My article would not be complete if I didn’t mention BiggerPockets.com. It is an incredible resource for anything and anyone related to real estate, or as I personally call it “The Google of Real Estate”.  If you are looking for information, or you would like to connect with real estate related professionals or investors; you will most definitely find it on BiggerPockets.com.

While I provided you with a vast list of resources to allow you to start moving to virtual property management (or make this move easier) and make your virtual landholding successful, this is by no means all-inclusive list. I certainly welcome suggestions from other real estate property owners and will keep updating this article as I see fit.

Go take action!

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