How much do you love or hate technology?
We can’t avoid it, and even if you consider yourself suspicious of the latest online platforms and social media sites, you’ve likely learned to embrace technology in order to make your life easier.
Property management technology also inspires a love/hate relationship among investors and landlords. There’s a lot that can be used to help you have a better rental experience. But, technology has also made it easier for scammers to get away with things.
Our own investment in property management technology has allowed us to deliver services more efficiently and keep our costs down. We believe that innovative tools and software can help us be better property managers, which is good news for the people and the properties that we serve.
Technology is important to the property owners and the tenants we work with, and we think it’s important you understand the way our use of technology benefits you, your property, and your bottom line.
We haven’t lost our priority on personalized, relationship-based Cleveland property management. Technology simply invites automation whenever possible. It also provides more transparency and accountability into what we do.
Here are some of the ways that technology can benefit rental property investors and landlords like you.
Technology Speeds Up the Leasing Process
Vacancy is expensive, and the longer your property is unoccupied, the more money you’re losing.
Thanks to technology, we’re able to lease homes a lot faster now. The result is fewer days on the market, and typically a better-qualified tenant.
For starters, our technology allows us to price rental properties more accurately. We use our market data to compare your rental home to the competition. We work out a rental value that’s both competitive and profitable.
Here are some of the other ways we utilize technology when we are leasing your rental property:
- Online advertising. The platforms we use to advertise your home online allows us to reach a larger pool of tenants. Listing your property on popular rental sites allows us to reach local tenants as well as out-of-state tenants who are relocating to the area. We use our property management software to syndicate your listing out across several platforms, expanding our reach and creating a larger pool of tenants for your home.
- Showing technology. Things have changed when it comes to showing a rental property. We no longer have to work around crazy schedules. Instead, we have the technology that allows us to be more responsive to prospective tenants who want to see your property. We can offer self-showings or provide an online scheduler to make things easier.
- The screening process is quick and thorough. With our online tools and resources, we’re able to approve or deny a tenant within a day or two while complying with all federal, state, and local fair housing laws.
Thanks to our online portals, we’re able to execute the lease agreement electronically as well. This saves tenants time and allows us to keep all the communication with your residents in writing and well-documented.
Easy Tracking of Maintenance Requests and Repairs
To effectively maintain your rental property, you’ll need to understand its condition. The property management software that’s available will provide for detailed and documented inspections. As property managers, we can accurately conduct move-in, move-out, and mid-lease inspections while gathering photographs, videos, and notes. All the inspection reports are loaded into your owner portal, which gives you the ability to check on your property’s condition.
We also use technology to collect and respond to routine maintenance issues. Tenants make their repair requests through their online portal, which allows us to carefully document them. This gives us a written record of when things were reported and how they were handled. It protects us against any complaints from residents that we aren’t responding to the maintenance that’s needed. It also allows us to coordinate quickly with our vendors to get the problem solved.
Our online maintenance reporting system is good for tenant retention and it also helps us work with you on planning for future repairs, updates, and renovations that may be needed. You’ll have a better idea of when your appliances need to be replaced, for example.
Improving Communication and Transparency
Perhaps the best benefit of property management technology is that it gives us several ways to communicate with our tenants, our owners, and even our vendors. You can always call us, but thanks to your online owner portal, you can also send a message or check on an accounting statement or rental payment. You’ll see all the income and expenses associated with your property and you can request more detailed financial reports when necessary.
With everything online, you can see exactly how we’re effectively managing your investments.
Tenants prefer to send messages or emails. They don’t want to be bothered with phone calls and they don’t expect to hold meetings. When we make communication easier and more secure, we increase retention and create better rental experiences.
Technology Provides Detailed Cleveland Rental Property Accounting
Tracking income and expenses is far easier when you have access to good property management technology.
Most tenants today prefer to pay rent online. We prefer it, too, because it results in more on-time payments and less work to follow-up with late payments.
When tenants pay rent online, you get an ACH deposit faster. There’s no need to wait for a rental check to arrive in the mail.
Not only are you paid faster, you also have information on your property’s finances faster. You can expect to receive statements with every rental payment and you can also access that information online. Your owner’s portal gives you the ability to see what was earned and spent on your investment property or portfolio every month, quarter, and year. You can request specific accounting reports and feel more prepared at tax time.
We utilize our technology to provide better Cleveland property management. We’d be happy to talk more about how our investment in these advances can improve your experience. Please contact us at Avalon Group Realty. We can help you lease, manage, and maintain your investment property in the Cleveland metro area, including Kamm’s Corner, West Park, Fairview Park, Lakewood, Parma, Parma Heights, Bedford, and Bedford Heights.