Unfortunately, there are many fly-by-night property management firms out there trying to get your business with a simple web page or flyer sent in the mail to you. These companies are frequently run by a brand new real estate broker who didn't do too well in sales, so he's trying to get into a different field without realizing all that it entails. Other than the obvious problems that hiring such an inexperienced manager will create for you, there's also a less obvious problem: the lack of technology.
In today's world of property management, technology is king. Virtually all tenants are searching for their next rental online, not in a newspaper. Storing digital photos of everything protects you from liability for damage. Electronic signatures makes it impossible for someone to claim that he didn't sign a document, because his IP address is recorded and certified by Adobe. The list goes on and on.
But I would say that the biggest element of technology in property management is the ability to accept electronic payments. And while those fly-by-night property management companies may be able to advertise your property online or take digital photos of your investment, they almost universally are unable to accept electronic payments on their websites. Anything that limits the ways that you can collect the rent from your tenant is not good. Especially when so many tenants are young people who are used to using the internet to do everything and have never written a paper check in their lives. When it comes to collecting rent, you want to do everything possible to make it easy for the tenant to pay so that you can get your money.
So what can we do that those fly-by-night operators can't? Our website contains a Tenant Portal that allows your tenant to log in from any computer in the world with internet access and pay his or her rent using a credit card or a checking account. But even better, our technology allows for an automatic payment system that will automatically deduct the money from your tenant's checking account or credit card every single month when the rent is due. While not all of our tenants sign up for automatic ePayments, many of them do, and it eliminates the problem of tenants paying late simply because they forgot to mail their check.
Don't be caught behind the technology curve with small start-up property management firms. Whatever discount they offer you isn't worth the hassles. Stick with a company like us. We offer fair pricing, lots of experience, and the latest in real estate technology.
