Keeping Tabs On Tenants With A Single System
Posted on: 21 December 2015
Bookkeeping can be a difficult task, even if mathematics is your forte. When it comes to property management, you may want to do more than track money and find out who hasn't paid. Lives are at stake, and you may want an easy way to track people who need a bit of help versus people who may be taking advantage of your unwritten policies. Instead of committing faces, mindsets and stories to memory or writing a separate diary of your tenant experiences, take a look at how property management software can help you balance profit and promises.
Payment Trends And Agreements
Financial hardship could happen to anyone, and you wouldn't want to get rid of an honest tenant who is willing to pay, but unable to pay because of a temporary situation. There are many wildcard tenants with unknown, potentially bad habits, so sometimes it's best to allow a good tenant to pay you back later.
The problem is that some tenants understand the mindset behind leniency and seek to abuse it. No matter how careful and detailed you think you are, you may not be aware of some of the payment games that are played by dishonest parties until they become more aggressive.
Are particular tenants consistently late? Does there seem to be some sort of predetermined lateness, such as being late every other month or every 3 or 4 months? Does it seem to happen near certain holidays? With a property management suite, you can compare notes and look for any other tenants who seem to be following the same pattern. You could be looking at a single payment problem with a specific tenant, or you could be looking at a local financial problem that could require a bit of leniency.
This information is important, but not just for confronting the tenant. If the trend seems to be popular with multiple tenants, you have the choice of either becoming more strict with your policies or changing the payment date to something that fits with your own financial situation.
Create Agreements With New Information
If you have residents who seem to be consistently late during holiday seasons, you may want to make earlier arrangements and offer some leniency. A double payment in January or February, for example, could be put in writing to give families a chance to have a good holiday while still ensuring that your payments will arrive. It's up to you to decide if this fits in with your property's budget.
Not all payment arrangements are strict, and you may have a lot of flexibility as long as you're paid on time. If you have tenants with irregular payment schedules, you could create payment arrangements that fit their situation specifically. Instead of writing notes and trying to match tenants to specific dates, alerts and specific notes can appear in your management software.
Instead of keeping track of every single promise, put it all in a management suite. Contact a property management software professional to discuss ways to manage your tenants, repairs, service and other property concerns in one program. Read more about property management software by checking out this blog.
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