Being a landlord or property owner in 2021 is as daunting a task as it has ever been. In the wake of soaring property costs being passed onto tenants, the pandemic and its air of uncertainty have also caused mass migrations out of urban areas.
For its part, however, technology has done an excellent job of easing the burden on landlords with regards to tasks like rent collection, maintenance payments, rental application processing, and more. Property management apps are a godsend if you’re looking for a great way to get the right tenants for your space.
This piece will take you through a few of the key features of the most popular landlord apps. We’ll discuss what platforms handle each feature best and, hopefully, paint a better picture of which one you should use long-term.
Rent Collection
You’ve filled up your apartment spaces with great tenants. Now you’re in the position to collect their monthly payments like rent and maintenance charges. No landlord wants to run around chasing cheques.
Source: Financial Wolves
If you have multiple properties or apartment units, an app like Rentdrop.io, or Landlord Studio can help collect rent and other payments. You can keep track of the various collections you’ve made on those units and the expenses incurred as well.
Alongside helping you collect rent payments from your tenants, both of these options also allow you to do tax filing on your property. Receipts are scanned and categorized in real-time, helping you pay your taxes on time. Having this information at your fingertips also paints a fuller picture of your property expenses concerning income.
Application Processing
As a landlord or property owner, the first step to getting your space rented out by the right individual is by taking in prospective applicants and scrutinizing each application. Several online platforms and apps allow you to post classifieds ads and find tenants.
Source: Capterra
With apps like Housters and Rentberry, you’re given all the tools needed to extract the right information about the tenant from the rental application form. You can manage applications right from your smartphone and communicate updates to prospective tenants.
Most importantly, however, you can finalize the deal right on the app through a legally binding rental agreement that the selected tenant should sign.
Support for Communication
Communication is key in many aspects of life, and rental application screening is no exception. Once you list your property online, you’re likely going to converse with many people to see if they are a fit for your space, set visitation appointments, and collect information for a credit check.
Source: Zillow
Luckily, the property management platforms available for landlords today have landlord/tenant communication features as a strong backbone. Apps like Zillow Property Manager allow you to chat with applicants and keep them updated on the progress of their applications.
When you have all of the contact information in one place – and tied to each of the corresponding properties – it’s easier to remember who is interested in which apartment and the status of their application.
Rental Pricing
For landlords that are just getting into rentals, pricing apartment units properly is important. Rentometer Express is a platform that helps property owners who have difficulty setting the right price for their rentals.
Using the web app, you can calculate the optimal price for your unit in a matter of seconds. First, you’re asked to type in the property address and specify other details like the square footage, number of bedrooms, frequency of renovations, etc.
Rentometer works by looking through listings of multiple nearby properties and, using that information as a yardstick, the algorithm gives you a ballpark figure of how much you should be charging per month.
If you don’t have a strong idea of your property’s monthly value relative to the immediate market, platforms like Rentometer can be nifty.
Search Functionality & Property Presentation
A rental property listing is only as effective as the number of people that view it. If your ads don’t get viewed by a substantive audience, getting your property rented by the right people – or anyone at all – may become a herculean task.
Few apps have the reach that Zillow does. The platform is laser-focused on finding renters for your property and leasing out vacant lots – even above things like overall property management and maintenance.
Once you post your listing on the Zillow Property Manager platform, you can have it appear on other top rental sites like Trulia, HotPad, and the main Zillow site itself. Your listing is made available to a pool of millions of renters looking to fill their immediate demand for housing.
The search features are also fine-tuned, allowing you to specify certain perks, benefits, and special features of your property that renters might be looking for. Examples include convenient parking, amenities like a pool and gym, child-friendly construction, proximity to public transport, and proximity to good school districts.
When trying to list the amenities near your property for that killer Zillow listing, you can also use AroundMe to find detailed descriptions of the dining, entertainment, shopping, and recreational opportunities close to your property.
Regarding property presentation, several platforms make it possible for landlords to get creative with how they show off their property to potential clients. Cycloramic lets you create 3D pictures of your space and give your potential tenants a broader idea of the scale and presentation they can expect. It takes advantage of the advanced nature of our mobile cameras to produce these pictures.
In Conclusion
It’s a significant task to handle all your tasks as a property manager. Responsibilities like listing a property, sourcing tenants, processing applications, communicating with tenants, collecting rent, pricing property, undertaking maintenance, among others, have all been made easier by mobile property management applications.
We all use our phones and mobile devices exponentially more than we lug computers around, and therefore apps can be nifty as an on-the-go tool for property owners/managers. They are incredibly capable, powerful, and intuitive.
We’ve touched on platforms like Zillow Property Manager, Rentberry, and Housters. Look for the features on these that make your job easier, and take advantage of them as needed.
