By Steve Boudreault, Buildium, Boston, MA

Here in Boston, one doesn’t even need to set foot outside to know that the first Arctic blast of the season is upon us. Twitter hashtags like #brrrr and #cantfeelmytoes tell a frigid story. Facebook posts like “It’s colder than a tin toilet seat on the shady side of an iceberg!” really paint a picture. It’s cold.

Well, like it or not, winter is well and truly here, and for property managers and landlords that means winterizing the property to avoid the headaches and expenses that this harsh season can bring with it. Here are a few tips and tricks to get you through until the forsythia blooms once again.

Heating the Empty Spaces

The idea of keeping the heat on in a unit that isn’t even occupied may chafe you to no end, but the bill for the destruction that frozen pipes can cause will be even worse. You don’t need to set the thermostat to Florida, but make sure it’s at least North Carolina.

Sealing the Deal

Speaking of heat, did you know that windows, doors, and even wire entry points that aren’t caulked or stripped properly can cost you 10% more on annual heating costs? That’s just burning money, honey. A $5 tube of caulk can save you big over the long haul.

Keeping the Fire Burning

Because they tend to be tucked away in service closets or spooky basements, heaters can tend to be out of sight, out of mind. But heaters need love too. Be sure to get them serviced at least once a year to make sure they’re running at peak efficiency and to stave off any problems. They’ve got a long season ahead too.

Storming the Castle

If you’ve got storm windows on your property, now’s the time to drop them into place. You can either send out a request to your tenants, asking them to swap screens for storms, or let them know that a maintenance person will be coming by to do so. Either way, batten down the hatches.

Laying it Flat

The jump from the heating bill in August to the heating bill in January can be a little jarring. Some utility companies will bill you at a flat rate — that is, they’ll take all 12 months of the year and average them out, and then charge you the same amount every month. If you’re in a seasonal climate and you can get in on this deal, it will likely spare lots of cursing when the cold rolls in.

Here in New England, there’s not much more we can do in the winter than hunker down and wait it out. Hopefully these ideas will help you do just that. Anyone else got some cold-surviving tips they’d like to share?

By Carla Toebe, New Century Realty, Kennewick, WA

They say that abandonment is a landlord’s or property manager’s worst nightmare when dealing with a tenant. How do you know it is really abandonment? Sometimes it’s obvious when everything is gone, the place seems perfectly empty, and the tenant’s keys are lying on the counter. But what if the place is full of furniture, the food is still in the cupboard, and you can’t get a hold of them? They haven’t paid their rent, they haven’t returned your phone calls, no one has seen them, and you can’t get a hold of anyone on the emergency contact form you had them complete when they moved in. Surely this means they must have abandoned the place. So you change the locks, and uh-oh! There they are coming back claiming you have now burglarized their place. Oh no! This can’t be, they clearly abandoned the place and you took all the steps you had to take that were required by law.

Maybe it isn’t that clear cut. Maybe a tenant still has some rights. Now you are facing penalties, a criminal investigation, and a whole slew of troubles you never knew you had. Let’s back up and figure out how to determine that this is really abandonment and you have the right to take possession of your unit.

You spelled out what abandonment was with your tenant and you had it written in the lease, right? Good, well at least you tried to get the tenant on board with your ideas. Unfortunately they have forgotten about your request for them to tell you they have left, and to turn in their keys. That would be the easy thing to do. However, they don’t want you to know they have left because they are in a hurry, that they are embarrassed that they have to leave owing rent, or that they had to leave things such a mess. They may not want to face you or deal with any of these responsibilities. Maybe they could have left a note telling you to dispose of everything there, and that they are not coming back.

Why didn’t they think of these things for you? Unfortunately abandonment isn’t always so sweet and simple. Usually you have to determine without any doubt and with full public notice of some sort that you intend to declare the place abandoned. You also have to hold onto any property left for so many days prior to disposing or selling it. Each state has their own set of laws and it is very important to become familiar with the particulars of the process to establish abandonment because that tenant could come back. Now you are now expected to return everything that you just disposed of because you thought it was left behind.

Write your abandonment process down if you haven’t already so that tenants, anyone who works for you taking care of the units, and owners who are hands on, consistently follow the appropriate process. Make sure that your complete process complies with the state laws. It may be helpful to have an attorney review it.

Typically in order to establish abandonment, the tenant must be late on the rent and they must have not responded to a 3 day notice to pay or quit that you mailed and put on their door. They have also not responded to an abandonment notice that you put on their door for all to see after 48 hours. What if they are just gone for 5 days and forgot to pay rent? Well you need to start calling their personal phone numbers, work numbers, relatives, friends, neighbors, and anyone you can think of that might know them in order to validate that they are really gone. You need to check and see if their vehicles have been parked there at all during this time. You also need to check with the utility companies to see if any service has been disconnected. In other words, ask around, do some investigating, and document all that you have done.

Once you are inside because the evidence all points to the fact that they have abandoned the unit, take a picture of that abandonment notice still stuck to the door and a picture and/or video of everything inside that has been left behind. Carefully store all items that are clearly not garbage and place it into a safe secure location for the length of time required by law. I don’t know how many times I have seen someone dump everything outside for all bargain hunters in the neighborhood to come around and clear away. Do not fall into that temptation as appealing as it sounds! It is the worst thing to do and it is not worth the potential harm that a little effort would prevent. Do the right things, know the laws, and know what the process should be.

If you are a tenant, please let someone know that you have left. If you don’t, it will cost you more money in the long run than it would have if you just let your landlord or property manager know when you left the property. Avoid getting into legal troubles over abandonment, turn in your keys and leave a note!

Once a former tenant moves out of your property, it’s time to get to work rehabbing the unit. Freshening the unit up can go a long way in bringing in new tenants — and often at a higher rent rate. Here are some great links to help you take care of your newly vacated units.

• Before you do anything to the unit, make sure that you understand the difference between normal wear and tear versus damages. Any damages should be paid for out of a security deposit, not your pocket!
• You decide you need to repaint several rooms in a recently vacated apartment. When you get to the store, you are suddenly faced with hundreds of different paint options. Lowe’s interior paint buying guide is here to help.
• Likewise, selecting new carpets for your property can be a daunting task. Lowe’s carpet buying guide can quickly get you up to speed, ensuring that your new carpeting is the price, color, and type that you need.
• Cleaning appliances is likely not a frequent occurrence. So what is the best method to make your oven look like that lasagna never boiled over?

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As each year goes by, more and more people utilize iPhones and BlackBerrys. With all of this instantaneous email access, communication skews a little more toward email all the time. Certainly, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing—but it is important to evaluate which situations are most appropriately handled with email and which ones call for a good old-fashioned phone call.

Phone: Making a connection.
It’s basic, but it’s worth noting—if face-to-face interaction isn’t possible, a phone call is the next best way to make a lasting first impression. Emails are great for a lot of reasons, but they do not allow for the voice inflections and dynamic back-and-forth that phone calls offer. When you’re dealing with a new client or discussing potentially tricky matters, a phone call is often the best route to take. It personalizes interactions and allows you put more personality behind your words. Not only do phone calls allow you to sell yourself, but they can also provide a valuable first impression of potential tenants and may help you determine whether or not they are the type of renter you’re seeking out for your property.

Email: Documenting information.
Emails are great for record keeping. When it comes to dealing with vendors, accounting issues, and legal matters, emails create a clear trail of regulations, promises, deadlines, and other important information. As noted above, tricky situations should be handled with a phone call, but it pays to follow up with an email reiterating key points when specific information is disseminated.

To optimize customer service and enhance relationships with clients, tenants, and vendors, be sure that you’re using email for the right reasons. Many people have come to rely on email to avoid uncomfortable conversations. While email may be a quick way out of a difficult phone call, often it’s much better to deal with such situations on a person-to-person basis via a telephone call.

After an initial phone call with potential tenants, sending vacancies via email is optimal. It allows you to send pictures of units and to include all key information such as apartment stats, amenities, and rental information. Having all of this information right in front of potential tenants will make it easier for them to make decisions.

Despite these general guidelines, many people have a preference when it comes to phone versus email communication. When dealing with a client or potential tenant, be sure to ask which communication method they prefer and stick to that route to the greatest extent possible.

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Over the months, we’ve discussed the value of many different types of technology: websites, Twitter, and social networking sites like Facebook. But one thing we haven’t yet looked at is YouTube. Have you considered including YouTube videos into your online marketing strategy? Well, here are a few reasons you might want to.

Save yourself some time.
Photographs are a near-essential part of any rental listing. With a text-only listing, it’s often difficult for would-be renters to distinguish from one property to the next and, therefore, your units are at a disadvantage from the start.  But even photographs are sometimes misleading. Based on angling and point of focus, it’s possible to (either strategically or inadvertently) make a rental unit appear much different than it actually looks.

Videos allow potential tenants to obtain a more realistic feel for what a given unit really looks like. As opposed to photographs, videos can provide a potential tenant with a realistic vision of the layout of a unit, its size and, if you’re feeling really ambitious, exterior and building features.

Providing this sort of “advance preview” means that you can save yourself a lot of time by paring apartment showings down to those who are really interested in putting in an application on your unit, saving you a lot of time in the long run by allowing you to hone in on serious potential renters.

Show off your stuff.
Because videos inherently provide a more all-encompassing, realistic preview of your units, they allow you to demonstrate why your property is more desirable than comparable properties from the get-go. Again, pictures may just not do your place justice. Reel tenants in by showing off your airy layout, your building’s amenities, and that great view from the balcony. Don’t forget that video is also a great way to convey verbal information. You can talk while filming, adding a personal voice to your sales pitch and easily conveying information that is sometimes more difficult to get across within the confines of a written listing.

Do away with the distance factor.
Videos are a particularly valuable tool for appealing to potential tenants who are looking at properties from out-of-town. From a renters’ perspective, making a long-distance move can be rather intimidating. Some simply don’t have the option of in-person viewings. And, even for those who do have that option, you may well put yourself ahead of the competition if you provide them with a means of avoiding a long apartment-hunting trip.

No matter how sophisticated or nominal your web presence is, YouTube can be easily incorporated into your online rental unit marketing program. After uploading videos to your free YouTube account, you can embed them in your website, providing potential renters with all the information they need in one online location. And if you don’t yet have a website, YouTube is still a great solution. You can easily link to your videos through Twitter, Facebook, or even on a Craigslist posting.

As always, the more information you can provide to potential tenants, the better off you are. There’s no doubt that YouTube is a simple, inexpensive way of doing just this.

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One of the biggest challenges for property managers is staying on top of all the tasks they have to do in a given day. What with unit inspections, apartment showings, incoming and outgoing payments, resolving maintenance requests, signing leases, and responding to various queries, it’s all too easy to look at the clock at the end of the day and wonder where all the time went. Following are a few tips to help you make the most of each and every day.

1. Stay Organized
Sometimes it can feel like there’s no time to actually get organized. But the truth of the matter is, no matter how time-pressed you are, investing in organizational time is almost always worth it in the long run. Time saved trying to locate paperwork, contact information, financial records on your computer, or any other number of other items adds up quickly. Creating a system of organization (the more automated the better) will allow you to perform all your duties in a more streamlined fashion … which ultimately results in a whole lot of time saved.

2. Prioritize
Some days you may have to choose between getting one or two time-consuming tasks done versus completing a number of smaller tasks. Whatever the case, it’s most important that you use your time wisely. Take stock of your task list and check items off not according to the amount of time they’ll take, but by which issues must be resolved most immediately.

3. Stay on Task
There’s no doubt about it—we live in a world of multi-tasking. And while it’s true that modern technology allows us to do this (and there is a lot to be said for returning calls while on the road or responding to emails while waiting in line), it’s also much easier to be distracted than it once was. These days it’s hard to get anything done without being interrupted by a ringing cell phone, an incoming email, or the distraction of a web link. Don’t let technology get the best of you. A simple 10-minute task can be dragged out to an hour or more if you keep stopping in the middle to take care of those little distractions. Make the most of your time by staying on the task at hand. Flip your cell phone on silent, shut your email down for the time it takes to complete your task, and shut down your web browser. You’ll be shocked at how much more quickly you can get things accomplished.

4. Resolve Problems as They Occur
The most successful property managers have built a reputation on accountability—both to their property owners and their tenants. And accountability means being efficient. Don’t allow problems that can be resolved quickly to linger on your to-do list. The task will become more daunting, the issue at hand may expand, and your customer service will diminish. Make a point of taking care of those maintenance requests, queries, and miscellaneous requests within a 24-hour period. Your to-do list will remain more manageable and, best of all, you’ll keep your clients happy.

5. Check in with Yourself
Always know where you stand. It only takes five minutes at the end of each day to review your day’s progress and get a handle on what needs to be taken care of tomorrow. Having a clear idea of what’s done and what needs to be handled allows you to manage your time accordingly. And if you find there’s too much for one person to take care of, it also allows you the opportunity to delegate tasks to other staff or vendors to ensure that even if you’re simply out of time, nothing falls through the cracks.

In the world of property management, chances are there will often be more work to do than can be accomplished in one day. And that’s okay. But these tips will help you make the most of the time you do have and guarantee that those must-do items are always taken care of efficiently.

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Embarking on renting to Section 8 tenants is one of those decisions that property managers should undertake only after thoroughly researching all the implications of renting to this very specific demographic. Following are some of the primary pros and cons to consider when evaluating whether or not Section 8 rentals are for you.

Pros: Government subsidies mean that your rental income is more assured than in other cases.
Since Section 8 tenants are by nature low-income tenants, many landlords are rightfully concerned that renting to this sector will result in difficulties with rent collection or, even worse, default altogether. The truth of the matter, though, is that in many ways Section 8 rental income is among the most reliable. Under Section 8, tenants are responsible for approximately 30 percent of their rent, while the US government picks up the balance of the rental payment. This US government balance is paid directly to the property landlord.

Cons: Renting to Section 8 tenants puts your property under greater scrutiny due to government rules and regulations.
Be aware that before approving one of your units for Section 8 occupancy, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will determine your unit’s Fair Market Rent (FMR). Once the FMR is determined, you are obligated to cap your Section 8 unit’s rent at that rate and are not allowed to accept outside payments that will result in a rent higher than the FMR.

In addition to FMR restrictions, Section 8 properties are also subject to a full premises inspection to ensure HUD’s Housing Quality Standards are met and stringent HUD-mandated eviction rules and regulations.

Pros: Because you have access to a specific demographic, Section 8 tenants may resolve persistent vacancy issues.
In many cases, Section 8 housing wait lists are thousands of families long or, in some states, closed altogether due to over-extension. This means that there is no shortage of Section 8 families available to rent out your units. For landlords that have difficulty renting out units, Section 8 may be a great solution to generate increased rental income.

Cons: Other tenants may be somewhat hesitant to rent from a Section 8 property.
The truth of the matter is, many people associate Section 8 housing with run-down properties that cater to an undesirable demographic. Obviously, this is not necessarily true. For the most part, the proof is in the pudding. If you are concerned that Section 8 units may discourage other renters from living on your property, exert even more effort than usual into making sure that your property is top-notch. Keep all public areas of your property spic n’ span; stay current on maintenance and upkeep; put some extra effort into making your property aesthetically pleasing with landscaping and gardening; and enforce property rules and policies regarding noise and unit upkeep.

Of course, landlords of any stripe should be diligent about the issues above, but putting a little extra effort forth in this specific scenario will only work to your advantage.

As with so many other aspects of property management, gaining a good grasp on the issue at hand is 90 percent of the battle. If you are considering incorporating Section 8 rentals in your property, be sure to not only do some online research on the topic, but also talk with other landlords who rent to Section 8 tenants and address any questions you may have to the appropriate state and federal agencies.

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“The customer is always right.” Chances are, you’ve heard (and perhaps even doled out) this bit of advice many times over your property management career. Obviously, there’s a lot to be said for applying this philosophy to your own business dealings. Particularly in an age of automated electronic service, there is so much to be said for making each of your clients feel as though they are special and well cared for. The bottom line is that, these days, good, attentive customer service is very much the exception rather than the rule. Which is great, great news for property managers who find themselves in one of the few high-touch industries where it’s still possible to actually provide one-on-one, memorable customer service.

That’s the good news.

More difficult is the fact that, though property management may be a high-touch industry that affords you the opportunity to make an impact on your clients, chances are when it comes to customers, you’re juggling a whole lot of them at once. Not only are you contending with the task of keeping the property owners that sign your checks happy but, in many ways, tenants are also your customers. Which means, depending upon your situation, you may have many, many customers to please. And sometimes, the best interests of your tenants and property owners simply don’t align. So what exactly are you supposed to do when situations like these arise? After all, you need to protect your property owner’s assets, but you will ultimately fail your property owner if you are unable to balance his best interests with those of his tenants, ultimately resulting in increased vacancy rates and a loss of rental income.

All of this is to say that, especially in property management, it’s often impossible for every customer to be right, if being right implies that each customer always gets exactly what she asks for. What this does not mean, however, is that every customer can’t be a happy one.

Let’s look at this in practice. Say you have a long-term tenant who is adamant that you cut down a tree outside of his window that’s blocking his view of the park across the street. You know that your property owner will not want the tree to come down because not only does it aesthetically enhance the property and lower energy costs by providing shade, but it would also cost thousands of dollars to pull up the tree. On the other hand, you also know that the property owner would be extremely displeased to lose a long-term, reliable tenant—not to mention the steady rental income that he represents.

In the end, you know that the tree must stay, but you must also find a way to keep your tenant happy and, most importantly, to keep him in your property owner’s unit. So while your tenant (your customer in this scenario) can’t necessarily get his way, you can still let him think that he’s right by executing the following strategy:

1. Carefully listen to your tenant’s concerns and argument in a sympathetic manner.
2. Let your tenant know which points you agree with him about (i.e., “You’re right. It’s a shame that beautiful view is obstructed.”)
3. Explain in a straightforward manner why you are unable to resolve the tenant’s concern in the exact way he proposes.
4. Offer to meet the tenant half-way (for example, propose that some of the trees branches are cut back in order to afford him a more clear view of the park across the street).

In the end, most customers will be more concerned with feeling their needs and concerns are being taken seriously and attended to than that their precise desired outcome is met. And in this business, that is the most crucial part of customer service: Ensuring that each customer  feels he or she is right … even when they’re not.

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It’s that time of the year for goals and resolutions … and this blog post is no different. Both professionally and personally, most of us start the new year off with the best of intentions—but this doesn’t mean it’s not all too easy to get waylaid by the day-to-day grind, often before January has even run its course.

So this year, we encourage you to be accountable. Take an hour out of your week to put some serious thought into what you hope to achieve professionally in this first year of a new decade. Then make yourself accountable. Post your goals somewhere you will see them every day for the next year. Create reminders in your calendar at least once a quarter to “check in” and see where you stand. Are you taking realistic measures to achieve your goals—not just in January, but throughout the entire course of the year? Are you taking time to recognize your achievements and celebrate professional victories large and small? These may sound like trite suggestions … but they work.

Depending upon your personality and the current state of your business, creating a list of goals may be a quick, straightforward exercise or a daunting task. Whether you’re having difficulty narrowing your many goals down to a few or coming up with a single one, we encourage you to approach your list of goals with the following tactic in mind: S.M.A.R.T. strategy. Make sure that your goals are:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic
• Timely

Keeping these qualities in mind will not only help you select goals that benefit your business, but will also build in a framework that ensures you can actually measure your progress throughout the course of the upcoming year.

We also encourage you to make your goals with the following simple but effective philosophy in mind. There’s a lot of truth to the adage “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” But this year, make a vow to yourself that if it is broken, you should fix it. This applies to all areas of your property management business: the units you manage, your advertising and marketing tactics, day-to-day business routines, and how you communicate with tenants and business contacts.

Particularly in these tight economic times, it can be scary to spend money on things that you could put off to a later date. But, in the long run, this doesn’t pay off. If you feel that you’re missing out on property management opportunities or could up your game when it comes to reaching potential tenants, make an investment in yourself and your business and take the steps necessary to make some headway. If you’re missing out on online marketing opportunities, invest in a web site. If you’re not out there pitching potential clients for property management work, invest the time in promoting yourself and your business. While everyone else is holding off on taking the steps necessary to grow their business until the economy takes off, you have the perfect opportunity to make some real inroads and get ahead of the pack. Don’t miss out!

2009 may have been a trying time for many landlords and property managers—but there is no reason that 2010 has to follow suit. Take the time necessary to envision what you would like to achieve this year and, more importantly, take the steps necessary to make it happen.

From all of us here at Buildium, Happy New Year! We can’t wait to hear about all of your achievements in 2010.

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Some of you may recognize this article from a few weeks ago when it made the rounds on many Property Management Blogs.  Chris Throman from Software Advice was kind enough to allow us to re-post the article to the Buildium Blog. Chris Thorman blogs about property management software at SoftwareAdvice.com.

Last week, Software Advice set out to learn about the state of technology among property managers. Thanks to the 70 of you who responded to our survey, we gathered interesting information on social media use, business growth, lead tracking, and other areas.

We invite you to download the full results of our survey (PDF) to review these trends and stats and blog about them on your own web site.

We’ve covered a handful of the more interesting results here.

Technology Characteristics of a Growing Business

Nearly half of the companies we surveyed grew their business last year, either by revenue or by number of units. Below is a chart detailing the rate of technology adoption by those companies:

Percentage of technology adopted by growing companies

The companies that were able to grow their business in a down economy made extensive use of technology.

Over 60% of those growing businesses use property management specific software system, such as Buildium, Appfolio, Maxwell Systems or Spectra.

In general, those that were successful were able to:

• Automate tasks
• Track online leads well
• Provide their tenants with online options

Like with virtually every other industry, the successful property management companies are moving online.

Great Software Equals Efficiency

We asked our respondents how many units their company managed and how many employees worked at their company. We broke down the averages, compared them to who was using property management software to manage their company and who wasn’t.

Companies who used property management specific software managed an average of 102 units per employee. Those that using generic software or spreadsheets only managed an average of 61 units per employee.We acknowledge there are other factors to consider here. But we’re firmly in the camp that an integrated software suite frees up property management employees to do more tasks. It just makes sense:

• Less time spent moving between programs
• Less time spent learning multiple systems
• Quicker and more efficient data management
• Many automated tasks

We’d love to hear from those of you whose experience has differed from this.

Companies are Struggling to Track Online Leads

The property management industry has a strong presence online, from Multifamily Insiders to Let’s Talk Property Management to PropertyManager.com. Much of the discussion on those web sites is centered around online marketing and lead generation.

That’s why it was surprising to see 36% of property managers don’t even use computers to track online leads. Instead they rely on a tenant to mention it on an application.

In addition, 19% of our respondents don’t track leads generated online, which was perhaps the most shocking statistic.

As we noted above, those companies that are effectively tracking online leads are growing their business.

Social Media Use Widespread But Is It Effective?

Despite the evangelization of social media over the last few years, our survey showed no sizable growth in business between companies who are using social media and those who are not.

Percentage of companies who engage tenants and prospects on social media sites

This begs the question: What strength does social media have in the business of property management? Facebook and Twitter are fantastic for networking – but does that generate leads and provide a return on investment?

We’d be curious to hear from those of you who have defined ROI metrics for social media.

Thoughts from the respondents

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