4 tips for property managers to be successful in 2021

Many people are not aware that the availability of temporary housing has been decreasing every year since 2013. It was not until January of 2020 that there was a slight increase in the number of temporary housing beds available, and that increase was only 2%.

The world of temporary housing can be complicated and it relies on the expertise of competent managers. What exactly goes into being the best property manager possible?

Read on to learn all about how you can be successful as a property manager in 2021!

1. Make yourself known

At the end of the day, property management is a business. All businesses provide some kind of good or service and rely on people wanting to buy it. No matter how good the service you provide is, it won’t amount to anything if nobody knows that you are providing it.

As a result, every property manager must engage in some amount of marketing. Unless you outsource your marketing to a professional agency, you will have to learn to do it yourself.

All of the traditional advertising methods are good ways to drum up interest in your properties. You can turn to traditional media like billboards and newspapers.

Of course, in the modern-day, it is also important to use digital advertising. This can look like ads on social media or Search Engine Marketing.

There are also many free ways to make the most of online advertising. Posting on Reddit or NextDoor can be a great way to find people who you would not otherwise be able to reach with your message.

If you are serious about marketing your properties, then it can be worth taking the time to attend some of the better real estate trade shows in the industry. Being able to meet with other experts can make all the difference for your business.

2. Set standards

Property management is a marathon, not a sprint. In order to be successful in 2021, you must find a way to stay focused and motivated. Setting goals can be one of the simplest, most powerful ways to stay on task.

On top of that, making a variety of goals can help you constantly keep track of what matters when it comes to property management.

For example, it might be easy to remember that you are always looking for more tenants for your furnished temporary housing. But if you do not make a specific goal about his, you might not remember as often how important it is to also retain tenants. Or you might not place the same focus on making sure to collect security deposits or on finding new ways to lower expenses.

Setting goals in all of these areas, plus some others that are important for your own business, is a great way to make sure that you aren’t forgetting crucial aspects of the business.

Once you have your general goal categories, you can move on. The next step is to break those goals down. The smaller you can break a goal down, the easier it will be to get started on achieving it.

Taking a special time each week to review your goals, decide what the next steps are on all of them, and set a specific time to perform that next step is a powerful way to be constantly progressing even when you are juggling so many different facets of property management at the same time.

3. Focus on quality tenants

Temporary housing companies and property managers alike appreciate the importance of finding the right tenants. There is an old rule called the 80-20 rule. It says that 80% of productivity is driven by 20% of work.

A version of this rule seems to apply to tenant management. Sometimes, it is 20% of your tenants that drive 80% of your problems and extra work.

That might sound bad. Or you might see it in a positive way. If you can find the right tenants, you can eliminate 80% of the extra work that tenants create.

Especially if you have cheap temporary housing, high-turnover corporate housing, or other properties that are in high demand, you can afford to filter out suspect applicants. An investment now can pay off many times over in the future. Put in the necessary work to properly screen tenants.

4. Set up efficient communication systems

The same investment principle applies to all facets of rental property management: Putting in the extra time at the beginning can pay off in the future.

This is the rule that applies to your communication systems. How do your tenants get in touch with you? How do you get in touch with others?

Making an explicit system for communication may not sound like a lot of fun. But it is much less fun to have to constantly make up answers on the spot. If you can figure these answers out in advance, you will save yourself a future headache.

One simple way to get started is to keep a copy of common messages. If you tend to write some of your messages many times, then keep them in a document.

Next time you need to use them, just copy-paste them. This is much faster than having to write them again and again.

Make the most of temporary housing opportunities

We hope that you were able to learn something helpful about how you can be the best property manager possible. The world of temporary housing has a lot to offer if you know how to make the most of it.

To learn more about how you can manage temporary housing opportunities as well as possible, feel free to reach out and get in touch with us at any time!