Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Property Management Software - Revolutionary Letting-Rental Service for Estate Agents



With the changing pace of technology, the lettings industry has changed hugely from the days of collecting rent door to door to now receiving online transactions. It's now easier for landlords to get their payments on time and similarly further payments are made to contractors etc. with ease. Not only this, the chance of losing cheques is greatly reduced. Handling the day to day work and online transactions for a small or start up business is fine but when it comes to expanding the business manual processing puts you at a great disadvantage. In such cases you will be researching the Property management software available in the market. We have come up with the complete solution specialising in residential lettings, accounts and property management.

This letting management software delivers some unique and outstanding features giving you complete control of your property portfolio:

• Residential Property Lettings
• Marketing
• Property Maintenance
• Client Accounting
• Document Management
• Work flow Automation

The enhanced features of residential letting software is that make it the best in the UK include:

• System Structure
• Multiple client account
• Receiving rent/ fees and payments etc
• Access data
• Marketing
• Property
• Landlord's
• Contractor's
• Data Conversion

This property management software letting software has the flexibility to cater for the needs of both multi user and single user letting agents, from large to small. Residential letting software takes care of the entire letting cycle of a tenancy starting right from the applicant matching to the tenant booking to maintenance of the property contractors, if needed with customer satisfaction as the main focus.

Along with the core Property management software offers Web which delivers a robust web presence showcasing the products and services of our clients. When web is integrated with Property management software further features such as Landlord and Tenant Portal, Interactive mapping etc. can be delivered making the product available to applicants easily and grabbing the opportunity to convert them into tenants!

Coming to our Client base, we have a long list of clients throughout the UK. The largest clients that we currently have are Countrywide Residential Lettings who have selected our property management software after a rigorous tender process.

PropCo Enterprise specialises in providing letting software which excels in adding a new dimension to property management software, residential letting and rental software. PropCo Enterprise delivers comprehensive Letting Agent Software support to businesses or letting agents, which is designed to suit any budget for everyone.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Financing Your Investment Properties

An investment property is a property (land, house, flat, apartment, building etc.) that you buy with the purpose of producing monetary returns. Financing your investment property can be a great way to earn some steady income. Many people buy homes with the aim of renting them and thereby bringing in a considerable amount of monthly income. Similarly, several real estate investors are there who pay for multiple properties, get them renovated and then sell them for a higher profit.
To start on the road to successful journey, there are three best ways to finance your investment on property. While you use them correctly, they can help you get a substantial amount of money from your property investments:
1. Self Financing:
It is much viable to make use of your own resources to buy the property. You will have to meet all the expenses yourself. Similarly, you will be liable for all profits and losses. Self finance is the easiest and reliable source of investing because this way you lower your accountability. This prevents you from going through lots of paperwork, adhering to the strict rules of financing companies and having to discuss your every move with your partner. You can do things liberally but it will be risky if you do not stay careful. However, by seeking advice from qualified experts, it is possible to use your resources properly and maximize the benefits.
2. Loan and Mortgages:
Normally banks, building societies and credit unions offer bank loans or mortgages as a way to finance your investment on property. Such institutions offer loan for a percentage of the purchase-price whereby keeping the property secured as guarantee for the loan. Depending on the interest rates fixed by the finance ministry or central bank, the loans or mortgages are held with either fixed interest rates or variable interest rates.
This way to finance a property investment really is the most established, safe and well-known. Not only you can make down payments but also meet other capital requirements. In addition, you can repay the bank from the amount you earn from rent or sales of properties.
3. Partnership:
Partnership with other investor is a great way to finance your investment on property.It is a win-win relationship for both parties whereby you divide the cost and share with other partners. Utilizing the assets of your helping hand will make your credit rating sky-rocket. Although you get restricted in decision-making process but there is less risk factor if you have the good business chemistry with your partner. Being able to master the art of partnership gives you the ability to finance as many property investments as you want.
Remember, a safe and reliable financing strategy affects your investment venture in the long run. Carefully consider all your options before you decide how to finance your property investments. Choose the right option that keeps your risks low, ensures a high rate of profit and works best for your interest.

Vacation Property Management - Web Tools Are Best

Every rental manager knows how difficult vacation property management is. It can become even more of a horror without modern tools. Imagine taking and organizing reservations and bookings over the phone and logging everything by hand. The good news is that you don't have to think of ever experiencing this nightmare.
These days, you can get your hands on rental software. These are outstanding pieces of modern technology that let you breeze through reservations, payments, information dissemination, fees and more in just a few minutes. You can install one in your website and click on or drag and drop items and color schemes to update information on your properties. With just one glance you and your customer will get vital information about the status of various properties.
Software for vacation property management can come in download or web-based form. There are excellent options for both types but you will be in an advantageous position if you pick a web-based tool.
One clear reason why web tools are best is because they are highly accessible any time anywhere. All you need is a stable internet connection and you can manage your properties from any place in the world. Even if you're off on a business conference or on a holiday trip, you can slot reservations, change minimum stay policies and serve up the freshest promos to your customers.
Accessibility is not the only thing you will enjoy. Web tools also take away the headache of managing the software package itself. Vacation property management tools that are based entirely on the internet don't drain your bandwidth because the software providers host the tools themselves. Hence, you don't need to pay for a bandwidth upgrade.
Also, developers of online tools take care of the costs and complexities of technical maintenance. What you will essentially be getting from a web tool is software as a service or (SAAS). You don't need to pay someone else to monitor and take care of software. You also don't need to worry about very expensive upgrades.
One last advantage to internet based tools is the ease of use. You don't have to go through hoops and loops to integrate or install a system. Many online tools are so simple to use that if you can follow basic instructions and click on a mouse, you'll have no trouble using them at all.
In general, it's easy to see why online software is better than its stand-alone counterpart. Of course, much depends on choosing vacation property management software that's top of the line. Go for a name that has stood the test of time and that enjoys a good reputation among its users. Take a look at some of the sites maintained by other managers and find out what they use. A good reputation product will most likely be used by many.

Condominium Property Management

A condominium is where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights associated with the individual ownership and controlled by the association of owners that jointly represent ownership of the whole piece.

Looking after a Condo suite is a full time job. From the moment you receive the keys to the day you sell the Condo, a good management company can make the difference between a profitable investment and a poor one.

Property Managers in Toronto will step in and perform, on the owner behalf, all the day-to-day tasks with regards to the condominium. These tasks include rent collection and bill payments. During the normal operation of a tenanted unit rent checks might return NSF, tenants might want to pay cash or use another banks to pay the rent dues. A local point of contact is needed. Bills need to be paid and constant contact must be kept with the billing agencies like the city, the condominium building management and the utility companies.

The local property manager is your tenant's point of contact for questions, requests and assistance. The professional property manager will be able to inspect the tenanted suites, supervise the tenants and buildings and keep an eye on the owner's interests.

When you get possession a tenant needs to be found. In Toronto, tenant screening needs to be done very carefully to avoid renting the property to an incompetent tenant.

Credit Check, Letter of Employment, references are one part of the screening and the experience of meeting hundreds of tenants is the other. Finding you a tenant quickly is important but doing it in a professional way is even more important to the success of your investment.

Three Qualities of Excellent Property Management

Whether you own a single executive office building or a string of apartment buildings, you want to make sure you are getting the best possible return on your investment at all times. Smart real estate investors use a property management service to handle the upkeep on their properties as well as keep them filled with quality tenants. Like anything else, not all property management companies are created equal. So here are three qualities to look for to make sure you're getting the most for your money.
  • Focus on Occupancy: The bottom line is you need to make payments to the bank and simply cannot afford to have offices or rentals lie vacant for prolonged periods of time. An excellent team will employ various strategies and market your property on the right venues to ensure high occupancy rates. A service understands that quality is as important as quantity and will do everything possible to draw in desirable tenants.
  • Impeccable Building and Grounds Maintenance: If you want tenants to become long-term tenants, the buildings and grounds on your property must be well-kept and made to look as attractive as possible year-round. The best property management teams contract only with quality and dependable services and repair providers so you can be sure that everything will be ship-shape at all times.
  • Excellent Customer Service: You shouldn't have to worry about the daily ins and outs of operating your properties; after all, that's what you hire a management team for! Monthly financial statements, timely rent collections, annual reports and other customer service essentials are a must.
If your current management team is simply not cutting in with one or more of the above, it may be time to look for a new one. After all, your real estate investment is too important to leave to chance.