This article was presented by TurboTenant.
I started my career as an accountant and it took me about six months to figure it out was not made to sit at a desk all day.
I then took on a more active role as a property manager and that is what I have become given the task of management an apartment complex with 40 units. The worst part was that I knew nothing about property management. I was thrown enter the office with little guidance, at least if you consider that there is still a pile of boxes left after the last guidance from the property manager.
There was a drawer full of keys. Some were labeled, but most were not. There were boxes full of receipts and one-page leases. A hand-drawn spreadsheet was recorded to the desk, with unit numbers along the rows and months along the columns, and a red check mark in front the months that were paid for each unit.
From my short six-month stint as an accountant, I knew this was not good accounting. Nothing about this system was efficient, and there was no way I could do that could survive this lack of organization.
What worked for me
Since that first dive into property management, have many things changed. I have tried and tested different processes to keep things organized and efficient. It took me at least two full years of trying different methods and acquire my own properties to really strengthen a Good accounting system.
After several years of managing my own properties, I decided to outsource to a property management company. After much trial and error, I found that I could better manage my properties myself using property management software (and I had the added benefit of keeping more money in my pocket by returning to self-management).
A big part of my success in finding the methods that work best for me was finding the right property management software. I never wanted to go back to manually collecting rent, let alone the other manual tasks that took up both my time and energy.
Having a portal where your tenants can pay rent is the first step. You want a system that is easily accessible to your tenants where they can set up automatic payments.
TurboTenant for the win
Having a system for collecting rent through A software like TurboTenant complete eliminates the classic excuse by “I forgot to pay rent.” After setting up a rent collection system, you want to be sure the funds to go to your bank account. Since TurboTenant is online, be gone the days when you had to run to the bank to deposit checks.
After a tenant pays rent, you’ll need this to have accurate accounting records to show that they have been paid. This ensures you have documentation of their payment history, which will be important to your tenant if they move to another rental property.
Most landlords look at rental history and paying regularly and on time is a problem enormous green flag. Some states even require this That landlords provide tenants with a receipt by their rent payment. TurboTenant makes this easyas it documents tenant payment history in real time, and the payment will appear directly in your dashboard and on your tenant portal.
After you have documented everything, you must involve this for your own accounting purposes and track the money coming in and going out specific properties. TurboTenant Also has functionality that fully integrates with your accounting system, what makes this a full-service property management software. You have one point of contact for all rental accounting tasks.
Final thoughts
It took me years of trial and error to find the right system. I wanted to manage my properties myself, but I didn’t want to commit for more work.
Setting up rent collection automations has made my life easier and rent collection much more convenient for both my tenants and myself. Who wants to write a check, buy a stamp and send a rent check every month? More importantly, who wants to keep track of all those checks and go to the bank every month to deposit them?
If you need help getting started or taking control of your rent collection and want to be more efficient with your methods, start with software that already has systems and processes built in for you. TurboTenant saves you so much time and makes you a better, more organized landlord.
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