danielrv – Page 12

March 23, 2012

Property management:Retaining tenants in the longterm

2012 is Well under way how can Agencies work towards a successful year?

Hello and welcome to the weekly Rentview property blog, today I am going to look at the top priorities of company CEO’s and analyse or discuss these in relation to the lettings and management industry in Ireland. The idea for the blog came about after reading through a great report published by Oracle that I received from a lecturer in Strategic Information Systems for Business this week and it highlights some great areas in which managers and company CEO’s are looking to address and improve. The report is titled ‘The Best Defense Is a good offence’ and it immediately stood out to me as the lettings industry has become quite competitive recently with the fall in attractiveness of the market and influx of people renting.

So what were the top needs and business improvement goals identified by the CEO’s interviewed by Oracle? See the table below!

Today I would like to briefly look at the top ranking priority on the list and over the coming weeks I will look to analyse and discuss the other top improvements that agencies may be able to make in accordance with those ranked here. If there is any that stand out, let me know in the comments!

Attracting and Retaining new customer?

A pretty obvious answer that we could have expected from managers and a goal any agency will have a major focus on, attracting tenant brings in the demand we can utilise for securing landlords properties and once we attract the landlord this can lead to long term income for an agency is they are retained successfully through management services. Today’s blog will solely focus on the tenant as the customer and next week we can look at the landlord as the customer for a better analysis or discussion.

There is obvious ways in attracting tenants to your agency with Daft.ie being the hotbed in which they browse the thousands of properties in Ireland but my opinion is that a lot of letting agents do not put enough focus on the retention of a tenant. Check out this recent theoretical model on customer service relationships , the majority of the points are relevant for Letting Agents.

Above-Building a relationship as a PM with your tenant can lead to retention.

If we view the tenant as a long term asset to the company like many other industries it can eliminate a lot of re-occurring issues such as minor disputes over often avoidable issues and the significant time spent in re-letting your properties at the end of lease terms if a tenant is lost. Ultimately an agency should aspire to provide such a high level of service to its tenants that they act as advocates for that agency and create a positive word of mouth marketing channel that really doesn’t exist with a lot of agencies in the Irish market yet.

You want the tenant to be so satisfied with the level of management received they wont go looking on Daft for new properties as the end of lease approaches, and if they are in a position where they need a new or improved property they contact you the agency! That’s all for this one, don’t forgot to comment with your opinions and share the content if you enjoyed the blog. You can follow me at @cormac_rentview and for information on Rentview check out the main site.

rent management software

March 16, 2012

Students and renting: Getting the Inventory Right

Today I wanted to get a quick blog done on the importance of Inventories for students in rented accommodation. The points obviously apply to all renters but its important the message gets out to first time renters who are sometimes not educated on the matter before they find accomadation. There is a few key areas I wanted to discuss and if there is other important issues please drop a comment at the end.

Checking your list of Inventory with the actual contents in the property

Once you find your property and are set to move in often the landlord or agent will provide you with a list of contents for the inventory which you are to sign. At first glance to yourself this is just a simple process sign it and move in but there are a few things you have to do first.The last rented accommodation I had provided me with a list of the various contents from sofas,dining chairs,curtains,hoovers and more. After signing the lease and the inventory list we noticed several items were missing from our list. Whether the landlord purposely did this or simply didn’t know which is probably the case its irrelevant as you are now liable for that missing inventory unless you inform your landlord or property manager of the mistakes. So always verify exactly everything Thats on your list.

When signing the inventory list/report you may not think in the long term but there is two key issues which often not being addressed with this document, picture evidence and condition. Once you have verified your inventory and made any amendments you have to check the condition of your contents and communicate your findings to the landlord or property manager(do this via e-mail or it will mean nothing). In an ideal world every agent would do a thorough report that captures all this vital information but in reality it often isn’t the case. So you have checked the contents and everyone is clear on whats in the house, now the important part

This is the sticky point with inventories its all well and good knowing the contents or inventories but at the end of the day the most likely disagreement or dispute you may find yourself in is condition of the property and its contents.Ultimately this is what will protect landlords and renters against one and other in any potential disputes at the end of a tenancy. Simply writing down the condition of something is good but not sufficient as evidence of the condition so we need pictures! Taking a photo though has its drawbacks as often cameras wont have dates on them so make sure to send these images again via e-mail and ensure the landlord is aware or agrees with the condition.

Thats all for today and thanks for reading, dont forgot to follow me on twitter @cormac_rentview and search Rentview on Facebook! for more information on inventory reporting and the application Rentview offers to letting agents you can click the link here: http://rentview.tumblr.com/post/11140727179/rentview-inventory

March 13, 2012

Rental property – Fake landlord scam

Following on from the cheque cashing scam its important to remember that not only the agent / landlord who is the potential target in property rental scams. Through out my career within the lettings industry I have spoken to numerous tenants who have experienced such a scam. The fake landlord scam is where tenants hand over a deposit and possible rent upfront to a fake landlord. This scam normally happens as follows.

A home hunter responds to an ad normally on a free advertising website but could also be on a property portal, local paper etc. The home hunter arrives to view the property which is priced below the norm in a well sought after area. The tenant very much interested and in assuming they are getting a bargain is convinced to hand over a deposit. So what is wrong here you ask? Well this landlord is doing this to every set of tenant who has called to view the place. The landlord could do this for the whole day in 30 minute intervals or even a couple of days. The first time anyone is made suspicious is when the phone number the tenant contacted the landlord on is no longer reachable. Here is the story of a particular case in Dublin of such incidence.

In some cases the brazen fake landlord will also arrange to meet, sign a lease, hand over keys and collect the rent in advance perhaps in a hotel lobby or coffee shop. When the home hunter arrives with lease and key in hand at the dream property the key does not work. There might even be a queue of new tenants looking to see if their key works. Here is such a case where once again the con man was caught.

So as you can see just because someone has possession of a property it does not mean they are the owner or acting on the owners behalf. It is ever so important to know who you are handing the deposit over to. Bank draft & cheques are always the best way to give a deposit as they are traceable. Under some genuine circumstances a property may require something to hold it for a night. Perhaps until you can get a draft and if you are placing a cash deposit it should be only a token amount to show you are serious. I would say nothing more than €50, this should be ok for one evening. Most if not all professional agents and landlords will be fine with this and if they are not it might be better to walk away.

The above incidents happen to a very, very, very small percentage of rental properties. But it can happen and it is always better to be safe then sorry.

Other blogs which may interest you are The Rental Property Scam & Property Rental scam cheque cashing

by Andreas Riha

March 12, 2012

Property rental scam – Check cashing scam

Having recently read Mashables Top 10 Scams of the year I noticed that the “Check Cashing Scam” was up with the best of them. For any letting agent or in some cases landlords advertising a property to rent you have more than likely received a request to partake in this scam unknowingly.

The check cashing scam is normally done through email. It normally would start by receiving a detailed email from a person claiming not to be in the country at the moment and that they would like to take your property. Sounds great right? Wrong..

Normally the person has not the ability to make or take a call because of coverage in the area or work commitments. Instead they would like to send you on a cheque or bank draft to cover the rent & deposit as this property is definitely for them…. and they know this by the couple of photo’s!!

The scam kicks in when they ask you to forward on the surplus of monies from the cheque / draft as this was company expenses and it could only be made out in one cheque. What ever story will be given it normally goes hand in hand with the lengthy previous emails to sound very genuine. Stop trying to convince yourself that this person is genuine..

Where people have gotten caught out in the past is forwarding the surplus of funds via Western Union and in some cases bank wire. By the time the bank informs you the cheque / draft has not cleared the tenant is long gone and no longer contactable with your money. Samples of such letters can be found here http://www.daft.ie/safety-online

Normally if its too good to be true well then it probably is. Tenants want to view a property or have someone view it on their behalf prior to putting any monies down especially if they are committing to a medium term lease.

If you are contacted by somebody requesting such a transaction my advice would be to ignore the email.

Another blog post which you might be interested in is-

The rental property scam

by Andreas Riha

March 9, 2012

IT Solutions in the Lettings Industry

Some of the best nuggets of information I can share with you this week comes from an interesting talk I attended from Derek McCullagh the head of operations and technology in AIB and Karl Howley the chairman of itsmf.ie on Monday 5^th of March in DIT. The topic discussed was the importance of adapting IT solutions for organisations in Ireland today. For those who haven’t heard of irSMF.ie, like me before Monday morning I’ve taken this quote from there company site which describes what they do best:

‘to be the premier community for leadership in IT service Management In Ireland ’

Now this applies to most companies in different industries but I will refer to the lettings and management side of things for the purpose of the blog. So let’s start with the roles service management plays in helping business’s do things:

Faster

More Reliable

More Efficient

More Cost effectively

This is the one slide from their presentation on IT services management that stuck with me most and I will explain its importance under each heading below or lettings agent and estate agent owners below.

1. From an agencies perspective imagine you can receive a rent and click one button to do the following

inform the landlord rent is received
inform the tenant rent is received and send them a receipt
update their schedule of online accounts

You’re cutting out a lot of work for yourself by having a system which can perform such tasks and ensure you only have to do the basics of property management while the IT system performs the rest for you.

Efficiency in Organisations

2. Letting a property and managing one involves a lot of paper work and reliance on sufficient management of documents and tenant/landlord information. If you’re faced with an issue from a tenant or a landlord in the office and you can’t draw on the information of them straight away it relfects poorly on you and your organisation.

Imagine turning that 5 or 10 minutes spent looking for their file whether its references or lease terms into five clicks on your desktop where you have all the information necessary to deal with the problem at hand!

3 and 4 Are closely linked and some of the more appealing points to organisational managers, how can you carry out the core processes of your business more efficiently and for a lower cost. By adapting a service solution into the lettings and management of properties its hard not to save money and be more efficient.

Using the simple example in lettings of taking a property in from a landlord for letting I will explain the benefits of using IT systems. Lets say the property is new on the market and proving very popular what is the process of letting the property:

You take 5-10 calls in the first day you ad is live on daft and be jotting down the tenant information and appointment times as you take the calls
You then may refer back to the landlord on potential viewings or tenants
Once you show the property your faced with the dilemma of who to pick and acquiring all the necessary documents such as work and landlord references

Think of logging this information online into a management system for letting agents and then sharing access with your property owner so as they know you’re working your hardest to secure someone for the property. Once you meet the clients you can tell them upload any relevant information onto your data system and now the landlord can see themselves the potential tenants you have. You can communicate through your system at speed and no cost such as phone charges and the process is a whole lot easier now!

Condensation in a rental property

According to the good folk over at springcleaningtips.com, a household breathing can contribute 1.2 litres of water vapour in the air.

Showering contributes roughly 1 litre.

Cooking and using a kettle obviously varies depending on which method and how often it’s used but can be as high as 3 litres.

Washing and drying clothes can add an enormous 5.5 litres of moisture into the air. With that amount of added water in the air, it’s easy to see how condensation can build up quite fast.

So as you can see just going about your normal day to day activities in a property contributes greatly to condensation. Many tenants may feel that ventilating a property is like throwing money out of the window with regards to heating costs and as a result do not ventilate correctly.

So the next time you see Mould before treating make sure everyone knows what caused the condensation in your rental home.

Other blogs of interest may be Wear and tear of a rental property

Final inspection and return of your tenants deposit

February 29, 2012

Mould in rented accommodation

Mould

Mould is a type of fungi that occurs completely naturally in nature and its main function is to help with the decomposition of organic matter such as leaves. Not the type of thing anybody would want in their property. They reproduce through spores that float around in the air and only grow into visible colonies when they spend enough time on a suitable surface containing moisture and nutrients.

Mould Growth

Materials that are used in the building of most homes like plywood and carpets are perfect breeding grounds for growth so the key to prevention is reducing moisture. Excess moisture appears after flooding, plumbing leaks, buildings that are too airtight so moisture can’t escape, not enough ventilation near ovens and showers resulting in condensation and general high humidity levels. Condensation also occurs when air gets colder and it loses its ability to retain moisture. Add moisture to warmth and give it a bit of time and you’ve got a new addition to the household.

The most common cause in Irish homes is probably condensation. It’s an internal problem arising from moisture that can’t escape. To prevent condensation and in turn contribute largely to the prevention of mould you should:

Have a good ventilation system in place – extractor fans in bathrooms, exhaust fans in cooking and laundering areas and open windows
Dry windows and windowsills when you notice condensation forming
Insulate cold surfaces well in order to keep central heating low to stop build up on windows, walls and floors
Try to keep carpets and rugs away from water sources like sinks and showers
Dry washed clothes outside as much as possible
Air cupboards and wardrobes frequently

Choosing the right tenant for your property

Removing Mould

If mould is already a problem in the home, the best thing to do is get rid of what’s already there and then take preventative measures. Mould killing sprays can be bought in most local supermarkets and these are effective in removing small growths, although a mixture of water and bleach can also help. If on walls or skirting boards, fungicidal paint can be used after the clean-up to prevent a recurrence of the problem. When cleaning, don’t forget to protect yourself. Rubber gloves, protective goggles and a dust mask are a must for protection against spores, and stop and go outside to get some air if you develop a headache or become nauseous. For larger growths it is recommended to call a professional mould remover. Certain materials like insulation and carpets can’t just be treated, they need to be removed and replaced.

If you spot the beginnings of mould growth (black pinpricks) take action immediately. While not generally toxic, mould can be an irritant and can contribute to respiratory problems. It also causes stains and eventually rots and/or causes deterioration depending on the material it’s growing on.

Whose Responsibility is it?

The simple answer is it’s both the landlords’ and tenants’ responsibility. Before they let a property, landlords should ensure there isn’t any mould growing or remove what’s currently there. Tenants should be informed of how to prevent it, what to do if it starts to grow during their tenancy, and should notify the landlord in case structural changes need to be made.

Other blogs of interest Keeping a tenant happy &

Final inspection and return of a deposit

by Andreas Riha

Rent management software

February 17, 2012

Happy Tenants

Image credit DieselDemon

You’ve done the hard work – made an agreement with a landlord to let and/or manage their property, made sure everything is in order with the property, advertised it and found suitable tenants. Time to put the feet up and relax? Unfortunately not. The next task is to keep the tenants happy, which will hopefully encourage them to renew their lease. But how do you do this? If you’re the theory-loving type, there are plenty of books and articles on Customer Relationship Management. If not, the following will be of some help (although it is recommended to also do a little research into the area).

Know the lease and property they’re renting inside-out

For agents with a number of properties on the go this may be difficult, but it really is worth it. Knowing the finest details will help to clear up any queries or issues much quicker than if you don’t know them. It will also show tenants that you are serious about their welfare (in relation to the property at least!) and will give them confidence that you will be able to help when needed.

Communicate with them regularly

We’re not suggesting that you should become fully fledged friends with your happy tenants, but be sure to keep in contact with them. Answer their calls and messages promptly, and keep them updated as you solve problems. If you don’t, they may think nothing is being done. The tenant is not going to know that you’re waiting on a quote or approval from the landlord unless you tell them. Questions from tenants can build up very quickly so find a way of prioritising them.

Ensure consistency in each relationship

Maintain the same level of service for every tenant. Related to the above points, this means having good rent collection practices in place, enforcing rules fairly etc. The word of mouth phenomenon is very powerful, especially when it comes to negative stories, and you don’t want to be on the receiving end of it! Consistent practices will mean only positive stories are spread about your agency.

Get feedback

This can be done either informally or formally throughout the tenancy or when it’s coming close to the end. Informally could be a quick phone call to check what they thought of the service and how to improve it. The formal route could include a more detailed questionnaire, but keep it straightforward and not too long. We know they take effort to complete, so if the budget allows it throw in an incentive of a cash prize or voucher to encourage tenants to fill it in.

Be nice!

Simple good manners go a long way. Be polite and approachable in your dealings with tenants. In times of frustration, try to keep a cool head because anger generally doesn’t solve anything, and is unprofessional. To take it up a notch, send them a card from the company on their birthday. Nothing extravagant is needed; a small card from the local newsagents will be enough to put a smile on their face. Again if the budget allows it, you could consider ordering company-specific standardised cards which may work out cheaper in the long run.

Remember happy tenants means occupied properties!

Other blogs which may interest you –

Final inspection and return of your tenants deposit & Tenants complaints about neighbours

by Andreas Riha

February 13, 2012

Attracting tenants

Generation Yers or echo boomers … call them what you like but this group of professionals in their 20s and 30s make up a significant portion of the rental population and will probably therefore be a fair share of the potential tenant pool.

So how do you attract these tenants to your property?

Figure out their needs, match your property to them accordingly insofar as possible and market the property so the Gen Yers know you’ve got what they want! Sounds simple doesn’t it? But we all know economic conditions are not making life simple at the moment. However, here are some tips on attracting Generation Yers to get you started.

Attracting tenants with mod cons

Mod cons are a must. The property doesn’t need to have everything under the sun in it, but basic expectations should be met. Going above expectations such as having the latest model of a fridge instead of one from a few years ago or under-floor heating would be a plus, but of course may not be possible. Generation Yers may want to add their own mod cons as time goes by and of course it is at the landlords’ discretion whether or not they’re happy to go with it.

Image credit Adegie

Tech savy tenants

Internet connection is also a must. While Generation Yers may not have been immersed in technology since birth like the Net Generation, they are still very tech-savvy. Working for companies like Google and Facebook means that the internet and various technologies and gadgets are a part of their daily lives, and will obviously extend to their home lives. Because of this, being able to connect to various cable outlets for gaming or for music is also important.

Leading on from the above, we’ve all heard some variation of the phrase ‘my phone is my life; I’d be lost without it’. The theft or damage of some technological gadget is a great loss to a Generation Yer, and so they need to know that their belongings are not covered by a landlord’s contents insurance, (s)he needs to have their own.

Amenities

Another feature of how you will attract more of Gen Yers is how they’re always connected to others. Again this is mostly through technology but most of them are not hermits, they like real life interaction too! Therefore, you need to emphasise how close your property is to others. Not just other homes but also to shops, cafés, parks etc. Also when advertising, use every platform you possibly can. Don’t just stick to the old reliables, check out smartphone and tablet apps.

Transparency

Offer your Gen Yers a renting platform like Rentview. This way they can have complete access to the rent schedule with their own secure login. They will also have access to a complete online detailed picture inventory and monthly rent receipts, to name but a few features.

Feedback

Finally, when the lease is over, ask the tenants what they thought of the property and how it could be improved for future tenants. Learning is a lifelong process, and being open to it could mean a faster agreement and a higher rent in the future. Maybe even as soon as the next tenant!

by Andreas Riha

February 10, 2012

Students and renting:Part Two-Paying the rent

Rent

Firstly although this may seem quite obvious to most, students must ensure that they are financially able to afford moving out from home before they even think of logging onto Daft, Myhome or any other property website to start viewing your potential accommodation. You will be surprised at the amount of tenants in the property market who after one or two months of paying rent realise they are unable to meet the monthly requirements in rental payments. If you are unable to pay the rent on a consistent basis there is a chance of possible eviction from the property and an increase in rent or late fee based on the poor punctuality of payments.

To avoid any of these issues make sure and set a budget for your intended stay in the accommodation and match that with your sources of financial income whether it be a part time job, financial support from your family or student loan can do the trick! Getting into issues over missing your rental payments is the last thing you want as a first time tenant as it will affect your future opportunities of securing high quality rental property on the market and the ability to provide credibility to financial institutions in the future. Obviously sometimes students can find themselves in trouble with rental issues over simple mistakes and sometimes easily avoidable issues such as:

A lack of documentation detailing rents paid and upcoming rents
Inconvenient payment methods between owner and tenant
Paying the rent on time
Poor communication between landlords/estate agent and tenant

Above (Two different snap shots of the Rentview property management software that allows tenants to see communication from property manager and upcoming/past rental payments.)

Rent is usually paid on a monthly basis for most of property you are going to find this summer, on occasion a landlord may require you to pay on a weekly basis and I suggest you avoid this as speaking from experience (paying cast to a landlord) it is extremely inconvenient. Unfortunately there is no set method in the industry for collecting rent, you may be asked to do any of the following:

Pay the rent in cash
Deposit rent money into the owners bank account via your local branch
Transfer funds via the internet into landlord or agents account
Set up on a standing order with the agency or property owner

During my time renting I have experienced all four of the above methods for payment and a standing order set up by the agency or landlord is the best option to avoid missing your rent. Organising cash for a bank deposit or collection from the landlord can often result in someone not having the money on time, this has happened to me when house sharing with four others and it resulted in a 50e penalty fee. If you decide to house share with other students be careful about who choose to live for this reason as it can be unfair having to suffer from the actions of others.

If you are one of the tenants fortunate enough to move into a property where the agency is using the Rentview cloud based rent and property management system you will be provided with the following features through your agency account :

1. Access to your schedule of rents for the lease period

2. Comments from your property manager on your rent schedule

3. Automated receipts sent via e-mail when rent is marked as paid

4. Agency and property contact information

To access the information all you need is broadband connection and a desktop,latop or mobile device to login and stay up to date on your rental payments and communication from the property manager. This will help you ensure that the rent is paid on time and monitored efficiently so as to avoid any potential extra costs, communication errors and or disputes over payments. That’s all for today folks I hope you enjoyed the read and I hope students will find this information useful as they start to plan moving out for the first time. Please share the blog if possible and let me know your thoughts and comments on twitter @cormac_nugent!

In the next post I will cover further issues relating to your rent payments during a tenancy including proof of your payments and rent receipts, rent increases by the landlord during a tenancy, rent books and much more!