letting agent – Page 2

July 19, 2012

NPSRA Licensing

As most of you are aware by now the NPSRA (National Property Services Regulatory Authority) took over the licensing of property service providers on July sixth 2012. This includes auctioneers/estate agents, letting agents and property management agents. So the NPSRA is now a body who has the ability to legally punish those who provide such services. This blog runs through the nine key steps you need to take to register with the NPSRA if you haven’t already done so! In our next blog on the topic we will detail the requirements outlined in their codes of practice. Until then enjoy and click the ‘like’ to share!

by Andreas Riha

June 29, 2012

Property Services Regulation Act 2011

Property-Services-Regulation-Act-2011

Property Services Regulation Act 2011 – how it will affect you?

With the deadline rapidly approaching, the old Auctioneers licensing law issued by The Courts and Revenue is expiring and the new Property Services Regulation Act 2011 is approaching. As of the 6th of July 2012, all letting agents and management agents must be licensed by the NPSRA.

One of the main functions of the Authority is the licensing of Property Services Providers (i.e. Auctioneers/Estate Agents, Letting Agents and Management Agents). It will take over the licensing of Auctioneers/Estate Agents and Letting Agents from the Courts and Revenue Commissioners and also license, for the first time, Management Agents.

The Act defines four separate types of property service

The auction of property other than land;
The purchase or sale, by whatever means, of land;
The letting of land; and,
Property management services

Click Here for a Guide to becoming a Licensed Property Services Provider

If you are providing any of these services and have not submitted your application, you should do so immediately. There is a grace period where if you have submitted your application prior to July 6th 2012 you may still continue offering these services. However, if you continue to offer these services and have not been licensed or submitted your application, you are breaking the law.

Here is a list of Licensed Auctioneers by county care of the NPSRA for the year 2013.

As always, we would be happy to hear your feedback on this topic.

by Andreas Riha

June 28, 2012

Automatically generating agency invoices

Product Development Update- After listening to agencies through out the country we understand that a huge headache for agents is generating the invoices for fees to landlords. Whilst its great to have the ability to generate an invoice as it represents revenue it can sometimes be a pain to generate the invoice. Not anymore!!

Now through Rentview you can generate an invoice for your agency in seconds, not only will the invoice be branded towards your agency but as always with Rentview’s Transparency it can be viewed on line for your landlords through their secure login via your agencies Sub domain.

Rentview’s application will also pre-set your monthly management invoices for the period of the lease. All agency invoices which are generate are located in your agency account section and with one print off you can have your end of month, quarter or annual vat returns ready.

Now letting agents can focus on what they do best.. Letting properties

Generating Agency Invoices with Rentview.com from Rentview on Vimeo.

As always we would be happy to hear your feedback on this topic.

Please feel free to comment, share , tweet etc.

by Rentview

June 26, 2012

Information Systems Planning for Letting Agents Part Two

Continuing on from last weeks post where we discussed the placement that software programs may have in an agencies overall strategy today we begin to look at the five steps of the IS (Information Systems) plan which is adapted from Gabrielle Piccoli book on Information Systems for Managers.

Step One: Know who you are, strategic business planning.

Always ensure there is a long term plan for the overall direction of the agency before developing your IS plan. Software is an enabler of such plans, for example as an agency you may want to grow the business to a stage where you will require more offices/branches. In this case you may pursue a software package that is going to help catch tenants and landlords attention and improve the value you provide to your customer. On the flip side your costs may be badly affecting profits so you may be in pursuit of a system which will significantly reduce administration costs such as printing and accounts management. So you have an idea of why you need the software now its time for step two.

Step two: Know where you start: Information Systems Assessment

Once the agency has a clear grasp on the role of software in the organisation we must assess the current situation your letting agent is in. So there is a few key things we do here, firstly note the different types of software or hardware you use to manage data. Is Microsoft excel your one stop shop for accounts? Is all written communication with landlords done via you E-mail account etc? How are sales calls and service calls recorded and managed? Where are invoices stored and managed and so on? Basically you want to access the role systems even as basic as Microsoft word are working for your agency and especially to access if they’re effective in terms of the business strategy.

Thats the technical side of the assessment but don’t forget the people. Planning for the use of IS or software programs always involves four things people,technology,process and structure, each interlinked for ensuring efficient use of IS or software programs. Question your staff members or in the case of an individual running an agency on the use of such systems and what they may lack or require to help you. For example you may have the latest accounts management system for dealing with all your inbound and outbound payments but if the staff are struggling to use the system then it may not be effective for the business. I have often heard of payments being missed by an agent or landlord due to basic mismanagement of information where the software didn’t ensure payments are received etc, there is numerous other things you may notice at this point. All of this then leads to the main step which is creating the vision for IS in the agency, that will be discussed in the next blog 🙂 Please comment with your thoughts and share if you found this useful or interesting.

Information systems planning for letting agents part one

by Rentview

June 19, 2012

Information Systems Planning for Letting Agents Part One

Back again to discuss the process of software adaption for Letting agents and planning its incorporation into the organisation. Some clients I have dealt with over the previous months have found it difficult in getting up and running with the use of Rentview property management software and this series of blogs will look to guide agencies on there planning and integration of software solutions such as the cloud based property management system we offer. Firstly i want to point out the illustration below which shows different levels of IT focus and planning in organisations, these survey results are taken from Gabriele Piccoli.

What this illustration shows is that a strong focus on the use of IT and software programs and long term planning is essential to achieving a competitive differentiation in your market, whether you are a Letting Agent or a large Multi national company, the opportunity is there. They have classified IT into three stages supplier, aligned with business and competitive differentiation. If you think about some of the most successful companies in Ireland such as Tesco or closer to the property industry Daft.ie we can see how their use of IT and software has allowed them to differentiate themselves. Who is to say that you cant allow software to take a pivotal role in your agencies strategy and long term goals.

Before I get into the planning process (the next blog) which will help you understand and establish the role you want IT or software to play in your organisation its important to note some of the main reasons or benefits of creating the plan.

#1- Unity of Purpose, businesses achieve their best results through planning with a clear strategy/goals in place. The deployment of software can allow people to take responsibility with different roles specified to staff members. Using Rentview as the example you may request different property managers to partake in different tasks, one may be responsible for managing the schedule and statements to mark money coming in and out while someone else may be responsible for uploading all let only clients onto the software to market your management package etc

#2 Simplifying decision over time, without a plan in place on the use of software in the company there is no context then for future decision making. Any potential project selections being made as part of a yearly budget process will then have little sense of overall direction or meaning.

Information systems planning for letting agents part two

by Rentview

April 2, 2012

Property management and good customer service

Property management – How important is good customer service?

Customers are the lifeblood of your business. Without them, your business would more than likely not exist. Due to the fact that they’re so vital, it’s important that they’re retained and don’t take their business elsewhere. One of the best ways to do this is by offering excellent customer service. This is especially important for property managers, as you’re in direct contact with your customers a lot more than many other businesses.

property-management-customer-service

Poor customer service gets talked about. A lot. People are very willing to spread negative stories, whether it is just to their friends, or more dangerously, by posting their experience online. Marketers are waking up to the power of word of mouth, and so should you. It has been proven that negative word of mouth is more common and effective than positive word of mouth, but that’s not to say that positive experiences are ignored entirely. Providing excellent customer service encourages positivity and loyalty to the company, which is exactly what you want. After all, it can cost up to five times more to attract a new customer that it does to retain a current one. In saying that, current/old customers can do some of the job by attracting potential customers through positive word of mouth.

If your customer service is not up to scratch and you don’t know how to begin to improve it, it may be worth your while looking at the customer service life cycle model. Often mentioned in relation to the area of information systems, this model breaks the business/customer relationship down into a number of stages. Identifying these stages is a good starting point as it will be easier to pick out areas that need improvement and what priority they should get. Doing this may be a bit time-consuming, so in the meantime there are some basic guidelines you can follow to improve your customer service.

Customer service in property management

Build rapport with your customer – it doesn’t matter whether it’s a landlord or a tenant; you need to connect with your customers. For first time customers, simple things like introducing yourself, engaging in a little bit of small talk and asking how you can help them all work towards building a lasting relationship. Don’t forget your manners and do show genuine interest in the customer by listening and taking notes if necessary.

If you’re dealing with a landlord/tenant when another one appears needing your attention, politely ask them to wait a few minutes and offer them a tea or coffee.

Deal with problems immediately, as much as is possible. Complaints mean unhappy customers and unhappy customers leave very quickly. If a rent is late, keep chasing it and reassure the landlord that they’ll get it soon.

Keep your promises. If you say you’ll get an electricity account switched over by the end of the day, make sure you do.

Finally, go that little bit further for the customer. Even if it’s not fully part of your job, doing something small like offering advice will make customers feel that you truly care and increases the chances of the customer engaging in positive word of mouth.

There is letting agency software available that will help you provide greater customer service, why not research the area and see what fits your needs?

Please feel free to comment and share!

Thanks for reading!

by Andreas Riha

March 29, 2012

Payment of rent

The payment of rent on time from a tenant to a landlord is the golden rule in the rental industry. It is the most basic of expectations that rent will be paid on an agreed date. It may not be possible to keep a 100% record, but tenants should make every effort to pay on time and to save for emergency situations so the rent can still be paid. A simple way to ensure with relative certainty that it will be paid is to set up a standing order. With standing orders, money is transferred directly from the tenant’s bank account to the landlord’s, which removes the hassle of a manual payment.

Missing the payment date

Paying on time is a common courtesy, which should be enough of a reason to do so, but sometimes tenants need a little push. So if the rent does not arrive on its due date, a phone call may be enough if it is a genuine mistake, but if not, a landlord must notify the tenant in writing followed by the relevant action in your region. I would recommend seeking professional assistance at this stage is needed.

Outsourcing the management of your property

One of the benefits of renting a property through a letting agent is that they take over the responsibility of managing the payment of rent. Now whilst there is a fee for a full management service and rent collection, it is well worth it as they take over the stress. This can be a very stressful and time-consuming task and if not done so correctly it can result in being very costly. Time spent chasing tenants could be used much more effectively and as a result many leave it to the professionals.

Late payment penalties

There are ways to discourage late payments which both landlords and agents can make use of. The obvious one is having a fee for late payments, many leases which have a financial penalty clause for late payment of rent. Another option is to charge a slightly higher rent but give discounts for on time or early payments.

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

January 29, 2012

Why a letting agent must have a smart phone

Smart phones; necessary for a letting agent!

With now more iPhones sold than babies born, not having a smart phone and being a letting agent is not a option. A letting agent without a smart phone is like a carpenter without a saw. It is now a vital tool needed to carry out your daily tasks and continue to bring in revenue.

With the huge amount of apps available, I have selected the top 10 tools of the trade to stay ahead of the competition…..

Google calendars

While answering your phone on the go for a letting agent is as common nearly as blinking your eyes, it’s easy to forget who called 5 minutes ago. Now when you take a call take note and set a reminder on your calendar. Allow it to remind you with an alarm alert with required notice. This way you won’t forget where and when you had to be somewhere.

Hootsuite

Keep up to date with your social media marketing with this great app. HootSuite is a social media communications dashboard used for online brand management. It publishes to websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Foursquare, MySpace, and WordPress. It also publishes to Flickr, Tumblr, and YouTube via HootSuite Apps. It is also a Twitter client. So keep all your social media followers up to date with the latest listings, offers and lettings completed from one location. Bye bye multiple entry updates!

Camera & Pic Stitch

The smartphone has replaced the digital camera, well the ones with a 5 mega pixel plus have anyway. With the iPhone 4s having a 8 megapixel camera with flash, there is no longer any need for a separate digital camera. You can now take several snaps and mail them back to the office and get them published on your website NOW rather than wait until you return to the office. Edit your photos and light effect on your smartphone and even stitch them together to provide your potential tenants with 360 degree shot.

Genius Scan

Have you ever needed a copy of a document such as a tenant reference or ID whilst out at a viewing or lease signing? With Genius Scan you can take a snap shot of any paperwork and have it stored on your phone in seconds. Send it on via email, fax or even edit the document all on your smartphone. This is a must when conducting viewings and gathering copies of references from potential tenants.

Rentview inventory app

With this app you can now record the full contents of a property in images and voice notes through your smart phone. Take photos through the app, speak into your phone and when you get back into the office you now have a full inventory with images and text. All your images and voice notes are complied automatically into a full inventory report. Bye bye end of tenancy deposit disputes, hello happy landlords and tenants!

Nav Free

Sat Nav. Why pay €50+ for a sat nav app when you can get this great one for free? Picture this, we have all been there; your current location is on the south side of the city and your next showing is taking place on the north side of the city. You are in traffic and the only route you know, you just realise is a traffic black spot ahead. You have an appointment in 20 minutes 4 miles away and you have only moved 250 meters in the last 5 minutes. At this rate you won’t get there on time and possibly lose the potential let due to your own no show. With a built-in Sat Nav, easily find another route quickly and get there on time.

Dropbox

With Dropbox you can access all your documents located on your office computer. Need a copy of important documents relating to a rental property; like a copy of a signed lease, proof of ownership, registration documents or anything else you can think of? Now with Dropbox, you can have these documents to view or forward at your fingertips wherever you are located. This can save vital time for you to stay on the road and close more deals.

Email

With so many of your potential viewers now choosing to email you for a viewing time, rather than pick up the phone it’s a must to have constant email access. Out of the office all day conducting today’s viewings and checking your emails when you return to the office to set up for the next day may result in you not having viewings tomorrow. More and more property hunters now choose to email rather than call to set up viewings.

Daft.ie

Keep up to date with what’s available on the rental market and ensure you update your listings daily with Daft’s free app. Available on the iPhone and Android.

Rentview

Letting agency software

Now with Rentview, you can access all the information you need on the go relating to your property portfolio. Instantly retrieve any clients information you may need on the go. Copy of accounts, recent payment history, yearly accounts, issue rent arrears notice, transfer utilities and so much more. Also with the Rentview tenants referencing system you can find tenants authentic previous rental reference once they have been on the Rentview system.

I hope that these apps will find there way onto your smartphone and if you are an agent and don’t have a smartphone you now know why its an essential tool.

Andreas Riha

Email andreas@rentview.com

Facebook Rentview

Twitter Andreas_Riha

www.Rentview.com

November 15, 2011

Track your website visitors with Google Analytics

Analytics matter!

Probably the most important part of updating your web presence and marketing your site is the ability to measure the results of your new work. Therefore it is necessary to learn how to set up Google Analytics in order to track the visitors to your website. There is no point in putting money into advertising if you can not track your website visitors and where they came from. The same is true for creating a social media presence for your agency – you want to know what is working… right?

Track your website visitors

A great FREE site for tracking these statistics and probably the most popular, which is relatively easy to set up, is Google Analytics. It shows you how people found your site, how they explored it, and how you can enhance their user experience. With this information, you can improve your website return on investment, increase visitors to customers and increase your revenue.

track-your-website-visitors

So if you have set up a new business Facebook account, invested in some online advertising or put a blog together; through Google Analytics you can see where your visitors found your site, what they viewed and even what page they exited your site on.

So rather than putting a whole blog together informing you how to set this up, I’m sharing an invaluable link with you – this internet marketing company have put this great blog together on setting up Google Analytics so you can track your website visitors easily.

Tip:

If you do not have access to the back end of your website you may need your web developer and publisher to insert this into your site. It will take no longer than an hour for a professional, so make sure they do not look to charge you an arm and a leg!

It will be well worth learning how to track your website visitors over time, you will gather data about your web traffic that will help you devise better business strategy. Try it!

If you have any questions please feel free to ask andreas@rentview.com I would love to help you.