Data Backup for Letting Agencies

backup-data

Data backup. One of the the key phrases that should be coming from every estate agency owner’s mouth on a monthly, weekly or even daily basis. It is a hot topic in the Rentview office at the moment, as we learn that several agencies are not backing up valuable data often enough. Some don’t even think of it to begin with! Obviously, as a property services provider, the day to day running of a lettings or estate agency will involve a lot of data entry and management. This is vital to smooth operation of the business, but the backing up of such data is CRITICAL to the survival of any business.

Say for example, you have the best in-house system an agency could dream of, data entry is done accordingly and managed to perfection. Unfortunately your office is the target of a freak accident next week where a firework sets it on fire. Now this is likely not to happen, but if you did lose your computers during an accident, that’d be the end of your company and its existence. There is no getting it back, unless you have done one of two things. A, Backed it up on external hard drives or B invested in a cloud-based system that provides data backup for you.

data-backup

I cannot stress enough the importance of backing your data up on a regular basis and in a safe, secure way so that if you did burn down tomorrow, you could open the next day somewhere else easily. Most cloud-based software will be automatically backed up onto the main server regularly. I know on the Amazon S3 server we use it’s every hour. With more and more business being done digitally and important documents being sent to one another via e-mail and through software now is the time to develop a data back up strategy.

Property Management Software

Rent Management Software

by Rentview

NALS Conference

NALS-conference-2012

As some of you may know, the backbone of the Rentview team are currently over in London to attend the Annual NALS Conference where they are exhibiting our letting agency software to the masses.  The conference is one of the most popular of its kind and our own Andreas has been live tweeting some great nuggets of information throughout the day. So here are the best bits coming from the Annual NALS conference:

  • As expected the Rental sector is set to continue its growth as the new generation cannot afford to become first time buyers in the market
  • The average age of first time buyers in London is four more years (36<40) than that of the rest of the UK
  • What are the leading traits of successful and competent agents in the UK? Highly responsive, customer-focused and ethical
  • Green deal is set to keep utility costs lower for tenants and agents
  • The private rented sector is a whopping 16.5% of housing stock and this is an 84% increase compared to the same time in 2001
  • Students in the UK are being severely affected becoming first time buyers going forward due to the national student debt
  • What’s the one area in the mortgage market that’s growing? Buy-to-let properties, due the growth in the rental sector across the UK
  • Apparently 30% of peoples take home pay is going on rent! And almost 70% of London’s renters expect a rise in rent next year!
  • Increase the marketability of your property through using an interior photo as the cover photo rather than an outside one.

If you are based in the UK what are your thoughts on all this relevant information and if you are an Irish based agency do you see the same happening here? Let us know through our Facebook and or the Twitter page, we appreciate the comments!

by Rentview

Letting agent services

Letting agency Business Model

Video Blog-Cormac speaks on the benefits of adding tenants to Rentview

This is the latest of the Rentview video blogs where I take you through the top benefits of uploading your tenants onto the Rentview system. As many of you are aware Rentview differentiates itself from other software solutions with its unique tenant and landlord features available due to the the software operating on the cloud. 

I note the various benefits a tenant receives such as the online lease, the utility set up, online inventory and statement of rents paid and due and an end of tenancy reference. I also note the benefits to the agency as you can manage your database with more ease & efficiency as well as the end of lease benefits such as retention and word of mouth marketing.

Enjoy the video and ignore the few stumbles and interesting facial expressions I like to make, the video blogs are a new area in which we look to create useful content that’s easier to digest and more appealing for engagement.

Video Blog – Uploading tenants details to your Rentview.com account from Rentview on Vimeo.

Be sure to click the ‘LIKE’ button below to share this onto your Facebook or Twitter or drop us a comment with your thoughts below & tweet @Rentview_ 

Cormac