Support My Growing Property Management Business: A Guide to Automation and Outsourcing

Over the last 48 episodes of The Property Management Show, at least 40 of them have covered sales and marketing. So, there’s a wealth of information for growing your property management business. If you missed those, go back in the archives and pull out a roadmap on structuring your sales team, organizing your marketing, and growing your business. Today is a little different. Many property managers want to grow their businesses, but they feel like they cannot take on any additional growth. They think it would be irresponsible to continue growing, because they are struggling to keep up with serving the customers they currently have. That’s a good problem, and a real problem. Today, we’re talking to Todd Ortscheid, who can systemize a business better than anyone. Background on Todd Ortscheid Todd is at GTL Real Estate, where he manages around 400 units with five employees on the payroll, including himself. He systemizes, outsources, and uses independent contractors whenever he can. Todd feels he can add 200 properties without adding any full time staff. The plan is to do that with more outsourcing and automation. Releasing Less Profitable Properties The first thing Todd did was to look at his portfolio and let go of the less profitable and labor intense owners. Most of the work was coming from the same 10 percent of owners and tenants. Those were C-class properties, which are usually owed by C-class owners and attract C-class tenants. All the company’s work was there. When Todd decided to change their processes and procedures, it was a natural point at which to get rid of the properties that weren’t working. If you’re wondering whether it was hard to withstand the revenue hit – there wasn’t one. At the same time that these properties were being released, Todd’s company instituted some new ancillary fees. Owners began getting charged for yearly inspections, and the rest of the new fees were coming from the tenants. The application fee went up, and other things that they hadn’t charged for previously were suddenly falling into place. That canceled out the lost revenue of those 55 properties that they shed from their portfolio.  That’s important. The concurrent implementation of ancillary fees while culling the herd of properties can be the way to go when you don’t want your revenue affected. Occupancy and Tenant-Related Systems Automating the processes related to tenants and occupancy can save money and provide scalability. Are your leasing agents bogged down with calls and emails? Instead of having them spend their time taking phone calls from prospective tenants, explore different options. Todd’s company uses Rently, and there are other platforms that use similar technology. There’s a combination lockbox and leasing line that make it easy to outsource the showing and leasing process. When someone calls based on a sign that they see or an advertisement, the call is routed to Rently. Everything is automated. If they want to see the house, they get a code and they let themselves in to see the property. If they have questions or want to talk to someone, those calls are routed through PropertyWare.  This is an important piece of the leasing process that property managers can get off their plates. Prospective tenants always ask the same questions. They want to know if the property has a fence or they want to know what the leasing qualifications are. When a call center takes care of answering these questions, your leasing agents can protect their time and only get involved if there’s an unusual question or a problem.  Integrating the Application Process with the Leasing Process After a prospective tenant views the property, they get an automatic questionnaire that they’re asked to fill out. This gives you the opportunity to collect feedback on the condition of the home, etc.