Challenges facing the property management industry

1. Time management

Many property managers report difficulty finding the time to keep on top of everything. For some, it can feel like there just isn’t enough time in the day, and that can lead to a bad work-life balance that sacrifices their health. 

To help improve your time management, make a priority list at the start of every day, or the night before, and put your focus on getting through that priority list. Another helpful change for time management is to streamline and simplify your workflow as much as possible; where possible look for ways you can automate your job, or adopt technology to improve productivity.

2. Hiring and retaining a good team

It can be tough hiring a good team, and even tougher keeping them around. It’s natural that as people’s lives change their careers can change too, and sometimes losing team members is out of your control, but it’s a blow to your business when all your effort training them goes as well.

At the end of the day, hiring and retaining a team comes down to paying them what they’re worth, but treating them with respect and promoting a positive work environment can also help people stay. To make the training process a bit easier, considering sharing and documenting your knowledge into an app like Notion, creating a shared knowledge base that can help new hires get up to speed quickly.

3. Reducing expenses

A lot of property managers struggle with operating costs. In an industry with typically thin margins, keeping expenses low anyway that you can is crucial to the success of your property management business.

To reduce your expenses, consider how technology could be used to cut down on expenses like printing, labor, and even office space. Identifying options for automation or streamlining business processes, like automated inspection scheduling or overdue rent reminders, can also help keep your expenses as lean as possible without hurting the quality of your service.

When considering how you can streamline your business processes, take a look at the forms you fill out on a regular basis and see if Locale Central could help you turn your paper forms and checklists into a digital solution. For more information, check out our property manager template.

4. Growing revenue

Every property management business wants to grow their revenue, the same could probably be said for any business. Identifying opportunities to reduce your operating costs like we have already covered is a key element to growing your revenue, but the other option is increasing your client base for more profits.

Referrals are the most common way to score new leads and business, encourage referrals by giving your existing base of clients a great experience. Networking with local real-estate agents, businesses, and your community is also a great way to generate new leads.