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Large businesses and organisations have been able to streamline their operations by implementing technology into their workflows and structure for many years. Once seen as a huge investment to overhaul archaic systems, most modern businesses now begin life as tech-savvy enterprises. Whether that’s using software to manage their workflows and finances or to maintain contact with clients and partners across the world.
Bespoke industry apps are beneficial to companies with 30% of companies reporting that custom apps improve their business processes. But how is technology making an influence in the buy-to-let landlord market? In this post, let’s discover the ways technology is making landlords more efficient, better prepared for growth, and ultimately offering them a better work-life balance.
Saving Time on Admin
One of the most laborious tasks for most businesses is the admin, with the need to write reports, re-enter data and cross reference, this can take up much of your time as a busy landlord. However, specific property management software that can be tailored to your unique needs takes the hassle away.
Through automated systems, you can gain back the time spent crossing your ‘T’s and dotting your ‘I’s. Not only can property management software make the role of buy-to-let landlord more streamlined, it can also help ensure you remain compliant. From automated certificate reminders to reporting capabilities and credit checking, there are many ways that landlords can maintain and find new tenancies through technology.
Digital Bookkeeping
Along the same lines as admin, digital bookkeeping is making information easier than ever to understand. With better comprehension and tracking of your finances, accounting is made much easier through digital bookkeeping software versus entering and tracking everything on a complicated spreadsheet. Not only is this streamlined approach another great time saver it also helps to get your property portfolio’s accounts in shape for when tax is completely digital.
Faster Onboarding of New Portfolio Properties
When buying a home it can be tied up in paperwork for months at a time, and in the aftermath of the pandemic and the ongoing economic fallout, it can take even longer for completion. While conveyancers are under great pressure to process property purchases, there are ways that landlords can benefit from advances in this industry.
With automated workflows, automated questionnaires, and greater powers of communication through conveyancing software, the whole process becomes much faster. Everyone involved in the process is kept in the loop thanks to real-time updates made available online so you can better plan and schedule property maintenance on your new buy-to-let.
Better Energy Efficiency and Security
When the world is crying out for relief from what appears to be a never-ending energy crisis, landlords can alleviate some of their tenant’s troubles through upgraded technology. Smart meters and thermostats help ensure that energy waste is kept to a minimum, ensuring more control over bills for your tenants. This approach can also help make your buy-to-let property more appealing to new tenants when the time comes, so it’s a useful addition to your property.
Smart home tech doesn’t stop at energy and you can introduce solutions to help tenants feel safer in your property. From smart alarm systems to programmable LED lights that turn on to make it appear as though the property is occupied, landlords can invest in tech upgrades across their homes to benefit their tenants. How much you upgrade is at your discretion.
Managing Your Maintenance Schedules and Portfolio
Buy-to-let landlords with one or multiple properties must keep their eye on the ball at all times. From scheduled maintenance in one home to the end of a tenancy in another, it all requires dedication and your close attention.
However, smart property management software enables you to view everything in one convenient location. This means you can check in on and be reminded of when you need to arrange essential maintenance or when health and safety checks are due.
Marketing Yourself Better
Being a buy-to-let landlord without a tenant is a problem that most can’t afford to have hanging around for too long. Social media has impacted the way we live our lives but it is also an essential marketing mechanism for many businesses. Posting vacancies on social media is a great way to bring more eyes and attention to your vacant property, while specific listing sites are a common avenue for finding new residents.
You may also find it useful to build your own website and use SEO (search engine optimisation) techniques to make it rank better and be more visible to people looking for places to rent. By having a greater presence online, you will feature higher in search results with the theory being that you will experience greater website traffic and more conversions.
Virtual Property Tours
Landlords who may think of themselves as a one-person operation may find themselves spread quite thin when they have properties across various locations. For instance, you may be called to fix a leaking tap in one area and then have a house showing in another in the same morning.
Fortunately, the property market adapted to social distancing quite smartly when the time came and it bucked the trend for dwindling industries by exceeding predictions and bucking the norm. One way that technology helps the property market to remain operative during social distancing restrictions was through virtual property tours.
These allowed people to continue viewing and buying houses without taking the risk of purchasing unseen. Not only did it allow buy-to-let landlords to invest in their portfolios but it continues to be an asset to landlords today. Now you can offer a virtual property tour to prospective tenants and maximise interest in your property by showcasing your rental home off virtually.
This also means that you can offer a virtual tour to any interested parties before they visit, meaning you don’t have to waste time showing those with little to no intention to move in. Virtual tours are ideal for landlords with an extensive portfolio who are already up against it due to their time constraints.
