Get your tenants to pay on time, all the time!

Posted on by

As landlords, one of the biggest worries we have is a tenant defaulting on payments (the other being that the tenant trashes the property)!

To make sure there is less likelihood of a tenant missing their rental payment, make sure you do the following two things:

a. Set-up a standing order so the rent is paid directly into your bank account
b. Make sure the standing order is on the same day, or the day after the tenant gets paid from their place of work

Point b. is crucial and you should always seriously consider changing the tenant’s payment date to the same day they get their salary paid.

This means that if the tenancy agreement runs from the 14th of the month and they get paid on the 29th of every month, make sure they are paying on the 29th of every month. You can request that they pay for the 14th to the 29th upfront and then start the standing order for the 29th of every month.

By doing this you know that your rental income is being paid on the day when they are likely to have the greatest amount of funds in their account.

This, of course, means that as a landlord you have a greater chance of getting your rental income, even if the tenant starts to experience some financial difficulties.

Announcement

Posted on by

With the release of version 7.0 earlier this year, the software was rebranded to Landlord’s Property Manager Professional and Landlord’s Property Manager Regular. The titles Landlord’s Property Tax Manager and Property Portfolio Manager now refer only to version 6.0 and earlier versions. These versions will no longer be supported from 01 July 2008. If you are currently using version 6.0 and have not received or acted upon an email notification about this change, please contact us.

Are you the Landlord From Hell?

Posted on by

As landlords, our worst nightmare is the Tenant From Hell.

The Tenant From Hell knows the system backwards and uses this knowledge to live rent-free in your property.

Just as much as we fear the Tenant From Hell, tenants fear the Landlord From Hell as much as we fear the Tenant From Hell. The Landlord From Hell never addresses property problems, raises rents without notice and can never be contacted when needed.

Remember: Property is a ‘people‘ business and there is nobody more important to your property business than your tenant!

So how do you show your tenants that you are not the Landlord From Hell?

Continue reading →

Are you tracking your mortgage rates?

Posted on by

With the credit crunch in full swing, more and more landlords are falling into negative cash flow. This occurs when their rental income can no longer cover their ongoing property-related expenditures.

For example, if your rental income is £500 and your property expenses are £600, then you are making £100 negative cash flow on your property business. This means that you have to subsidise you property through other means.

The biggest expenditure landlords have is the cost of finance on the property (i.e. their buy-to-let mortgage) and the single biggest factor that is turning positive cash flow properties in to negative cash flow is the increase in interest rates!

How do I avoid falling into this trap?

Continue reading →

Meet us at the Landlord Show this weekend

Posted on by

This Friday (13th) and Saturday (14th) we will be exhibiting at the Landlord Show in Manchester.

This is the UK’s premier landlord show in the North West.

It is free to attend and we will be demonstrating our property management software solutions on Stand 24 throughout the day.

I will also be delivering two talks, titled Property Management: Tools and Techniques.

I will be discussing the five biggest challenges landlords are facing in the current market and what we can do to overcome them.

I will also be sharing strategies on how to boost your property cash flow, so that you can ride out any negative impacts the credit crunch is having!

If our last exhibit at the landlord show is anything to go by, it will be standing room only!

It really would be great to see you here at the show and you will get an excellent chance to meet the team and see the landlord software solutions demonstrated in a live environment.

To register for free and get full details of the show please visit:
http://www.landlordshow.com/home.asp

We’ve been rebranded!

Posted on by

In December 2007 we underwent a re-branding exercise where we hired a software marketing specialist and conducted a major survey with our existing customers.

This week we have been busy upgrading our existing software customers to the newly launched software versions.

What branding has been done?

Well, Landlords Property Tax Manager, which we had been selling since 2003, has now been rebranded to Landlords Property Manager Professional.

And Property Portfolio Software has now been rebranded to Landlords Property Manager Regular.

Why has the software been rebranded?
 Continue reading →

Is Now a Good Time to Invest in Property?

Posted on by

Interesting question, isn’t it?

The doom mongers (many who missed out on the property boom) say property prices will fall dramatically (and so do most newspaper columnists), yet the property ‘optimists’ say that now is a very good time to start buying.

So who is right?

Everybody has an opinion but what I always say to myself is “look at the person who is giving the opinion and what their motive is.” For example, if someone is selling property, will they say prices are going to fall? And which headline sells more newspapers? Prices to Crash by 30% or Prices to Drop by 3%?

Nobody knows how far property prices will fall (if they do) and how quickly they will recover. The important point is that if your property investment deal stacks up, there is no reason not to buy in the current market for the long term.

In fact, experienced and smart investors are starting to see some GREAT deals coming through now!

The important thing now is to make sure you can answer ‘YES‘ to the following three questions:

Continue reading →

Our top five property management problems

Posted on by

Lately I’ve been asking myself what the biggest problem facing Property Investors is. The answer? A growing portfolio!

Why is this? Surely a growing portfolio is a good thing? Well, as your portfolio grows, your paperwork grows with it. I know people who are drowning under paperwork and struggling to keep it organised. I know what that’s like. I used to be one of them. That’s why I got into designing property management software. I started investing back in 1999 and according to the results of our recent analysis of 3 years of customer feedback, nothing much has changed! Paperwork is still the biggest problem for Landlords.

The top 5 concerns were:

1. Increasing paperwork: keeping on top of bills and rental income

2. Staying legal: keeping track of safety certificates and legal documents

3. Good tenant management: making sure they get the information they need

4. Income tax management: knowing what is due when

5. Maintaining a positive cash flow: becoming harder with increasing property prices

In other words, exactly the same problems I had in 1999 and all the same reasons I got into designing property management software!

You can check out the results of my labours here.