Statistics show that around 35% of households are residing in rental properties, which is why qualified property managers are in high demand. If this is the industry your business is in, you’re likely busier than ever. Property management involves juggling multiple tasks therefore proving to be a challenge for everyone.

Your tasks range from dealing with the concerns of tenants to monitoring the changes in the real estate market. It’s also your job to look for new clients, negotiate deals, and keep your team productive. As much as you might want everything to run smoothly, things are going to happen.

It’s easy to become overwhelmed by repetitive work as a property manager. If you want to improve your work-life balance without sacrificing the quality of your service, there are changes you may make to your workflow or business. One of them is hiring a community assistant to delegate routine tasks to.

Why go virtual with property management

Thanks to advancements in technology, there’s a lot more that managers may do with the real estate they’re handling. From collecting the rent to balancing the books, the advantages are plentiful when you choose to move your services online. For example:

• You get to arrange a more efficient way of receiving and processing requests for maintenance.
• You get to schedule posts, research your target audience, and perform most of your marketing.
• You get to follow up tenants who are falling behind on their payments or are wanting to renovate.

What to delegate to community assistants

Now that you know there’s much to gain with virtual property management, you may be wondering how to go about the transition from a brick and mortar office to remote arrangements. A great place to start is by hiring a virtual community assistant, and here’s what they may help you with:

1. Evaluating applications of tenants

Are there people who are interested in renting any of your properties? Get your VA to check their information and any supporting documents they’ve provided along with their applications. If anything is missing, they may follow-up the applicants to fill them in.

You may train them to evaluate prospects for employment background and rental history too. They might call the previous landlords to get a better idea about the applicants. After evaluation, your VA may then list down the people who are worth endorsing to you.

2. Creating listings and promoting your properties

To save you time, your assistant may arrange to list your properties on the right websites and promote any openings you might have. Someone with enough skill and expertise is capable of writing appealing listings and preparing high-quality images to post.

After they’ve published the listings, they are expected to watch for any applications plus monitor the social media accounts. If anyone does submit applications, they may then begin the screening or reviewing process mentioned in the previous point.

3. Becoming the point person for everyone

By hiring a virtual assistant, you have someone who will communicate with property owners, present and future tenants, and even contractors. It’s difficult to stay in contact with so many people while keeping your inbox organised, so why not have an assistant do that for you?

Provide them with templates for them to use when sending outgoing emails and when replying to incoming messages. This ensures that all questions and concerns from relevant parties are addressed in a proper manner with minimal to no delay. It’s like having your own customer service or support representative.

4. Keeping the calendars organised

It’s a given that your schedule is teeming with meetings with maintenance vendors, appointments with property owners, and dates for property showings. If there are any conflicts within your calendar, you may end up losing on a deal or turning off any prospective clients.

Your VA will help arrange your schedule in a way that allows you to get the most work done without impinging on your personal activities. They’re going to check that you have enough time to get to the airport for your flight but also be able to talk to a certain tenant on the same morning.

5. Making your workflows more efficient

A community assistant makes sure that nothing is getting stuck in the pipeline but that all tasks are moving along as planned instead. They will ensure that no steps are going to be missed with any maintenance requests, building permits, and lease renewals.

They may also monitor any payments done, send reminders for any rent that’s past-due, and support the rest of your team with their assignments. They may follow-up vendors and contractors about any services that haven’t been provided yet as well.

Where to hire virtual community assistants

You don’t need to run a big property management firm to hire a community assistant. Even a freelance property manager stands to gain from having a VA to aid them. If you’re struggling with your routine tasks of replying to emails and the like, it’s a good time to hire an assistant.

We at Remote Workmate are an agency dedicated to connecting employers like you with the right candidates for your needs. We will screen every applicant to ensure that they meet your requirements before being endorsed to you.