If you own a revenue-producing vacation home, you know that you need to manage the property efficiently to increase profitability. This efficiency is especially critical if you are acting as your own property manager as a sideline venture; you cannot take a relaxed approach or you will find yourself overwhelmed by necessary management tasks. Take these three essential steps to manage your rental property more efficiently.
Use Productivity Software
Document, document, then document some more. Nothing is more important than tracking every project, upgrade, phone call and transaction. Outlining these details serves two purposes. First, it provides talking points for renter interactions. Second, it provides a record of your day-to-day actions, so you can assess your performance and look for ways to streamline. The most efficient way to implement this plan is to use a property data conversion software program to analyze your results. Skip the pen and paper.
Think Like a Real Estate Agent
Early in the process, you should have created a detailed financial plan. If not, now is the time to list all property strengths that will generate income. Does the kitchen have a cook-friendly layout? How large are sleeping areas? Does the property contain a usable yard? What amenities are located nearby? Consider which features you should promote for the greatest return.
Price to Rent
Create fair-pricing structures so that your property attracts a large pool of potential renters from which to select; even more important to your bottom-line efficiency, this action reduces the chances that your property will sit empty instead of generating revenue. In that case, any other efficiency measure you implement will be meaningless.
Be prepared to devote a great deal of time to the management aspect of any property you own for profit. Finding and maintaining a steady stream of summer renters requires that you operate efficiently; the more your unit remains empty, the greater the chances are you will find yourself financially underwater.
