11 property manager challenges you will face

Are you a residential property manager struggling to wake up this morning?

You’re not alone.

With so many property management challenges to encounter, the job you do is demanding and, oftentimes, thankless.

This can make it incredibly hard to motivate yourself day by day; where work has become less of a passion project and more of a drain on your resources.

Are you a property manager? Do you have a grasp on the challenges you might face? Learn about them through this guide.

11 common problems faced by property managers

It’s exhausting… but not entirely unavoidable.

By researching the challenges faced by property managers and critically assessing which ones are impacting you, you’ll be able to:

  1. Gain reassurance that you aren’t the problem.
  2. Eradicate the issues that are causing you so much bother.
  3. Reignite your love for work.

Before you know it, you’ll be back to your old self – excited to get started with the day ahead. Rather than feeling stressed and overwhelmed, you’ll be able to follow commercial property management trends with ease and embrace the very best parts of your role.

Property manager challenge 1: Tenants

Alongside looking after your real estate assets, you have to look after the people. A big portion of your work is:

  • Finding reliable renters.
  • Conducting background checks.
  • Signing Rental Service Agreements.
  • Accommodating client requests.
  • Communicating with relevant contractors.
  • Fixing issues as and when they arise.

Alongside this long loss of duties, tenants always need to know what you expect of them. When issues arise, you have to enforce evictions, which can be a messy process.

Property manager challenge 2: Time

Every property manager will agree: there’s never enough time in a day. Either you’re desperately trying to catch up on yesterday’s work, or you are falling further and further behind.

Property manager challenge 3: Admin

Any business owner will proudly proclaim that admin is the bane of their existence. So why do they insist on continuing to put themselves through it? As a property manager, you likely have thousands of different pieces of paperwork spread across multiple devices.

Property manager challenge 4: Maintenance

As if owning and renting buildings wasn’t enough, preventative maintenance is one task on a property manager’s list that never seems to diminish. When one job is finished the next is there, ready to demand your time and attention.

Property manager challenge 5: Employment

When you start to scale, it becomes impossible to organise everything on your own. You have to hire and retain high-quality staff members who can help fix your property management challenges, rather than add to them.

Property manager challenge 6: Scaling

And, when you have so many tasks that need completing, scaling your revenue seems like a distant dream. In order to encourage client recommendations, you need to provide them with the best service possible, but you can’t do that without getting on top of your task list. It’s an endless cycle.

Property manager challenge 7: Costs

One of the hardest challenges faced by property managers is the growth of the subsequent costs that come from accepting additional projects.

Contractors need to be paid, tenants continue to complain, and things slip through the cracks. Pretty soon, you and your accountant are in disagreement and your profit margin is on the decline.

Property manager challenge 8: Contractors

Dealing with independent contractors can be difficult, especially when it comes to organising availability. Everyone prefers to work on different schedules and they all have their own unique skills, which means the complications can add up fast.

Property manager challenge 9: Regulation

Are you finding it hard to keep up with new legislation? It’s unsurprising if so. There are so many new regulations and rules being outlined with each passing month that it can be nearly impossible to keep up.

Property manager challenge 10: Health & safety

According to our research, Health and Safety is the resounding number one problem faced by property managers.

Why?

Well, poor health and safety management can easily lead to financial loss, legal trouble and a damaged reputation.

Property manager challenge 11: Fraud

Last but certainly not least comes the rising number of threats in our digital environments.

Documents can be forged, lies can be told, and it can be incredibly hard to separate reality from fiction. This puts you, and your company, at risk.

Not only could you onboard ill-meaning tenants, but you could find yourself in legal hot water because of the mistakes you’ve made.

Challenges faced by property managers – FAQs

That’s a lot of property manager challenges, isn’t it?

It’s no wonder that you’ve been struggling to keep up with the demands of your role with everything going on.

You need to consider letting go of these burdens and addressing each one at its core. How? Through comprehensive property management software.

If you still have questions before you proceed, perhaps these FAQs can be of use.

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What qualities make a good property manager?
What is a property manager's first responsibility to the property owner?
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Why do property management companies fail?
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Is property management software useful?
Can property managers work from home?

There are so many problems faced by property managers that it can quickly get overwhelming. Thankfully, with comprehensive software, these issues can be addressed.

Tackle common property management challenges with MRI Software

It isn’t all bad news, though.

Despite the numerous challenges faced by property managers, you’re not in this alone. You likely already have staff members helping you out along the way.

However, there is one serious question to ask…

How many times have there been miscommunications, lost papers and files, or data entry errors that have hampered productivity and slowed progress on projects?

If you are not already, start to consider the benefits of property management solutions, which include the ability to:

  1. Increase your efficiency.
  2. Track each of your properties on one system.
  3. Receive reminders on tasks that need completing.
  4. Build relationships between your employees and clients.
  5. Improve tenant satisfaction across the board.

Through platforms from MRI Software you can fall in love with your job again, so why not request a demonstration today?

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