Managing your property portfolio admin
There are a lot of elements to manage in a growing portfolio from incoming mail and bills through to incoming funds, periodic inspections, strata meetings and more. It’s important to have systems in place to make it easy to stay on top of things.
Establish a system
Set up a routine to stay on top of incoming mail. Whether you allocate ten minutes each evening or opt for once a week, open all the mail and file it according to how or when it needs to be actioned. That way when you do have a little free time, you can tackle the pile that’s most relevant.
Schedule payments
File all of your bills in one place, in order of priority then make a bulk bill payment on a regular basis. You may opt to do this once a week, once a fortnight or even once a month, depending on what suits you. For example, you may like to time the bill payments for the week after your rent is due to allow better cash flow.
Work as a team
If you have a spouse, family member or partner sharing your portfolio, consider working as a team to manage the investments. One person could focus on acquisitions while the other focuses on management and paperwork.
Track your portfolio
Set-up a system using management software, such as My Property Tracker, to ensure you know when things are due or when meetings are coming up. Enter all correspondence into your system when it arrives, then set alerts to remind you what you need to do each day, week or month. This could be done in your routine admin time.
Rent management
Employ the best property managers possible to ensure your rent is coming in on time and in full. Engage someone that you have faith and confidence in – you shouldn’t have to manage your manager.
Strata AGMs
If you do want to attend AGMs, set up reminders in your tracking system or calendar to ensure you know when the meetings are held. Once you reach a large number of properties, you have to let some things go. Unless you have particular concerns about strata with your properties, it’s probably enough to read the minutes of meetings to stay informed of relevant developments.
