Property managers who offer exceptional service have always gone above and beyond to support property owners in their portfolio. In today’s rental market, however, value-added property management is no longer an added bonus – it’s a must for attracting and retaining owners.
The COVID-19 pandemic showed how complex and risky the single-family housing rental market can be for owners to navigate without support. Owners have to stay up-to-date on rapidly changing rental regulations. They want to protect themselves from the risk of volatile rental income. And they may find themselves managing tenant relationships that have become strained.
Property managers who address these challenges head on not only support their clients more effectively, but they also stand out in a market that has become increasingly competitive in recent years.
With the needs and concerns of modern rental property owners top of mind, here are some ways you can seamlessly add value to your property management services and benefit your bottom line in the short- and long-term.
Leverage Property Management Technology
One of the most notable impacts of the pandemic was the rapid shift to digital communication. Face-to-face interactions fell by the wayside out of necessity, leaving communication gaps between property managers, owners and tenants that inevitably needed to be filled.
While building and managing relationships virtually comes with its own set of challenges, it also presents new opportunities for value-added service. The use of property management technology with automation in place increases the efficiency of operations and communication – to the benefit of all involved.
Increasingly, tenants and owners in the single-family rental home space are coming to expect digital services and automated processes. Some of the most in-demand virtual services include:
Rental applications and tenant screenings
Virtual showings
Tenancy agreement paperwork and lease signing
Rent payment
Maintenance requests
Property inspections
Performance reports
Updates and communication
Automating recurring tasks and streamlining communication frees up time for property managers to focus on customer service and industry expertise. It’s also more convenient for tenants and property owners, creating an overall better experience. To this end, it makes sense as to why 30% of property managers report leveraging automation technology as a key goal in 2022 to improve efficiency and grow revenue.
Automated Value-Added Services
Automation technology for property management can be transformative and is quickly becoming standard practice, with no going back from the benefits it provides. But this also means that any additional value-added services you decide to provide owners should seamlessly integrate with your current property management software.
Steady offers a suite of value-added products that benefit single-family rental owners and increase cash flow for property managers — from the immediate, zero-risk rent protection of Rent Advance to rent protection and industry insights bundled into the Owner Benefit Package. Technology integrations enable seamless connections with property management software, while Steady automates the delivery of the solution to make the onboarding process as simple as possible.
Regardless of which additional services you decide to offer owners in your portfolio, a strong technology base that automates recurring tasks is foundational. Your value-added services then build upon this foundation and can ideally fit within the operations of your current workflow.
Ensure Properties Remain Legally Compliant
Property owners want to protect their real estate investments, and part of this is making sure they are following all the right rules. It's what successful real estate investors
do. After all, failure to do so can have costly consequences.
As a property manager, you’re well-versed in federal and local laws regulating landlord-tenant relationships. But for owners, particularly those who inadvertently became so because of a change in life circumstance like a move, staying up-to-date on these rules can be a daunting task. Ensuring the use of compliant lease agreement forms, avoiding violations of a tenant’s privacy in the case of repairs or inspections, knowing how and when to charge late rent fees — it can be a lot for anyone to constantly account for, especially in today’s ever-evolving climate.
COVID-19 and the steady stream of new tenant protections introduced during the pandemic, like eviction moratoriums and rent freezes, made the need for professional expertise all the more apparent. In fact, the number of rental owners working with a property manager increased from 55% pre-pandemic to 64% at the pandemic’s height, according to the 2022 Property Management Industry Report. That same report found that a quarter of investment property owners working with a property manager do so primarily for support with regulatory compliance.
As a property manager, you can leverage the expertise you already have about rental regulations and tenancy laws to position yourself as a trusted advisor for owners. And while you continue to provide value-added service to owners, you can lean on Steady’s legislative alerts — part of our Owner Benefit Package — for support. Property managers and owners alike are provided with real-time updates about new, pending and recently passed legislation impacting rental housing.
Amid the growing demand for expertise to navigate compliance in a dynamic real estate market, meeting that demand head on benefits property owners and property managers alike.
Keep Owners Dialed In On Market Changes
In addition to legislative updates, the real estate market itself is rapidly changing, from shifts in home prices to the availability of rental properties. Property owners increasingly want to keep up-to-date about what is happening in the market because it directly impacts their investment.
There are two kinds of market insights particularly relevant to owners now: information about their investment performance and a higher-level view of the rental housing economy as a whole.
Regular asset and market reports delivered to your clients can ease their mind about the profitability of investment property, as well as identify opportunities to generate higher returns.
One way to easily share insights like this is through Steady’s Rental Analysis Report, which is included as part of the Owner Benefit Package. It’s a value-added service that provides a quarterly report about current and future rental values, as well as details about property values.
Solutions For Property Owners
From a big picture standpoint, rising rent prices and a shortage of housing supply can impact property owners in unexpected ways. Across the country, rents rose a record 11.3% last year and have remained elevated in 2022.
While higher rent prices may seem like a good thing for an owner, housing affordability is one aspect of a renter’s overall financial health. As rent and other living costs increase, it can impact a tenant’s ability to pay rent. It also makes screening applicants carefully all the more important.
This gets to the core of a rental property owner’s anxiety: can their tenant pay their rent in full, month over month? The risk of resident nonpayment is a universal concern for property owners The impact of eviction moratoriums during COVID-19 drove home the devastating impact of rent nonpayment, especially for smaller-scale and mom-and-pop property owners.
As a property manager, providing key information and market insights to your clients is inherently valuable — but providing a solution that reduces this level of risk is priceless.
Steady’s Rent Advance offers the most efficient way to shield owners from the potential loss of rental income. Through this solution, owners can access up to 12 months of rent, cash-in-hand, on the day a lease is signed. The ability to completely remove the risk of rent nonpayment for clients in your portfolio is a one-of-a-kind, value-added service for property managers.
Put an End to Owner Concerns With Value-Added Services
There are countless ways to set yourself apart as a property manager and provide exceptional service to your clients. The most impactful ways, though, are the ones that directly target current owner challenges and anxieties: mitigating the risk of renting out a property, ensuring a rental is compliant with regulations and enabling more efficient operations.
When you partner with Steady as a property manager, you can access a host of innovative solutions to address each of these concerns and give your owners confidence for the future.
Interested in setting yourself apart from the competition as a Steady partner? Contact us today.
