How do you manage property remotely?

What are the benefits of remote property management?

Being a remote landlord might have its challenges, but we’d say these are outweighed by the benefits. Here are five of the biggest benefits:

1. Support a diverse property portfolio. Traditionally, landlords have been restricted by the properties in their area. Investing in property beyond your geographical area gives the opportunity to diversify and build a more stable portfolio.

2. More cost effective. You don’t need us to tell you about the disparity in property prices across the UK. For some landlords, investing remotely is the only way to enter the world of property ownership.

3. Business as usual. If you manage properties alongside other interests, you can continue to do so. This makes remote landlord property management especially beneficial for investors who need to travel or who work long hours.

4. Follow your dreams. It’s common for homeowners to become landlords when following a job abroad or choosing to travel for some time. In this case, remotely managing your property ensures an income while you are away or covers mortgage costs instead of having to sell your home or leave it sitting empty.

5. Head before heart. Being geographically remote from your properties allows you to take a step back and consider the true facts relating to your investments. Although being close to your properties is convenient, it can also result in an emotional connection with the property or tenants which may prevent you from taking an objective view.

How to manage property remotely

So how should a landlord manage their property remotely? Our experiences as landlords – both remote and local – have taught us the following about remote landlord property management:

Build a team you can trust

Travelling between properties is an impossibility if you live or work in a different area to your property. That’s why remote landlords need a team they can trust. The easiest way to find a trusted team is to work with a reputable property management company. As well as being able to collect rent, screen tenants on your behalf and ensure your property complies with legal obligations, they’ll have a team trusted tradespeople they can use to carry out routine and emergency maintenance.

Use technology to make life easier

Technology has come on leaps and bounds in even the last five years, transforming the potential for remote property management. A quality property management company will have existing tech in place to help you, but even so it’s worth checking out the different options out there. If your property management company doesn’t provide all the tech you need – or if you prefer to go it alone – we’d recommend:

• Bookkeeping software such as Xero or Quickbooks
• accepting online payments
• using video calling – such as Zoom or Skype – to stay in touch with tenants
• document signing software
• a tenant referencing service
• a deposit protection service

Quality comes first when working remotely

If you’re a remote landlord, it stands to reason that you can’t hotfoot it over to your property whenever there’s a problem. And even with a maintenance team on standby, things could quickly get expensive if you’re calling them up on a weekly basis. Swerve property maintenance issues by investing in quality fixtures and fittings in your properties. A new boiler, well-maintained heating and quality white goods will mean fewer calls from your tenants.

Strong security will set your mind at ease

Give yourself and your tenants extra peace of mind by ensuring your property has strong security in place. There’s a chance that your property may be vacant between tenancies or during maintenance, so investing in high quality locks, strong windows and sturdy garden fencing (if necessary) will deter potential break-ins. You may also want to consider installing external security cameras and an intruder alarm.

Schedule visits to stay connected

There’s no substitute for checking in with your properties from time to time. Scheduling time to visit your properties and meet up with your property management company will help you stay abreast of your property and keep relationships strong and productive.

How The Home Club supports remote landlord property management

As an independent team of experienced property managers and landlords, we are uniquely placed to help landlords let their properties in the Guildford area. Whether you are letting your family home to work abroad or have a portfolio of properties, we can help.

Here are just some of the ways we can help you remotely manage your property:

• Tenant screening and referencing
• Virtual and physical viewings for potential tenants
• An accompanied check-in for all new tenants
• A rental collection and transfer service
• A 24-hour property portal for both you and your tenants to check rent payments, maintenance requests and any problems.
• 24-hour phone-line for emergency tenant requests
• A network of trusted, reliable tradespeople
• Utility company management
• Redirecting your mail to your preferred address
• Quarterly property inspections and reports.

Find out more about letting your property with The Home Club and using our Property Management Service. We’ll even help you switch from your existing agent with our Easy Switch service.

Call us on 01483 608 875 to find out more or visit TheHomeClub.com.