4 Free Online Tools for Property Management

Property managers wear many hats and multitask on a daily, even hourly, basis. Online property management can be difficult. It’s hard to stay on task and prioritize daily lists while staying busy, putting out the daily fires that present themselves. Read here if you’re just getting started.

What are the challenges that property managers face? Besides the issues with renters themselves that might include everything from slow-pays to property damage, the things you can directly control include:

• After-hours availability
• Instant’ communication expectations of owners and tenants
• Working too many long hours
• Social media complaints and bad Google reviews

 If only there were a way to keep in touch with your property owners and their renters, keep track of billing, payments, banking information for deposits, regular maintenance, and emergency repairs. Wouldn’t it be great to have one app that would allow renters to contact you and communicate with you in real-time?

It would be highly advantageous if you could control your reviews and ensure that you were getting all the positive reviews you deserved on top of those occasional and unavoidable bad reviews. We’ve got news for you.

 There are tools available to make your job much easier and far less challenging. In fact, in this article, we’re going to show you which property management software to use, and we’ll show you how you can get it for free.

 That’s right; get it for free. Read on to learn how to work fewer hours, get consistently positive reviews, solve communication gaps with owners and renters, and put more money toward your bottom line, for free.

Podium Free Tools for Online Property Management

Whether you want more positive reviews, need to get paid faster by renters, or you want to turn your website into a machine that generates leads for you,  — Podium’s messaging tools have you covered, and did we mention that they’re free? Let’s check them out.

Reviews

With contact-free sales and businesses taking the lead in how we do business, now Podium’s platform enables you to make the ask for a review without ever having a face to face contact with your clients.

When you have more current reviews than other local competitors, your website will consistently be ranking in Google searches much higher than the competition. That puts you at the top of the shopping list, keeping you successful.

 Reviews begin to earn the trust of people before they’ve reached out to you, and when you use the other free tools that Podium offers, you’ll blow them away with service and added convenience of no-contact payment, convenience, and more.

 Not only will you be viewed and selected more often by being at the top of the list consistently, but you’ll also have the ability to see why people review you favorably. When they don’t review you positively, you’ve got an opportunity to fix it and show that you care.

 Expressing interest builds relationships that last and turn into long-term renters and property owners who feel good about being represented by you. 90% of people admit that they’ve made purchasing decisions based on the reviews they have read. Podium will help your reviews show up on platforms such as Google, Facebook and other review-specific sites where people are prone to find them.

Webchat

People on the go all prefer text messaging over emailing and speaking on the phone. Podium’s Webchat allows renters to contact you via text messaging instantly when there is a problem.

 Text messaging also allows you to stay in contact with property owners, maintenance crews, sales teams and more. It all happens in the same app. Since you aren’t tied to a live chat on a computer screen, you stay in touch even when you walk away, hop in the car and leave work. Your phone will let you know when you’ve got a message, and you can respond just as you would to any other text message.

Having contact information at your fingertips also makes it easy to close a deal and set a time to meet to show a house, even send documents. There is a customizable widget that will allow you to have a standard after-hours message if you don’t wish to respond to texts outside of office hours.

People are very familiar with using texting as a means of communication, now and they’ll feel comfortable communicating in this format. Once you’re turning web traffic into textable leads, you’ll need to manage your payments, which brings us to the next section.

Payments

You can use Podium to collect payments via no-contact text message. Simply send a link reminder that customers can click on and pay their rent. This prompt works to keep people on time. It’s fast, easy, and very convenient for your renters who are on the go.

 Save money by not sending out snail-mailed past-due notices or reminders that rent is due. Simply send text messages a few days before the rent is due and watch payments come in. People will respond to texting if they need payment arrangements, and you’ll not spend hours on the phone trying to hunt them down and collect.

The response to text requests for payment is very high and enables people to make a quick payment with a few clicks when using a saved payment method. The convenience prevents people from putting it off and forgetting it altogether.

Best of all, you only pay for a standard processing fee rate, and that’s all. You don’t have to pay any special set-up fees or payment costs. The money is deposited into accounts that you choose, including different accounts for different properties.

You can now show properties with no contact by giving a code to a lockbox with the key, answering questions via text message, and even sending a deposit request to seal the deal, making it so easy for people that it’s as simple as a ‘yes’ and a few clicks. Use your Podium Inbox tool to send them all the necessary documents.

Inbox

Podium Inbox tool is incredible. It allows you to consolidate all of your interactions into one place to ensure you’re not all over the place, literally and figuratively.

Work requests and the ensuing conversations with contractors are right at your fingertips, along with the requests for showings, the paperwork you need to complete on a lease, and interactions with property owners.

Connect with your customers on their favorite channels. Your Facebook, Google, and Instagram conversations are all in one place, even the chat from your website. It makes it easy to find anything you need without searching through multiple accounts. It’s almost foolproof and certainly helps those of us who are challenged when it comes to organizational skills.

How many times have you remembered a name but forgotten the conversation you had with them? Inbox allows you to find that interaction under their name and go back over the entire conversation that you’ve already had, including promises made, requests made, and more.

In cases where you need a legal record, you’ve got a printable transcript of your entire conversation with someone, including contractors that you may have to remind about something that was agreed upon. It happens. With your interactions all at your fingertips, you can look up anything and refresh your memory before calling someone if you need to.

Podium is the online property manager’s favorite tool that you use all of the time. It’s your personal assistance, in every way that is most important to you and when you sign up for Podium, you’ll find that there many other ways that it can help you beyond what’s mentioned here. Once you start using and get used to it, you’ll wonder how you’ve survived without it.

The solution. 

Your life is busy, and being successful shouldn’t mean that you never get to leave the office. Podium has created a tool that genuinely allows you to work from anywhere. It’s a one-stop, all-inclusive app that handles billing, scheduling appointments, closing deals, collecting money, and sending paperwork.

It’s got your back, no matter what. You need to keep your job organized, and Podium will help build those reviews that you’ve been needing and wanting to help your business thrive in a challenging market.

People are staying home and social distancing currently, and you’ll find that you won’t miss a beat with these free tools. Send payment requests for rent and get paid faster than you were without this tool. Make your company more profitable, your renters’ lives easier, and your property owners will be thrilled with the regular monthly income.

Read 10 property management blogs for pro managers.

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