Stow rental properties keep investment property owners busy most of the year; however, you may end up a bit less busy during the rental market’s slow season. While it may seem appealing to put everything on autopilot for a moment, it may not be the best use of your time. The slow season offers an opportunity to address a few important but often overlooked tasks. By utilizing your slow season wisely, you can be better prepared for the busy periods and optimize the potential of your investment property.
Develop a Marketing Plan
If you don’t already have a superb marketing strategy, the slow season is great for establishing one. With effective marketing, you can swiftly attract great tenants and keep your rental property occupied year-round. At a minimum, your marketing strategy should provide things like an excellent newspaper or classified ad for each property you own, know all the best places to post your ad online, and how to manage social media to attract applicants. With your marketing prepared and ready to go, it’s one less thing you’ll have to be concerned about when things get busy.
Ask for Online Reviews
Along with effective marketing, having a positive online presence is essential. In today’s digital world, prospective renters will investigate to check what past tenants have said about you and your rental home. You can ensure that what they discover is positive by asking your tenants to leave you reviews online. Through platforms like Google, Yelp, and social media, you can request tenants to leave feedback. Make it straightforward for them by sending them a link, and don’t let the fear of a bad review stop you. People who rely on reviews understand that one or two harsh reviews exist and don’t allow it to alter their final decision.
Re-Work Your Budget
If it has been a while since you updated your operating budget, the slow season is an excellent time to do so. The rental market, just like your rental properties and tenants, is perpetually evolving, and your budget should be updated regularly to reflect recent changes. To begin, you could go through your expense items and update any out-of-date numbers. Then, analyze items like your vacancy rate and capital improvements, amending the numbers when needed. Having an accurate budget can help you make more comfortable decisions about your rental properties throughout the year.
Get Your Paperwork In Shape
The slow season is also an excellent time to get your paperwork in order – particularly if you’ve been postponing a few tasks, like gathering together the invoices for replacements or upgrades to the property, tax records, reconciling accounts, or auditing your books. It can be frustrating to keep up with smaller tasks like monthly bookkeeping and bank reconciliations when your schedule is jam-packed. And then there are the important annual tasks, like tax document preparation and auditing. Using the slow season to complete these things can help you streamline your schedule and keep your attention where it needs to be.
Plan Your Next Investment
In the end, when things are a bit slow, it is a great opportunity to evaluate your investment strategy and make arrangements to expand to your portfolio of rental homes. Irrespective of whether you intend to hold and rent a single property for future use or to build a large, lucrative portfolio, taking advantage of the slow season to make plans is an excellent use of your time. After that, when things start to happen again, you will be able to easily carry out the subsequent activities.
If you feel that your busy schedule is causing you to overlook these and other tasks, it may be a good idea to hire professional property managers to help. At Real Property Management Valor Team, we undertake the majority of the day-to-day work of owning rental properties for you, freeing up your time for more vital duties. To learn more about the range of services we offer, contact us online.
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