No matter what industry you are in, one of the secrets to running a profitable small business (i.e. real estate agency) is to have efficient systems and processes.   By standardising the way you do things, you can allow your business to run without you and free up the time of your staff.   Along with the importance of systems is the need for time-saving tools. Combine the right management software with the correct systems and you will reduce dozens of the pain points which can slow down your business. 

When you own a real estate agency, your rent roll makes up a huge part of the value. You put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into building it up and maintaining it.   Despite all the hard work which goes into building a rent roll, one of the threats it faces is from the people who come into contact with it every day. An example I came to hear about involved a disgruntled property manager defecting to the competition after a rent roll changed hands. Once they had established themselves at the new business, they began ringing landlords and convincing them to jump ship. 

When you think of artificial intelligence you may picture robots and self driving cars. The reality is this technology is already all around us.   Your bank, your voice assistant (Siri, Google, Alexa) and even your flight bookings are already managed through AI. Big data systems gather information each time you interact with them, relying on your purchasing habits and your requests and those of others to predict what your next move will be.   Every industry is set to be disrupted by artificial intelligence, including real estate. 

What if landlords and tenants were able to rate each other?   In this new world of the sharing economy, leaving a rating is common. We do it for our Uber drivers and for our AIRbnb hosts. We leave reviews when we go out to eat, when we receive exceptional service or when we buy a shonky product.   Rent sites like DontRentMe and Bad Landlord call out property owners who do constant drivebys or have unrealistic expectations. Reviews share horror stories of apartments “not fit for human habitation” and of “water pouring in through windows”.