I’ve spoken before of the purpose of this blog: To help Landlords optimise the financial performance of their properties. I liken this to growing a healthy tree which produces tasty fruit for you to enjoy.
But what I don’t want is for Landlords to spend all their day watching or tending to the tree. You wouldn’t have time to enjoy eating the fruit which defeats the purpose of growing it in the first place.
So how do we avoid that happening? We implement processes which allow the tree to continue growing healthily on its own – without us watching it 24/7.
Let’s touch on one of these today. Here’s the good news: Processes don’t have to be complicated or require expertise to implement. In fact, the best ones are usually the simplest. Here comes today’s process tip (more blogs posts to come on others):
Store contacts efficiently:
How many times have you tried to remember the phone number of a handyman? Or the email address of the solicitor you used 4 years ago? Or the name of your estate agent who deals with the finances?
It used to happen to me a lot. And each time it was annoying, stressful, time consuming and inefficient trying to go through old emails, documents or my memory to locate the contact details. No wonder I don’t have much hair.
I agree, it’s annoying. How can I fix it?
How about if you have all your property contacts categorised and listed in one place? Imagine that, any time you need to remember / contact someone, you can go to that same place and find the phone number, email, address and even website for them immediately.
Life would be easier right?
That does sound good. What Application or system should I get?
Here’s the best bit. You don’t need a fancy App, website or system to do this (although there are ones which exist if you really feel it’s needed). Instead you could use:
– The notes section of your phone/laptop
– Your phone contacts and sync this with laptop / other devices (this is what I do)
– Maintain a contacts document (excel spreadsheet?)
– Use social media (Facebook?, Google?)
– You can even hand write them down. Old school! But if that works for you then go for it.
There’s lots of other ways you can do this. You don’t need training or specialist skills for any of these. Just a few hours for the initial setup and then ensure you a) keep a backup, and b) use consistently and maintain the list going forward.
Go premium – want to take it one step further like a pro?
– Why not add speed dial functionality for your key contacts. 1. calls the tenant, 2. calls the estate agent etc
– Add key references to contacts. No point having the number of the electric company if you don’t have their reference stored in the same place. Same for insurance, mortgage references.
– If you have multiple properties, categorise contacts according to property.
So what do I do next?
So if you are not already doing this, my advice is to think about a contacts storing process that would work best for you, schedule in a few hours to set this up and then give yourself a pat on the back. At the bare minimum, just promise me one thing….any time you find yourself cursing that you can’t find something property related, ask yourself: How can I avoid this happening next time?
The result of doing it?
Without spending a penny, you have improved the financial performance of your property. How? Well you won’t have to waste time searching for contacts, so you’ll have more time to work on the strategy / optimisation part of running the property. Or you can just relax and enjoy your extra free time.
Happy fruit eating!
P.S. Im always hunting down new and improved ways for making my properties more efficient. If you have a good way of managing your contacts which I’ve not mentioned above, please let me know in the comment section below…
P.P.S Its only fair to share my Contacts Process. Enjoy!
– Contacts are all stored in my iPhone contacts App. This will include number, email and company name. This is backed up to my laptop.
– I categorise these by including a property short name in the contact title (i.e. MHead = Maidenhead flat) This allows me to search MHead and all my Maidenhead contacts pop up.
– References / documents are NOT saved in same place (embarrassed face emoji) – I have a separate excel spreadsheet which lists all my references – its on my list to merge the two – I promise!
My contacts for each property include (in no particular order):
– Tenants
– Mortgage provider
– Plumber
– Handyman
– Electrician
– Solicitor who I used to purchase property
– Estate agent (usually numerous contacts for maintenance, lettings, finance)
– Freeholder
– Managing agent (service charge provider)
– Concierge
– Council tax provider
– Electricity supplier
– Water provider
– Gas provider