Managing one or more rental properties is a massive job. You’ll likely need help navigating maintenance, showings, tenant communication, rent, and more.
The people you hire can either be your employees or independent contractors. Employees work directly under you and require you to comply with legal obligations, while independent contractors are hired for specific tasks. Instead of compensating them through payroll, you must provide them with 1099s.
One benefit of hiring employees is that you can add them as users on your rent manager software. Several software platforms offer multi-user management, a feature that allows multiple users to access different tools on the platform.
Adding your employees as software users streamlines your management infrastructure and helps you complete tasks faster.
Here are a few people you might hire in your rental business and how to integrate them with your property management software.
Resident Manager
A resident manager is an employee you hire for day-to-day management tasks: tenant issues, maintenance tickets, etc. They work to keep your business running smoothly by handling the tenant side, although you can give them as many responsibilities as you wish.
There are many reasons why you might hire a resident manager. For instance, you may have many properties or limited time to manage them. Maybe you have a day job and aren’t available during business hours.
It’s easy to add a resident manager as a secondary user on your property management software. Depending on their responsibilities, you can give them access to the features they need and monitor progress and communication yourself if desired.
Accountant/Tax Expert
Not all rental property owners have the skillset or experience to manage their rental finances.
What’s more, rental property taxes are some of the most complex there are. Tax preparation software might help, but nothing replaces a tax expert who can explain and justify their tax advice.
An accountant can analyze rent metrics, pull your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), or manage basic ledger accounting for your business. A tax expert knows how to qualify for the best deductions and handle complex tax situations such as like-kind exchanges and depreciation recapture.
Accountants can also be added as users of your software. If your platform offers multi-user management, you can give your accountant access to the financial features, including rent payments, invoices, and expense tracking.
Your accountant can also use financial reporting tools to create Profit/Loss reports and other summaries for you to view and analyze.
Maintenance Staff
An on-site maintenance team is a huge asset to your rental business.
Although you’ll need outside contractors for major projects and improvements, your maintenance staff can handle many everyday repairs and tenant concerns. These might include faucet leaks, bathroom caulk and grout, minor pest problems, plumbing issues, and electric or HVAC problems.
Hiring maintenance staff as your employees is also beneficial for your tenants. If a tenant calls in with an urgent problem during the night, they won’t have to wait as long for help to arrive. Your maintenance staff should be close by and ready to assist.
On your software tool, add maintenance staff as users of the maintenance management feature. They’ll be able to view and respond to tickets while you track their progress and follow up with your tenants once the job is done.
Independent Contractors
Independent contractors and vendors also have their place in every rental business. Your employees can’t handle every situation, nor are they trained to manage specialized renovations or installations.
You might also hire a property management company instead of a resident manager. In this case, your property manager is an independent contractor hired to manage day-to-day tasks. You might choose this route if you don’t live near your rental properties and need the local expertise of a property management company in the area.
Independent contractors aren’t your employees, but that doesn’t mean you can’t track their work with your software tool. Many platforms offer expense tracking features to monitor your invoices from vendors or autogenerate 1099 forms for them.
Hiring Help in Your Rental Business
Employees and independent contractors offer great value to your rental business. Even if you manage your properties by yourself, it’s unrealistic to think that you’ll never need help. Hiring help also makes financial sense—you’ll be sure to get repairs and tax filing done right, and you can usually deduct any employee compensation from your income.
By integrating your employees with your property management software, you can monitor your progress and integrate experts to maintain your business.
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