Time is money and there's never enough time in the day. It’s
a familiar story for anyone who's self-employed. And it's certainly true for
landlords. Especially those who have a portfolio of properties.
To the layman there's not much to being a landlord. You buy
a property and find a tenant. Then you sit back and wait for the rent money to
hit your bank account every month. You and every other private landlord will
wish it was as easy as that. But you know there are 1001 things to keep you
busy. Time management is as important to you as it is to a 9 to 5 office worker.
As a busy landlord you need to take control of your time.
Spend it productively. You need to find that perfect work/life balance we all
strive for. Here are our top 5 time
management tips to help you reach that lofty goal.
Value your time
It seems strange to put this as the top tip. But placing a
value on your time means you're far less likely to waste it. What's an hour
worth to you? Not only financially but in quality of life terms. Your time is
valuable. Make the most of it by accomplishing the important tasks in your
business but make sure you save enough of it to enjoy life outside of work.
Make a list
Personally, I'm a big believer in making lists. I make one
for everything. From work tasks to shopping lists to planning a trip. Making a
list is a simple but effective way of managing your time. It's especially
powerful when you’re setting yourself daily goals. You can add an extra
dimension to your list by allocating periods of time to accomplish each task.
This is a great way of ensuring you aren't spending too long on the unimportant
things. Speaking of which.
Set your priorities
You can't do everything at once. No matter how talented at
multitasking you are. You need to prioritise your tasks. We're all guilty of
putting off certain jobs and tackling the easy routine ones first. But
sometimes you can't do that. Don't procrastinate. Get the important things done
first.
For example, don't waste time surfing online looking for a
new appliance when your tenant has rung to report a flood. Your priority is to
sort out the flood and protect your property investment.
Don't take on too much
As we mentioned earlier there are only a certain number of
hours in a day. No matter that we often wish there are more. But don't drive
yourself mad by trying to squeeze too much into your working day. Try
scheduling tasks over a couple of hours a day over a few days instead of trying
to do everything at once. This gives you more time to do a good job without
breaking your neck to meet self-imposed but impossible deadlines.
Delegate and outsource
Be smart with your time. It's often faster and works out
cheaper to pay a professional to carry out work instead of doing it yourself. A
plumber isn't cheap but a tradesman will sort out a flooded bathroom faster and
with less fuss than you could do on your own.
But don't just think about delegating repair and maintenance
tasks. Bookkeeping and accounting is something you can spend many hours over.
Turning the paperwork over to an accountant will save you so much time. It'll
also probably save you money in the long run too as an accountant will be able
to take advantage of tax
breaks you never knew existed.
The ultimate time management tip for landlords
As a private landlord you've got your hands full. There are
so many things you need to do to ensure your property business runs smoothly.
Your everyday tasks may include:
·
Collecting rent.
·
Dealing with tenants’ repairs.
·
Conducting viewings.
·
Preparing inventories.
·
Arranging the Gas safety Certificate.
·
Property inspections.
That list could go on and on. But as we talked about earlier
you can outsource all those jobs. But instead of arranging individual
contractors to help you with the day to day routine of running your business
consider enlisting the help of your online letting agent. MakeUrMove provide a
full property management service which enables you to take a more hands-off
approach to running your business. You can learn more
here. It's the ultimate time saver for private landlords.
Private landlords can find tenants fast by listing their property
with MakeUrMove the online letting platform bringing landlords and tenants
together.
