On paper, owning and managing a rental property can seem like an easy path to profit. But time is money, and there are plenty of headaches, mistakes, and inefficiencies in property management that can turn your real estate dreams into a time-draining nightmare before you know it.

Here are some proven methods for avoiding these property management pitfalls altogether, brought to you by the first free rental platform UpTop.

Reduce tenant turnover by staying in contact with your renters on a regular basis. Losing a tenant can be frustrating, and replacing them is often time-consuming and expensive, so keeping your tenants happy and satisfied is your best defense against vacancies. To help strengthen your relationship with your tenants, keep them informed about upcoming inspections, maintenance, renovations, rent increases, and other decisions that could affect their living situation or their peace of mind.

By establishing this respectful communication channel, you can also encourage your tenants to let you know if they plan to move out before their lease ends. This will help you list upcoming vacancies well beforehand, so you can avoid a dissatisfied tenant leaving you with no warning and getting stuck with an empty unit for months on end.Streamline the listing process with two must-have media folders.

Renters want to see compelling descriptions and clear photos of the spaces they’re considering. To save time when you’re listing and leasing, keep a database of professional photos and well-written descriptions for each of your units. That way, whenever one becomes vacant, you won’t need to spend time and money photographing and describing it from scratch; you can just use the same great content that helped that unit get rented before.

Inspections are your secret weapon. When visiting your properties for their inspections, identify any minor issues you can fix affordably before they become expensive problems later. Every little problem you can catch while it’s still a quick fix will save you  the time, hassle, and headache of a lengthy repair project if it really breaks — or, worse, from having a damaged unit that you’ll have trouble renting as a result.  

Automate the repair ticket process. If something does break in one of your units, providing reliable customer service and a timely repair can be the difference between keeping and losing that tenant when their lease is up for renewal. To make this process easier for everyone, use a maintenance reporting system that automatically alerts your preferred plumber, electrician, or other maintenance vendor whenever a tenant reports a relevant issue.

Not only will that automation save you from a flurry of calls, texts, or visits to get to the root of the problem, but it will also alert the right repair person to address the issue as soon as possible. This speedy solution will help reduce your tenant’s stress and minimize any collateral damage along the way.  

Standardize your applications, leases, and accounting for all properties from the same platform. Trying to integrate multiple services that each specialize in a different function is a recipe for version confusion, data loss, redundant records, and compatibility flaws, especially if multiple agents are inputting information into disconnected databases. Instead, use one platform that lets you list properties, create leases, manage applications, collect payments, and produce financial statements all from the same dashboard — like UpTop.

ABOUT UPTOP UpTop is the world’s first free end-to-end rental platform. It combines a rental listing service and syndication  with a robust property management platform to streamline the way renters and owners and property managers work together, across any device, for the entirety of the renting lifecycle. Learn more at https://liveuptop.com/