What Other Property Management Jobs Can be Outsourced?

Brick-and-mortar businesses have been struggling, “mom and pops” shops have been closing, but there are businesses that have flourished despite the pandemic. And there’s one thing these businesses have in common: They support stay-at-home or working remotely. In other words, these businesses have delved into the idea of outsourcing virtual employees.

Business owners, especially those in the Property Management industry, have become smarter by the day to adapt to the new normal. The pandemic knocked the world off its axis and people are forced to adapt to changes drastically to survive. And with that, Real Estate businesses have recognised outsourcing property management assistants offshore as the new normal and the new way to upscale their property management business.

Most Real Estate businesses have been reaping their harvest by being open to new possibilities, and this is why outsourcing property management assistants offshore saved their property management business from hitting its lowest low regardless of the size of the company and the current situation of the economy.

What More Can Outsourced Property Management Assistants Offer?

Outsourced property management assistants made it possible for real estate business owners to get free access to the best talents across the globe due to its fewer geographical restrictions. Moreover, it provides better options at comparatively lower costs than hiring a local property management assistant. Since property management virtual assistants have taken most of the non-dollar productive tasks, property managers have freed up their time to focus on the core operations, creating more opportunities to upscale the business and allowing them to nurture their relationships more with each of their clients.

A typical property manager’s workload has shown that the administrative tasks related to property management take up 60% of their tasks. More often than not, it takes up their weekend as well, depriving property managers of a work-life balanced lifestyle.

Aside from virtual assistants having a relatively lower salary compared to that of in-house property management assistants, outsourcing property management assistants also helps in reducing operational costs such as expenses for office space, maintenance costs, and additional taxes to name a few.

Learn more about Why Do Businesses Outsource Property Management OffShore?

With pertinent information being shared across with property management assistants offshore, it’s not far-fetched from reality that there could be a risk to data privacy.

At the end of this article, you will understand the ins and outs of outsourcing property management assistants offshore and the tasks that can be outsourced without compromising data protection.

#1: How Outsourcing Property Management Works

In essence, an outsourced property management assistant is a virtual employee that performs much of the same work as an in-house property management assistant does. The tasks are mostly non-dollar productive tasks or administrative tasks that are related to property management.

Fortunately, outsourcing a property management assistant has now been at your fingertips, letting property management owners and property managers alike see the opportunities upon opening to new possibilities in offshore staffing solutions. You’d be surprised to know how outsourcing property management assistants work.

#1.1: Choose to Outsource Property Management Assistant

Once you’ve decided to trust your choice of outsourcing staffing solutions like the Purple Powered VA, you will be provided with a service agreement to appoint Purple Powered VA as your offshore staffing solution partner

Learn more about What Sort of Support Will You Get from Purple Powered VA

#1.2: Screen and select your own property management virtual assistant

Competent candidates will then be presented to you according to your property management business needs. Purple Powered VA is not your typical cookie-cutter solution. You will be presented with Virtual Assistants of three different levels: 1. Entry, 2. Mid, and 3. High. These levels reflect a certain property management assistant’s experience and expertise, High-level VAs have previous real estate or property management experience of at least two (2) years, and Entry-level VAs are the green ones in the industry, however, will be underpinned with great systems and ireviloution’s practical management training, or also known as PMA (Property Management Academy) training.

The Property Management Academy (PMA) training is a practical property management training that can empower your real estate business and career. The PMA training will help you advance in your career, whether you are new in the business or have been working in the property management industry. In this training, you will be able to hone your skills and knowledge by learning ‘how’ to be a property manager, letting you ditch the old ways that don’t help you or could be doing wrong.

This training is also notable in offering the world’s first online property management training that teaches the ‘practical side of property management’ and is available 24/7.

You may also want to read: Is my Purple Powered VA going to be trained in Property Management?

#1.3: Your chosen property management virtual assistant will start working for you.

The selected real estate virtual assistant will then start working for your property management business on a schedule that suits your time zone and hours of operation. Internal training can be administered for additional tasks that need to be outsourced, provided that it is an administrative task relating to property management.

To learn more about outsourcing property management assistants, book a free demo here. 

#2: How to Guarantee Confidentiality or Data Protection

Being an Outsourced Property Management Virtual Assistant would mean dealing with data and information that are sensitive more often than not. These administrative tasks, non-dollar productive as they may seem, would still be needing data protection. Suffice it to say that data protection should be in your VA’s and the company’s best interest.

Some of the best practices for data protection are as follows:

#2.1: Installation of Antivirus, Anti-malware, and Anti-Ransom Software

Malware and viruses can corrupt, delete, and steal your files. Ransomware, on the other hand, disables your access to your computer, or the specific file it targets. Investing in software that would fit your requirements will prevent sensitive and pertinent information from being mishandled or distributed in the wrong hands

#2.2: Establish a data breach protocol for the business

It is best to establish a data breach protocol should there be a mishandling of information. While our VAs would always put data protection in the best of their interest, having a breach protocol in place will help in estimating damage control should the unspeakable happen. Property management virtual assistants are able to address the mishap systematically to avoid further damage. The initial solution is for the property management virtual assistant to stop the data breach and then the VA should inform the client and the management.

#2.3: Cloud-based services

Being an outsourced property management assistant offshore would require cloud-based services, needless to say. Implementing a paperless business operation would also lessen the risk of missing physical files or leaking sensitive information when unattended.

These are just but a few of the best practices when it comes to data protection. But the bottom line is, one of the critical things in the optimal running of your business is building trust between you and your property management virtual assistant in the same manner as you build your trust with your in-house employees. Once trust has been established, you can guarantee confidentiality.

#3: Property Management Tasks that Can be Outsourced

Many are the tasks a property manager can allocate to a property management virtual assistant. This means more work can be done in less time, avoiding overshadowing important tasks when the schedule is hectic. In such ways, property management VAs come in handy as they will give you the support you need in all things property management which, in essence, are administrative tasks in general. But there are certain tasks that shouldn’t be delegated to a property management virtual assistant, regardless if they are equipped with first-class property management training that can help your real estate business perform at its peak.

Here are the property management tasks that are best to delegate to your real estate virtual assistant, but are not limited to:

1. Arranging and documenting inspections and condition reports
2. Writing and placing property ads
3. New management including preparing the management contract and sending letters to mention a few.
4. Processing prospective tenant applications or new tenancies
5. Scheduling property viewings
6. Liaising with landlords, tenants, applicants, and trades
7. Database management and communications
8. Assisting with general enquiries
9. Managing repairs and maintenance work and contractors or property in-residence inspections
10. Ensuring tenancy documentation is up to date
11. Managing tenancy renewals
12. Processing new applications including reference checks
13. Processing and sending breach notices and termination notices, including early terminations
14. Actioning rent reviews.
15. Water invoices
16. Vacating tenants
17. Insurance claims

Internal training can always be administered to tailor-fit your business’ requirements and help your business upscale as it performs at its peak.

You may also want to check What tasks can I allocate to a Purple Powered VA?

#4: How to Effectively Monitor Outsourced Property Management Assistants?

Many companies who have tried outsourcing property management assistants miserably failed to build a client-VA relationship simply because they overlooked the following best practices. They thought that outsourcing is not for them, but these important elements just needed to be imbibed or implemented. These tidbits of wisdom will prevent you from making mistakes in outsourcing property management assistants:

#4.1: Your property management virtual assistants are human beings who have feelings

How easy it is to get upset when something isn’t done right that we forget we are talking to a living, breathing human? Your VAs have feelings and it’s important to have an emotional bond with them. This can be done by showing interest in their personal lives and by touching base with them at least once a week to review current objectives to avoid any disconnection. Remember: They don’t care how much you know unless they know how much you care.

#4.2: They are not entrepreneurs

Many entrepreneurs would hire a team of VAs and expect them to know what to do right off the bat. This is doomed for entrapment and unless you refrain from committing the same mistake over and over, you will not be able to create and manage an effective team. Each VA requires a hands-on training process regardless of the type of business you have.

#4.3: Hire one VA at a time

Sure, once you’ve learned about outsourcing and its benefits, you’d be excited to imagine the possibilities and might get as many VAs as you think you’d need.  However, you’ll end up letting go of most of them. Just like the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is your team. Hire one VA first and train your VA about your company’s processes. Create SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) so your VAs don’t get derailed on their tasks. Ireviloution has developed the world’s leading-edge SOPs, and it has been a game-changer in the property management industry ever since. If you think you’re ready to outsource your very own property management assistant, book a free demo and know how you and your chosen VA can make it work.