Property Management Software

Jacksonville is the city of fun and sun. Where the average household income is $40,316 it is also the most affordable place to live in Florida. Next to Gainseville, Florida, Jacksonville boasts the highest population per acre. Nearly 800,000 residents call Jacksonville home.

Owning property in Jacksonville is something more and more people are doing because Jacksonville doubles as a tourist city, deeply entrenched in history and it is also a popular place to live due to their economic boom and no bust. It is not merely fueled by the Jacksonville Jaguars or any other professional team. It is fueled by businesses deciding to move into Jacksonville and giving back into the city.

As the business comes in, so too does the fact that people must live somewhere and it is often too late for someone to go through a full 30-day closing period. They are then forced to rent an apartment or rent a house.

Rental property is often difficult to maintain, but it is necessary. Owners do not have the time to do so and they also have no time in showing the house for rental purposes. That is all done by Jacksonville property management companies. They are schooled in preparing a home, knowing the housing market and adjusting the rates to compete with the market. It is a money maker, all by being passive.

Taking advantage of property management companies is a smart way to run your investment. Jacksonville is not getting any smaller and the homes are continually being vacated because of the departure rate, but on the flip side of that, there are plenty of people who are flocking like there’s not tomorrow.



By: Stephanie G Johnson

OK, My family is in the real-estate business, We own multiple properties in different locations (only about 15 miles apart) consisting of about 35 housing units and about 12 business units. I have learned a-lot from my family about renting apartments and they have learned a-little bit from me. I am now confident I could run these Properties properly, but they want me to get some sort of Business Management degree before I get more involved. (involved meaning INHERITANCE) so what type of education should I get, and what are some good schools that offer online programs?

When you research you find many things questionable and scary like this courtesy of the Freedom of Information Act –

SUBJECT: Executive Orders

APPLICABLE EXECUTIVE ORDERS

The following Executive Orders, now recorded in the Federal Register and therefore accepted by Congress as the law of the land , can be put into effect at any time an emergency is declared:

10995–All communications media seized by the Federal Government.

10997 – Seizure of all electrical power, fuels, including gasoline and minerals.

10998 -Seizure of all food resources, farms and farm equipment.

10999 -Seizure of all kinds of transportation, including your personal car, and control of all highways and seaports.

11000 – Seizure of all civilians for work under Federal supervision.

11001 – Federal takeover of all health, education and welfare.

11002 – Postmaster General empowered to register every man, woman and child in the U.S.A.

11003 – Seizure of all aircraft and airports by the Federal Government.

11004 – Housing and Finance authority may shift population from one locality to another. Complete integration.

11005 – Seizure of railroads, inland waterways and storage facilities.

11051 – The Director of the Office of Emergency Planning authorized to put Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tension or financial crisis. He is also to perform such additional functions as the President may direct.

Stated simply : the dictatorial power of the Executive rests primarily on three basis : Executive Order 11490 , Executive Order 11647 and the Planning , Programming , Budgeting System which is operated through the Office of Management and Budget .

E. O. 11490 is a compilation of some 23 previous Executive Orders , signed by Nixon on Oct. 28, 1969 and outlining emergency functions which are to be performed by some 28 Executive Departments and Agencies whenever the President of the United States declares a national emergency { as in defiance of an impeachment edict, for example } . Under the terms of E. O. 11490 , the President can declare that a national emergency exists and the Executive Branch can :

Take over all communications media

Seize all sources of power

Take charge of all food resources

Control all highways and seaports

Seize all railroads, inland waterways, airports, storage facilities

Commandeer all civilians to work under federal supervision

Control all activities relating to health, education, and welfare

Shift any segment of the population from one locality to another ,Take over farms, ranches, timberized properties

Regulate the amount of your own money you may withdraw from your bank or savings and loan institution

All of these and many more items are listed in 32 pages incorporating nearly 200,000 words providing an absolute bureaucratic dictatorship whenever the President gives the word.

Executive Order 11647 provides the regional and local mechanisms and manpower for carrying out the provisions of E. O. 11490 . Signed by Richard Nixon on Feb. 10, 1972, this Order sets up Ten Federal Regional Councils to govern Ten Federal Regions made up of the fifty still existing States of the Union .

Any comments ?

Choosing a strong and diverse evaluation team to help choose the best tools to run your hotel is also the first step to having buy-in from your hotel team. It is important to have everyone on-board when a new property management system is selected for your Hotel, Resort or Inn. Everyone involved in your organization from the owner, hotel management company and senior management to the front desk, reservations, sales and housekeeping department needs to be invested and committed to the project.

Prior to beginning the evaluation process, it is important to designate a project manager that will be accountable and see the project through from start to finish. The purchase of the property management system will signal that the the evaluation process has officially ended.

The Project Manager is the first person to be selected. This selection may already be determined and possibly a consultant has been hired for the job, a manager at head office, a manager at the hotel, someone in operations or someone in the information technology department.

At this time it is important begin to think about the next project, this will be the property management system training and implementation which is likely to occur several months to a year after the evaluation process begins. This time line depends on how complex your business needs are and how much time can be dedicated to the evaluation and purchase process not to mention the schedule of the property management system vendor.

Evaluation team members may consist of operational managers that may use functionality that is geared to their management role as well as front line staff that would use the property management software on a daily basis and for the majority of their day. Staff in various positions such as Front Desk Clerk, Reservations Clerk, Housekeeping Managers or Supervisors, Sales Staff, Accounting Staff, Concierge Staff and staff in the Information Technology Department would be able to offer different perspectives. Consider representatives from these departments to be included in the evaluation process. Their experience with past systems as well as their department processes and their insight into what functionality they need to best serve the hotel guests will be very valuable when building your requirements list.

The Project Manager should set expectations and objectives of what is to be accomplished during the evaluation process and provide this information in writing to the team. Setting expectations and objectives will help to keep the evaluation process on track. The team needs to understand that although comments and suggestions are appreciated and necessary, not everyone’s wants will be fulfilled. The goal is to choose the best system to meet your specific business needs while providing the best overall tool for all departments and the business as a whole. There will be some areas and functionality that will require compromise. Sorting out items that are needs as opposed to those that are wants is essential during this process. Items that are determined to be needs should be qualified as such.

Now it’s time to start building your team!

Jeff Sefton



By: Jeff Sefton

Collecting unpaid rent is part of the property management process. The trick is to not let the situation get out of hand, says Massachusetts’s collections attorney Phil A. Taylor. The first month a tenant falls behind in the rent, you need to take action.

While it’s important to respond quickly, Phil says you want to avoid face-to-face contact because it could lead to confrontation. The better alternative is to send a letter to the tenant, and because it’s not one of the legal forms in your library, it doesn’t have to be sent certified mail. Any letter that has the correct address and postage is considered received once it is mailed. The body of the letter should instruct the tenant to call you so that the matter can be resolved.

If the tenant offers you a partial payment, Phil recommends that you accept it. However, it is important that you give the tenant a receipt that clearly states that what you received is only a partial payment, and that you still have the legal right to collect the rest of the unpaid rent.

You may also feel that effective property management techniques require you to investigate how serious your tenant’s financial crisis is. That means checking to see if they’re still employed, and how much other debt they’re carrying. Phil says that if your original rental agreement doesn’t prevent you from calling the employer listed, you can do so to see your tenant is still working for the company.

Also, as long as you maintain a debtor-creditor relationship with your tenant, the Fair Credit Reporting Act allows you can to get a copy of the tenant’s credit report. Legal forms like your rental application usually have a release allowing this.

Although you can get this information, Phil says it really won’t do you much good. Even if the tenant is unemployed and is carrying a huge debt, if they pay the rent they can’t be evicted. The only value that information might have in terms of property management is if you use it to decide how much leeway you are willing to give them.

The real problems start when you’ve put off collecting back rent and the tenant is still in the apartment. Your only choice is to start eviction.

You begin by sending your tenant a Notice To Quit, which IS one of the legal forms in your library you have to use specifically. The letter tells your tenant how much time they have to pay the back rent, typically 3 to 14 days according to state law. If the tenant pays, they can stay, but if they don’t, they must vacate.

Should your tenant leave still owing you back money, you’re going to have to collect the debt some other way.

The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA), which protects consumers from abuse from debt collectors, says that a landlord acting on their own behalf isn’t subject to the provisions of the law because they aren’t considered a debt collector. However, even though you aren’t subject to the law, you can’t engage in any of the abusive practices the law prohibits.

Employees of property management companies aren’t considered debt collectors under the FDCPA either because the rental payments aren’t owed to another individual or entity. But if at any time during the collection process the landlord/property manager mentions any name other than their own, that means that a third person is collecting the debt, and the landlord/property manager becomes a debt collector subject to the FDCPA.

If you can’t collect on your own, you will probably have to sue for the amount owed under breech of contract. An attorney familiar with your state’s collection laws and the necessary legal forms required to sue should be contacted.



By: Maria Esposito