Archive for November, 2009

Social Networking and Property Management

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

With the introduction of social networking services like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, the way we communicate with people has changed again.  It reminds me of when mobile phones came out.  At first, only a few people had them, mostly business people.  When away from the office or home, most of us would only make a call when it was urgent, and then we had to find a pay phone.  I can remember standing in the rain to make a call to my office while on the road (remember using the ‘calling’ card?).  Now, everyone has one, and we use them whenever we want, wherever we are.   Many young kids today have never used a real pay phone.  When I first heard of Facebook, I thought it would only be used by teenagers (like My Space was).  Who would ever want to put personal information in place where everyone could see it?  Well I was wrong.  Virtually everyone I know has a Facebook account today.  My wife has re-established relationships with people we went to college with.

What does this have to with the property management industry?  Just like the mobile phone, social networking has become part of how businesses communicate today.  I was at a business meeting last week, and a person I had never met came up to me and said, ‘I am a social networking consultant and I would like to talk to you about how I can help you with your company’s social networking plans’.  I must admit, I was stunned.  If there are consultants earning money helping companies learn how to use social networking services, then it has become common practice.

I am a member of the Property Management Professionals group at www.linkedin.com and found this article posted last week:  Social Networking Strategies That Work.  Just like having a web site today is standard for all businesses, having a presence on social networking services will be the standard in the near future.  The key will be learning how to use it effectively.   I am practicing what I write about, and have started our presence on Facebook and Twitter.  Check out our Facebook page at DIY Facebook Page and our Twitter account at DIY Real Estate.  We welcome you as a fan on our Facebook page and being a follower on our Twitter page.  So whether you are a property management services company or a web based property management software company, social networking will be required.    SHFUZPAFHER7 4VGQ8KFJJ528

Rob Crichlow
DIY Real Estate Solutions

Posted in Real Estate Internet Trends | 3 Comments »

Reflections on NARPM 2009 Convention

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

I attended NARPM (National Association of Residential Property Managers) in Orlando last month and found it a great experience. Everyone that I talked to was friendly and very engaging. If you are in the property management industry, and have not checked the organization out, I recommend you do (http://www.narpm.org).

There is quite a positive vibration going on in the property management arena. And it is clear they are interested in staying on top of where technology is going and how it can benefit them. With an environment of growth and additional work loads, everyone was searching for ways to improve how they did things. Some people were attempting to use older software systems and using complicated interfaces to hold them together. It was very refreshing to see how much interest there was in online property management software. Essentially everyone I talked to was looking to move to the web so that they could gain the ability to have full access to the power of the internet and how it could help them advertize properties, give prospects easy methods of inquiring about the property, allow prospects to fill out online applications, and provide ways for residents to pay rent online.

It is interesting how, at times, I find myself struggling with change. I used to carry a Franklin planner and used it faithfully. Then several of my colleagues began to use Palm III devices. I used to kid them about how my pencil never ran out of power and how I would never use a PDA device. Now I use a PDA mobile phone and could not imagine using a paper planner. I guess it is called paradigm shift.

Web based property management software is the future and if you add in the fact it is more affordable and less costly to maintain. Well, we get our cake and eat it too.

Rob Crichlow
DIY Real Estate Solutions

Posted in Residential Property Industry | 2 Comments »