Cleaning Your Property Management "House"Do you feel cluttered, disorganized, or out of sorts every time you enter your office or work at your desk?

Are “fires” starting to erupt?

If so, it may be time to give your property management office a thorough cleaning. People don’t think twice about cleaning out their living space but rarely think about doing the same thing for their office (with the exception of the general office maintenance). You may think you don’t have the time to clean your office, but the existing clutter and chaos may be consuming more time than you think!

Here are 8 signs that it’s time to clean your property management house…

  • You can never find the right brochures or tools to make a presentation.
  • You can always find outdated brochures.
  • You open your computer and you can’t find the document you prepared yesterday or even today.
  • You cannot find the right files or documents on your desk.
  • You open your “junk” drawer and it is an exercise in futility to find anything!
  • Your Personnel are ineffective at filing anything.
  • You now have a lawsuit and you cannot find the documentation you know exists.
  • You dismissed an employee who is now filing against you and you can’t find their records.

And the list could go on and on, but there’s no reason it should. Take a little time, stop, think, and plan a course of action to rectify the problems you are having and clean up your property management business.

  • Make the time to meet with all Personnel and discuss all necessary “housekeeping.”
  • Schedule a “clean up” day or days so everyone is prepared to tackle these challenges. Putting your team to work helps the task become less overwhelming. Make it fun – order in a special lunch, have a casual day, or have a contest for the best housekeeping.
  • Review your filing system and make necessary changes to improve or add to your system. Then assign staff to make these changes.
  • Have everyone organize their workspace and distribute tasks for filing.
  • Have everyone organize his or her computer according to a system that works for the entire office. This way if someone is out on vacation or sick, the rest of the staff can locate those important documents.
  • Create a “filing system” in your computer and drag documents into the appropriate file folder. Have your staff do the same.
  • Create a “junk” folder in your computer where you can drag all old or useless documents to store to avoid deleting valuable documents. You can always delete it later. Again, have your staff do the same.
  • Clean up your junk drawer and resolve to do it monthly before it becomes your daily nightmare. Don’t forget to throw out all those gadgets you collect at Conferences that you have never used…you know what I mean.
  • Have everyone go through all marketing materials. Bundle the outdated materials for recycling. Organize the appropriate materials where you can grab what you need at a moment’s notice. Assign the task to restocking to someone who will do the job.

You’ll discover more to do as you go but don’t worry, it will be worth it. When you are done, everyone involved will feel good and the effort will improve the efficiency of your business.

Now, about that mess at home…

Jean Storms - Owner and Author of LandlordSource ProductsJean Storms, MPM® is the founder/author of LandlordSource and has been a NARPM® member since January 1993.

Disclaimer: LandlordSource does not represent the article content in this website as legal advice. It is shared information only and up to the reader to use this information responsibly, seeking legal advice as necessary to their business.