Software: How to Streamline MHP Operations
Leveraging software is critical to modern property operations. You cannot run a sizable portfolio or grow real enterprise value without it.
Therefore, while we’ve highlighted this topic before, it deserves continued attention.
In our previous post Remote Management Tips & Tricks we illustrated some useful technology tools available to MHP operators.
In this post we’ll dive deeper into the topic & focus on software. What software specifically can help streamline your operation & make it a little easier to manage assets during spring ski runs.
Property Management Software
This is the OG, your trusted confidant & best man at your wedding.
It is the hub of any sizable real estate company and is especially CRITICAL for park operations. It’s hard to think how anyone got along without it.
We like ManageAmerica for larger portfolios but there are several lighter weight / great options, including Rent Manager, Appfolio, and DoorLoop to name a few.
The list of capabilities is extensive but you can fully automate reporting, meter reads, setup payment portals & our favorite - utilize a Virtual Post Office.
With the click of a button you can send out lease renewals & notices delivered to a tenant’s mailbox. It’s magic.
If you’ve every printed, stuffed and mailed tenant notices before, you’ll understand our enthusiasm for virtual post.
These products also have many integrations which allow you to run tenant background checks, accounts payable, manage service calls & even tenant text messaging.
In reality, most operators probably only utilize a small portion of the software’s capabilities.
We suggest, nailing the basic features first and roll out the ancillary “nice to have” product add-ons when you have time. You definitely don’t want to implement all or most of the features right out of the gate.
Homes Sales CRM
If you’re trying to sell a couple homes, you can probably get away with old fashioned ad posting & inbound calls to your onsite manager.
Selling a slew of homes however, can get very time consuming & expensive, especially through the CASH program where there’s a time limit on how long they’ll float the cost of the homes for you.
Level up your home sales with a Customer Relationship Software (Monday.com, Safesforce, etc). This software allows you to build sophisticated marketing campaigns & automate the ‘drips’ sent to prospective home buyers.
**PRO TIP** To fully utilize your CRM, we recommend hiring someone who REALLY knows how to properly setup these campaigns. You want that operation firing on all cylinders when the race starts.
We haven’t used these services (can’t vouch for them), but there are a couple MHP focused marketing firms (Bild Media, Big Rig Media) you might want to look into.
Investor Relations
Unless you’re investing with your own cash, you’re likely need to send investor updates and yearly tax documents. This can be tedious with email and excel alone. Thankfully, there are some great investor portal options to choose from.
Take a look at Juniper Square, Syndication Pro, & Appfolio - who all offer a solid product. They provide portals where investors can input their information, track the assets & access documents. As your operation grows investors will appreciate a clean, user-friendly interface to check on their investments.
These products also help with your syndications & fundraising providing the infrastructure to market your operation & raise capital.
Accounting
Stop cutting checks to vendors yourself & check out payroll & AP options like Bill.com & AvidXchange.
With integrations into the major property management platforms these companies can help take the headache out of keeping your contractors & vendors paid. You still hold the reigns with approvals & banking, but let someone else tackle the admin side.
Your Bottom Line
The big lingering question is, isn’t all this expensive? Are these tools really worth it? At what point do I need to start looking at these?
All these tools might be overkill for 1-3 parks owned with friends / family. However, if a park owner keeps growing, they will soon realize they’re spending too much time on admin tasks & not enough time on moving the needle.
So, you can either be proactive or reactive about this fact.
Just know, it gets more and more painful to upgrade systems the deeper down the hole you go. We’ve made our fair share of software upgrades and by far the most painful was property management.
It was well worth it though, we just wish we did it much, much sooner.
Happy Trails,
MHP WEEKLY