If you want an “all-in-one” easy-to-read property management book with some awesome landlording tips, The Property Management Toolbox by Quentin D’Souza is the one to grab. You’ll find it here.
Today I wanted to focus on a particular part of the book that I use to keep my real estate business organized.
The property binders.
There are actually two I use to keep track of things and Quentin does a great job of breaking this down for you.
The first binder I use is for MY OWN properties. Here’s a pic:
Page 76 of the Property Management Toolbox describes the paperwork filing system, and it’s one that many investors have adopted over the years.
Yours truly included.
For each portfolio, you are going to divide information into coloured folders. Use the same colour for each section.
You’ll need folders for tenant information, bank account, property documents like MPAC, property taxes etc, insurance and monthly expenses.
A “business related” filing cabinet that can hold legal-size folders is going to be a benefit to you.
HERE’S MY TWISTÂ
From the example picture, you can see I have a property binder.
I hold all of the property information in one binder rather than individual folders.
There is a section for miscellaneous, tenant info, due diligence, receipts and legal.
The ONLY actual folder I have is a green one for monthly receipts for each property. (If you’re wondering why I have a receipts tab in my binder, it’s for the original receipts of purchase for the property. Â Things like the bank draft and so on.
You can do whatever is easier for you, but the key is organizing, putting stuff away and knowing where it is for a less than-30-second retrieval.
Oh, by the way – ALL of the documentation I get in is also digitized and put into appropriate folders on my computer. So at a moments notice I can email my mortgage broker, or bookkeeper…whomever may need information about a property quickly.
ANOTHER POINT ABOUT YOUR LANDLORD TIPS SYSTEM
Because you want to have a systematized business – one that you can step away from and have others run it, you NEED to have everything organized and accessible for your employees.
Anywhere I am – I can call back to my office and have information “pulled” in less than 30 seconds.
Sometimes I need a selected piece of information if I’m sitting in the mortgage broker’s office or if I’m at a property viewing, whatever.
ALSO, when you have a system that is followed; like the one Quentin graciously shares in The Property Management Toolbox, you will start enjoying that freedom you’re after a helluva lot sooner than you thought.
THE SECOND BINDER YOU NEED:
This one is just as important:
It’s your tenant binder. Quentin refers to this one as the ‘property binder’ on page 88 of the Property Management Toolbox and gives you a full run-down on what to include in your own binder.
This binder STAYS in your property. So for each property you have, you need to create a property binder.
But don’t worry – if you go to www.theontariolandlordtoolbox.com, you’ll get a sample Property Binder to model. It will have everything you need to include in yours.
Simple right?
Way to go Quentin.
Obviously, I don’t do a LOT of reviews of stuff because there’s a LOT of crap out there. So you can be assured whenever I DO put my name to something – it’s of serious value.
Not only is Quentin a seasoned professional real estate investor, he is a personal friend and I value his property management / landlording model.
He’s made it easy to follow and has helped thousands of investors already put this system in place just by sharing the information in bits and pieces at his monthly meetings.
Now it’s all together for you and me in the handy-dandy Property Management Toolbox. Go get your copy.
Nice!