Using Software and Programmes to Assist with Residential Property

Residential property is still a favourite choice amongst long term investors because of its capacity to be resilient and show growth on return in five to eight years.

The options are plentiful, but one needs to exercise a few cautions. The location is a consideration, because it needs to be attractive potential residents. If you are only looking at property development to then sell on, obviously the location will need to appeal to buyers, as they will likely do their own research on suitability before buying. Going up to 10 or 20 units will produce better returns and you can use CAFM Software to manage the units.

All kinds of data should be accessed and studied before proceeding. While a lot of brown field development has taken place in the United Kingdom in recent decades, some of these developments have not proven popular with residents because they have been in locations that are former factory or industrial sites and they do not give great access to roads, schools and other amenities. These properties have been difficult to sell on and have had slow growth in terms of value.

Access information about at crime patterns in the neighbourhood, review the Environment Agencies flood projections and flood zones, and then consider insurance costs based on these two things. Of course, it is essential that you look at the broader picture and not just local information. In parts of the world some areas are hotspots, while others are not. In the London metropolitan and the south east of England the markets are good. But in other parts of the islands the picture is gloomy, apart from Edinburgh, the Bristol area and parts of Manchester.

In terms of holiday property, many of the holiday locations that were popular in the mid-2000s have fallen off as destinations to buy. These include Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria and should be viewed with suspicion if a great deal is on offer. The economy and social unrest makes these locations tricky and questionable in the long term.

If you invest in this kind of asset for your portfolio it is highly advisable to use CAFM Software to help manage the portfolio. These incredibly powerful and sophisticated programmes are expensive but deliver incredible value. Once mastered, they will save an enormous amount of time which would normally be dedicated to managing multiple tasks, such as occupancy, advertising, billing, accounts, repairs and portfolio value.

This programme can be extremely flexible and you can monitor all aspects of your investment. Work with an installation specialist to ensure it meets your needs upon installation, or study the guides and customise it to your own specifications.

The crucial aspect about the programme is that it permits buyers to completely manage the property portfolio. Remember that gains on residential property can take some time to accrue, and so having a superb tool to help manage all aspects of your business can only be viewed as a bonus. The efficiency and effectiveness means that you can both save time and save money.

However, this will only happen if you can properly learn the programme and its features. These should be set in place and in time for your launch, or as soon as you purchase the software. If not, you are basically acquiring a powerful tool but not exercising its power to your benefit. If you are unsure about how to use it, contact the owners and or distributors and ask for assistance.

In addition, you can provide tenants with access if you wish, so that they can see that payments have been made and receive receipts. They can also use the system to communicate with you or be notified of any updates or events, such as maintenance activities.

From your own point of view, tracking financials is crucial. You will be able to monitor things like regular payments and spot anyone who is in arrears. Everyone in business knows that keeping late payments under control will minimise any risk to your venture. Do this automatically with the system and receive auto alerts in an easy and straightforward way.

Good communication is important for any organisation. It facilitates processes and gets things done. Use the system to make contact with suppliers. The best systems offer a choice of email and/or SMS messages. End-of-month statements are vital for many reasons. This can be done with the best

Media Training Can Help Your Business Build Brand Awareness

One of the biggest problems for businesses of all sizes can be getting your core messages ‘out there’ on a regular basis. If sufficient numbers of your target market don’t know you exist your business will undoubtedly struggle, no matter how good your product or service.

Many business owners will know what it is like to have wasted money on marketing which hasn’t worked for them – an advertisement in a local directory or press publication, perhaps? Unfortunately, it is all too easy to give up after just a couple of weeks, when advertising trials have consistently shown us that people need to be exposed to an ad around seven times on average before they even ‘see’ it, let alone respond to it.

There is one school of thought that cream will always rise to the top – in other words if your business, product, or service is good enough it will succeed. However we know this to be a falsehood. Time and again it is sustained effort which triumphs over talent – that ‘never give in’ mindset. By the same token, in a football arena, the team which makes the most passes or plays the most attractive football over 90 minutes isn’t guaranteed to win the match.

Building brand awareness through a steady stream of media communications must be a top priority for every business. To this end, media training provided by a leading UK training consultancy could help you get your message in front of your target market more often.

Let’s face it, most of what passes for ‘news’ is pretty sterile stuff that won’t pass the editor’s ‘so what?’ test. In other words it goes straight in the waste bin. Don’t you think that by being that bit more creative than 90% of the businesses out there, your business might benefit from increased awareness?

Of course it would!

It isn’t all that difficult to secure media coverage for your company and your products or services, providing you go the right way about it. The latest media training courses conducted by leading industry experts will give you a valuable ‘behind the scenes’ insight into how today’s media works and how you can use this crucial insider knowledge to your advantage.

For instance, you could use your newly developed skills to seek out fresh media contacts, get regular exposure for your ‘brand’ and help your business steal a march on the competition.

The Goals Of A Modern CAFM Solution

Since 2008 and the global economic downturn there has been an increasing pressure put on organisations to streamline and optimise their operations. As part of this drive to optimise, many companies have implemented CAFM solutions in an attempt to bring down the significant costs incurred through the running of facilties.

Facilities management is important as physical space, offices, land and buildings are typically the second largest expense within an organisation, after labour costs. By centralising the flow of information about an organisation’s facilities through a CAFM solution, that organisation can reduce waste and inefficiencies within its operations.

A modern facilities management customer is in search of the ‘one stop shop’ approach to information flows. Moreover, information must be delivered quickly and up-to-date to wherever and whenever is necessary. The quality of the working environment is also an increasingly valued consideration.

The goals of a CAFM solution can be split into four categories:

1. Improve Operational Efficiency

By accurately tracking which tasks are being performed and by whom managers can better organise resource and staff allocation. Moreover, CAFM solutions improve communications between an organisation’s employees and allow easy access to relevant information and data.

2. Reduce Response Time

When an organisation’s situation evolves a CAFM solution can quickly identify (often in real time) the changes that should made to optimise space, staff and resource allocations. Moreover, CAFM solutions place the responsibility of information retrievable with the individual requesting that information, cutting out the middle man and further reducing response time.

Consequently, organisations see a dramatic reduction in response time when compared with traditional facilities management that require regular, manual analysis of resource allocations.

3. Increase Customer Satisfaction

An effective CAFM solution will be available to employees and customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Moreover, both employees and customers benefit by making information easily accessible. The best solutions allow the delivery of services to customers based on that customer’s individual requirements.

4. Improve Information Management

Finally, an effect CAFM solution allows facility managers to keep track of projects and resource allocation with ease. Costs, for example, are far easier to monitor and resource requirements can be met in real time.

Usually included within a CAFM programme will be an integrated workplace management system (IWMS) which is the centralisation of several workplace disciplines into a single solution. Plus a computerised maintenance management system (CMMS) is integrated with facilities, project and real estate management.

Regardless of the industry, almost any organisation can benefit from the centralised flow of information and streamlining of workplace management that these offer.

The key to all four of these goals is the improvement in communication. A centralised system that allows the real time flow of information between an organisation’s employees can break down barriers to efficiency and the optimal allocation of resources and facilities.