Rent roll analysis automation for property managers

Like with any other industry, automation in real estate is revamping the way we look at it. Its inculcation has enabled streamlining processes and will make the industry-as-a-whole more efficient.

A major hassle for corporate owners or property managers has been keeping track of all their properties on rent. Especially for corporate property managers, managing a plethora of rental properties can be a real headache. 

Thankfully, real estate has something called rent roll, which gives them a bird’s-eye-view of the same and makes their life easier. With technological development, real estate owners and managers have been able to automate the process, making it far less cumbersome.

In this article, we discuss rent roll analysis and reasons to automate it.‍

Rent roll analysis helps you in ascertaining the validity of rental revenue collected from income property.

Landlords and property managers often have to manage a myriad of spaces. So they have a system to keep track of the rental income received and the pending ones. Especially for commercial real estate investors, a secure and efficient approach to keeping track of their finances is necessary.

Traditionally, rent rolls have been physical documents listing all the rental units owned/managed by an investor. It is the most critical document in the real estate sector and contains all the necessary information to help the involved parties decide their next moves.

Most importantly, it is used by the investors, lenders, and mortgage brokers to assess the current condition of the property and potential rental income scope.

Rent roll analysis refers to managing and obtaining the required information from the available rent roll. In modern days, and with technology's influence, bookkeeping has shifted to an Excel sheet or in some other computerized form. It has helped them draw intricate insights previously accessible to a handful few, and make more informed decisions.‍

Contents of a rent roll‍

Even though there is no fixed format for it, here are the contents of an effective rent roll :–

‍Property information

• Name of the owner or company
• Full address
• Property type (single flat, multi flat, multi-level, etc.)
• Property zone (commercial, residential, mixed, urban, suburban, or rural)
  

Unit data

• Number of the unit (as per the format he follows)
• Carpet area
• Lot size
• Number of bathrooms
• Number of bedrooms
• Amenities available
  

Rental information

• Current tenant's name
• Monthly rent including additional rent
• Due date of rent payment
• Prepaid rent
• Due rent
• Last rent payment date
• Security deposit
• Rent concessions
• Lease start and end date
  

Income summary

• Total monthly rent collected
• Total annual rent collected‍

‍Who benefits from rent roll automation?

With the help of a rent roll, an investor can get a bird's-eye view of his properties. It breaks down the rent per unit, and it also informs him of the total rent amount for his entire investment. It saves the investor's time by collecting and presenting each tenant's lease agreement in a convenient, easy-to-read sheet.

If the owner is looking to mortgage it for a loan, the lender may want to check the rent document. The same is applicable when you want to refinance your property. If you are looking to hire a property manager, he will request you to present the rent roll to understand the past income and the anticipated one. However, letting a local management company list your property on different platforms like airbnb management london, you could be saved all the hassle from listing to rent management. Leveraging recruitment technology can significantly streamline and automate this crucial process, enhancing efficiency and ensuring a more thorough evaluation of potential candidates.

How to read a rent roll?

Here are eight ways to read a rent roll –

• Turnover: Determine turnover and also inspect the underlying reasons for a tenant exiting the rent roll.
• Baseline data: Utilize the same day's data in the previous year to keep track of the continuing tenants and those left.
• Lease start and end dates: Understand the unit's potential value by keeping track of the lease start and end dates.
• Revenue and growth: Pit the current month's income with the same in the previous year or two years back to gauge the growth in the unit's rental value periodically.
• Renewals and their rates: A higher renewal rate signifies stability. If a unit is facing the opposite, i.e., a high renewal rate, it requires immediate attention.
• Collection fixtures: Delve into the figures to understand the collection pattern and how much of it comes on the first of every month.
• Eviction history: Keep a tab on evictions and their related legal costs to understand the cost incurred in removing a customer.
• Late fee inflows: High late fee signifies the lower quality of the underlying tenant base. In such a case, you may need to hike your mortgage rates or ask for higher advances.
  

Automation in rent roll analysis helps you curate a better picture

Traditionally, property owners would utilize a rent roll to keep track of their dues. With automation at the fore, all the parties involved now use it for different reasons. The end objective, though, remains unchanged – assessing the value of a given unit accurately.

Here is how automation augments the overall value provided by a rent roll analysis system:-‍

1. Get an improved analysis to make improved investing decisions.

Do you find the traditional rent roll analysis cluttered and difficult to comprehend? With an able rent roll analysis tool, access digital documents, eliminate manual handling and manage it in a much more concise manner. Plus, seamless integration with the rest of your software ensures better results and augment investing decisions without spending truckloads of money.‍

2. Reduce operating costs‍

Real estate is one sector that traditionally demanded a lot of paperwork. Also, these documents need regular updating or are prone to get lost. With a rent roll tool, you can automate communication between various parties involved and reduce the overall operating costs by automating follow-up calls and other similar processes.‍

3. Helps in increasing rent potential‍

A property manager handling a plethora of properties can find it challenging to keep track of his properties' rent increasing potential. With the help of rent roll analysis software, he can get accurate insights to determine the units pending a rental hike. Without the tool, more often than not, it would be hard to gauge the rent increasing potential of your entities manually.‍

4. Get accurate vacancy and turnover stats‍

A rent roll presents statistics pertaining to vacancies in the last year and the duration of such an opening. It can help you gauge your turnover rate in a period and how it compares to your present performance. It would allow you to chalk out units with a high turnover rate and find reasons behind them. At times, simple maintenance can help you get over the issue.

A rent roll analysis tool enables you to find such stats in real-time, which would manually take days to comprehend. It would ensure swift action from your side, reducing the waiting period and improving the unit's income.‍

5. Automation enables improved refinancing‍

Often you would come across units for which you are paying high interest or are undervalued. Refinancing the loans on such property would enable you to secure a better deal with improved terms and possibly a lower periodic outflow.

Most banks or other lenders would ask for the rent roll to determine the unit's current and potential value. Rent roll automation ensures accurate results by getting rid of possible human errors and improves your chances of securing a refinanced loan.‍

6. AI and ML result in improved forecasts‍

There is no doubt that AI forecasts better results when compared to human beings. With the help of past figures, a rent roll analysis tool can picture how much you can expect in the coming months, quarters, or years from a unit. Not only that, it can point out if the figures are below or above market rates, giving you an idea of how to deal with it better.‍

7. Analyze performance in real-time‍

It is easy to track rent, vacancy, and other factors pertaining to a small multi-family property. But when you are a property manager, life won't be as easy. So what can you do to make it a bit convenient for yourself? Simple, grab a rent roll analysis tool and let it churn out numbers on your behalf.

Property management software gives access to your units' performance in real-time. Integrate it with your accounting software and ensure you keep an accurate eye on your results over time. Such insights also enable you to take requisite precautions to prevent any downslide before it occurs.‍

Let Docsumo automate your rent roll analysis.

For someone managing hundreds of properties simultaneously, handling clerical work can be a real task. Instead, it would be more feasible to let a rent roll analysis tool manage it all effortlessly and let you keep track of it all in real-time. With Docsumo, you can do so and more.

Skip the hassles caused by manual data extraction and let an able tool take over. At Docsumo, we ensure our clients get data in a concise manner, presented in a standard format. With 100 percent manual-intervention-free processes, we provide data with higher accuracy and quick turnaround time.

Are you interested in knowing more about our product and its features? Click here to book a free demo today.