Property management (PM) is a diverse field, requiring individuals to be a jack of all trades. They must have stellar soft skills at interacting with the public, understand marketing best practices, and know about vital rental laws and legislation. That list doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Property managers need help, but the soaring costs of office space, equipment, and US salaries make hiring in-house difficult, if not impossible, for many. Outsourcing can be the solution you’re looking for.
Outsourcing Defined: A Quick Summary
Outsourcing is when one company sends business services, tasks, or operations to a third party. The third party performs these at a lower cost with their own staff, typically as the employer of record (EOR).
The practice of outsourcing began seriously picking up traction after the 2008 financial crisis when companies needed to reduce spending whenever and wherever possible. Outsourcing is more popular than ever; Forbes found that 37% of small businesses outsource a minimum of one function. That number grows as the company does.
Some commonly outsourced services include:
- Payroll and Accounting
- HR
- Information Technology (IT)
- Legal
- Marketing
- Customer Experience
- Business Development
- Property Management
- Back Office
6 Advantages of Outsourcing Property Management Back-Office Services
1. You Can Save on Operating Costs
To have the best chance possible of meeting their return on investment (ROI), businesses look to cut excess spending whenever possible. One way to maximize profits is by outsourcing. Forbes reports that two-thirds of businesses are initially drawn to outsourcing to cut costs.
Salaries, benefits (including paid time off, annual bonuses, and sick leave), and insurance, all cost property management companies a pretty penny. The price tag of company-sponsored insurance lept from an average of $4,940 (2010) to $7,590 (2022) — and that’s only for single coverage.
Offshore staffing means that another company foots those bills. Those savings add up, allowing property owners to price rentals competitively, reinvest in their units, buy more listings, or build funds for a rainy day.
2. You Can Reduce Office Expenses
What companies must pay for before even paying salaries, insurance costs, or other benefits is substantial. Furnishing an office with furniture and supplies generally runs between $922 to $1,106 per employee annually.
When you outsource in-office roles, you outsource the cost of furniture and furnishings, too. As outsourcing reduces administrative costs by 40%, according to Nasdaq, the savings just start multiplying.
Costs jump higher still when companies must purchase essentials like software and the necessary integrations. A full property management tech stack can cost up to tens of thousands of dollars. By outsourcing IT, office administrative, or human resource (HR) roles, this cost is shuffled over to the outsourced staffing company.
Consider the savings just attributed to outsourcing payroll. As reported by STAFFVIRTUAL, their clients see an average of 65% on payroll services each for a total of $96 million USD in total saved across all clients.
3. You Can Hire More Skilled Workers
Outsourcing back-office tasks like IT services helps HR and tech team members. Your chief technology officer (CTO) is likely stressed about hiring a great fit for an affordable salary, says Forbes. Unfortunately, the median number of workers in this field dropped by 39%, but the number of roles shot up by 89% recently.
Moving tasks offshore is an excellent way to fill this under-staffed talent pool without breaking the bank. Forbes explains that 50% of HR professionals praise the affordability of outsourced hires, and 42% of CTOs cite scalability as the main reason to outsource.
Besides tech professionals, ventures need legal staff to help ensure they operate on the right side of the law and protect themselves from undue liability. Outsourcing legal operations allows for better risk management, improved productivity, and lower costs.
Common outsourced legal tasks can include (but aren’t limited to) managing contracts, reviewing critical documents, completing client intake, filing appeals, and performing call tagging. Paralegals, quality assurance analysts, intake and appeal application specialists are some of the many roles you might outsource.
4. You Can Have Workers Available 24/7
Property managers are used to getting calls at all hours of the day and night requesting maintenance repairs (and similar). The next time a resident’s toilet starts overflowing at midnight, they have someone to call who can dispatch an emergency plumber immediately.
It’s even better when these calls go to an offshore call center. Offshore call centers, like those in the Philippines, are usually staffed by those with high levels of English proficiency and are trained and managed carefully and regularly.
24/7 maintenance is a popular residents benefit package (RBP) that tenants are generally happy to pay for when included in the monthly or annual rent. So, often outsourcing costs a property management group accrues can oftentimes be passed on to the residents.
5. You Can Delegate Rent Collection and Eviction Processes
Whether you collect rent through your property’s website or through another avenue like an app, you need someone to monitor it. (Not to mention needing someone to maintain those tech services.) You and your in-person staff don’t have time to ensure payments are processed correctly or send seemingly countless reminders to make monthly payments.
If an eviction should become prudent, an offshore legal team may assist there as well. To comply with state and federal eviction laws, a significant amount of documentation, filing, and paperwork must be completed carefully and to the letter. Evicting tenants can be extremely time-consuming, making it attractive to offload some of this offshore.
Other tenant-centric tasks that are ideal to delegate include tenant screening and interviewing. Not only can an offshore crew post rental listings and respond to what probably feels like hundreds of emails about a unit or tour requests. (This is also a common task for outsourced virtual assistants, too.)
Similar to the reasons to offshore your legal team, tenant screening is often a highly complex matter, involving various state and federal laws. Workers handling these matters should be up-to-date with laws dictating ethics, data privacy, and compliance. These abilities are in demand, making it easier to find more personnel with an offshore digital agency.
6. Happier Tenants and Happier Employees
Optimizing business processes means you can spend more time on overall development or looking for new properties to invest in. Now that you have more free time, you can forget the more menial tasks and focus on the big ones.
Your staff will likely also appreciate the lighter workload. Outsourcing allows your in-person staff to focus on the jobs they were hired for, instead of time-intensive complex or draining menial duties. A happier workforce is also a more productive one — 13% more productive, to be precise, according to the University of Oxford. That productivity can impact your bottom line just as the cost-cutting measures do.
Outsourcing Property Management’s Back-Office Services: Final Thoughts
Inside the operations of some of the most profitable and successful enterprises is offshoring. Project managers, in particular, are likely to find outsourcing their field’s back-office services a welcome change.
From minor daily tasks to meeting major key performance indicators (KPIs), outsourcing back-office tasks can help organizations save money and time, all while increasing your staff’s job satisfaction and productivity.