The New Year has begun and whether it was today or over the coming days/week, you will be arriving back at your desk in the office.

There is no better feeling than arriving at work and kicking goals from the get go.

Here is property management New Year’s checklist, which will keep you on track, organised and set the pace for a productive start to 2021.

Grab a coffee
Start your first day at work, energised, clear headspace and maybe also yourself to the nearest barista for a cup of the good stuff.

Turn off the out of office reply
The last thing you want is for your Principal to email you and get your out of office response. Pre-empt that awkward moment and tick this task off your checklist while you’re sipping on your latte.

Call your top 10
Your top 10 are your most valued landlords. Get on the phone and wish them a happy new year and let them know that you’re back at your desk and ready to look after their property, their tenants and their best interests. It’s a nice touch and you may even be told there’s something they need done while they’ve got you on the phone.

Call your other top 10
Who could that be? Your top 10 tenants of course – but your top 10 tenants might not be your favourite tenants – this is more likely to be the 10 tenants who you were dealing with late last year that you need to follow up with. Who were the tenants that you would still be talking to if you hadn’t just had two weeks off work? They need your attention on day one so you can pick up the threads and rectify whatever needs to be sorted.

Call landlords whose properties are still vacant
This is an important task and one that you should tackle head first on day one. Any vacancies that happened prior to Christmas closure or during Christmas closure, must be followed up with on day one. Do you need to address the weekly rent amount, the marketing, the number of open homes? Your landlord will be waiting to hear from you so be ready to call and discuss their property vacancy with them.

Urgent repairs and maintenance
By now you should have scrolled through your inbox and checked your voicemails, and it’s highly likely you’ve got some repairs and maintenance requests waiting for you. If you don’t deal with these on day one, these are the tenants that will be calling to find you. Be sure to touch base with the tenant to let them know you’ve received the request and then follow through with what needs tending to.

Rental Arrears
You need to follow up with those who may not have made a payment over the break and put the appropriate plans into action.

Clear out your pipeline calls
All of the new business landlords that were in the pipeline from 2020 are ready to be picked up, and to show these prospective landlords that you are on the ball from day one could be the difference between you landing the management and the agent up the road getting the gig. Today is the day to be proactive and follow up on anything that wasn’t closed off last year.

Email replies
Believe it or not this is the job that most property managers will throw themselves into on day one and it’s the one we want you to finish your day with. Whilst it’s important, you can follow up with the representative from realestate.com.au and or thank the office electrician for their warm wishes for a safe holiday in the afternoon. Whilst it may ease your OCD by bringing the number of unread emails down in your inbox, leaving this task until last frees you up to take care of the priority calls, and the ones that help you to grow your business.