Paperless means I’m not carrying around a filing cabinet in my car anymore!
We sit down for a Q&A with Lia Jagielka, Coronis Principal | Victoria Director and who also happens to be the 2020 Property Manager of the Year.
We discuss how being a paperless office has changed her business and what makes her tick in the world of Property Management.
How has the paperless condition reports benefited your agency?
It certainly has! Most systems have a great entry condition report system in place, but Inspection Express’ online version is great. It helps my office not only with staying cloud-based, but also cost-effective with less printing, meaning less paper and less of a carbon footprint! It saves so much time too with a quick flick of a send email rather than printing 50-200 pages and waiting around the printer.
What do you think are the key benefits of having a paperless office?
Money-saving and the ability to work anywhere. I have kids, so I could be sitting in a park just finishing off a little of a report or paperwork while the kids are running off steam, or instead of sitting in my office 9am-5pm, I could have spent some time with the kids during the day and be at home at night finishing that document. Paperless means I’m not carrying around a filing cabinet in my car anymore! I used to do that when I first started in the industry haha. But also it helps with privacy, nothing worse than having all your documents spread out over your table at home while you work through something to have visitors pop over and you have to scramble to pack up – now you just close the laptop / iPad.
Can you tell us 2 things you love about Inspection Express and why?
I can manage properties a little further than my instant farm area. I have properties that are 1 hour away and between having applications completed online, lease documents completed online and ability to flick over an entry condition report for them to complete and return means I don’t have to keep driving 1 hour each way a few times a week. Most of the job can be done from my office. Also, I am loving the follow-up – no more chasing tenants to remind them to return the entry report and then get yelled at because we didn’t tell them their 3 days was up (or that they had 3 days), inspection express does it for me! It may only take 5 mins, but that is 5 mins I can offer on happy customer service.
Tell us what is your favourite thing about working in property management?
It is never the same thing every day. I’ve been in the industry a while now – most of my working life and I have tried to leave, but I am so bored in other roles, so I come back. There is always something to learn, something to grow on and in a time of online portals, paperless offices and the such it is so great to see where we are heading. When I first started in property management, we took cash bond and rent, rental lists in the office were a thing, the internet wasn’t a big thing, Facebook wasn’t even thought of and there certainly was no cloud-based management. I love how times have changed the industry and I hope it keeps changing too.