COVID-19: What NOT to do as a Property Manager

Today, you woke up and walked to your make-shift office, coffee in hand. Your inbox is probably full of panicked tenants and owners...what do you do? First, breathe, and next, develop a plan with your co-workers on how to respond to these emails. However, today's blog isn't a focus on what to do, but rather, what NOT to do in today's climate.

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What you shouldn't do

Through the stress and panic of everything, questions will start to raise in your mind: "How long is this going to last?" "What happens when we can only collect 50% or less of our rent?" "What happens to my job?". If we look at the example other countries have set when dealing with COVID-19, we should be out of this in no time. We will bounce back from all of this just as quickly as it came.

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As a property manager, it's still your fiduciary duty to keep your trust funds secure and keep on with "business as usual" as best you can. While we are on the topic, trust funds should NOT be used to pay company expenses including:

• Office supplies
• Payroll
• Utilities
• Software bills

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Management fees might not be as ample as you are used to, which means it's time for the company to cut unnecessary costs. Shut the utilities at the office down, halt paper and supply shipments, and ask for late payment forgiveness on recurring bills like loans. These are a few examples, but the moral of the story is do NOT use trust funds to keep things afloat.

We can almost guarantee that auditors will start asking for trust account reports dating back to March 2020 so if you ever get audited and trust funds were missing, you’ll be in big trouble.

If funds get too tight, consider taking out a loan to keep things going. Be transparent with your owners, tenants, and vendors. Remember, everyone is aware of what's going on in the world, and most people will be understanding.

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If you need assistance applying for an SBA loan and getting your data organized, please reach out to us. We are prepared to help new and existing clients with these forms!

Stay safe, calm and healthy! We will get through this together. APM Help is a fully-remote company and operating business as usual. Feel free to reach out if you need any help with Propertyware or AppFolio accounting or maintenance coordination at (281) 949-8755 or info@apmhelp.com.