Business

5 Best Ways to Plug Financial Leaks in Your Real Estate Company

Running a real estate business, whether you’re investing, managing, or selling real estate, is a cumbersome task – and a financially-strenuous one at that. The overhead costs can be quite severe if you’re occupying an office in a prominent location (which is a prerequisite for brand visibility and authority) while the costs of maintaining a devoted and satisfied staff can really put a dent in your budget. Needless to say, your goal should be to optimize and minimize your financial leaks across the board in order to run a more cost-effective operation, especially during those difficult times when you’re still negotiating a deal.

Waiting for the money to come through from a sale is not a sustainable business model, which is why reducing costs while optimizing cash reserves should be a priority in your growth strategy. With all of that in mind, let’s take a look at the best ways for you to plug all financial leaks and take your real estate company forward.

Don’t splurge on equipment or technology

Yes, it’s the 21st century, and there is no denying that technology has weaved itself into every faucet of business and our everyday lives, but that doesn’t mean that your real estate office should run on overly sophisticated tech and equipment. Instead, you should be realistic about your tech needs and only invest in technology that gets the job done, simply because technology shouldn’t cost you an arm, or a leg. What’s more, always keep in mind that the newer the tech, the bigger the upkeep and repair costs are going to be.

Rather than splurging on the latest MacBook or the latest iPhones for your team members, why not go with some older models? You can shop pre-owned but refurbished, or choose one of the previous generations that still have enough computing power to take care of all of your daily needs. 

Invest in digital transformation for financial

Even though you shouldn’t overspend on technology and tech upkeep, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t tend to business-wide digital transformation. In this digital day and age, companies need to invest in software and hardware solutions that will make all of their processes more efficient and effective over the long term, which means that you should invest in IoT technology as well as cloud-based solutions that have all of the contemporary features you need to grow.

When you migrate your business to the cloud, for example, you can take advantage of the numerous features it provides to make lead generation and client retention more efficient, ensure business-wide collaboration on all projects, monitor productivity and workflow, improve cybersecurity, and much more. Ultimately, this will make all departments more productive and efficient, which will positively impact your bottom line while saving money in the process.

Digital Transformation

Optimize your payroll expenses

Many business leaders in the real estate sector focus so much on investments, staging, lead generation, and making a sale that they fail to realize that financial leaks are slowly accumulating in the background. Particularly, extraneous financial expenditure tends to occur in the payroll department, which is typically tasked with handing out paychecks, while it should have been tasked with optimizing the payroll process as a whole.

The key objective here is to make payroll more financially-sensible for your company and your employees in the long term, which is why forward-looking business leaders have been transitioning to personalized employee income cards that automate the payroll process, eliminate the need for paper checks, and minimize extraneous fees. This is a great way to keep your employees satisfied, grant them immediate access to their funds, and at the same time reduce payroll fees so that you can reallocate financial resources towards concrete business goals.

Leverage free tools and services

Nowadays, there are many free and freemium tools and services on the web that you can take advantage of to propel your real estate business forward. For example, you can use social media management to market your real estate agency without spending a dime on advertising, or you can use Google Drive to share and store files in the cloud, and even collaborate on projects with your team members. 

Or how about HubSpot, a free CRM tool and a service that provides you with a solid knowledge base pertaining to customer acquisition and retention? These and many other free tools can help you become more productive as a company, but without making you break the proverbial bank.

Make long-term gains with sustainable upgrades

And finally, if you have to invest financial resources in a goal, let it be the goal to make your office more energy and water efficient. Conservation is one of the best ways to reduce your overhead costs over the long term, but it’s also the best way to lower your company’s carbon footprint. Be sure to invest in programmable thermostats, LED lighting, sensor lighting, energy-efficient appliances, and introduce a strict water conservation policy. Combined, these solutions will help you run a more cost-effective operation.

Wrapping up

The real estate industry is becoming more competitive with each passing year, which inadvertently puts added financial pressure on business leaders. With these tips in mind, though, you should have no problem plugging all financial leaks and reallocating finances towards your core business goals.

Keith Coppersmith

Keith is an Adelaide based business consultant with a degree in Media Management. Born and raised in a small town in New Zealand, big dreams brought him to Adelaide, where he carefully tends to his numerous small business projects. When not engaged in a busy city lifestyle, he enjoys coming back home to NZ to relax and write.

Keith Coppersmith has 9 posts and counting. See all posts by Keith Coppersmith

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