Please advice on managing rental property

[Muhamed Abd.]

Greetings,

I have been given the shared responsibility of managing apartment complexes owned by the family. I am having hard time to keep track of things. I would appreciate if any one can point me to  a method or software that help me keep track of things. I wonder if there is a smart way on how land lords do these things. Here are some issues I am facing:-

*People pay at different times of the month and in different complexes. Some pay monthly some pay quarterly. Some Pay half now with the promise of completing payments next month.

*People pay in cash, online, and cheques. Making it hard to keep tab on things especially online ones because you can see a bank account but not the name of the account owner. Can't tell who's who.

*Not sure how to keep tab on fixing costs and warranties on devices replaced like water pumps and water heaters. Its paper jungle

*Between 20+ tenants its really hard to know who paid, who is late, and who's contract is over or needs renewing.

I looked up some apps online but most of it seems some corporate sized apps with complex interface which requires subscription and tying bank accounts. I was looking for something more simpler. I wonder if an Excel should should do fine, if so can any one show a template or how I should set it up? Should I hire a 3rd party accountant to do these things? Can I trust him? because I faced many people that will do a sloppy job.

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How do tenants respond to yearly rent increase? Inflation is like 3% yearly, if I do not increase rent 3% yearly then this means i am losing 3% of my income year over year basically decreasing my income by 9% over the course of 3 years not to mention fixing costs. I am becoming poorer not richer. Also rent prices can generally come down based on economic conditions.

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Muhamed Abd.:

A good property manager does far more than just collect rent each month. They choose the best tenants because good tenants mean less work and more income. They keep your rents at the top of the market because more rent means more income for them. They understand the law and keep you from fair housing violations or lawsuits. They have policies and procedures in place that allow them to stop problems quickly before they cost you a lot of money.

yes, you could hire your own employee, but what does that solve? You still have someone managing the property with no experience, no legal training, no knowledge market, or any of the other benefits that a professional property manager brings.

if someone charges you $10,000 a year but earns you $20,000 a year, wouldn't that be worth it? I think you are only looking at the cost without considering the benefits