When we started in Property Management, like most companies at that time, we used the Standard Property Condition Form provided by the Hawaii Association of REALTORS. At the time, the form was a four page handwritten fillable form with check boxes for each room of a home indicating the condition of walls, flooring, etc. We were never really comfortable with that form, mostly because it was difficult to write comments in the space provided describing a room’s condition. However, it was the “standard” on the island so we used it. I see the latest form is now eleven pages and seems like it might be a little easier to use. Below is a link to the latest form as of this writing. Feel free to download it if you’d like a copy for your use.
In 2014, with the improvement of cell phones, tablets and technology we found a rather oddly named alternative to the handwritten forms; Happy Inspector. We’ve been using Happy (as we now call it) since our trial and use it for all our inspections. We’ve never looked back at handwritten forms but have looked at a couple electronic alternatives. We didn’t like them as much, so have stuck with Happy.
Using Happy Inspector, we went from a four page form to an average twenty-three page inspection. The software allows us to complete the inspections on a phone, or tablet and have the tenant sign it electronically before sending it to the “cloud” for storage and/or downloading to our computers. Another BIG advantage is the ability to take photos of anything in the home and attach them to the inspection report. Of course we are also able to type as much information as needed into the reports to properly describe the condition of a home.
In preparation for writing this article, I logged onto the Happy website to look at our Dashboard and was surprised by the number of photos we have uploaded with our inspections. Since the Dashboard has been available, we have completed 150 inspections and uploaded over 39,000 photos. That’s an average of 260 photos per inspection. Seems we’re very thorough with photos (or perhaps just really like taking photos). Happy Inspector has allowed us to be much more thorough with our inspections. When it comes time for a tenant to move out of a home it is far easier for us to point out the condition of the home at the time they moved in and is great documentation for any damage that may have occurred to the home. This makes it easier and more equitable to charge tenants for any damage.
So, if you decide to work with Ola Properties for management of your rental home, you can count on us using Happy Inspector and completing very detailed Property Inspections. Below is a link to one of Happy Co’s sales pieces describing the software in more detail.
Finally, here is a link to the website for the people who make Happy Inspector Happy Co if you want to check them out.