Can I enter Amenities like Bedrooms, Bathrooms and other Features?
Absolutely. With Features (under the Activities screen), you can keep detailed information about the Interior, Exterior, Appliances, and General information about each rental unit.
However, the Tenant File Features area is much more than that. You can also store and display multiple graphic images and documents for each Rental Unit in the system.
You can choose one default image for each Property and one default image for each Unit to always display when you access that Property or Unit.
All features are grouped into one of four major categories, called Primary Headings. The default Primary Headings are Interior, Exterior, Appliances, General. You can change these to be anything you wish. Each of these four major Headings can have up to 15 Categories, which you can also change to fit your needs.
For example, one Category under Interior Features could be 'Bathrooms'. This Category can have up to 5 Default Choices (which you enter). These choices could be something like '1 1/2 Baths, 2 Baths, 2 1/2 Baths, 3 Baths' or if all baths were the same, as in an apartment building, you might enter something else like 'Carpeted, Vinyl, Marble Vanity' or whatever you want the user to select from. However, you are not required to use a default choice, they are only for convenience. You can enter something completely different instead.
Features can also display an image of your choice. This image is linked to each Rental Unit Address (and one per Property), and will display whenever you press 'Features'. The image files (bmp, jpg, or gif) can be accessed from your phone, digital camera, image capture device, or scanner.
How to Link an Image: If you already have digital images from a camera or scanner on your computer, you are ready to link that image to one of your Rental Units or Properties. Just click on the 'Link a New File' button:
Step 1: This is where you will browse to the image on your computer and select it for insertion.
Step 2: Here you will choose whether to link the image to a Rental Unit or Property. While a Rental Unit can have any number of images, a Property can have one per Property.
Step 3: Create a name for the image. Choose a descriptive name, so that you can remember this image.
Select Link: This choice will give you a list of your Rental Units or Properties to choose from. This step actually links the image by creating a filename for the image that combines the unique ID# and the name you gave the image.
FEATURE DEFAULTS
Select Feature Defaults from the Preferences Menu or from within an individual Features screen. All features are divided into 4 major categories (the Primary Headings), 15 Categories for each Primary Heading, and 5 Default Choices for each Category. The Feature Defaults are 'global', meaning that changing a default will change it throughout the Tenant File, so be careful when changing a default. Changing a default does not actually change the specific data you entered, only the choices that are presented upon entering Features. Be sure to press the 'Enter' key after each entry. These defaults will now appear on the Features screen.
FEATURE SEARCH
With the Tenant File, you can create a report that searches for up to 5 specific features related to your rental unit. For example, if you want to find all 3 bedroom houses, with 2 baths, a 2 car garage, microwave, and near a specific school - the Tenant File can find it for you and print the information. The steps to create your search are easy:
Step 1: Pick a Search Choice - if you are just beginning a search choose 'set search choice number 1'. (Once you have set up the following information for your first search, you move down to the next Search Choice number 2, and so on.)
Step 2: Select a MAJOR category - the Tenant File allows you to have 4 MAJOR feature categories, so you need to select which one to work with for this Search Choice.
Step 3: Select a SUB category - under each MAJOR category, you can have up to 15 sub-categories. Select the one you want to work with for this Search Choice.
Step 4: Select you Keyword to match - in the Features section, you enter information for each SUB category. For example, if the SUB category is bedrooms, you may have entered, 1,2,3,4,5 as choices, or you may have entered one, two, three, four, or five. This was your choice, since you can enter anything you want to. As another example, for 'Air Conditioning' you may have entered a brand such as GE, Rane, or Westinghouse, or you may have used a generic description, such as 'Central Air' or 'Window Units'. In any case, the keyword that you enter here will find and match anything you may have entered. It can be either upper or lower case, it doesn't matter.
This would complete your first Search Choice. Once you have entered the keyword for your first Search Choice, be sure to click Search Choice number 2 (and so on), for each Choice you are creating. Otherwise, you will overwrite your previous choice.
Note: As you can see, the more consistent you are with your entries, the better the search will work. That is why it is good you create 'default choices', (see Feature Defaults) for any Subcategory entries that you may need to search for later.
As you select each choice, you will see the search that you are creating at the bottom of the window. The final outcome will be a report that includes all features for the Search Choice(s) you selected. You can print this report.
FEATURE LISTING
This helpful screen (found under 'Miscellaneous') shows you all of the features for all of the rentals on one screen. You can edit the information on one or all rental units. Much of this information will be used if you want to market your vacancies. This info is automatically used by the RentalWIZ option for the Tenant File to market your vacancies over the Internet and on your web page.
How to use the Feature Listing:
When you enter this screen, you will see all of the rental units that already have features set up. The setup is commonly done in the 'Activities' area of the Tenant File by displaying a Unit or Tenant and clicking the 'Features' button. (When you enter any feature it is automatically activated).
However, if you want to automatically activate all of your rental units so that you can quickly enter their features, click on the 'Activate ALL Unit features' button. That will show all rental units and activate them so that you can enter their features. This cannot be undone, so be sure you want to activate all of your rental units before proceeding. Anything you have already set up will still remain.
Button Descriptions:
Search: Enter all or part of a rental unit address in the box to the left, then click the 'Search' button. This is just to the first occurrence of the search term.
Update Description: This is a detailed description of the rental which will be used to help market the vacancy. Be sure to include information that will impress a prospective tenant.
Change ALL entries in the selected column NOW: to change an entire column of data, just enter the data that you want in the entry box, and then click on the 'header' of the column where you wish to insert the data. (That will highlight the entire column). Then click on the 'Change ALL entries in the selected column NOW' button to insert the data throughout the column.
Activate ALL Unit Features: Normally a rental unit is activated when you go into the Activities screen and click on the 'Features' button to add features for that rental unit. That is to save computer space and keep empty features from cluttering your reports. However, it you want to go ahead and activate all the rental units in your system at once, click on the 'Activate ALL Unit features' button. That will enable you to work with all units at once, not just the ones that are already set up.
Major Category: This choice will enable you to select the category that you are working with. Since there are 4 major categories, choose one of those selections. You can change these default categories under the 'Features' section under 'Activities'.
Enlarge/Reduce Columns: The screen column widths are initially sized to fit on your screen. Sometimes you may not be able to see all of the data in the columns. Just click on this button to expand the columns, but you may need to use the scroll bar to see all of the columns available.