08 Internet Services

The Search for the Money Tree

'Do you think money grows on trees?' This is a question my father used to ask me on a regular basis. I realized early that if money does grow on trees, there are no money trees in my area. So I had to figure out other ways to pay for things that I needed. 

The first step is to figure out what we need and why we need it. Then we can justify the cost of purchasing it. So, in order to figure out what we need we have to ask questions as to what would make our lives easier. That sounds like a lot of work to me, so I have narrowed the field down to one thing that I know you will need--Community Web Sites from TOPS Software. To make the decision easier on you, I will discuss a few different ways to pay for your web sites. 

The least popular payment method with our management companies is to endure the costs without passing it to the homeowners. By paying this way you have complete control of the web site and can offset the cost by selling classified ads. This works great if you have just a few communities but as a management company expands and takes on more communities it can become expensive 

One way around this is to pay the first quarter for each of your communities. This way they see the site, get used to it and when you start charging them, they understand and welcome the charge. 

Another way to pay for these sites is to pass the charge to the homeowners. Let's take a small community with 100 units and figure out what the cost would be per home. A web site at $60.00 per month would cost each homeowner 2 quarters and a dime per month. That comes to a whopping $7.20 for the whole year. I can't think of any other service this inexpensive that gives you so much! I have late charges at Blockbuster doubling that amount. 

The third and most profitable way for a management company is to up-charge the residents. Let's take the same 100-unit association and give them a $60.00 web site for $100.00. This is a $40.00 profit to the management company. It comes out to be 1 dollar per month per homeowner or 12 dollars a year. The total profit to the management company for one association is $480.00 per year. Multiply that by 10 or 25 associations and you're making $12,000.00 a year! Who needs a money tree when you've got a money-making web site? 

These are only suggestions, and you know best how your company should incur the charges for the web sites. So I guess your next step is to give us a call. We'll figure out the best way for your company to pay for the sites and maybe you can tell me where all of the money trees are growing!

Matt Meiklejohn

What's On TOPS?
For regular TOPS News and Info, Subscribe to the OnTOPS Ezine!

Click Here to Manage Your TOPS Subscriptions.

NOW OPEN: Online Support Center!
The TOPS Online Support Center lets you track support tickets, billing minutes and more for your Client ID. Create your account today!

Link to TOPS
Do you have a web site? Link to TOPS Software!