Education Leadership

Choosing the right lettings software package could make a huge difference to your business. By automating the complex administration involved with keeping landlords and tenants happy, you can save time and money, leaving you free to market your business and focus on your clients.

How can I save time?

Installing good software to manage the administration of your business allows you to reduce the amount of time you spend sorting out landlords, tenants, properties and finances. If you don’t currently have a software solution in place, or you have one that’s been running for several years, you may be frustrated with the length of time you have to spend sorting out paperwork, matching property owners with the people who are renting from them, categorising properties into price bands and keeping track of who’s viewed a property and who has issues that the landlord needs to be contacted about. Running a lettings agency is a complicated and time-consuming business, and installing the right software could allow you to improve your time management by:

Automatically updating all files associated with a single landlord

Giving you full accounting facilities

Integrating diaries, allowing you to issue letters promptly

Speeding up the process of uploading properties to your website

Providing comprehensive reporting for clients

If you think that your time at work would be better spent with clients than with paperwork, then you should consider property rental software for your agency.

How can I save money?

Although there will obviously be a cost associated with acquiring the rental management software, you will make savings in the long run. You may find that you don’t need as many staff for the business to run properly, or that your employees can spend more time marketing properties and securing tenants than they could previously. You may save on staff training costs and on staff turnover, because you are removing the more mundane elements of the job.

The vendor neutral CompTIA A+ exam is one of the few certifications that require passing two exams in order to get certified. The exams needed to be cleared for obtaining this certification are:

A+ Core Hardware

A+ Operating Systems Technology Exam

While the cost of these exams varies between countries, typically each of these exams cost approximately USD $152 each. That’s $304 total. To know the precise cost of the exam in your country, visit the official CompTIA A+ Exam Pricing page.

Before you sit for the exam, make sure that you are prepared well enough to pass the first time. The full exam fee is charged for each re-take so an exam re-take would have financial implications.

While the exam is expensive at $152 each, this is the maximum cost charged to a non-member. A good understanding of various discount options can help to considerably lower the fee.

CompTIA provides discount to corporate members. Members get a discounted price that is typically $120 (or lower). If you are required to take the exam by a corporate employer, ensure that you check with the company regarding the eligibility of corporate membership discount.

Discount options are also available to individual non-member exam takers through coupons known as “vouchers”. Vouchers are a convenient way to pre-pay for the exam at a discounted price. While vouchers can provide a significant cost saving, it is important to have a good understanding about vouchers and how they work. Given below are some essential facts that you should know:

* Vouchers for A+ exam need to be purchased and are rarely ever available for free.

* The A+ exam may be given either at a Pearson VUE center or a Thompson Prometric center. Each organization has it’s own vouchers that can not be redeemed at the other organization. Since the exam price is same at sites of both companies, most students prefer to give the exam at the test center closest to their place.

* Typical saving through a voucher can be 10%-45% of the exam price. With a recent change in CompTIA’s policy typical saving by vouchers is now expected to be around $20.

* All A+ vouchers are pre-paid and not purchased at the test site at the time of exam.

* Much like coupons, vouchers expire and cannot be extended beyond expiration date. Be sure to check the expiry date of the voucher before making a purchase. In general, the closer the expiry date on the voucher, the larger is the discount offered. These high discount vouchers are sometimes also described as “early expiry vouchers” or “short term vouchers”. You MUST register for the exam before the expiry of the voucher to get the discount.

* Vouchers may have limited geographical applicability such as some may be valid only at US and Canadian testing centers whereas others maybe valid internationally.

* Refund or exchange is typically not permitted, so be sure when you make the purchase.

* As per CompTIA requirement vouchers are sold by vendors bundled with study products such as study guides etc

* You can get vouchers either as a electronic copy delivered via email or as a hard copy (delivered via snail mail).

All in all, Comptia A+ exam is expensive but is well worth money even at full price. The large number of benefits raning from increased career opportunities to direct salary raise, make passing the A+ exam a smart investment in both time and money!