Preventing landlord headaches due to computer trouble

No matter what kind of business you're in, computer files are likely to be critical to the success of your company. They're an electronic record of your business, a history of what you have accomplished. As a result, they're more valuable than gold to you and your organization.

Computer files are especially important when it comes to the business of buying, rehabbing, and selling houses. While much of the work of the company takes place in the field, detailed records must be maintained. And it's important that you be able to have access to these records, even if your computers go down.

For the sake of the company, then, files must absolutely be protected. That means following a specific process for storing files off-site. If such a process is followed, you can rest easy, knowing that your documents are secure.

For this particular company, each individual's computer backs up to the server. A staff member then takes a DVD and places it in the server. The staffer then goes to the software that is loaded onto the computer and clicks that person's saved files and burns them onto a DVD. In this way, you can save everyone's work throughout the week.

And, if there are any problems with an individual computer, you can go back and recover all the saved files. Ideally, this particular back-up should occur weekly, so that you don't go for a long period of time without backing up your files.

The DVDs are then taken to a secure location off-site to be stored. In this way, if a fire or a flood should ruin your PCs, you still have access to the files you have stored off the premises. You may think that computer back-up is an unnecessary task. After all, when you're buying and selling houses, you are busy doing a multitude of other tasks. Taking time out to back up your files may seem like wasted energy. But, if you've ever had an occasion where you've lost access to your computer, you know how chaotic the situation can be.

The bottom line is that you should take time to back up your computer files as often as you possibly can. It is, in fact, a safeguard against disaster. Once such computer back-ups have become routine, you probably won't think twice about it. And you will be doing your company, your clients, and your contractors a tremendous favor.

About The Author E. Alan Cowgill is the owner of Colby Properties, LLC. and President of Integrity Home Buyers, Inc. Since 1995, Alan has bought and sold hundreds of single family and/or small multi-family investment properties in Springfield, Ohio. Alan uses Private Lenders, not banks, to fund his real estate purchases. By doing this, he has created his own private bank of $2,000,000 in funds. Alan looks for situations where the seller, the lender, and the eventual homeowner can all "Win". He is not a Realtor, but a Private Investor, author, consultant and national speaker. He has been asked to speak on the topics of 'Investing for the Beginning Investor.' and 'Finding Private Lenders.' His home study system, 'Private Lending Made Easy', shows new and seasoned real estate investors how to find private lenders for their own real estate business. His website is http://www.truthaboutprivatelending.com