Technology has made property management so much easier and more efficient than ever before. Experts say that with the latest property management software and apps, companies can boost their productivity and efficiency by nearly half. These technological advancements have also become necessities because property residents have come to expect and rely on them to interact with property managers.
Property management software and apps help property managers stay on top of their tasks, like screening tenants, tracking payments, fielding requests, and collecting documents. If you want your business to grow, your list of properties to expand, and your tenants to be satisfied with your services, you need to utilize these technologies.
Here are some of the most common ways technological advancements help property managers become more efficient:
Online banking and rent collection
Whether you’re a part-time landlord or a property manager handling hundreds of units, your job will be made much easier if you use property management software that lets you collect rent online. With this tool, you can view and record rent payments and payment histories. You can then automatically incorporate the payment information to your company’s accounting software.
Complete rental management
Rental management software automates many of the repetitive tasks that a property manager handles. Aside from rent collection, these processes include drafting and collecting tenant application forms, tenant screening, credit checking, accounting, handling maintenance requests, and even marketing.
If you use these tools, you free up time that can otherwise be used to focus on tenants, properties, and growing your business.
Data visualization
Property management involves handling massive amounts of information. Thankfully, there is software that utilize artificial intelligence to create data analytics and visualizations out of your real estate documents. Data visualization tools also help property managers and real estate agents market property by letting potential buyers or tenants walk around a virtual version of an existing space.
Tenant screening
One of the best uses of rental management software is for conducting comprehensive tenant screenings and credit checks. These tools can provide rental history, employment history, and other relevant information. They can even provide criminal background checks and eviction checks.
Some property management tools can also help you draft custom leases so that you can easily add a clause when you’re not sure how to correctly word it. Many of these services also handle digital document signing.
Document management
Property managers collect and deal with mountains of paperwork. Nowadays, document collection and management can be easily automated. Instead of continually following up with your tenants about providing certain documents, you can rely on technology to do it for you. It saves you time, energy, and resources.
Online surveys
Instead of having tenants submit satisfaction surveys by mail, you can draft a survey online and send it to them via email. The information collected is then easily visualized and analyzed for quick interpretation. Because all the tenants need to do is click or tap, this tool significantly increases the response rate and gives you a better idea of their satisfaction with your services.