How Technology Is Transforming Real Estate Property Management

217 views 2019-12-03 08:53:46

Now more than ever, technology is helping landlords and real estate property management companies automate their systems and processes to improve their tenants’ experiences. Your properties are home to people from all walks of life: couples, students, young professionals, families with children, and seniors. Their needs may be diverse, but there’s one strategy that will future-proof your revenue stream for many years to come — cutting-edge, tech-enabled client services. In 2019 and beyond, technology is an essential tool for providing personalised services to tenants without compromising your time, energy or standard business practices.

A number of new technologies in the real estate industry provide straightforward solutions to systematising how properties, buildings, and tenants are managed. Others support the provision of amenities and data to property owners/managers and tenants alike, such as the use of heat sensors to collect data on how workers are moving around in an office environment, and whether it’s the most efficient use of the space they’re leasing.

Effective Property Management with Technology

There is an ongoing seismic shift in the way we utilise data and technology within the real estate industry, with a focus on ease of use and the ability to integrate with existing systems. Here’s how landlords and real estate property management firms can leverage technology to attract and retain high-quality tenants, and efficiently manage and enhance the use of their assets:

1. Boost Efficiency

You will need to free up some of your time in order to focus on building relationships. So figure out where you’re spending the majority of your time, and find opportunities to streamline business processes and automate repetitive tasks. Digital channels such as social media, email, and property management platforms empower owners or property managers to work more efficiently. This frees up more time for those aspects of the business that matter the most. The right technologies will help you stay organised and scale your real estate portfolio or organisation as you grow by leaps and bounds.

Adopt Industry Standard Technologies

According to Buildium’s 2018 Industry Report here, multiple generations of renters prefer the ease of handling their rental processes online. Millennials, in particular, want to be able to pay rent, sign leases, and submit maintenance tickets online. When you offer these options, you’ll be enhancing your tenants’ experiences, and happy tenants are much more likely to renew a lease. Almost two-thirds of Baby Boomers also want to be able to handle their rental processes online.

Streamline Communications

If you’re a property manager, owners want to hear from you on a regular basis. Making use of a property management platform or owner portal will help you keep in touch and improves communication with your clients. More than 50% of property managers provide their clients with access to a real estate property management platform. So if you haven’t, you’ll need to provide one as well, in order to keep pace with your competitors. Providing owners access to real-time information on how their properties are doing gives them peace of mind, builds trust, and solidifies your relationship with them.

2. Build Strong Client-Centric Communities

Technology is able to facilitate more than just streamlining operations in property management. It can bridge gaps and bring people together in closely knit environment. Digital channels and platforms help owners and property managers stay in touch with residents, and create an online community. Strong relationships are essential in an ever-changing market to cultivate client retention and long-term rentals. You can use digital channels to build and maintain your community by sharing photos, setting up discussion boards, and bulletins. Online platforms, such as your Facebook page or real estate property management platform, are the perfect opportunity to foster lasting personal connections. This enables you to anticipate problems long before they occur.

Your online community is a great way to keep owners up-to-date on how you’re taking care of their properties. You can share personalised updates on preventative maintenance, emergency repairs, lease renewals, and other real-time updates.

3. Request Tenant Feedback

Acquiring new renters every year is a time-consuming and costly process. An unleased property tends to lose $40 a day, on average. So when you already have high-quality residents, you’ll want to do everything you can to retain them. Tenants of all ages want to feel at home in their leased properties, thus, it pays to anticipate their needs. As your tenants’ lives change, so will their needs.

As there are more Baby Boomers and Gen X prospects in the rental market, consider offering services that address their specific needs. For instance, aging residents are willing to pay for services such as snow plowing and grocery delivery. You could offer a wide range of additional services and let tenants know what’s available by sharing it on your online community or via official channels.

You can reach out and solicit tenant feedback with technology. Even though face-to-face conversations are important, online feedback allows residents to give their answers more thought. With more detailed and accurate information, you can ensure that the improvements you make to properties will have a proven ROI.

Keeping tenants engaged with personalised services motivates them to stick around, and builds lasting relationships that will sustain and grow your portfolio or business. Thus, your real estate property management platform or app requires a human touch. If you don’t provide your residents with the attention they need, they might start looking at what your competitors have to offer.

Comprehensive Property Management and Social Media Platform

Here at Dream LOT, we offer a free AI-powered property service platform for landlords, tenants, guests, developers, agents, and service providers in Australia. You can easily manage rental properties 24/7 and interact with your tenants, agents, and service providers — all from one user-friendly app.

Download our free property management app here, or ring us now at 1800 568 000 (or 400 186 0061), and we’ll help you get started today.