The intensity and rate at which technology disrupts the world and its systems is exponential. In other words, we’ve only touched the surface of its effects and they’ll likely arrive much quicker than any of us anticipate. The tech industry impacts property management and is only just beginning to extend its tentacles. Yet there is a clear direction in its application: amplifying efficiencies and reducing costs.
Self-Showing
If you’ve ever spent your hard-earned weekend showing a property, you’ll appreciate the invention of the self-showing home. Companies allow managers to post their listings across multiple sites and require prospective residents to pre-register if they’re interested in seeing a space. Utilizing a one-time keypad entry code, prospective residents can then see the listing on their own time. This technology not only takes the burden of showing a listing off of managers and agents but also allows prospective residents greater flexibility in exploring their options. According to Rently, 70% of their showings occur after hours and on weekends, greatly increasing the visibility of a listing without any extra effort by the property manager or agent.
Keyless Locks
Another headache-solving technology is the innovation of keyless locks. With keyless locks, the cost of re-keying doors and stress of answering late night calls from locked-out residents disappears. But the real utility, we think, is that with keyless locks, maintenance crews can be granted access to a property without the need for anyone to be home. By eliminating the task of coordinating the timing of crews and residents, managers no longer need to play phone tag with multiple parties and maintenance jobs ultimately get done quicker. That, in turn, increases resident satisfaction and saves managers and their offices time and money.
Package Lockers
If Amazon can use drones to deliver packages, it makes sense to have technology to ease the process of receiving the package, no? Self-service package lockers are that answer. Companies construct and sell electronic lockers with touch screen access, backup-batteries, numerous compartments of differing sizes for residents and cloud-based surveillance. With this technology, there is no longer a need to contact residents about package deliveries, freeing up the time and office space of managers and landlords.
Maintenance Automation
But our favorite innovation in the property management industry — we know, we’re biased — is the introduction of maintenance automation software. With features like a chat application, this technology creates a direct line of communication between residents and maintenance crews, extinguishing the responsibility of a property manager to coordinate between crews and residents. An electronic system of checkpoints and tracking of the maintenance process is also part of this technology, eliminating the need for continued check-ins at each step of the process. With this system, data is accumulated, lending insight into areas where the process can be improved further.
Overall, automation leads to increased efficiency, reduced stress and time spent on small-scale tasks, and more time available for focusing on the big picture, whether that’s expanding your business or simply sitting by a pool enjoying the fruits of your labor.
Oh, and the numbers back us up. In an analysis of our data, we found our automation software reduced the time spent on coordinating maintenance jobs by around 60 percent and increased resident satisfaction by more than 85 percent.
Considering that 46 percent of residents say maintenance was a factor in renewing their lease and 31 percent of residents cite maintenance issues as the reason they left a property — only rent price is a higher determinant of that unwelcome outcome — it’s clear that time isn’t the only thing you’re saving with our software.
