Property Management Automation Benefits Property Managers

Read time: 3 minutes

Property management software helps proprietors with: 

Facility and maintenance requests
Neighbor complaints and other complaint management issues
Landscaping issues
Leases and lease renewals 
Inspections and other scheduled issues
Tenant on and offboarding
Asset management
Utility billing, accounting, and rent collection

If you’ve ever owned a house, a car, or a business, you’ll know your property requires a lot of upkeep. Property ownership involves a lot of moving parts. Property management involves even more responsibility.

After all, you’re the primary contact for all staff, residents, leasing agents, and contractors working on or with the property you oversee. If you manage a casino, something as simple as setting up a meeting room can turn into a lengthy process. And if you’re managing a vacation rental with a high turnover, you’ll find yourself exceptionally busy during the peak season.

For those of you veterans in the business, you know precisely the property management services you need to provide: accounting, rent collection, maintenance requests, marketing on multiple platforms, utility billing, leases (and a host more we didn’t get to in this list!)

What if we told you there’s a way to automate all these functions so you can effortlessly provide these services to your tenants?

Sure, no software can do it all—but customization options in property management software bring you pretty darn close.

Getting Software to Manage Property: What Would You Rather Pay For?

The nice thing about property management software is that you can match it to your needs, like shoes to a suit. Many software companies in the property management space hire developers to write a custom tool for you, automating how you manage tenant complaints, resolve a broken heater issue, or handle a leasing agreement.

Of course, getting the right custom tool presents you with a cost-to-time tradeoff. A purpose-built software solution is ready to go when you are. But it might not answer your greatest tenancy needs. That’s the moment many property managers consider hiring a dev team for themselves! 

But with the cost differential, can you afford to pay that much? And why would you want to when another highly effective answer is available and much cheaper?

Some repetitive services are accomplished better with AI tools. And certain software providers can capably—and cheaply—give you the best of either world, whether you use purpose-built property management software or work with a team to customize your own.

As a niche sector with specific needs, property management may require a slightly more expensive software solution than, say, generic complaint management software. But compared to the cost of a human property manager who grosses up to $70K per year…let’s just say the cost of automation wins out.

Even Issuetrak’s property management software costs $75 per month when hosted on our cloud. Where could you find a property manager or assistant at that price point?

Will Property Management Be Automated? Here are 3 Ways

We won’t discredit the power of having a human element in property management services. It’s likely your best bet to use a property manager who supplements their service with property management software. 

A number of our Issuetrak insiders have had experience with property management in the past. We asked them about the top services they preferred to automate while managing their tenant agreements.

1. Complaint Management

Transferring complaints through a platform would have greatly benefited our Assistant Controller, Vicky Aldridge. When asked about her primary concern, she immediately responded with, “please, just don’t call my cell.” An interconnected email-to-ticket system would have helped her manage complaints in order of priority, reducing the headaches she’d have to face with handling it all.

2. Maintenance Issues

At the end of a humid summer, no one wants HVAC sucking the mildew from their walls. But at times, it must be done. And you wouldn’t want to wait for a complaint (or worse, a summons) to know your property needed THIS kind of maintenance—would you?

Instead of spending physical energy inspecting and scheduling check-ins, wouldn’t it be nice to have tasks like these routinized for you? COO Taylor Ross thought so when she didn’t hesitate to list maintenance issues as her first pick of the lot to automate.

3. On and Offboarding

A reliable task manager is perhaps the most apparent benefit of property management software. There are precise, by-rote procedures in the property management sphere with zero tolerance for missteps. (Take the process of evictions, for example.) Tenant on and offboarding also has its routine, including credit checks, reference checks, inspections, and more. 

A task manager keeps the list of ongoing tasks for you, so you can ditch the outdated black book you’ve been using to keep records. Not to mention it helps keep you in legal check.

 

With ballooning property businesses like AirBnB and Vrbo—which show no signs of backing down—the future of property management will need to expand, too. And automating some of your burdens by using property management software will help you out during this expansion.

More sectors opt for digital functionality day by day, and property ownership is not exempt. Functions of the property management future will follow the automation route in due time. The question is, are you ready to grow with automation, too?