Managing a rental property can be an overwhelming job. It can involve juggling several business operations, from tracking rent payments to addressing maintenance requests.
With property management software, many of these tasks can be automated. This helps to alleviate the stress on property managers and increase productivity. Here are some of The Benefits of Property Management Software: 1. Streamlined Operations.
- Streamlined Operations
Choosing, comparing, evaluating, testing and selecting the right property management software for your company is a complex process. The best property management software acts to streamline workflows, integrate tasks and reduce errors so that you can run your business in a professional manner.
Typically, real estate software features structured workflows for accounting, maintenance, inspection, communication and reporting. They also offer automation that helps simplify tasks, mitigate the risk of human error and save time.
Other property management software benefits include the ability to track income and expenses by rental property. This allows managers to spot trends in profitability and improve management practices to increase revenue. Some systems even store contact information for each tenant, so that you can personalize communications and remember important details like birthdays.
- Increased Efficiency
Getting the right property management software requires some work. Find a solution that offers a free trial and take the time to use it, evaluating workflows to ensure your staff can easily navigate the platform. Then you’ll be able to compare and assess how much it will cost to develop a custom solution that is tailored to your needs.
You’ll be able to reduce paperwork and online file clutter, as well as save on processing fees with features like online rental payments and applications. Tenants and owners can access documents like lease agreements, rules, and inspection reports in real time, which eliminates the need for a lot of phone calls on both ends. This also helps with transparency and accountability, as records are easier to keep track of when they’re online.
- Increased Revenue
Managing property is time-consuming and can result in costly errors. But with the right software, property managers can increase their scalability and profitability.
Some property management software providers offer a range of extra services, such as implementation, training and support. These may be billed separately, included in a one-time “onboarding” package or bundled into monthly software fees.
Another popular feature is revenue management, which helps property managers increase rents for vacant units. For example, it might suggest increasing the move-in date for a prospective resident to help them secure a lease sooner. It can also help a property manager reduce expenses, such as by pricing their properties more competitively. For more information on IBM’s position in the property management market, check out SkyQuest Technology’s report.
- Increased Customer Satisfaction
Property management software often includes services for automated leasing and accounting that save landlords time, improve business performance, achieve continuous compliance, and reduce work load for staff. Landlords and property managers value these core software services as well as any bells and whistles that make their job easier, especially in a time of tighter margins for the industry.
Some PMS platforms also provide a platform for tenants to submit maintenance requests and allow them to pay rent online, streamlining the process for all parties involved. This increases tenant satisfaction and builds a strong, open communication between tenants and landlords or their property management companies. Some of these systems offer automation to send reminders through email or text messages and to schedule rental payments automatically to help prevent late rent payment issues.
- Reduced Risk
Having all of your data in one place will help you cut out the time spent tracking down important dates like rent reviews, lease expiries, tenant screening, inspections and property maintenance. This will allow you to keep up with your business and increase customer satisfaction.
Most software companies will offer a free trial or demo version to test out the product. Most will also offer a cloud software option to allow clients to access the system from anywhere. This is becoming increasingly important as workers shift to remote working and will be a key feature in 2023.
Some platforms will also allow you to track contact information for prospective tenants so that you can market to them once they have shown interest in a property. This can help you to reduce your vacancy rate and improve tenant retention.
