5 Ways Technology Has Made Property Management Easier

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Technology Has Made Property Management Easier

Technology has touched virtually all aspects of our lives, and it didn’t leave property management behind. Today, technology allows landlords to save costs on property management by going DIY, screening tenants, documenting vital information, and collecting rent using software.

Indeed, property management can be pretty time-consuming and demanding. But to fully appreciate how technology has simplified it, we must first understand all it entails.

The challenges of managing a property

Property management refers to the day-to-day maintenance, control, and monitoring of real estate, whether residential or commercial. It involves:

  • Sending notice and collecting rent when due
  • Following up on the latest rental rates
  • Listing the property on rent/lease and screening prospective tenants
  • Preparing lease agreement
  • Conducting routine inspections
  • Calling maintenance and repair specialists when the need arises and following up with their work
  • Paying utility and water bills
  • Documenting all information relevant to the property.

If you’re a landlord, staying on top of things can be a challenge, especially when you have some other business occupying your time. What’s more, 21% of landlords consider finding good tenants among their top three challenges.

Keeping up with rent, documentation, and maintenance can also be challenging, especially when you can’t always visit the property for a look around. Most times, owners hire property managers to take up that entire burden.

Even property managers are looking for ways to make their work easier. Thankfully, there comes technology to the rescue. But let’s not be vague here. How exactly is technology making property management easier?

How technology revolutionizes property management

1. You oversee everything all in one place

Tenant screening, one of the greatest challenges for landlords, is made easy by the use of software these days. There are apps on which prospective tenants can fill a questionnaire to identify whether they’re a good fit.

By matching their answers with preset qualification benchmarks, the system can auto accept or reject applicants without your involvement. But that’s not all. Such landlord software features other capabilities like online rent collection, landlord-tenant communication, and accounting. When you have everything all in one place, it’s easy to stay on top of your game.

2. It makes maintenance easy

Manual property maintenance can be pretty slow. It usually involves the tenants reporting a problem before forwarding the details to a maintenance or repair specialist. Some vital information may be lost in the communication process, and such delays may allow the issue to worsen.

Thankfully, technology has made property management easy by availing property maintenance software for automating maintenance schedules. Using the app, tenants can send their maintenance requests to the landlord or property manager, who then responds and forwards the request to the specialist. The software will contain all your maintenance records, notifying you when inspections or actions are required.

With technology, the flow of communication is more rapid, and data loss is greatly minimized.

3. Monitor your property with ease

Technology has made property management easier by providing robots, CCTV cameras, and mobile apps to watch over your property 24/7. These devices give you remote access to data relevant to the home, and you can comfortably manage such information from your smartphone.

With CCTV installed at vantage points, you can rest easy knowing that whatever happens around the home, you’ll have everything on record. Robotic guards with sensors installed are now used to monitor properties, removing the need for human effort.

4. Reduces the hassle of paperwork

Nobody likes paperwork, not even property managers and landlords. They have to sort through bookshelves and a stack of papers every time a contract, rent/lease, or maintenance needs to be done.

Thankfully, documents can now be accessed digitally using software tools. This facilitates an organized environment where tenants, owners, and managers can read and sign all the paperwork without ever sifting through bundles of papers. What’s more, information is never lost!

5. Technology facilitates data analysis and insights

Data analytics and insights are highly beneficial to any business. By observing patterns, you can make better decisions in the future. Now, there are property management systems with built-in data analytics and insights.

Technology has made it possible to obtain property insights, predict revenue, identify opportunities, and analyze tenant behavior. These things enable property managers to become more efficient as they derive actionable insights toward better decision-making.

No more visiting tenants for rent payment

Imagine never having to visit or call tenants to remind them of payments. Why? Because there’s an app to send notifications as at when due! That said, tenants can make electronic payments using credit cards or PayPal without ever stepping out of their homes.

Furthermore, you can list your property online alongside attractive photos and contact information. Put your property out there without ever stepping out of your home.

Indeed, technology has revolutionized how owners manage their properties.