Automated technology usage is on the rise everywhere, and that includes the rental business. In fact, property management automation is no longer a nice to have, it's a need to have for many landlords and property managers. From streamlining rent collection to tracking accounting and financial reporting, automation offers a wide range of benefits.
With automated tools, you can transform your entire property management workflow, leading to more efficiency and accuracy over the long term. However, there are many aspects to consider before diving in.
In this TenantCloud guide, will help property managers understand when and how to automate workflows in the real estate arena.
TL;DR
Automated tools can transform your property management processes, but you must take care with tool selection and rollouts to achieve the desired results.
Why Automate Manual Tasks as a PM?
When managing a real estate portfolio, property managers (PMs) don’t simply market a property and then have a tenant pay to live there. These tasks are more complex, covering a wide range of responsibilities. Traditionally speaking, manual tasks may include the following:
- Tenant screening
- Rent collection
- Property maintenance
- Lease management and communication
- Legal compliance
- Financial organization
- Administration and document management
This can be a lot of work without property management automation. By switching from manual processes to automated efforts, you can boost productivity, free up time to grow your portfolio, and reduce the chance of human error.
With automation, you also benefit from 24/7 operations, consistent accuracy, and better scalability as opposed to manual steps and tasks.
Choosing Automated Property Management Systems
If you'd like to start automating your property manager tasks, one of the easiest ways is using the right property management software. As these platforms now offer built-in automation tools from rent collection to rental listings, you should have plenty of options that align with your needs.
Here are some tips on choosing the right system for you:
- Reduce repetitive tasks: Often the best areas to automate include repetitive tasks like late fees, owner distributions, and lead management.
- List top features: Think of the most important features and make sure they're included in the software you choose.
- Scalability: Choose a platform that offers flexible plans and is designed to grow with you.
- Cost: Evaluate the total costs, including unit fees, monthly fees, setup costs, and any other add-ons you may need to make sure the ones you're interested in fit your budget.
Pro tip: TenantCloud automates rent collection, late fees, rent reminders, listings, lease templates, and tenant communication for a single, flat fee (yearly or monthly). No hidden fees.
Single Automated Property Management System vs. Best-of-Breed
While there are many property management software solutions on the market, they can ultimately be split into two categories - single automated property management systems and best-of-breed tools.
A best-of-breed tool is designed with one specific task in mind, but sets out to be the most effective solution at what it does. Conversely, a single automated property management system is an all-in-one platform that provides everything you need under one roof.
There are positives and negatives for each option, meaning there is no one right option for all. The following table should give you an indication of what might work for you:
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
Single Automated Property Management System |
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|
Best-Of-Breed Software Solutions |
|
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Core Automation Tools and Integrations
An estimated 40% of landlords are currently losing money on their investment. Automation can help reduce those risks. Let's go over a few examples of what you can expect to automate in your proerty management workflows.
Maintenance Requests
Maintenance management is essential for keeping happy tenants, a well maintained property, and compliance with fair housing act requirements. By automating the entire maintenance management platform, you can increase tenant communication and expectations as well as enhance maintenance coordination to get repairs done faster.
Problems can surface in a rental property at any moment, and quick responses are necessary. With manual processes, tenants are limited to communications during work hours. But systems with a 24/7 service request portal can keep every request in a queue, so everyone is in the loop of what step is next.
Online Rent Collection
Collecting rent is one of the most important tasks facing any landlord. Timely rental payments keep cashflow in a healthy state while allowing you to avoid disagreements and legal battles. An all in one platform can automate all aspects of rent collection to create smoother situations for tenants and property owners alike.
Automated Clearing House (ACH) payment options allow for bank-to-bank transfers and are often cheaper than credit card payment processing and other wire transfers. They do, however, take up to 3 business days to settle. So, some landlords will want an automated platform that offers card payments to tenants too.
Landlords should look to make life easier for tenants by using automated tools that can allow tenants to schedule their payments as a direct debit. Software should also send automated notifications and late fees. When the system also includes bank reconciliation to ensure internal statements line up with bank records, success is assured.
Lease Renewals and Tenant Communication
The lease renewal process is another key part of property operations, not least because it may actively reduce tenancy turnover rates. A system that schedules automated renewal renewals improves tenant communication while saving you from contacting them manually to understand their intentions.
An all in one platform for automated property management can be used to create a lease agreement using a template, which saves a lot of time for landlords. Similar templates, potentially utilizing incentives like a discount for early renewal confirmations, can be used to generate e-sign lease renewals.
Segmented communication flows can be automated too. This way, landlords can easily manage different aspects of tenant communication without ambiguity.
Property Inspections and Compliance
When dealing with a rental property, compliance regulations relating to living standards are a little stricter than in your own home. Therefore, a regular rental property inspection must be completed to satisfy legal requirements and help maintain tenant happiness. Whether annually or quarterly, property management automation can schedule these for you.
Moreover, automation systems can schedule inspections triggered by a tenant’s end of agreement. It is the first step to ensuring that your rental property will be in great condition for prospective tenants.
Standardized digital checklists for inspections can be supported by time-stamped photos for audit trails. Meanwhile, all inspection records can be automatically stored within the all in one systems document management files. This keeps the inspection details of each real estate asset safely organized.
Document Management and Administrative Tasks
As a landlord, the right software allows you to add lease templates, enable e-signatures, and automate invoice generation processes. Meanwhile, cloud document management workflows bring a layer of versatility for all parties involved.
The individual steps may not feel overly impactful but reducing manual processes around filing will save you many hours, especially if you have a large portfolio.
Accounting Automation and Financial Reporting
Property management companies can use accounting automation and financial reporting within their software to complete a range of tasks. This includes connecting bank feeds, automating reconciliation, generating owner statements, tracking expenses by property, and scheduling recurring report exports.
Aside from saving time, it removes human error to ensure that the finances add up while meeting all industry requirements. The fact that property management software can integrate with many third-party systems promotes optimal performance levels.
Incoming and outgoings benefit from automated organization. For landlords still recovering from the financial fallout of the pandemic, this step makes a huge difference.
When Not to Automate: Manual Processes to Keep (For Now)
Automated property management software simplifies and streamlines many aspects of the business. Yet, its goal is to support landlords and teams rather than replace them entirely. Some situations require human judgment while tenants may be comforted by working with the landlord rather than AI too. Some examples include;
- Using manual review for dispute resolutions
- Handling on-site inspections for complex repairs
- Completing manual vendor negotiations for large contracts
Implementation Roadmap: How to Rollout Automation
Property management workflow automation can change your business. However, transitioning to automated systems can feel disruptive.
Start by mapping out current manual processes and setting phased rollout goals. From here, you can determine which elements (from tenant screening to rent collection) should be automated first to deliver the best results.
1. Audit Manual Processes
To audit manual processes, you must list every task that you currently complete as a landlord or property owner. The goal is to highlight inventory tasks that are repetitive, identify bottlenecks, and identify compliance gaps.
When you understand which aspects of your current manual processes need the most attention, it will guide your next steps.
2. Define Outcomes and KPIs
Define your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), such as collection rates, vacancy times, or income.
Other outcomes could include maintenance response times and how quickly faults are fixed. Once you know what you want to achieve, implementing automation tools becomes easier.
3. Select Automation Tools
Whether you take the all-in-one platform route or build a tech stack of best-of-breed solutions, it’s vital that you shortlist automation tools by workflow. Tools should reflect your specific goals and rental properties for smooth implementation and superior outcomes.
4. Pilot and Iterate
Before a complete rollout across all properties, it’s best to run a pilot on a subset of properties. You should then collect performance data on a weekly basis and adjust rules based on pilot feedback.
It may take a few iterations or a little trial and error to truly master the process. However, data-driven decisions will make it a seamless transition.
5. Train Staff and Owners
The success of a rollout will also depend on how employees utilize automation systems. You can create role-based training sessions and publish step-by-step user guides to help all relevant workers get the most out of each newly introduced automation tool.
When you schedule meetups or webinars for early adopters, teams can get more out of property management automation systems while tenants will see benefits too.
Measuring Success and Avoiding Pitfalls
Many property owners and landlords fall into the trap of thinking their adoption of automation tools signals a job well done. In reality, you need to keep measuring success while actively looking for continued improvements.
The key steps to moving the adoption of automated tools in the right direction include
- Monitoring KPI trends monthly
- Auditing logs for automation errors
- Running quarterly automation reviews
- Updating rules to reduce false positives
Even keeping an eye on a few trends above can improve your property management processes and give you a clearer direction for the future.
Conclusion and Next Steps
Workflow automation can save you time and money throughout the leasing process. Implement automation tools gradually for best success.
TenantCloud is an all-in-one property management platform, automating everything from property inspections and document management to maintenance scheduling and rent collection.
To see what TenantCloud can do for your property business, sign up today!
Property Management Automation FAQs
Is property management automation useful for all landlords?
Yes. Even if you only host one real estate asset currently, property management automation helps maximize profitability while also reducing the physical and mental load of manual tasks.
Do I have to be a tech expert to utilize automated tools?
Absolutely not. Automation tools are designed with user-friendly interfaces and intuitive features. From adopting the tech to making the most of modern data, simplicity is assured.
Can TenantCloud solutions evolve with my needs?
Of course. With multiple tiers of services available, you can select a package that suits you now before adapting to reflect evolving needs as your rollout progresses and portfolio expands.
