In the US, over 325,000 property management firms are devoted to assisting in the property management and rental process. But what if technology could help landlords save on outsourced property management fees?

What is property management technology? How will it impact the blossoming future of the property rental business?

Read on for a deep dive into the fascinating evolution of property management technology—where it started, where it is now, and what the future of renting looks like with advancements in this field.

What Is Property Management Technology?

Property management technology refers to any tool property owners use to make renting commercial and residential properties easier.

Many landlords have full-time jobs and other commitments that render them unable to effectively manage properties themselves – or they simply have too many renters to cover all landlord duties without assistance effectively. This is why they rely on property management tools, such as:

• Accounting software to manage their books and rental payments.
• Reporting tools to handle maintenance requests and tenant complaints.
• Legal software to manage contracts and legal property documents
• Cloud-based security platforms for managing all security data on a single interface.

With these tools to automate processes and unify property data, landlords can free up time to focus on other things and make the management of multiple properties and a plethora of tenants easier.

How Did Property Management Systems Start?

Property management started as a bare-bones spreadsheet system. All information was entered into spreadsheets – tenant information, accounting data, maintenance costs, budgets, etc.

It’s safe to say, this system was ineffective. This is why a few software aficionados identified the need for something better. It began with hotels. Hotels have many different guests and rooms, and the need for an advanced API was very apparent.

This is why tools were developed to allow guest information, accounting details, maintenance information, and booking information to be stored on a single platform with a more user-friendly interface than raw spreadsheets. 

The tool was then adapted for broader property management functions, allowing multifamily, residential, and commercial landlords to easily manage their responsibilities with reduced manual input and less overwhelm.

What Are The Latest Property Management Tech Developments?

What trends and technologies should we be adopting to stay ahead of the curve in the modern climate? Let’s take a look.

eSigning

Moving home is stressful, and making time for viewings and various appointments can be challenging for full-time workers. By implementing eSigning, you can ensure your tenants don’t need to move their schedule around to initiate their rental contract agreement.

They can simply sign via email on their phone, laptop, or computer upon receiving the agreement, so long as they have an available witness.

The eSigning process also allows the landlord to sign from anywhere, which is a bonus for landlords who rent homes abroad or in a different state. Once signed, keeping track of your contracts will be easier as they will be in digital format.

Automated Rent Collection

One of the most time-consuming tasks related to landlord duties is collecting rent from tenants – and sending them reminders when rent is due or they miss a payment. Sending these reminders manually becomes a chore and takes up time that could be focused on other tasks like hiring contractors for maintenance requests.

With automated rent collection apps, you can automate the sending of reminders and allow tenants to pay their rent using an online portal. This way, you don’t need to cash checks or collect cash every month to deposit into your business account.

When a certain number of reminders have been sent to a tenant, and they still haven’t made a rental payment, you will receive an alert allowing you to intervene and take disciplinary action using the right legal channels.

3D Online Property Viewings

The property viewing process consumes a lot of time and money in the form of real estate fees. You can automate the property viewing process by providing 3D and augmented reality property viewings for potential tenants. This makes your properties more accessible for those moving areas and allows people to view the property in its entirety from anywhere.

No open houses, no scheduled viewings, just offers based on remote viewing. It also reduces the likelihood of potential tenants performing casual viewings – they will have a fuller understanding of what the property is like and won’t be perturbed by anything they see in person.

Summary

Property management is getting easier. It may have all started with convoluted spreadsheets and overwhelming systems. However, cloud-based and automated solutions allow landlords to manage their properties effortlessly – and still have time for a full-time job.

Becoming a landlord shouldn’t consume all of your time, and it doesn’t have to. Thanks to the latest developments in property technology.