Just as in all areas of the real estate industry, technology is changing the landscape of property management. In the past, property management was an in-person, hands-on proposition. Landlords and tenants expected that issues would be dealt with in-person, no matter how trivial. In that, they may have taken a certain comfort knowing that a real person was going to take over and handle the issue.
Landlords and property investors in particular felt relieved knowing that they themselves didn’t need to be present; that they had a proxy who could do the hand holding or listen to the issues facing tenants. The struggle today is that technology can handle many of the hand holding tasks, but the expectation is still rooted in the past. Technology does offer several solutions, however.
The Mobile Solution
Like most industries the expectations for property management services are to be technology and social media savvy. Residents and property investors alike appreciate the connection that they can enjoy with mobile apps that allow them to seamlessly connect with property managers to handle an assortment of needs. Mobile apps for property management allow tenants the convenience of relieving common needs at the click of a button instead of a long, drawn-out conversation over the telephone.
Appointment setting and confirmation can also be conducted over the app with just one or two clicks. For property management and property investors, mobile apps provide written documentation and data automatically to replace the laborious written reports of ages long ago.
Not Everyone Changes
Of course, not everyone is comfortable using mobile apps on their smart phone. Millennials aren’t the only ones renting apartment, townhouses and condominiums. While the cost of technology is always reducing, the cost of gaining a new tenant hasn’t. Keeping older tenants happy is still at the forefront of every good property management company, on behalf of the property investors who hire them.
For those people who require face-to-face interaction from their property management team, it should still be available. Older folks will feel reassured that someone really is coming out to fix the running toilet if they actually speak to a real person on the phone.
But technology comes to the rescue again. Even if the interaction between tenants and property management personnel has to be in person, the interaction between the property management company and the service company needn’t be. With the use of technology, property management companies can schedule maintenance and repair visits for tenants using online scheduling dashboards and follow up report templates.
Having face-to-face interaction will never go out of style. But the convenience that technology has now provided the property management companies won’t either.
Contact SOS Management & Property Services
Local: (858) 273-8800
