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Efficient and effective residential property management is hinged on the expectations of residents and the capabilities of managers. The key challenge is bridging the two – a task that has become increasingly difficult and complex due to COVID-19.
It’s no secret that the rapid onset of the new normal has caught some residential property managers off guard, resulting in less than ideal experiences for residents. Thankfully, there’s no shortage of helpful tech trends that property managers can turn to in order to meet the needs, expectations, and challenges brought on by the new normal. We will look at two key areas that cover a wide range of tech trends within property management.
The key to using tech that’s future proof is to ensure that your tech solutions are able to integrate with other 3rd party solutions. This is a crucial aspect of any type of property management technology. As Nathaniel Kunes of the Forbes Real Estate Council writes, a surefire way to do this is to embrace the rapid digital transformation of the world, which can drag a lot of traditional property management tasks into the 21st century. Allowing residents to pay their bills through online platforms for instance eliminates a lot of the legwork that both residents and managers need in order to settle the regular task of processing bills. Today, rental applications and leasing forms can also be processed digitally. Even just familiarizing yourself with the messaging apps preferred by residents can make the communication aspect of property management much easier.
Digital technology is fast becoming the future of all business, with its continuous development being pursued by top tech companies and universities. Indeed, today’s tech-inclined universities are basing their courses around innovation in digital and mobile technologies – as well as their various applications across all types of business. Maryville University’s online computer science programs were rewarded by tech giant Apple for their innovations in digital development, a clear indication of how prominent digital technology now is in business education.
Many of those entering the real estate industry from higher education would have covered these new developments and will be able to apply them to their companies. And by hitching on the bandwagon of property management technology, innovation, and knowledge, you can more easily communicate with residents, settle recurring bills with ease, or manage rental applications from the comfort of your computer.
An investment in digital is an investment in integrative technologies that can adapt to any property management challenges the future has in store. In fact, these are just some of the many tasks that can be more easily tackled through today’s emerging digital property management technologies.
Also called physical distancing, social distancing has been proven to be an effective way to curtail the pandemic’s rapid spread. This has made the need for social distancing a constant throughout residential property management.
From the safe and continued use of common areas to the efficient management of deliveries to residents, social distancing takes center stage – necessitating a lot of added paperwork in the process. Indeed, logistics companies like UPS and FedEx have begun hiring additional staff as a preemptive measure against potential holiday delivery delays – an aftermath of the pandemic-related surge in online shopping throughout the year. For property managers, responding to this challenge means adapting new ways for residents to receive their packages in a timely manner – all while minimizing foot traffic and maintaining social distancing throughout the building.
This is where Concierge Plus’ online resident experience management software can help. Through our centralized digital platform, property managers can automate the way residents receive any deliveries, such as getting instant notifications through mobile texts or even automated calls once packages arrive at the building. The interface can also be customized to denote specific times or in-building locations for pick-up, which can be used to further enforce social distancing even during the busiest delivery times. Integrated with smart parcel providers like Snaile, the process can be further automated and made more convenient for residents, property managers, and delivery personnel alike. Furthermore, the efficient management of deliveries throughout the property is just one task that can be automated through this type of software. Others include the building’s pet registry, incident reports, service requests, common area reservations, board announcements, and many other aspects of management that can be automated through a centralized interface. And because the platform digitally records residents’ transaction history, you can also remove unmanageable physical paperwork from the equation, as well as provide greater transparency for residents.
It’s not that difficult to identify which tech trends can actually help you to address the new challenges of residential property management. The key is to look for technology that can automate and streamline your manual processes, ride the tide of digital transformation, integrate with 3rd party suppliers, and promote transparency between residents and building management. This is especially true if the residential properties you manage were hit hard by COVID-19. In the face of the massive new challenges that accompany the new normal, investing in the right technologies can give you the tools you need to keep your residents safe, happy, and satisfied.
Tags: Management News
by Concierge Plus
COVID-19 is on everyone’s minds right now, and its impacts will be felt for many months to come.
By talking to property managers across North America every day, we have found what’s working and what’s needed to operate your community remotely and virtually.
COVID-19 has accelerated the shift towards a digital transformation of property management businesses. Our guide will help you better understand how to operate your community remotely and virtually.
Get your free guide now and learn about:
We have published this guide to help managers and board members better understand how to serve their residents without being physically present.
Tags: Management News, Member HighlightsMaintaining a positive resident experience throughout the pandemic and post-pandemic will require help from technology made specifically for property management.
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the day-to-day operations of our industry across North America, forcing us to dramatically alter our working methods and approach. Property managers have had to adapt and respond quickly to unprecedented operational challenges that make managing communities on-site impractical in a post-COVID-19 environment.
Many industry leaders expect their workforce to become permanent work-from-home employees after the pandemic ends, leaving no choice but to adopt tech or risk permanent closure.
Resident experience management software can help, but choosing the right solution requires a 5 step process and understanding of how technology is changing.
The first step is to map out the tasks that your staff need to do. It can be challenging to figure out what tasks even need to be mapped out. Tasks carried out by staff differ from association to association. From handling packages and screening visitors to dealing with service requests and processing amenity bookings. For each one of these tasks you must find a process that is efficient and works well not only for your team but also for the residents to alleviate frustration.
Question: Who can help you map these tasks out?
Answer: You can engage your property management team, a committee, or board members to help you understand what tasks need to be optimized.
The next step is to come up with the processes needed to handle each of the tasks. In the past this was cost-prohibitive. Only large associations or those with big budgets could afford to do something like this.
Question: Where do you start optimizing each task?
Answer: Begin by understanding what parts of the task are most time consuming or frustrating to residents. For example: if residents can’t access the availability of your amenities from wherever they are, at any time, they are more likely to be frustrated and less likely to make a booking. This will result in lost revenue for the association.
You need to work with someone who has done this before and has been successful at creating efficiencies within associations. This is the only way you will come up with an optimal process. There are consultants you can hire that offer services to associations along these lines.
The next step is to train the management team and all your staff. Training videos are extremely effective at explaining processes to team members and will save managers significant time.
Question: Who will train your team and ensure they are following the established processes?
Answer: Videos and online tutorials will help familiarize existing team members with the new process. This same content will be shown to new team members to facilitate their training and ensure everyone gets the same information. Making sure that every team member is following each established process is critical to ensure a consistent experience for residents and that no details are lost.
Next, you need to educate residents on the available tools and how to use them. Using a platform to house community content allows property managers to communicate more effectively with residents.
Question: Who will explain this to your residents?
Answer: Residents are already busy with their everyday lives. They need to have a quick understanding of where to go and what to do to accomplish these interactions. A single, easy-to-use, intuitive platform will help ensure that all residents know what to do.
Finally, you and your team need to execute the tasks.
Technology has developed significantly in the past five years and has become a huge time saver for property managers.
Question: What type(s) of technology do you need for these tasks, and what is currently out there?
Answer: Here are some suggestions for technology you will need to acquire to accomplish this. You will need to organize your resident information with a spreadsheet (Microsoft Office 365 and/or Google Sheets). You can create another sheet to record packages and deliveries, and their pick-up/drop-off information. You’ll need to be able to reach residents by email with important announcements using Constant Contact, MailChimp, or a similar platform. Service requests will require you to use an online form from Survey Monkey. You can create an additional form on Survey Monkey for each amenity you want to be able to have residents book online. Amenities will also need a shared calendar: a Gmail account will allow you to do that.
We don’t recommend the above as your association needs to leverage technology to save time, money, and be more modern. Reducing the number of manual interactions your team must do daily will enable them to save hundreds of hours each month.
Temporary closures are on the rise because of the lack of communication with residents and staff. While Microsoft Office 365, and MailChimp are popular solutions you might think to try, they aren’t built for the needs and challenges of property management.
We recommend using a resident experience management platform that is designed and built from the ground up, specifically for managers and residents, with the needs of property management industry in mind.
The benefits of such a platform are many:
Unfortunately, most managers are struggling with delivering great resident experiences as they don’t have a proper platform designed to fulfill their needs. What they have is either a static website or multiple tools that aren’t suited for managing a community, but as we are entering a post-pandemic environment with social distancing taking off, they need a resident experience management platform designed for managing modern HOAs and Condominiums.
Our best-in-class resident management platform is designed to make life easier for Front Desk and Building Staff, Residents, and Property Managers. Our web-based, modular solution is fully scalable and customized to meet the needs of any sized community. It also saves time and money while delivering better customer service to residents and board members.
Tags: Management News, Members Articles
COVID-19 has reshaped the way that we approach many aspects of our lives, and in many cases, has redetermined how we view and manage our spaces, homes and properties. Given the increased attention to how a virus can spread through contact and surfaces, in the reopening process real estate professionals and property managers will have to determine how to ensure that properties are safe so that the virus cannot be easily spread. Below, we’ll discuss how managing properties will change after lockdown ends and we all begin to assimilate to a new sense of normalcy.
According to the CDC, guidelines for cleaning public spaces, schools, and businesses will drastically improve in the wake of COVID-19. For property managers, a proper supply of EPA approved disinfectants will be essential in combination with regular soap and water cleaning measures. All surfaces must be disinfected more regularly, as will smaller surfaces that people touch such as elevator buttons and keypads. Furthermore, property managers will have to make their cleaning procedures transparent to everyone who accesses the property, there will be demand from residents to know which measures are being put in place to protect them. Inspections will also increase to keep everyone accountable as the hysteria around the virus declines with time.
For property managers with vacant units, they’ll still look to show the units through socially distanced as well as in-person showings. However, there will likely be instances where potential residents aren’t comfortable traveling to the new space, so remote showings, and virtual question and answer sessions can become more valuable than ever. There are many online platforms that can help property managers with remote showings as well as to streamline their communications with current residents.
At present, the government has encouraged property managers to halt evictions as many Americans struggle both with their health and their finances. Thus, property managers will likely alter eviction policies going into the future to allow for emergency aid and consider how to provide relief with late fees on rent.
Technology has become of the utmost importance for realtors and property managers during COVID-19. As previously mentioned, it’s essential to become comfortable with navigating an online platform for showing and tours, as many potential residents will feel uncomfortable being in a space with others.
Mastery of an online platform will also aid in communication between residents and the manager, and workflows that help route requests to the right person on the team will help the manager navigate the increased number of concerns during this period. Discussion forums can also be leveraged to ensure the residents continue to have a sense of community as well as reach out about concerns with each other.
COVID-19 is going to change policy in every way, shape, and form, but that doesn’t mean the property managers should have to struggle. Through increased sanitation and disinfecting programs, updated eviction policies, and proper proactive use of technology, the role of a property manager will continue to evolve through the end of the lockdown and into the future.