There’s no doubt about it: People love their cellphones. One study found that participants used their phones more than five hours per day. We rely on mobile capabilities for nearly everything in our day-to-day lives — including our businesses.
In the real estate sector there are many obvious ways in which mobile can make a strong impact. The ability to work on the go is quite literally part of a real estate professional’s job. And regarding property management, never has there been more opportunity for mobile to reshape workflows than there is now. Property management is a huge component of the real estate industry and one that most people may not think of as digitized — but many firms, including mine, are striving to change that.
Mobile capabilities are so comprehensive in property management that they’re changing the lives of real estate investors, giving them more flexibility and efficiency, while opening up a whole new world of marketing, maintenance, collections options and more.
A More Productive And Profitable Business
Mobile ultimately enables property managers to serve tenants more effectively, while streamlining their day-to-day processes.
Maintenance is the crux of property management — it’s one of the key tenant-facing tasks property managers should deal with on a daily basis. A switch to mobile communications via text messages or automated emails can help landlords alleviate some of the tenant stress around maintenance requests. Residents are happy to stay in the loop with the next steps regarding their work orders, and property managers can access new requests in real time while out in the field. This cuts back on time and resources allocated to maintenance. It also reduces tenant follow-up since, through mobile, they can receive consistent maintenance updates.
Mobile inspections are another game-changer in property management. Property managers used to have to bring all inspection materials and photos back to the office to file reports, work through notes and upload images. If they adopt mobile inspections, however, they can simply create an entire report through mobile, even dictating notes to the phone while surveying the property. The amount of mundane administrative tasks associated with inspections decreases dramatically, giving time back to property managers to focus on more immediate needs — like marketing vacancies and completing maintenance requests.Reshaping Consumer Expectations
Mobile usage is so much a part of our everyday life that it has changed tenant expectations. Take the millennial generation, for example. There is a strong likelihood that a millennial tenant doesn’t even own a checkbook because they do their banking online and in apps. The convenience of paying rent with a mobile device is something they have come to expect. Now, tools are available to property managers that enable mobile rent collection, letting renters pay on the go and streamlining the entire collections process.
Reaching Customers Where They Are
Texting is one of the most popular forms of communicating. Why, then, shouldn't it extend to every part of our daily lives, including communication between property managers and renters? Messaging allows property managers to quickly and easily send important and personalized texts to their tenants, including late rent reminders, maintenance updates, community announcements or package delivery notifications. This timely communication not only makes the renting and managing process more efficient but also helps to build trust between property managers and their renters, ensuring satisfaction on both ends.
In addition, it's critical for property managers to do everything in their power to fill vacancies as soon as possible. Real estate and property management companies can make great use of mobile marketing to bring in new leads and extend the marketing campaign of an open unit. Some marketers have referred to permission-based SMS subscription lists as "the new email," and one big benefit to this is that subscriber lists can be segmented into different types of recipients based on a real estate professional's needs. Instead of spending money printing an ad, property owners and managers can send their listing out to a database of interested renters. Subscription list texts can even improve communication with tenants, and renters opting into those lists may receive messages about move-in specials or other timely communications.
Diving Into The Future
The mobile device has already drastically changed the way real estate transactions work. It can be overwhelming for real estate and property management professionals to adopt a completely mobile way of life, but it can be made manageable by picking just one piece of the business to start with. For example, building a “group” comprised of all current tenants in a messenger or texting app can make it easy to reach everyone with updates or rent reminders at once. Collecting email addresses and phone numbers from past clients you’ve shown apartments to can help you remarket or easily get in touch with them about new properties. Even allowing payment apps tenants already use for rent collection can make their lives easier.
Lastly, ensure your company website is optimized for mobile and can be viewed on the smaller screens of smartphones and tablets. This also means making sure your contact forms and online applications are accessible and readable from any device — otherwise you could lose a ton of potential leads because of a poor online experience.
Ultimately, property management professionals who optimize their business to be mobile-friendly will be able to stay profitable in a competitive market where technology-savvy tenants expect and demand the convenience and ease of use of today’s app economy.
