The Benefits of Software & Automation in Property Management

Published in

Landlord Studio

5 min readAug 3, 2019

Whether you have one or a dozen, managing your properties can become pretty grueling at times. A seemingly endless stream of tasks set themselves up with vicious minds of their own.

There are rent payments to log, maintenance repairs to organize, documents to create and sign, tenants to find, property inspections, and then the end of the tax year comes around and you’ve got a big accounting job to get done.

All of these are just the basics, assuming that nothing goes wrong throughout the year.

It all adds up and can become pretty labor intensive and time-consuming and you can quickly lose sight of certain tasks.

In steps ‘software and automation’ with a cocky gait, a cheroot lazily leaking smoke between its lips, and a promise to make your life easier.

The real estate industry has historically been very slow to take up technological advancements. If you compare the industry to something like logistics — alright not the most interesting — but the groundbreaking work being done by some of the large companies in terms of new technology involved is remarkable. Everything from automation of inventory stock management with pilotless warehouse drones, to streamlining delivery times with augmented reality.

In comparison, mobile apps for property management barely existed just 1–2 years ago.

Real Estate as a Business

The main and most important advantage to property management software is its ability to automate time consuming tasks — meaning less human error and well, it saves you time.

There are other advantages too though. One of which is the fact that software, going digital, means all your data is stored securely in the ‘Cloud’ giving you access to it from anywhere at anytime, as well keeping it secure and backed up. This means you can happily and effectively manage your properties on the go.

This is not to say that property management software is going to do everything for you. You can’t just download an app and forget all your worries. You still need to run a tight ship, stay on top of expenses, rent payments, & tenants. However, it puts all the data and information you need in one place, and that place is in the palm of your hand.

We recommend Landlord Studio for your property management solutions.

The Many Pros of Property Management Software

1) Cost

Property software is low cost and could save you loads in both expenses and time.

2) Accounting

All your accounting for your properties in one place. Log payments in the application, record expenses, note who you’re paying, when payments are made or received, digitize receipts and automate complex accounting reports.

3) Communication

Having all the information you need makes it much easier to remember who is who, and what information you need to send them. On top of this, you can easily automate communications like rent due reminders.

4) Automated Reminders

Automating reminders, not just for your tenants but for yourself means you will never forget about important things again. For example, set a reminder for your six months property inspection at the beginning of the lease. Make managing your time easy.

5) Automated Reporting

Produce professional reports showing your profit and loss, expenses, rent collections, etc. This will save you hours of time where you would otherwise have to manually enter data into excel, or whatever reporting system you currently use.

It will also remove a margin for human error, and allow you to spend more time validating the numbers and analyzing them for discrepancies.

6) Accessibility

Going digital, especially on mobile means you can access, update and manage on the go.

7) Scalability

By saving yourself loads of time, and keeping all your property management in one handy place you can easily do more with your time. It makes managing more properties easy.

8) Reduced Paperwork

We are steadily heading towards a time of full digitization. Online banking, emails, and the cloud means you no longer need to use paper at all for many applications. Which is good for the environment, but also just super handy.

Those immense piles of paper piled high and tucked away into vast filing cabinets, once the bane of a property manager's life is no longer necessary. If you automate much of that documentation, you’ll have eliminated the stress and errors so common.

9) Increase Revenue

Having everything in one place makes it easier to see what’s going on, organize and manage all your tasks. Streamlining operations means you can manage more, and in doing so increase your revenue and profit.

10) Simplified Backup & Recovery

Having everything automatically stored online means, not only access anywhere in the world, but also that your data and information is backed up and stored safely for if you ever need it in the future.

Okay, we could go on and on here. However, we think you get the point.

Save time and make more money with ease.

How do you go about finding the right software for you?

We are big advocates of mobile first. Everyone has a phone now, and being able to access your data and enter it on the go will help streamline your processes. It means you can complete necessary tasks then and there.

Useful Property Softwares — Mobile first

1) Zillow - App for listings, valuations, buying and selling

Zillow is a big fish when it comes to managing your own real estate business. This is the go-to place to discover home value estimates, past sale prices as well as a handy place to keep your eye on the market place.

2) BiggerPockets — Information and Education App

An immense educational resource, Bigger Pockets aims to deliver all the knowledge you might need to succeed in real estate.

You can learn a ton about buying a home that will increase in value, as well as how to do work on a property to get the best return on your investment. If you want to take your real estate game to the next level and get into real estate investing.

3) Xome — App for Home Auctions

For those that love finding bargains at auction. Xome gives you access to real estate auctions — many of which are exclusive to the platform.

For real estate investing, this feature is a great addition as you may be able to pick up a property before it hits the general market at a lower rate. Lower price paid means higher profit when you sell.

4) LandlordStudio — Property Management App

Landlord Studio launched in 2017 and with the help of their avid users over that time have developed a very solid piece of software that does everything you need it to — from setting reminders, tenant screening, and logging rent payments to auto-generating professional reports.

They have a nifty streamlined dashboard and a seriously low price point.

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Originally published at https://www.landlordboss.com on August 3, 2019.