Property management automation eliminates time-consuming, repetitive tasks and delegates mundane chores to software, freeing up a landlord’s most valuable asset: time.
For example, rather than manually inputting tenant information from multiple paper applications into online tenant screening services, software tools let tenants supply their own information to the service, eliminating the need for landlords to do it themselves.
The result is a sped-up application process that empowers tenants while making the screening process easier for landlords to manage. But this is just one example. Streamlining your overall property management workflow with software extends these benefits to critical management aspects, including rent collection and property marketing.
With that in mind, let’s examine the benefits of automated property management software, how landlords can and can’t use it, and how to integrate everything into one streamlined solution.
Benefits of Automation
In the previous example, we briefly discussed the time savings landlords can expect when they utilize property management software to automate tenant screening.
Truthfully, time savings represent the largest benefit landlords will gain, though those savings compound when you apply software solutions to multiple aspects of the property management puzzle.
However, let’s look beyond time savings and explore additional benefits.
Increased Accuracy and Reduced Errors
Automation eliminates mistakes often due to manual data entry, leading to more accurate financial records and communication. Plus, consistently applying rules will minimize the risk of non-compliance and missed steps.
Cost Savings
When you spend less time completing repetitive tasks, administrative costs associated with paperwork, communication, and manual data processing also decrease. Plus, automated online applications and streamlined tenant screening can reduce vacancy rates.
Improved Tenant Satisfaction
You can’t be available 24/7 to field tenant questions and respond to requests. But thanks to online portals, tenants can access information, pay rent, and submit requests anytime, even when you’re not available.
Scalability
If you have a growing portfolio, automation allows you to manage properties more efficiently without needing to work longer hours or significantly increase staff. For growth-minded investors, eliminating recurring manual tasks will help you meet your ambitions without sacrificing your personal life.
Top Six Property Management Tasks to Automate
In addition to tenant screening, we’ll dive deeper into additional aspects of your property management workload. By speeding up these processes, you can focus more on what you want to accomplish both professionally and personally.
After all, for most investors, rental properties are a means to achieve a particular lifestyle; if you get bogged down with monotonous tasks, you’ll find less time to pursue your passions.
1. Tenant Screening
With software that facilitates tenant screening, landlords get faster application processing that delivers nearly instant verification of credit, background, and income information to help you make informed decisions faster.
Plus, when tenants enter their information, you don’t have to worry about potentially mishandling sensitive information or reading handwriting, which improves accuracy and reduces errors. And with automatically generated pre-screeners, you can weed out unfit tenants without the hassle of submitting and reviewing reports.
2. Rental Applications
Online applications expand your reach. Even with an increased number of applications, automation enables landlords to process applications simultaneously, which helps fill vacancies quicker and reduces the chances of losing qualified tenants to other properties.
For tenants, the ability to submit applications and access updates day or night from any device with internet access caters to the reality of busy schedules. And no matter when an application is submitted, it’ll always filter into a centralized platform for easy management.
3. Property Marketing
If you want to list your property on all the most popular listing sites, you’ll spend hours uploading photos, writing property descriptions, and managing leads if you do it on a site-by-site basis.
With automated property marketing, just upload your favorite photos, use AI to draft a property description, and hit submit.
Your listing will automatically update on dozens of rental property listing websites, helping you expand your reach and ensure that the most qualified tenants find your property first.
4. Lease Agreements
The lease agreement is one of the most critical aspects of your rental property. However, ensuring an iron-clad, compliant lease agreement isn’t the easiest thing to do.
With automation, you can create lease agreements faster. These systems generate standardized lease agreements with pre-filled information, eliminating the need for manual writing. And with state-specific lease agreement generation, remote landlords remain compliant no matter where they operate.
5. Rent Collection
Rent management software offers a number of advantages over traditional means of collecting rent. Rather than collecting cash or checks, landlords get rent deposited directly into their bank accounts.
But that’s not the only benefit. The software enables landlords to automatically remind tenants when rent is due, apply late fees, and record transactions from a single interface. Even if you’ve got just a tenant or two, the time savings add up. If you’ve got several properties, automated rent collection makes the beginning of each month simple.
6. Accounting
Finally, automating your property accounting will save you considerable time and stress, especially at tax time, by automatically tracking all your rent payments and expenses in one easy-to-find location.
When all your financial information flows through a single platform, generating profit and loss reports, filling out your Schedule E (or handing off the info to your accountant), and quickly checking your cash flow happens faster than ever.
What You Can’t Put on Cruise Control
Property management automation delivers a number of valuable benefits to help you get the most out of your time. But it’s important to remember that it doesn’t mean it can run the entire operation without your judgment and expertise. You are still the key player in this process.
Let’s explore some instances where software can’t replace a landlord.
Relationship Building
Software can help streamline communication but it can’t replace your role in building trust with your tenants. If your tenant submits requests but you never answer them, that’s a recipe for an unhappy relationship.
Effective property management requires understanding individual needs, addressing concerns promptly, and fostering a positive tenant experience. While software solutions can assist, they cannot replace your crucial role in relationship building. Your personal touch is invaluable in maintaining tenant satisfaction and trust.
Inspections and Maintenance
The right tools help landlords manage maintenance requests and track work orders, but physical inspections and repairs require human expertise. Assessing property damage, evaluating repair needs, and overseeing contractors are all jobs that require the human touch.
Unforeseen Situations
Property management often involves unexpected emergencies, tenant conflicts, or legal issues. These situations require you to think quickly, adapt fast, and react in real time. Software simply cannot respond in these ways.
Strategic Planning and Growth
Specific solutions can provide valuable data and analytics. However, strategic decisions regarding property investments, expansion plans, and long-term goals require human vision, market understanding, and the ability to adapt.
Your input is required until software can take your money and do everything for you, and even then most investors won’t be comfortable giving automation that much control over their finances. Though, with automation you’ll have more time to think these things through.
Important Considerations
Now that we’ve examined some situations where automation doesn’t exactly apply, we wanted to discuss some key considerations briefly.
Fair Housing Laws
Ensure your automated screening process complies with Fair Housing laws. While these systems can help eliminate biases, you must avoid discrimination. Ensure the most qualified tenants fill your property, regardless of race, religion, or disability status.
Human Oversight
While property management automation is valuable, you shouldn’t use it to replace human judgment completely. Review screening reports and consider extenuating circumstances before making final decisions.
Ease of Use
While all the tools mentioned above are exceedingly helpful, they’re not worth it if they’re challenging to implement or require hours of training for yourself or your staff. Consider how easy the software is to use before you start using it.
Consider free accounts that enable you to access the full range of the software, so you quickly get a feel for it without spending any money.
How TurboTenant Automates Property Management
TurboTenant is an easy-to-use all-in-one property management automation software built for DIY landlords who like to manage their properties themselves but want to be as efficient as possible. With our cloud-based software and mobile app, landlords simplify the entire process of managing their properties.
With streamlined rent collection, property marketing, tenant screening, lease agreements, applications, and accounting, DIY landlords gain all the tools they need to grow their business quickly while accurately and efficiently managing their property from anywhere.
Plus, with built-in communication tools, maintenance request management, and our tenant app, you can optimize the job’s human element, leading to higher tenant satisfaction and longer tenant stays.
And the best part? It’s free for an unlimited number of units. Try TurboTenant today and start automating property management.
FAQ
How to automate property management?
Sign up for a free TurboTenant account and start automating your entire property management workflow. With TurboTenant, you can streamline rent collection, lease generation, maintenance management, accounting, property marketing, and tenant screening, among other vital facets of property management.