Property Management Trends and How to Implement Them

The property management market is a massive industry with an estimated market size of $117.3 billion as of 2023. This means that the competition in this field is fierce.

As a result, smart adopters of valuable trends in property management, back-office strategies, technology, lead management, and resident life can quickly distinguish themselves from other businesses and save both money and hassle in every aspect of their operations. In this article, we’ll look at current trends in the property management industry and explain how you can take advantage of them.

What Property Management Trends Should Be on Your Radar?

Right now, some of the biggest trends in property management are:

1. Reducing costs. No matter what the economy looks like a year or two from now, you’ll want to make solid investments in technology and software platforms that save money today and support growth and operational needs tomorrow. 
2. Improving efficiency. When your property management workflow is as efficient as possible, you’ll waste less time on things that don’t matter. Improving this workflow can also help you do a better job of managing your buildings.
3. Digital tech investments. A great property management platform is the foundation of your operations, from handling resident communication to generating accurate reports for leadership. 

How Can You Benefit From These Trends?

Businesses can take many different angles to leverage these trends, but the best options typically address all three at once. For instance, onboarding a new property management system can align your business with the strategies your peers are using. 

However, no investment is worth the time, expense, and effort it takes to implement if it doesn’t ultimately save you money and make everyone’s life easier. When you’re looking at new trends and exploring products and services to find genuine value for your property management firm, consider the following:

Analyzing Past and Real-Time Data

When you have access to data on your properties’ previous performance, occupancy, and repair needs, you’ll have no trouble creating budgets for these properties. Thanks to these data-driven budgets, you’ll have an easier time keeping costs for your properties under control.

In addition to that data, today’s best property management software can help you access real-time information on property performance. That means you’ll be able to make even more informed decisions about property management. If you’re considering an upgrade, make sure any platform you choose supports a transparent and complete view of your business for all your reporting needs.  

Streamlining Your Operating Expenses

Making changes to your properties can help you cut operating costs, but these changes shouldn’t come at the expense of service quality. Instead, they should help you reduce your operating expenses without causing problems for your tenants.

For example, enhancing your properties’ energy efficiency can lower utility costs without negatively affecting renters’ lives. You may even benefit from government rebates when you make these improvements.

Also, a big part of reducing expenses is implementing strategies that make it easy for anyone in the business to track transactions in similar formats for all users. Look for software options that maintain clean data lineages and make it easy for everyone who needs to access information to find it. 

Adopting Digital Work Orders

Work orders are a fact of life for property managers. By handling your work orders digitally, you’ll eliminate the possibility of losing these documents while allowing tenants to submit work orders via their phones—making this process more efficient than ever for everyone involved.

Choosing the right property management software allows you to tailor your properties’ work orders to your specifications. 

By eliminating irrelevant options on work orders, you can save time for you and your tenants alike. The top platforms make tracking the status of your maintenance requests easy, and automation is used to update payment information across the system. 

Establishing a Resident Portal

The people living in your properties should also be able to make payments and read about community events on their computers and mobile devices.

If your tenants can pay rent at the touch of a button, they’ll be more likely to pay rent on time—making it that much easier to keep your expenses under control. At the same time, these portals can give your tenants a sense of community, encouraging them to stay at your property (and reducing your vacancy rates).

Taking Task Management Seriously

As a property manager, you already know how hard it can be to juggle items on your team’s to-do list. When your property management software comes with the ability to assign tasks, you’ll be able to ensure everyone on your team knows what they’re supposed to do. 

Additionally, your property management software should allow you to write comments directly on tasks, create reminders, and prioritize activities. That way, you’ll increase your team’s efficiency and ensure tasks get done on time.

Improving Your Properties’ Technology

Installing smart technology like smart thermostats, locks, and doorbells is a great way to keep your properties up-to-date. While these devices come with an upfront cost, they can actually help you financially in the long run.

The fact is, smart homes are simply more appealing than homes without this technology. That means you can use these enhancements to justify charging higher rates for your properties than you’d be able to charge otherwise.

The Importance of Property Management Software

As you can see, you’ll need to do several things to keep up with today’s property management trends. That includes everything from adding smart devices to your properties to rethinking your approach to work orders and rent payments—but one step in this process is more important.

The foundation of a solid business model that’s prepared to adapt to emerging opportunities is a powerful, flexible property management platform. The right tool can streamline your existing operations from the front desk to the back office so everyone can focus their energy on growing the business and staying ahead of the competition. 

However, while the right software can optimize your operations today and prepare you for tomorrow’s top trends, the wrong choice can drag down your company and frustrate employees, residents, and leadership alike. Any property management software you’re considering should deliver the following benefits for your business:

• Resident portal support. Resident portals allow tenants to log rent payments and submit work orders online—making life easier for property managers in the process.
• Task assignment capabilities. The ability to define, customize, and assign tasks that support your unique business needs can significantly enhance your team’s productivity and efficiency.
• Work order management. One of the hallmarks of a great property management platform is the ease with which it allows your team to request and fulfill work orders. The top systems will record each process step in easy-to-understand formats that are identical for every user, so there’s never any confusion.
• Real-time data access. Leadership will struggle to identify and adopt game-changing industry trends without a wide assortment of predefined reports containing up-to-date information on their properties. 

Embrace the Future with an Ideal Property Management Platform

Change is the only constant in property management, and staying at the forefront of industry trends demands technology that delivers accurate reporting, real-time bookkeeping, and an excellent living experience for your employees and residents. The property management software you choose will need to optimize spending and simplify everyday operations, so your team can focus on adapting to the future instead of struggling to keep up. 

If you’re looking for a powerful, customizable, all-in-one property management solution, visit ExactEstate to schedule a walkthrough of the most affordable and complete property management platform in the industry today. 

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