Today’s PropTech Stack for Multifamily Property Managers

The next generation of property management software.

Innovations in technology have changed every industry. Artificial intelligence, digital automations, machine learning, an increasing level of connectivity and more have allowed businesses to optimize tasks or have them be entirely performed by computers. Human responsibilities have been minimized, processes have been streamlined, and new tools and resources have improved the way we accomplish so many aspects of our daily lives.

Many of the creative, technology-driven entrepreneurs behind these innovations have focused their attention on real estate, solving critical issues, and creating new opportunities in nearly every facet of the industry. From financing to the physical property operations, all aspects of real estate can now leverage technology to improve or enhance performance.

Over the last decade, we have seen a rapid evolution in how real estate property management companies utilize and rely on software. With so many innovative solutions being launched, it is easy for property managers to feel overwhelmed with the onslaught of technology solutions being introduced.

What began as individualized solutions for specific tasks has evolved into a tech stack. The “PropTech Stack” is the collection of software a property management company uses to manage their real estate business and operations.

Across the industry, more than 75% of real estate companies rely on property management software to get the job done. Although these software systems create efficiencies related to their specific functions, they also come with some side effects. Depending on your software platform, you may find yourself unable to adapt to market changes, adjust to your business needs, or integrate with other software providers. As an example, utilizing one software for marketing, a different one for writing lease contracts, and another for rent collection can erase the efficiency that software once intended to deliver.

Developing, understanding, and managing your technology stack has become critical to ensuring a company’s long-term success. In this article, we explore the evolution of PropTech, identify which PropTech solution may serve your company best, and outline what factors to consider while adopting new technologies.

Tech in Property Management: Key Elements

Technology has drastically disrupted the property management industry. An industry that was once reliant on office visits, paper leases, physical checks and phone calls has now been inundated with technologies geared towards improving efficiency and streamlining processes. Technology has changed the way so many companies do business. We have gone from faxes to emails to texting to chatbots. Workflow processes are now expedited via automation and digitization and marketing has evolved from the back of the newspaper classified advertising to listings sites, social media, podcasting, and more. As entrepreneurs and companies dream up and create ways to solve real estate problems, specialized applications are introduced into the market that help provide solutions.

Just a few ways technology has impacted residential real estate.

The Cloud — Work from anywhere. Get data anytime. On-premise hardware and servers are a thing of the past. Cloud-based solutions provide real-time insights into property management data and transactions, leading to modernization and more flexibility.

A.I. and Machine Learning — Automating and replicating the human experience, these systems have made collected data more actionable. For example, Chatbots can quickly answer consumer questions, while A.I. can help to combat fraud.

Big Data — Consumer and business data is now more available than ever before. Property managers can leverage the data to make better-informed decisions, address competitive pricing, and understand their tenants, all to improve their profitability and their tenant’s experience.

Virtual and Augmented Reality — Online searches and property tours have become more accessible via virtual and augmented reality. Real estate agents and property management companies have saved a vast amount of time and money utilizing these innovative technologies.

Internet of Things — Devices and appliances can now be connected to the web and have made digitally connecting available. This has given property managers the ability to track and monitor common spaces. Security system are more connected and there is better controls and monitoring of energy systems.

Connectivity — The massive technology we all hold in our hands these days has given us all the ability to remain connected and communicate with others very quickly. Communication between property managers, prospects, tenants, and landlords is greatly simplified. The advantages are clear, but people have become accustomed to this rapid and direct communication and have even come to expect it.

Problems with a Technology Stack

While technology is intended to solve problems, it can also introduce some as well.

• When an API or the communication method between two platforms changes, connections between applications are often broken and business halts.
• When one system shuts down or has issues, business operations can be negatively affected.
• Disparate systems often cannot share data, progress, and statuses, limiting the ability to properly monitor operations and report on performance.
• Different applications in the same stack can provide the same information, but display them differently. Which is correct? Which can be trusted?
• Multiple logins and dashboards can be required, which is time-consuming and a potential security risk.
• With multiple companies in the mix, it can be difficult to track down and solve issues when they arise.
• Combining several independently run software applications together reduces the ability to scale.
• Disparate software applications cannot share resources, resulting in a more expensive overall solution.
• Users are forced to jump from application to application to complete the entire task.
• Different UX or user experiences means training is more complicated and confusing.
• Often terminology is different. For example, one system may use the phrase “decline a lease,” while another calls it “reject a lease.”
• Multiple interfaces lack consistency, efficiency, and accuracy.

Industry Standards Are Changing, Creating More Demand for Technology

1. Consumer Demands are Evolving

While some real estate companies have been resistant to adopting new technologies, stuck in the past utilizing excel spreadsheets, requiring paper applications, in-person meetings, even only accepting paper checks, consumers are demanding them to change, and these shifting consumer demands are forcing businesses to reconsider their position. Certainly the Covid pandemic has rapidly forced these digital laggards to embrace technology. Even the most technologically-advanced firms are finding it hard to keep up with the evolving demands of consumers today.

>>Tenant Demands

Tenants expect the same conveniences they are experiencing in other industries. From Amazon to Uber, companies have changed the way consumers are expecting to do business. They demand to have an app to communicate via text, pay their rent online, view their lease, and access their resident portal and more.

>> Owner Demands

The digital trend can be seen in landlords as they increasingly see the benefits of digital technologies. More than half of landlords surveyed expect their property management firms to offer digital and mobile solutions as part of their services. This includes everything from collecting rent applications online to screening prospects to sending out digital leases.

2. The Competition Creates the Need

With changing consumer demands, technology is no longer simply a tool for efficiency, but instead, it has become a necessity to compete. More than two-thirds of property managers now adopt some element of property management software including electronic payments, online rental listings, tenant screening, a resident portal, and document sharing software. Many of these are a result of COVID-19’s impact on the industry. Real estate companies were forced to add new features and expand their digital offerings to meet government restrictions and consumers’ needs. The pandemic has changed the future of property management for good.

3. Rent Regulations are Changing

We can now label state and local governments as disruptors. Rent regulations across the country are changing as governments continue to pass laws to further protect renters. This includes placing limits on application fees, the types of background checks that can be done like criminal background and previous evictions, reducing the ability to raise rents and more. The process and the regulations for each state, county, and even cities can vary dramatically. As these new regulations get introduced, they create new opportunities for technology to solve new business issues.

>> CALIFORNIA CONCERNS

With the passing of the “Tenant Protection Act of 2019,” California now has more restrictive statewide rent controls. As an example, residential landlords are not permitted to raise a tenant’s rents more than 5 percent, plus the local rate of inflation, in one year. Property managers must be prepared to work within the state’s regulations to ensure the property owner’s protection.

>> THE NEW, NEW YORK

Representatives in Albany have drastically changed the landscape for real estate investors and landlords in New York. For example, security deposits are limited to one month’s rent, landlords must now give at least 30 days’ notice to tenants if they intend to raise a unit’s rent by more than 5%, and tenants now have 30 days to fix most lease violations instead of 10.

The Targeted Proptech Stack Solution for Property Managers

The technology tsunami that has hit the real estate industry is changing the landscape. There seems to be another shiny new PropTech app being introduced every day. In addition, the large all-in-one platform can make broad promises and exciting benefits. There are so many good reasons to use technology, but you also have to walk with caution and understand the value they provide.

Why introduce an innovative technology into your company?

• Gives you a competitive edge
• Solves consumer or business-related issues rapidly
• Improves sales efforts and operations
• Delivers better customer experience
• Meets consumer needs and demands

The Proptech Stack Options

All-in-One Solution — One solution for all tasks

Multi-Component Solutions — A separate technology for every task

Targeted PropTech Stack Solution — Targeted solution for specific tasks

Deciding on a PropTech Solution

Property management companies are faced with overwhelming options. While it may be important to respond to the competition, you also need to consider which solution best suits your company’s needs. It is critical to identifying a strategy designed to deliver the results you seek. Each technology solution varies in cost, time commitment, reliability, integration, security, support, scalability, technological requirements and more that all need to be consider.

“The number one reason property firms don’t develop particular technologies, or pursue what could be game-changing opportunities for their firms, is because of lack of internal trust on what’s coming down the road. They don’t feel like they’re technologically savvy enough internally to identify opportunities and build the right tech stack.” — Travis Barrington, co-founder and CEO of Propmodo

Challenges of Adding a New Technology

• Onboarding or migrations can be a distraction and painful
• Sources of data can conflict
• More integrations means more reliance on partners and potential failures
• Security and Privacy Protection issues
• Data ownership questions
• Each solution has its price, and these can add up

Evaluating Current Technology

Once a company has identified its needs, they can begin identifying which solution is best for them. Before jumping on board with the best-looking presentation, evaluate what each technology offers and how it can solve your company’s issues.

· How does it affect your current stack?

· How does it integrate? Will it conflict with existing tech?

· Will it provide a different set of data?

· Can it be tested? Is there a Free Trial?

· What does onboarding entail?

· How much effort will it take to begin using?

· What is the time commitment?

· What is the total cost of ownership?

· Depending on cost, what is the value?

· Is it scalable?

You don’t want to pay for software with features you’ll never use and over complicate your tasks. But you also don’t want software that does one small task and then sits alone all by itself.

Reducing Your Stack: Which solution is for you?

›· Multi-Component Solutions: Many technologies cobbled together.

These situations offer customers the ability to customize each aspect of their operations and use the best software available for each aspect. That sounds great, but this patchwork quilt approach is proven to be the most difficult to maintain. Companies can find themselves with communication delays and failures, security vulnerabilities, limited data sharing, excessive costs, overly complicated training, and more.

›· All-in-One Solutions: One technology for every task.

While the all-in-one-solution simplifies your technology concerns and reduces some of the risk associated with integrations, it can also severely hamper your ability to grow. These software packages tend to be generalists: Good at most things, not great at anything. They often lack critical features and only introduce new features once the technology has matured. They tend to be insular, not offering an open integration, preferring that you use their software for everything.

›· Targeted Solutions: One technology for a select group of tasks.

When you can find a solution that can simplify the stack, it is worth investing your time to find out more. Utilizing targeted solutions for real estate technology can address many of the issues and limitations that can be found in the All-in-One solutions and Multi-Component solutions. They can reduce or even eliminate many of the problems associated with integrations, user training and support, confusing user experiences, disconnected workflows, and more. A targeted system focuses on one particular aspect of the real estate industry and includes many of the functionalities that could otherwise only be found by purchasing several disparate applications.

About RentTango

RentTango is a targeted PropTech stack solution designed to simplify the property management industry’s lead to lease process. Focused on the marketing and leasing functions, our software is designed to solve the many problems the industry faces today.

We are razor-focused on helping property managers close deals. We believe that your business is unique. RentTango was built to be flexible and customizable to cater to each business’ individual needs.

We offer a unique balance of standardization and customization: Standardizing branding, contracts, and other critical elements give you the confidence to know that your operations are running correctly. Simultaneously, customizations and the ability to select preferences to tailor your workflows mean that your team can adjust to the volatility of market demands and customer trends.

Listing Marketing — Get better at marketing. We score each listing to ensure images, floor plans, pricing, offers, open houses, etc., are included, guaranteeing to deliver quality leads from the most popular IDX’s. Use RentTango to send out customizable emails and place our customizable lead widget on your site, so inquiries get automatically dropped into RentTango.

Lead Management — Stop wasting time digging through your inbox to follow up with leads. RentTango puts all of your leads right in front of you. Neatly organized and prioritized with a clear progress bar, so you know exactly what to do next. Throw in our built-in marketing automation, and you’ll quickly see the power RentTango delivers.

Resident Screening — Reduce fraud and risk with our proprietary evaluation technology while remaining compliant. We use A.I. to reveal document inconsistencies, saving you time. We evaluate every tenant’s trustworthiness, financial stability, and identity, incorporating guarantors when necessary, and also give your executive team the ability to adjust the acceptance criteria and branding for each property.

Leasing and & Renewals — Close faster. Our leasing-specific deal flow helps your team know exactly what it takes to close the next deal. Use our innovative renewal process to expedite this arduous job by sending out individualized renewal offers in batches with unique pricing and offers. Get quick confirmation of your tenant’s vacating status so that you can begin pre-leasing.

Contract Management — The right document every time. With RentTango, there’s no waiting for docs to be updated. Manage the digital versions of your contracts and riders and make instantaneous changes anytime. All of the data gets injected into the document, limiting errors and reducing input time. Plus, our unique Document Tags ask custom deal-specific questions at signing.

E-Signing — Secure and easy to use. Your tenants will appreciate the convenience of our online, mobile-friendly platform. Send docs to sign, obtain payments and countersign contracts in the proper order. Check leasing activity to know each contract’s exact progress and send reminders to help close the deal sooner.

Analytics & Reporting — Gain more visibility to your operations with on-demand daily, weekly, monthly, and custom period reports. Get Insights in real-time– visualized in graphs and charts, or in a typical grid view which you can export to Excel. Dive deep into traffic, operations & performance statistics by the property, employee, or portfolio-wide.

Secure Robust Technology — We take security seriously. We use military-grade, national standard security frameworks to ensure your data is protected at all times. We utilize SSL encryption, multi-factor authentication and have obtained the latest certifications.

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