Top 3 Multifamily PM Software Challenges

Property management is complex and demanding employment. Even for a well-organized and balanced team, it can be a challenge to keep up with the constant workflow. With the bulk of the work involving extensive paperwork and digital documents, a supporting system can be critical. Working with an integrated platform can help reduce the heavy workload and free your team to focus on other tasks to improve the community and residents’ experiences.

Yet, if you're a multifamily property manager, the task of choosing and implementing property management software can be overwhelming. There are so many options available, and they promise to deliver a variety of benefits. But what's the best option for your specific needs? That question requires some serious research on your part.

Streamlining and Scaling

When looking for the best property management software for your management team, it’s important to consider the level of streamlining the software provides. Creating a system for online organization of documents provides easy access for each member of the management team.

Some software are more robust than others, more user-friendly, or better suited to larger properties. Others may offer several benefits but cannot scale when you expand your business or take over additional units. Consider what options can grow with your community, whether you're leasing up or building on.

Software also makes it simple for team members to stay on the same page with online bookings for amenities and maintenance requests. By viewing in real-time and working to meet the requests, your management team can speed up both processes. With a quicker response, residents will feel valued and free to contact your management team with their concerns.

To scale your multifamily PM software effectively, you need scalability built into its architecture from day one. Consider a fully integrated platform instead of simple software or just an app. Elevated Living's award-winning platform has multiple stages for luxury highrises that give management teams future-proof options like:

• A solid foundation for growth
• Built-in security features that prevent fraud
• Users with different roles have access to different parts of the software
• An integrated solution that includes connected information across departments within one system
  

Accessibility for Residents

For the benefit of a multifamily community, certain aspects of your property management software should be easily accessible by residents. Amenity reservations, maintenance requests, and on-boarding and off-boarding checklists are popular features of such software. Albeit, if residents are only able to access those options through a complex search, they will be discouraged from using the service.

Providing residents with access to property management software is an essential part of the multifamily move-in process. Residents need this information in order to pay rent, make repairs and report issues. In addition, giving them access allows them to engage with the community more and build a sense of trust that you're looking out for their best interests.

However, while providing residents with access may be beneficial to your business, it also carries some risks. There are ways you can mitigate these risks and ensure that your residents are getting the best possible experience from using your property management software. Make sure all employees have training on how to use the system securely. This will help protect against potential hacking attempts as well as internal fraud within your organization's ranks. Create policies around what type of information should be shared via text message versus email versus phone call.

Once you decide to adopt an integrated solution, scaling doesn't sacrifice quality either. When you purchase a system that is priced based on the number of units under management, you pay only for what you use. Not only will this reduce costs in terms of licensing fees but also provide better value overall.

Customizable Software

A luxury property manager must be able to strike a delicate balance between providing residents with easy access to PM software while also protecting their own and the resident's privacy. The best practice is to set up a separate, secure login system for your residents so they can quickly and easily submit maintenance requests or other relevant questions or concerns.

One of the top ways to provide residents with access to property management software is to create an app specifically for them. From here, a resident should be able to login, view their account information and make payments, request maintenance services, and receive notifications when they have been approved. When looking for property management software, ensure that your residents can swiftly and simply access the client-side of the software. This includes an intuitive interface and quick access through a mobile app.

To keep your property management team from seeming generic or impersonal to your residents, it’s valuable to look into customizable property management software. This customization includes more than a color scheme, allowing the software to become an extension of your management team and community brand. Elevated Living white label platform allows your team to customize the client-facing app from logo to services.

Customizing services available to residents, such as the on-boarding and off-boarding checklists and messages, allows your management team to connect more personally with the community. With the right software, your preferred rent collection method can also be integrated seamlessly.

Choose the Best Software Partner

When looking for the right property management platform for your management team, there are many aspects to consider. The streamlining and ease of access for both your management team and residents is one of the largest factors. To be successful, the software must also portray the values and preferences of the management team to allow easy communication between the team and residents. With these considerations, the software you choose can be one of the most important assets to your property management team, especially in the long run.