AI in Property Management: Catering to Residents and Employees

You most likely have recently interacted with artificial intelligence (AI), in some capacity, and maybe not realized it. When using technology for travel or product recommendations, virtual assistants, smart home technology, or health and fitness insights - you are interacting with examples of AI-based technologies.

Yet many property managers still squirm at the thought of handing over aspects of their business to automation and artificial intelligence. What if AI provides the wrong information, causes blind spots and complacency? Or what if it provides efficiency but you lose touch with your residents?

We’re here to tell you that incorporating artificial intelligence into property management workflows can lead to increased efficiency by automating time-consuming and repetitive tasks that do not necessarily require a human touch. This, in turn, allows property management teams to make better decisions and focus on more critical aspects of their business (like their residents) to ensure its success.

What is Artificial Intelligence in Real Estate?

Artificial intelligence is a term to describe systems that mimic human intelligence in order to perform tasks, and can continuously improve through repetition and data collection.

The advantage of AI lies in its ability to handle routine and repetitive tasks. By automating these tasks, property managers can quickly process and input data, learn preferences, and ultimately increase efficiency. AI allows property managers to focus on more important tasks, while the AI system handles the more tedious aspects of the job.

Catering to Prospective Residents

Based on a 2018 Zillow report, most property managers try to respond to rental inquiries within 24 hours in order to increase the likelihood of securing a signed lease. Additional findings discovered that responding to an inquiry within the first 1-2 minutes yields a 40% chance of prospect engagement. Waiting 30 minutes to respond dropped that probability down to 10%.

To facilitate this process, AI leasing assistants have been developed to provide instant responses to prospective tenants via text and email. These AI assistants operate around the clock as part of the leasing team and use natural language processing technology to continuously improve their communication abilities.

In the realm of property management, it is also essential to provide a personalized experience to both potential and current tenants. Research found that 80% of consumers prefer to do business with brands and companies that offer a personalized experience.

With the advancements in artificial technology, property managers can leverage digital analysis to estimate the behavioral patterns of tenants and track leasing performance thereby gaining valuable insights that can be used to drive occupancy and operational efficiency.

Empowering Property Management Employees

One of the most pertinent benefits of AI in property management is the improvement of the employee experience. This is particularly important for the property management industry which experiences a higher turnover rate of 32.7% compared to the average 22% across all industries. Automating tasks such as manual data entry and bill analysis can assist in lowering this number and improve efficiency.

In fact, 80% of surveyed property management professionals agreed that accounting reports should be automated, while 75% identified auditing, financial diagnostics, utility billing, and bill entry as areas where automation would be beneficial. The common thread among these tasks is their time-consuming nature can be streamlined through the use of artificial intelligence without sacrificing accuracy or quality.

Ultimately, embracing AI tools, such as Fortress, can equip you with a powerful advantage - the time to focus on crucial business decisions and residents. Automation and artificial intelligence offer reliable and efficient solutions to enhance, streamline, and personalize the leasing experience resulting in higher satisfaction and retention rates for both tenants and property management staff.

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Fortress Property Management Software was built by veteran property managers to automate property management with a remarkably easy to use interface, real-time insights and best-in-class customer support. Learn more about Fortress from the articles below: