Managing properties is no walk in the park. Vacancy and rent tracking, insurance management, tenant screening, staying ahead of contracts and hunting down show home furniture, are just some examples of the tasks property managers undertake on a daily basis.
But thanks to technological disruptions in the industry, there are a host of powerful tools every property manager can – and should – make use of.
Not only will these tools help you save hours of time, streamline your process and cut costs, but they will also ensure you can scale your business: you can easily go from managing a handful of properties to managing 100 when you’ve a host of powerful tools working to your benefit.
But with ‘proptech’ being the ultimate buzzword in today’s tech circles, virtually dozens of new property management tools are popping up every week.
That’s why we’ve sifted through (practically) all of them, and present to you our top 7 picks.
1. Gnomen is a cloud-based system that brings property managers with the latest innovations to run every aspect of your business seamlessly. But what makes us truly special is that every service we offer works together in complete harmony. Our cloud-based system means one place to manage your staff, office, customers and multi-channel marketing.
2. PayProp has a simple but effective motto: ‘collect, match and reconcile your rental payments in seconds’ – and it does exactly that. Essentially, PayProp helps property managers to automatically and securely collect payments from tenants and make fully reconciled payments to all their beneficiaries. This handy tool will eliminate inefficiencies in back-office operations, lower administrative costs per transaction all while automating the entire processes. What's not to love?
3. Rentuu is an online marketplace for renting virtually anything you can imagine. It is the first website of its kind, with real-time, transparent pricing, flexible collection and deliveries, and hundreds of household products - including high-quality furniture - a mere click away. What's in it for property managers? Well, the variations are endless: you could use it to hire furniture for a show home, or, if you're managing short-lets, cater to your guest's needs to personalising their guest stay.
4. Qube Global Software is lauded as the most widely implemented property management software in the UK and Ireland, Qube is more traditional than other platforms in this list, with more than 40 years’ worth of experience in delivering solutions to more than 1,000 customers. It is an all-in-one software solution for landlords and property managers - but it does come with a hefty price tag.
5. Landlord Vision is an incredibly easy to use, secure and intuitive, cloud-based landlord software tool. Designed by landlords, its goal is simple - to help you get better organised. Landlord Vision also helps you manage your portfolio from anywhere in the world.
6. Property Hawk was set up by landlord and qualified surveyor Chris Horne to help himself manage his own portfolio, and now helps make life easier for countless other buy-to-let owners. Property Hawk provides free software for landlords, including live digital rent books, bespoke inventory forms and assured shorthold tenancy (AST) agreements. There is also a handy buy-to-let mortgage search tool.
7. FixFlo is one of the best apps of its kind. It serves as a convenient and reliable method for reporting and recording minor to moderate maintenance issues. The tenant is able to describe the problem, take a picture of it with their device and send it straight to the landlord’s device. It can also be used to report things like graffiti and vandalism, dumped rubbish, abandoned vehicles and more.
8. AroundMe quickly identifies your position and allows you to choose the nearest bank, bar, gas station, hospital, hotel, movie theatre, restaurant, supermarket, theatre and taxi ranks. So what use is this for property managers? When listing a property in the likes of Rightmove.com, it's important to highlight the conveniences that exist in the perimeter of the property to boost the chances of its rental or sale.
9. RentalStep helps landlords and property managers undercut pricy lettings agents and check out rogue tenants, including tapping into reviews from previous landlords – beware, tenants can rate landlords too – and a TenantPassport system that gives landlords access to a pool of verified tenants.
10. Buildium is an all-in-one property management software helps property managers streamline daily tasks in the rent, vacancy, and maintenance cycles. Over 13,000 customers use Buildium to manage over one million units.
