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Are you constantly fielding inbound calls at your property management office? Do you find that you are spending a lot of money printing and mailing documents, event invites, or rent statements? Or, are you trying to find ways to gain the trust of your tenants and improve engagement? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then it\’s important to consider implementing a tenant portal for your apartment community. In this article, we discuss 10 reasons why a tenant portal can be a great asset for your apartment community.    

What is a tenant portal?

First, let’s consider what a tenant portal is.  A tenant portal allows tenants to log into a website and view information about the unit and community.  The portal login is personalized to an individual tenant’s experience.  The portal organizes important unit information such as financial balances, payments, work orders, and communication preferences.  It also helps a tenant get connected to the apartment community through events, documents, surveys, and other features.

10 reasons why you should provide a tenant portal

When a tenant portal consists of information your tenants find valuable, it can be a great tool for your business. Let\’s take a look at 10 reasons why you should provide a tenant portal, and how it benefits management and tenants.

1) Access to 24×7 information, anywhere

With information readily available on the internet, it is no longer a luxury to provide unit and property information online. In fact, your tenants have come to expect it. A tenant portal that is user-friendly, modern, and is mobile-responsive allows your tenants to easily access information from anywhere. 24×7 access to unit and community information anywhere gives your tenants peace of mind, so they can thoroughly enjoy the apartment-living experience.

2) Display financial balances & allow residents to make online payments

The convenience of an online payment system gives your tenants a contactless way to pay their rent on time.  The portal also provides tenants with an easy way to view their balance and ledger in real-time.

3) Encourage tenants to update their own information

Give tenants the ability to update their own information. For example, the information they should update includes phone and email address, contacts, vehicles, pets, insurance, and more.  The reason why this is so critical is so that management has accurate information when there is an emergency situation and need to send bulk messages.

4) One of the best ways to communicate with your tenants

You may already be communicating with your tenants through email, phone, and text.  The tenant portal is another way you can communicate with your tenants and keep them informed. 

5) Build a sense of community

Tenants want to have a sense of belonging in the community they live in.  Therefore, it’s important that through the tenant portal, you’re able to build a positive community culture and living experience.  

How do you build a sense of community through a resident portal?

• Organize virtual events to bring your tenants together, get them excited to participate, and keep them connected.  Display the events in a calendar with a link to join and send them an email notification with details.  
• Send a survey to your tenants at least twice a year to understand how they feel about your services and what you can do better to improve the experience for them. That way, your tenants know that you value their opinion and are open to doing something about it.

6) Increase transparency with your tenants

Maintaining transparent operations and communicating about what you do helps build trust in management.  The way a tenant portal helps build transparency is through keeping tenants informed about their unit and what is happening in the community.

How can you increase transparency through the portal?

• As mentioned earlier, display financial balances in real-time so tenants can go back and see what they paid. 
• Answer commonly asked questions or post documents about your company policy, lease agreements, amenity rules, and maintenance equipment.  
• Communicate to your tenants regularly about what is happening in the community, work order updates, and more.

7) Generate more renewals through increased tenant satisfaction

Tenants expect to hear from management more frequently with updates they care about.  When you keep tenants informed, they will be more satisfied with your customer service.  They’ll also be more likely to renew their lease year after year if you provide consistent value to them. 

8) Save time and improve operational efficiency

A portal eliminates a lot of manual work that managers would otherwise have to do to maintain their properties and keep track of tenants.  An online payment system in your tenant portal eliminates the need for managers to go to the bank or scan checks in.  Having your tenants update their contact information decreases the chance of your messages missing the inbox and going back and forth with them to correct it.  Managers can also reduce inbound calls and emails to the office by answering commonly asked questions in the portal, sending messages, and emailing the progress on maintenance requests. 

9) Increase Net Operating Income (NOI)

As we stated earlier, a well-maintained portal reduces manual work for managers.  What if you could spend less time fielding inbound calls? What if you could save money by transitioning documents, announcements, and updates online?  Management would be able to significantly reduce operating expenses and increase the profitability or the net operating income (NOI) of the property. 

10) Impress new prospects

A well-maintained portal is a significant part of the value you promise to deliver to your prospective tenants.  Since today\’s renters want transparency and ease of access to information, a portal can provide the advantage your company needs over a competing property that may not have a portal (or a modern, easy to use portal).  

Take your apartment community experience online with Pilera

Pilera\’s integrated property management suite – communication, maintenance, customer support, and tenant portal – all work together to help you deliver the level of customer service your tenants expect and grow your company. Pilera\’s tenant portal increases tenant satisfaction through self-service features such as occupant management, online payment, work order requests, tenant directory, and more. Through the portal, managers reduce operational expenses and thus increase NOI with features such as automatic email updates to tenants, documents, knowledge base, events, and more.

To learn more about how Pilera can help you better manage properties and increase tenant satisfaction, contact us at [email protected].

One of the most important responsibilities for any property manager is to communicate with their tenants.  In the long-term, communicating frequently with tenants will enable many benefits for the property manager.  Keeping communication at the center of the customer service strategy helps managers to better understand and cater to their tenant’s needs while tenants will have gained better insight into the unit they invest in.  In this blog post, we discuss the long-term benefits that consistent property management communication has for the company.

1) Increased value for your business

Tenant retention drives immense value for your business and increases the bottom line, which is why it’s one of the most important functions of managing apartments.  According to RentPrep, when you successfully retain one tenant itself, the company can save an average of $1,750 per unit per month from tenant turnover costs like administrative work, vacancy, and marketing. For a property of 100 units with a 95% retention rate, property management companies save close to $2 million per year.  The best way to avoid turnover and increase retention is to keep your communications with tenants ongoing.

2) A sense of community in your properties

Following up with tenants regularly helps you to build a long-term relationship with them.  In turn, they feel that they are part of the community. They will be more invested in the place they call home.  Building positive relations will also lead to more harmony and fewer conflicts that managers would otherwise need to dedicate their time to.  Here are a few ways that you can keep in touch with residents and foster positive apartment culture:

• When the tenant moves in, send them a welcome packet.  The packet should contain information on amenities available and policies, service expectations, contact information, how to pay rent, and any local services to help them get acclimated in the area.
• Check-in with your new tenants regularly. Ask them how the move-in experience has been and if you could have made the transition better.
• Build tenant engagement by sending monthly newsletters.  Talk about company news (such as a new property manager joining), events, and other important news within the town.
• Provide tenants with a list of resources for recreational or educational activities.
• Invite tenants to online social events or informational webinars.

3) Increase the Lifetime Value of a Customer (LTV)

Acquiring new tenants is much costlier and time-consuming than retaining a current tenant. Getting new tenants to sign on a lease costs thousands of dollars in marketing and vacancy expenses. Retaining a tenant is less-time consuming when you have good customer service and communication strategy. Tenants will be happier and are more willing to renew their lease with you. The longer tenants stay at the apartment, the higher the lifetime value of the tenant, or LTV. For example, if the average rent a tenant pays is $850/month and the average length of time they stay at an apartment is 3 years, your LTV is $30,600 per tenant. Consider how you can communicate with your tenants to increase the likelihood of renewals and LTV.

• Keep your tenants in the loop about building or unit maintenance throughout the progress.
• Send a survey to your tenants often. This will help you to maintain a pulse on tenant\’s expectations of your service, the building, and their unit. Additionally, it will make them feel that their opinion is valued.
• Send an email to your tenants when their lease is coming up for renewal. In your email, thank them for being a valued tenant, set the rent expectations (whether you are increasing or decreasing rent and why), and make the action for them to take clear.

4) Maintain the safety of your tenants

Many apartment communities face either human or natural-related disasters.  Be proactive and inform residents quickly on what is occurring because it’s critical to ensuring safety and saving lives.  Especially in light of the ongoing pandemic, it’s imperative for property managers to let tenants know about sanitization measures, amenity policies, and contactless payment methods, or any temporary payment deferment opportunities.  Pilera’s apartment clients have communicated to tenants about shelter-in-place orders and/or the relaxation of them, amenity policies (closings, re-openings, and sanitization measures), how to make online payments, and ways they plan to support tenants.  Providing helpful resources and information at the right time gives tenants peace of mind and builds their trust in management.

Reaching out to your tenants on a regular basis with relevant information is crucial to improving their experience and perception of your company.  The property management company is in a better position to build a positive reputation and revenue growth. 

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About Pilera

Pilera Software is a premier property management platform that empowers multifamily, HOA, and condominium management companies to deliver superior customer service and staff collaboration.  To learn more about how Pilera’s communication platform can work for your company today, contact us at [email protected].    

Property management companies have a constant goal to improve their competitive position while managing everyday operations.  While working to achieve those goals, property managers may face several challenges: delivering top-notch customer service, managing regular and unexpected maintenance, and improving staff efficiency.  Cloud-based technology systems where features integrate well with each other can help property managers battle those challenges and drive greater success.  In this post, we’ll talk about top property management challenges, technologies, and how Pilera’s own property management software can help drive success.

Top 3 Property Management Challenges

1. Delivering quality customer service

Customer experience can make or break a company.  As customer experience impacts success at every level of an organization from productivity to employee satisfaction to revenue growth, it’s important to make it the core of everything you do.  However, things can get tough when a property manager’s phone lines and email inboxes become uncontrollable, tasks are forgotten, and tenants start sharing negative experiences on social media or Yelp.

To deliver a customer service experience that goes beyond the tenant’s expectations, it’s important to focus on their needs.  In the digital age and more recently during stay/safer-at-home orders, tenants expect to have information at the fingertips.  If they’ve asked for your assistance, they also expect to hear back from you in a timely manner.  A customer relationship management tool can help property managers proactively meet those expectations.  Pilera’s platform is specifically designed to help property managers elevate the customer experience for residents through a self-service tenant portal, fast and reliable communication system, and activity log management.  A well-maintained, self-service resident portal with online payment capability, documents, calendars, and an FAQ section can reduce the need for a tenant to call or email the office, significantly saving managers time.  An automated communication system with the capability to reach out to tenants how they want will leave them with a positive perception of your company.  In turn, when tenants reach out to you, capturing all of your interactions and resolutions with them in one place helps you to further nurture relationships and increase the chance of renewals.

2. Managing regular and unexpected maintenance

It can be a challenge to stay ahead of multiple maintenance projects – whether they are regular maintenance items, resident submitted, or unexpected maintenance. Unexpected maintenance can heavily strain company resources, specifically finances, employee workload, and vendor availability, as well as introduce liability.

For property managers to stay on top of maintenance projects efficiently and accurately, they need to be able to pull in their staff, tenants, and vendors all in one system.  Pilera’s comprehensive maintenance tracking system helps property managers stay on top of tasks they need to get done on any device or location and review the resolution with after-job details.  Additionally, Pilera’s work order management system integrates seamlessly with the vendor database, which means that managers can keep track of vendor contact and license information, ratings, assign them to work orders, and notify them through email.  Managers receive license expiration notices so that they know which vendors to call upon short notice, for unexpected maintenance, or during emergencies.  Furthermore, managers will field fewer inbound calls to the office when residents can submit service requests themselves and view updates in the portal.

3. Improving staff productivity

A property manager’s day is never slow or completely predictable!  When things happen that change the course of the day or week, it’s possible for tasks to be forgotten or set aside.  How to improve the productivity of your staff in a fast-paced environment starts with efficiently managing their time and improving their processes.  When property management leaders can improve staff productivity effectively, they are more likely to reduce staff turnover and attract more quality property managers.

How do you make the best use of their time and improve their processes?  Be sure to assign tasks, set a due date, and encourage your staff to provide updates as they go.  Tracking all these actions in a unified system will prevent your staff from having to shuffle through a lengthy email chain for the latest update or call their coworkers.  Through Pilera’s ticketing system, staff can manage all their tasks from start to finish.  At the start of each day, they can use the ticket dashboard to see all the work assigned to them for the day.  Property managers and company executives can use the ticket analytics report within Pilera to identify which properties are generating the most tickets, which staff members are overloaded, and where to shift workload for better performance on a busy day. 

Turn your challenges into successes

Looking to turn these property management challenges into success for your company and staff?  Be sure to go beyond your tenant’s expectations with concise and frequent communication.  Keep all stakeholders informed when they need to be when it comes to maintaining your properties effectively.  Check-in with how your staff is performing and how you can shift workload for better performance.  A cloud-based, integrated, and collaborative technology platform can help property managers and leaders stay on task and on the go, as they work toward building a competitive advantage and operating efficiently.

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About Pilera

Pilera Software is a leading property management software company that offers diverse solutions for the multifamily and rental industry. Pilera specializes in automated phone, email, and text messaging. Increase tenant engagement through resident portals with online payment, document sharing, and work order management, as well as a wide array of other management features. To learn how you can take your management operations to the next level with Pilera, you can sign up for a personalized demo.

The work of property management staff never seems to end. Whether it’s tenants, owners, landlords, contractors, or the endless stream of daily tasks, the days can be grueling.  Knowing that the costs of property management are rising faster, property managers will need to be more efficient and bring more value to their clients.  The best way to achieve balance in the hectic world of property management is through the utilization of Pilera Software\’s suite of products.

Payment Collections:

By providing a secure online payment collection option for residents, you can reduce issues and errors in transactions, and increase resident satisfaction.  This option will provide residents with detailed transaction history of all their community payments, thus allowing residents to view their balance and leger at any time.  This whole process is done invisibly to the property manager so it’s like the task disappears!

Maintenance Requests:

Pilera Software Maintenance suite helps improve efficiency and enhance the resident experience.  Residents can log in to create, update, and review their tickets.  Residents even have the option to attach documents, photos, and other files to the ticket. As the property manager, you can assign tickets to internal staff or external vendors. By using online communications, property managers can auto-notify vendors, and even dispatch a contractor.  This will drastically reduce response time through a single hub to manage thousands of tickets across all your communities. By using the Maintenance Suite, you have streamlined the entire life cycle of your management company’s maintenance process with comprehensive tracking that saves you time!

Reduced Paperwork:

Another robust offering in Pilera Software’s lineup of products is the Resident Portal, those piles of paper in the filing cabinets are the bane of property managers everywhere. Using Pilera Software\’s Document Library found in the Resident Portal, you can eliminate the stress of mailing forms to homeowners! Property Managers can access files easily across multiple communities and increase resident satisfaction with a more secure way of electronic delivery.  With unlimited storage, secure access for residents, and two-way online communication, the Resident Portal is a tool you need to run your management business!

Streamlining your operations using the suite of Pilera Software’s products means you can manage more properties and seriously increase your revenue and profit.  Isn’t it time to bring your communities together with Pilera Software?

Call 1-877-974-5372 or email [email protected] us today!

One of the reasons people cite for purchasing a condo is its location. Maybe it has an incredible view. Maybe it’s within walking distance of the city’s best restaurants. Maybe the owner thinks others will appreciate those aspects of his condo, as well.

Vacation season is here and house swapping sites are gaining popularity. You might find some condo owners in your property are looking to take part in the trend. Short-term rentals are a mixed bag. A condo owner might find the perfect family to move in for a week or two and then they’d leave with no disruption. What’s the harm, right? On the other hand, a condo owner might bring in a constantly rotating cast of renters who use their vacation spot to blare loud music and disrupt the neighborhood.

Most HOAs lay out rules about how many units in their property can be rental properties at one time — and that’s for leases that last at least a year. There also should be rules about short-term rentals that either restrict or ban the process to keep disruption to full-time neighbors at a minimum.

To prevent condo owners from pleading ignorance, now is a good time to remind condo owners about your HOA’s rental rules as the summer starts to heat up. There’s no harm in a gentle reminder before the travel bug bites.

Pilera is a best-of-class, easy-to-use, comprehensive online property management solution for apartments, condos, and associations. Pilera provides the easiest, most comprehensive data management capability available to property managers, leasing agents, boards of directors, and back-office personnel. Quickly and easily access whatever you need, whenever you need it, from wherever you need to be with office or mobile phone connectivity. You are never out of touch. Act on the document/information accessed from the office or “on-the-road” with Pilera-supported mobile capability. Contact us today!

Well, there’s good news on the horizon for property managers — all indicators point toward a strong rental market as we make our way into the second half of 2015.

According to a recent market analysis, there are three main factors that are contributing to an optimistic outlook with regard to rentals.

Tightening rental markets

In an already tight market, vacancy rates have dropped from a rate of almost 11% in 2009 to a current rate of just below 6%. It’s expected that this decline will continue moving forward, which is good news for property managers.

Fewer homeowners

Homeownership has dropped to its lowest level since the early ‘90s. Homeownership peaked in 2003 at just under 69%, but has dropped to its current rate of 64%. This is likely due to continued economic uncertainty and higher house prices, among other factors.

Improved job market

With a steadily declining unemployment rate and a stronger job market, more potential renters find themselves able to commit to leases. It also points to Millennials being able to move out of their parents’ homes and into their first rentals.

Because of all of these positive trends, it’s expected that rental properties will be able to raise their rental price points, which is more good news for property management companies. Enjoy the upswing!

Pilera is a best-of-class, easy-to-use, comprehensive online property management solution for apartments, condos, and associations. Pilera provides the easiest, most comprehensive data management capability available to property managers, leasing agents, boards of directors, and back-office personnel. Quickly and easily access whatever you need, whenever you need it, from wherever you need to be with office or mobile phone connectivity. You are never out of touch. Act on the document/information accessed from the office or “on-the-road” with Pilera-supported mobile capability. Contact us today!

 

The rental market is a volatile one and is often dictated by the overall economy. If home prices are high and it’s a seller’s market, people with the choice of renting or buying are more likely to rent. If home prices are low and there are attractive rates, those same folks are more likely to buy.

When potential renters are choosing to become first-time homebuyers, it can be tough for rental properties. Units can sit vacant for months and money can get tight in a hurry, especially in areas where renters have a multitude of choices when it comes to places to live.

So what can you do to fill up those empty units when all of your usual marketing efforts fail to bring people to your door? As it turns out, plenty. Though almost all of it comes at a cost.

One method is to think like a hotel does. When a hotel is in a competitive market, they offer all sorts of deals and perks to entice customers in. Offering free rent for a certain period, fresh coffee in the morning, or free wi-fi can make your property stand out from the others.

If you’ve got the capital, consider an upgrade to the property’s exterior. A professional paint job or landscaping can improve that all-important first impression. Adding a pool or a gym can make a huge difference too, although it’s important to consider how disruptive that much construction can be to current residents.

With the Boomer generation aging, some properties are adding subtle touches to draw them in. Small features like plenty of handholds, extra handicapped restrooms, easy-open doors and drawers, and non-slip surfaces can really catch older folks’ attention without being obtrusive.

The bottom line is that while riding out the ebb and flow of the rental market can be a challenge, there are still plenty of things you can do to stay in the game.

Pilera is a best-of-class, easy-to-use, comprehensive online property management solution for apartments, condos, and associations. Pilera provides the easiest, most comprehensive data management capability available to property managers, leasing agents, boards of directors, and back-office personnel. Quickly and easily access whatever you need, whenever you need it, from wherever you need to be with office or mobile phone connectivity. You are never out of touch. Act on the document/information accessed from the office or “on the road” with Pilera-supported mobile capability. Contact us today!

With the fall semester starting up once again at colleges across the country, some property managers are faced with a familiar annual dilemma: Should I rent to college students?

There are a lot of concerns right out of the gate when contemplating this step. For example:

Maturity. It’s nice to think of college students as responsible young adults, learning to make their way independently in the world, but in reality, college freshmen are a few months removed from high school seniors and are still very young. That’s not to say that all college freshmen are immature, but it’s definitely a consideration.

Credit. Most college students have no credit history at all to check, so the property manager will need to have someone with good credit to co-sign the rental agreement, whether it’s one parent, both parents, or a legal guardian.

School year. It’s not always the case, but some college students are only interested in renting for the school year, usually from September to May or June. If that’s the case, you might have to add a sub-lease clause to the rental agreement or arrange for a full year’s rent to be spread over a shorter time period.

Parties. It’s no secret that college students have parties, and those parties can get out of control fast, causing headaches for you, your other tenants, and the community. Rental agreements will have to be explicit regarding number of guests at any given time, noise regulations, and damages.

Still, all those considerations aside, the college crowd can be a financial windfall, and if word gets around that your property is college student-friendly, you can be sure that your vacancies won’t stay vacant long come September.

Pilera is a best-of-class, easy-to-use, comprehensive online property management solution for apartments, condos, and associations. Pilera provides the easiest, most comprehensive data management capability available to property managers, leasing agents, boards of directors, and back-office personnel. Quickly and easily access whatever you need, whenever you need it, from wherever you need to be with office or mobile phone connectivity. You are never out of touch. Act on the document/information accessed from the office or “on the road” with Pilera-supported mobile capability. Contact us today!

photo credit: CollegeDegrees360 via photopin cc

There are parts of the country where for the most part, rental properties are brand new with every modern convenience imaginable. There are other parts of the country where those modern properties compete with the charm of older rental properties. Luckily, everyone in the market for a rental has his or her preference and as long as you treat your older property well, you’ll be able to find its perfect match.

An older property will likely need some updating, but property owners should be sure not to eliminate the building’s charm. First of all, make sure the workhorses of the property work well. Modernize the heating system and replace the windows, and make sure pipes and drains are in good working order. Be able to reassure any potential renters that the charming kitchen sink straight out of a farmhouse won’t suddenly back up in the middle of the night and flood the kitchen.

And speaking of kitchens, give it a facelift. New cabinets or a fresh coat of paint go a long way. Give the bathroom the same treatment. People seeking rentals often are sold on kitchens and bathrooms, so make sure that in your older property, these rooms look bright, clean, and modern rather than dark and dingy.

Updating appliances is another good way to help your older property rent quickly. A new fridge and stove that match your property’s character is a must and if you have the space, install a dishwasher or a washer and dryer combo.

Appeal to the romantic nature of potential renters by knowing the property’s back story. Old pictures of the way the home or apartment used to be decorated are fun to have on hand, as well as information about the year it was built and who lived in or owned the property over the years.

These relatively inexpensive updates help property managers with older properties easily compete with modern properties on the market. There’s no reason to undergo a complete renovation. Instead, maintain your older property’s charm while giving it a facelift and offer renters seeking an older property the best combination of old and new.

Pilera is a best-of-class, easy-to-use, comprehensive online property management solution for apartments, condos, and associations. Pilera provides the easiest, most comprehensive data management capability available to property managers, leasing agents, boards of directors, and back-office personnel. Quickly and easily access whatever you need, whenever you need it, from wherever you need to be with office or mobile phone connectivity. You are never out of touch. Act on the document/information accessed from the office or “on the road” with Pilera-supported mobile capability. Contact us today!

photo credit: Martin LaBar via photopin cc

Memorial Day brought with it the unofficial start to summer, which means that school is almost out and vacation time is upon us. Traditionally, people planning a vacation wouldn’t think twice about booking a hotel as soon as plane tickets were purchased, but that tradition is changing. Rather than seek out yet another nondescript hotel room, more and more U.S. travelers are opting for a vacation rental home instead.

This information comes from a survey conducted by TripAdvisor, designed to glean information about travelers’ accommodation preferences while vacationing. Almost 50% of survey respondents said that they plan to rent a home rather than stay in a hotel during their next vacation.

Their reasons for choosing this option are varied, but most come down to the greater convenience that comes with a vacation rental. Some choose a rental home because of the greater space they provide. Others want to pack light and love the idea of having ready access to a washing machine. Still, others who hate the idea of eating out for every meal enjoy having the use of a full kitchen. Then there are those who look for nothing more than a rental home with an incredible view. They’re probably not traveling with kids.

If you have a rental home that you think could be perfect for a vacation rental, there are a few things to think about before you make a final decision about it. Be sure that you can provide renters with a fully furnished home. Keep in mind that this means more than just a comfy couch. Most renters expect a fully equipped kitchen, a few sets of sheets, and towels as well. It is also important to remember that many people who choose to rent a vacation home are looking for greater cost savings than they could get with a hotel. Take a look at hotels in your area or nearby comparable vacation rentals to decide what to charge renters.

Pilera is a best-of-class, easy-to-use, comprehensive online property management solution for apartments, condos, and associations. Pilera provides the easiest, most comprehensive data management capability available to property managers, leasing agents, boards of directors, and back-office personnel. Quickly and easily access whatever you need, whenever you need it, from wherever you need to be with office or mobile phone connectivity. You are never out of touch. Act on the document/information accessed from the office or “on the road” with Pilera-supported mobile capability. Contact us today!