To those in estate or property management, it’s no secret that the industry has been late to the game when it comes to property management platforms. During the height of the pandemic, they had to scramble, like most of us, to create a hodgepodge of processes that kept the doors open and kept them safe; now they’re seeing that many changes to the way the world does business (i.e., less in-person contact) are here to stay. Whether you are selling properties or managing them, this means finding new ways to engage the client and collaborate with colleagues – and incorporating digital tools into your daily workflow. There are several different platforms one can use, but the bottom line is using an all-in-one solution will make the integration easier, even if your idea of technology has been limited to text messages and Word documents.
- Increased efficiency: It’s a basic organizing principle, not to mention common sense, to have everything you need to complete a task nearby. Let’s say you’re undertaking a DIY project in your home. The first step (after watching the how-to video on YouTube) is to gather all the supplies in your workspace. (Imagine how much longer it would take if you had to stop and walk to another room every time you had to grab a hammer or a new can of paint.) The same applies when your “supplies” come in the form of data. You can upload the information about each property you manage and its occupants into EstateSpace so it is in one secure place and never farther away than your phone. This allows you to work much more quickly and efficiently than if you had to go searching for it across multiple platforms and/ or wait until you’re in front of your computer.
- Reduced errors: Even those of us with the best memories can forget things, especially considering the amount of data we are bombarded with every day. Having all the necessary information in one place makes it less likely that mistakes will be made, for example, if you are figuring out the monthly budget for a property. Moreover, the value of the tool increases exponentially when you are overseeing a project with a lot of moving parts, such an event or renovation.
- Easier collaboration: As mentioned above, these days we have much less face-time with those we are collaborating with. For example, we may not be visiting the properties we manage as often to meet with landscape designers or prospective inhabitants, or going to the architect’s office to discuss blueprints. This means a lot more data, including said blueprints, contracts, and so on, will be shared digitally and discussed virtually. Uploading them to a single platform and communicating via the messaging feature makes it easier for members of your various teams to come together to brainstorm and make changes, while reducing the chance of misunderstandings that can happen when one is jumping between texts, emails, clouds, et cetera. This is helpful, for example, in ensuring that you’re all working from the latest version of a document when it’s not possible to have a phone call or Zoom.
Whether you have embraced the changes of the past two years or had to be dragged kicking and screaming into our new normal, you have probably noticed a few benefits. One is that you can wear slippers to a business meeting; another is that the time you used to spend traveling from property to property can now be utilized for other tasks. The same is true of using property management platforms ‒ they allow you to streamline processes and access vital data 24/7 so you can focus more of your energy on meeting your challenges and goals.
