Property management software development is a multifaceted subject that requires a lot of attention, although zillions of articles have been written about this topic. Why? Because traditionally property management industry remains reluctant towards technology. To accelerate the process of technology implementation within the property management industry, we decided to explore software development deeper.
The main aim of this article is to break down the myths about the high cost of software development and review the process of building software for the property business.
Common Issues Custom Property Management Software Solves
Property management software (PMS) includes all tech solutions for property managers, landlords, and real estate companies helping them manage the workflows around their rental and owned properties, including accounts, leases, documents, ticketing, maintenance, and financials management.
What are the main challenges that PM software helps to solve?
Let's assume, you need to manage 20-100 business centers. You're using tools that don’t necessarily satisfy all your business requirements. Eventually, some tasks like collecting statistics, monitoring and tracking the buildings’ performance fall on your shoulders. And as an investor/broker/owner, you can’t get away until you do those chores manually, often spending too much time.
By implementing customized property management software, you get a solution that automates ALL processes inside your company. No manual work needed.
The property managers' workflow is changing continuously. Each day you need to do different tasks. For instance, your company manages houses, duplexes, and large multiunit buildings. Suddenly, you get 7 insurance claims coming in at once, for 7 different owners, with 7 different insurance companies. Without a centralized system, you could get bogged down in spreadsheets, switching between various systems to deal with those claims. In case, you have a centralized property management system, you could simply rely on it and it will help you to automate all types of requests and avoid the situation when you're messing up with paperwork.
In large companies, senior executives don't see the full picture because each department uses different software that isn’t necessarily synched up. One of the best ways to solve this problem is to integrate new software with existing ones to complete the picture.
Because of the differences in functionality and features, your new software might not be easily integrated with your existing one. In this case, integration is a distressing and expensive process.
However, the gaps between disintegrated tools in your organization may be bridged by building a custom system, which would consolidate existing software and ease future integrations.
Benefits of Custom Property Management Software
The whole point of building custom property management systems is an overall optimization and automation of administrative and business processes.
There are also some other advantages of developing property management software:
Secure storage for all data and documentation;
Scalability of software functionality;
Secure data storage;
Custom set of features tailored to your company’s needs;
Personalized client service and engagement;
And more!
Let’s review each benefit in detail.
Overall Optimization and Automation
Automation helps companies to optimize the following tasks:
Lease renewals and expirations
Asset management
Package and delivery management
Rent payments
Facilitating apartment tours
Staff recruitment
Maintenance request management (requests for cleaning, elevators maintenance, etc.)
Granting property access to residents and guests
Tenant screening.
When all of the tasks, mentioned above, are automated, you optimize the workflow and free your time for finding new tenants, lead generation, etc. Plus, you lower the possibility of making a mistake, since the property management software will take care of everything for you.
Data Protection
Property managers operate lots of data daily. A huge element of it is personal information about tenants and their financials. This confidential data requires a high level of safety. Otherwise, in case of data breach, a property manager will be the one legally responsible.
The best way to meet all security standards is to build property management software from scratch. This software allows you to keep all data in one place using encryption and other security measures.
Scalability of Software Functionality
A scalable property management system is a solution with functionality that broadens as your business grows. The more properties you manage, the more likely you are to expand the system. Custom property management system extends fast and flawlessly.
Custom Set of Features
By building such a system, you are the one to choose what features need to be implemented. Therefore, you get a solution customized particularly to your business and situation, not a black box supported by third parties.
Personalized Client Service and Engagement
Custom property management system allows you to review the records of your engagement with clients to offer more personalized service. E.g., you can add AI-based functionality that will show properties to your clients according to their behavior on the website.
Types of Property Management Software
As commercial leases are much more complicated compared to residential ones, your property management software must contain tailor-made features that mirror your unique commercial real estate workflows.
Commercial property management software demand features for tracking additional workflows such as property taxes, insurance, stacking plans, maintenance fees, and some others.
This software supports owners, leasing companies, or landlords in multiple property management, scheduling maintenance work, and dealing with numerous leases. Tenants can also utilize these solutions for online rent payment and signing digital contracts.
When you manage an industrial property, you are responsible for maintaining and inspecting it, ensuring that it complies with building codes and regulations, coordinating real estate tax reviews, bidding for vendor services, and managing staff.
Industrial property management software focuses on covering these tasks easily and effectively.
A special-purpose property is designed for specific use (e.g., theaters, sports arenas, resorts, senior care facilities, schools and universities, and places of worship). Managing this type of property requires specialized software.
Property Management Software Features
When it comes to building customized software, you should take into account who will be using the software. Contrary to the basic features set required in any property management system, the final functionality leans on the purposes and expectations of the end-users.
Custom vs Ready-Made Property Management Solutions
The eternal question - what’s better: to implement a ready-made solution or build a custom one? That isn't an easy one to answer. Everything relies on your business goals and the size of the company.
Usually small and middle-sized companies can effectively use ready-made solutions. But for mid-to-large-sized firms, those solutions often don't cover their needs.
Around 40-50% of ready-made solutions fail customization capabilities, have integrations limits, and cannot be easily expanded. Furthermore, you need to think about the cost of licenses per user, which might not be worthwhile for a large firm with many employees who will need to use the software. In such circumstances, by developing and implementing the custom-made system, you’ll save a great deal of money in the future. Additionally, you invest in a solution that can be tailored to fit your business and modified exactly how you need it.
How to Develop Property Management Software for Real Estate?
When you decide to build property management software, you need to see the software development lifecycle clearly (where should you start, what you need to include in the system, and don't forget to consider timing and cost). Here’s a guideline to follow when planning property management software development:
Research & Discovery phase**.** This is where you discuss your project specifications with the software development company. During this stage, you actively communicate with business analysts, product owners, and project managers (if needed). The discovery phase focuses on setting up an area of work, an initial project roadmap, and use cases to determine the best property management software solution for your business.
Skillset Assessment and Proposal. You and your software development partner review and specify the tech stack, project scope, timelines, budget, and engagement models for your project.
Wireframing/Prototyping. This next step is where you get clickable screen prototypes and wireframes for your future system to test out user stories and finalize your ideas.
UI/UX design. When you agree on prototypes and finalize ideas, the project moves to the UI/UX design stage. Here you can see the final design and test the usability of the features you wanted to include to your software during the discovery phase. Based on your comments, the team finalizes the tech stack selection and determines the total project estimate.
Development. During this phase, the development team delivers mobile and/or web applications and implements the front-end and back-end functionality you require during previous stages.
Release and ongoing support. The final step of property management software development but not the last in the software lifecycle. During this phase, the team tests, releases, and implements the software into your business. You may also sign a long-term support contract for ongoing platform updates and maintenance.
As a result of this process, you get property management software tailored to your property management business goals.
If you're curious to see the features property management software should have according to the type of its end user, feel free to ping us in the comments and we'll share the whole article.
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