The Property Management Blog

Energy monitoring systems are an often overlooked – and under-promoted – way for renters to cut utility costs, energy consumption, and their ecological footprint. If apartment owners promoted these devices, they could help cut costs and attract a new generation of tech- and green-savvy renters.

Last week IBM announced the acquisition of Tririga. What business does Big Blue have buying Tririga, and why now? Tririga’s software will round out IBM’s current offerings with new real estate portfolio management, capital project management, and energy management capabilities.

In the latest of our Expert Roundtable Series, we report on best practices for managing leads. We interviewed three experts in the multifamily housing market to learn about the technologies and procedures they use for successful lead management. Among our experts are executives from Gables Residential and Archstone.

We recently came across a list of the top ten cities ranking places where renting a home or apartment was better than purchasing one. The criteria for the list was rather simple – the cities that had the lowest ratio of average rental price to average home purchase price won a spot on the list. This got us thinking. What are the most “tenant friendly” cities in the United States?

The National Multi Housing Council recently reported that the U.S. apartment market was “tighter” than it had been at any point in the last four years. A “tight” market is defined as one with low vacancies and high rent increases. The tighter the market is, the harder it is for renters to get good deals.

The next time you’re searching for a rental property, throw out this question to your potential landlord and gauge their reaction: “What are your green credentials?” The response you get probably will range from a quizzical look to a mumbled sentence about switching to new light bulbs. Sustainable practices haven’t caught on as quickly in property management as in other industries.

If it’s been a while since you last rented an apartment or a house, you may be surprised to find that the property management industry is much more tech savvy than you remember. The rise in software vendors offering web-based systems for property management is driving the adoption of new technology by property managers. Web-based software vendors have recently started to emerge.

If a property owner has a growing number of properties, it’s inevitable that a day will come when they ask, “Should I outsource the day-to-day operations of my business to a property management company?” Deciding when to outsource and which company to hire is one of the most important business decisions a property owner can make.

It’s Saturday morning. Joel and Rebecca are walking their dog through a neighborhood in Austin, TX. As they walk, they chat about the movie they saw last night, what they’re going to make for dinner, and the big trip they have planned for next weekend. You wouldn’t know it by listening to their conversation, but the couple is also house hunting.

At Software Advice, a key component of our mission is to encourage the successful adoption of technologies that make businesses more competitive, profitable and environmentally friendly. Toward that end, we are excited to offer the “Tech Savvy Property Management” (TSPM) certification. This certification rates property management firms on their adoption of property management software.