9 tips on how to deal with angry tenants

Posted on by salmon

We’ve discussed the importance of customer service on several Watercooler posts, but today I would like to address a few best practices in handling the “squeaky wheels” among your client base. At some point and time, even the most organized property manager is bound to deal with an upset tenant or resident, whether it’s due to a maintenance request slipping through the cracks, an unresolved issue with the monthly rental payment, or even a simple misunderstanding between the parties involved. Although these instances are less than ideal, there are several steps a property manager can take to minimize the damage and improve the customer’s overall experience at the property:

1) Respond in a timely manner: Whether it’s posted on social media or sent in via email, the majority of unhappy clients expect a response within a maximum of three days. In fact, 42% -50% of this demographic want you to respond within 24 hours! If you need to look into the issue at hand, do not ignore the client until you have a response; it is far better to reach out them and apologize for their frustration and explain that you are looking into the matter immediately. It will also help if you are able to include an anticipated resolution date so the customer knows when they will hear from you again. shutterstock_111772736-resized-600For example, “I have reached out to my supervisor and hope to have a solution by this Friday” is better than “I emailed my manager and will get back to you as soon as I ei a response.” If you don’t have the luxury of an estimated follow up date, it can be helpful to acknowledge the inconvenience and stress that you will make sure the complaint does not fall to the wayside and gets handled as soon as possible. Try something like: “Unfortunately, our maintenance supervisor is out of the office until next Wednesday, however I will make sure I touch base with him as soon as he returns. Is there anything else I can do to assist you in the meantime?”

2) Don’t ignore Facebook posts:  Have you ever heard the saying, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?” In this day and age, it can probably be updated to “Hell hath no fury like an upset Facebook fan scorned.” Oftentimes, companies simply delete any negative posts on their Facebook walls, and although this may make the property look better to any passerby checking out the page for the first time, one of the worst things you can do to an upset customer is to delete their complaint. After all, 26% of consumers turn to social media after they have a bad interaction, and getting rid of their comment instead of writing a response makes your company appear unconcerned with the customer’s experience. Social Media Examiner has some excellent tips for dealing with upset Facebook fans, the foremost of which is to respond no matter what. After all, a lack of interaction on your part can make it seem like you’re ignoring the problem and hoping it works itself out.

3) Put yourself in the customer’s shoes: Although a leaky faucet may not seem like a huge deal in the big scheme of things from a property manager’s point of view, take a step back and see why it’s bothering your client. Is (s)he worried about the water bill? Did a co-worker slip and almost injure themselves? It’s sometimes hard to see the merits of a complaint when there are larger issues to be resolved, but unfortunately clients are twice as likely to share a negative experience than a positive one. Thus it is imperative to follow up with all issues, regardless of their severity, so your tenants and residents can be confident in your ability as a property manager to facilitate a great customer experience during their time at the property.

4) Follow up after the fact: This is an easy extra step to regenerate your reputation within the client base. After the problem has been resolved, reach out to your customer a week or so later to make sure nothing else is awry. This gesture shows that you are concerned with the client’s feelings throughout their tenure, not just when an issues arises. A simple email asking whether the thermostat is still working also gives the customer a chance to voice any additional issues, enabling you to address any further complaints as soon as they occur.

Although an upset client is never an ideal situation, hopefully we’ve given you a few tips and tricks to get you back on the right track. Do you have any examples of turning a frustrated client back into a satisfied one? Share them in the comments section below!

PropTech terminology – what does it all mean?

Posted on by Chris Vroman

Never before has there been so much information available about PropTech. There are quite literally thousands of real estate technology providers to consider as the number of PropTech startups grows by the day. With many of them using the same PropTech terminology, it’s easy for them to blur into one.

As a result, it has never been more difficult to make a decision on which PropTech solution, or solutions, are right for your business. Before we try and answer that problem, we need to first understand what PropTech is and why it matters.

What is PropTech?

At a foundational level, PropTech is simply the application of technology to real estate in order to raise revenue, drive efficiency, enable better service, or power transactions. Applying different technologies to different parts of the real estate industry is what gives us the vast array of PropTech solutions that we find in the market today. There are PropTech solutions that address development, construction, sales, marketing, leasing, and operations. Further, solutions are available to serve key stakeholder groups, including brokers, tenants, vendors/suppliers, as well as institutional and other investors. With a high degree of variability in operational constructs and an array of stakeholders, there are endless permutations of ownership models, operating models, and stakeholders.

In recent years, PropTech has reached new scale and momentum as all corners of real estate have modernized and automated, sought better data to support decision making, and ultimately driven NOI by adeptly applying technology to better real estate businesses globally.

Understanding PropTech terminology

One of the main areas of confusion commonly associated with PropTech is simply the language used to describe what is on offer. Terminology such as tech stack, business intelligence, and data analytics for example, is often used without clear descriptions of what it actually means in the context of the offering. With the use of these terms such commonplace, the challenge first lies in determining what they actually mean.

Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence has nearly unlimited potential when applied to the real estate industry. From automated lease abstraction to delivering more accurate, structured data, AI-powered real estate tools can automate many of the manual processes that have been inherent in the industry for ages and give businesses renewed insights into their data to make better decisions.

Big data
Big data refers to extremely large datasets. Typically, these are so large and complex that not only would a traditional data-processing application, such as Excel©, be inadequate to manage them, but users might not even be able to see the full picture of what data is relevant to their business and processes without PropTech.

Business Intelligence
Business intelligence is the visualization of data used to analyze, report on and optimize business decisions. With the excessive amount of data that real estate firms generate, business intelligence and analytics tools can be harnessed to yield insights that will guide strategy and increase competitive advantage.

Data analytics
Data analytics is the process of analyzing raw data to identify trends and patterns and inform key decision-making. Without the right tools and guidance, modern real estate professionals can face a lot of uncertainty as they attempt to extract information from the mountain of data that their businesses create.

Deep learning
Deep learning is the part of AI and machine learning that enables everything from practical tasks to predicting what TV series you should try next based on your watch history. It’s the “science” behind computer systems that when fed data, can make decisions about other data with the aim of mimicking – and going beyond – the human decision-making process.

Internet of Things (IoT)
IoT is the process of connecting objects and devices to the internet to enable them to “talk” to each other while being managed and monitored. For example, IoT can help property managers handle predictive maintenance on HVAC systems in commercial buildings to move toward more energy-efficient operations.

Machine learning
Machine learning is the subset of artificial intelligence that provides systems with the ability to adapt, change and improve without the need for human intervention. When applied to the industry, machine learning can automate manual processes in areas such as lease abstraction, lease auditing, and conversational AI.

Open and connected
Open and connected PropTech refers to software platforms designed to integrate with systems from other providers, allowing real estate companies to choose the systems that work best for their business and create competitive differentiation. The platform provider takes responsibility to manage the integrations with select third-party providers.

Open data
Open data is data available to the public that can be freely used, reused and redistributed by anyone.

Single stack software
Single stack software refers to a platform that includes all features and functionality within one system, or stack. All aspects of the platform are developed, maintained, and managed by one provider.

Technology stack
A technology stack is made up of the infrastructure, data, services and programming languages that power a software application. Real estate companies can evaluate PropTech providers to find the tech stack that suits their needs.

User experience (UX)
UX refers to all the touch points an end-user has with your system. PropTech software that gives staff a positive user experience with intuitive navigation will enable them to provide a better overall customer experience.

User interface (UI)
UI refers specifically to the visual part of a computer system used by the end-user to interact with the software.

Choosing the right real estate software for you

Once you have established what is available to you and what works for your business then you are ready for the next step: bringing everything together.

The ideal scenario is to choose a system capable of integrating with the best components in the market. This means you never have to compromise on functionality, allowing you to have all your preferred solutions available in one end-to-end system.

There are a number of providers who say they offer an open platform; however, it is important to closely evaluate any solutions claiming to have open architecture. Many vendors claiming the ability to integrate haven’t got the functionality to support their assertion, similar to the “cloud-washing” of products that don’t offer real cloud functionality.

MRI Software has done the hard work to assess what solutions are viable and meet real business problems. We have established a strong and growing partner program with tried and tested providers. As such, we can provide flexible, open PropTech software that meets the needs of your real estate business – today and tomorrow.

How to protect yourself from property fraud with technology

Posted on by Brian Zrimsek

For property managers, risk management and fraud prevention are seemingly jobs that never end. New threats arise and old threats evolve. Similarly, new regulations are enacted by a variety of federal, state and even local agencies, and keeping up with changes can be difficult.

Technology and data can help address property risk management in the real estate enterprise. When risk is managed and fraud is eliminated, both the property and residents benefit and create a stronger, safer community.

How technology helps reduce property management risk

As the pandemic’s economic impact continues, bad actors are increasing their use of technology to perpetuate fraud. In order to secure housing, they are using false forms of identification, fake pay stubs, and stolen identities. Fortunately, technology exists to identify these increasingly common types of fraudulent activity and further mitigate risk.

  • ID verification – Identifying false forms of identity, like drivers’ licenses and passports, can stop a bad actor early in the process. Often required as part of a tour process, identification can now be quickly validated, in person or online, to deny a fraudster the ability to engage with the property, ensuring site staff do not spend time on a fraudulent applicant and that they are not put at risk during a tour with someone who is misrepresenting themselves.
  • Screening – Credit and background screening processes continue as table stakes in residential leasing processes. While these common screens are being processed, additional validation is now available. Understanding if the applicant’s credit file has had recent fraudulent activity can be a key indicator of potential issues, as can an applicant’s inability to perform a two-factor identity verification using their mobile device.
  • Income validation – Validating income is also becoming more challenging as fake paystubs and instruction on how to doctor paystubs are available across the internet. Google “fake paystubs for apartment” and you might be surprised how easy it is to misrepresent one’s income. Emerging products to validate income are the next clear wave of fraud prevention and they are currently making their way to market.
  • Insurance – In residential markets, establishing a resident insurance compliance program helps reduce risk and minimize loss by closing gaps in coverage, which can occur when new residents move in or cancel a policy. Conveniently, renter’s insurance policies can be paid along with rent on a monthly basis.

More technology savvy and sophisticated fraudsters drive more sophisticated detection capabilities. In this ongoing battle, landlords have an advantage. Landlords have historical data in renter performance and can utilize data, analytics and artificial intelligence to better predict outcomes based on applicant profiles.

Learn more about risk management for property managers in this webinar.