Client Spotlight

Azalea Properties are off to a flying start with MRI Property Central

Offering boutique-style property management services in Alberton, Johannesburg, Azalea Properties have grown quickly since their inception in November 2020. Working with Bodies Corporate and Homeowners Associations, as well as property sales and rentals, Azalea focuses on providing a personal service with attention to detail.

Business Challenge

With a large management acquisition very early on, taking over a large portfolio of 11 Bodies Corporate and Homeowners Associations, making up a total of 226 unit owners, the team at Azalea needed to be able to pick up quickly where the previous managing agent left off. It was important not only for the quality of service provided to the residents, but also for the future success of the business for the team to be able to set up their processes and access their portfolio data quickly.

Solution

The team at Azalea Properties went in search of a system that could manage all the aspects of the business and had the level of support needed to carry out a speedy implementation.

“We did a lot of research and emailed a lot of providers but struggled to find one that dealt with rentals as well… as well as this we needed something that could integrate with other solutions in a streamlined way.”

Carla Wentzel, Administration & Sales
Azalea Properties

After looking at a number of other providers and property management companies, the team at Azalea opted for MRI Property Central, thanks to its integration capabilities, functional offering, and the support and training that was offered.

Implementation

With a tight turnaround needed in order to ensure Azalea could effectively manage their new portfolio with minimal disruption to residents, the two phase implementation was set to happen over the Christmas and New Year period, as well as in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the previous property managers for the portfolio were also MRI clients, the extraction of owner, property, tenant, lease, data from the existing database into the Azalea database was quick, efficient, and allowed the team to pick up from exactly where the previous agents left off.

A month after going live with their first portfolio in December 2020, the team went live with their second portfolio of 85 single tenanted residential properties. Overall the project took only 4 months from the first training session to the close off.

“Deadlines were tight on both of these implementations….we had very little time and MRI met the deadlines”

Paul Somers, Office Manager
Azalea Properties

Tailored Support

Throughout the implementation and training period, Azalea had access to dedicated members of the MRI team, who provided them with weekly check-ins throughout the process, tailored training, and a training manual for day-to-day reference.

“We refer back to the manual regularly and it couldn’t be written in a better way, everything’s there. No need to bother Alex or Mitchell, our account managers!” – Carla Wentzel, Administration & Sales, Azalea Properties

Increased Capacity

With a robust system and streamlined processes, the team are able to handle more properties and increase their portfolio. The system has already proved its worth as Azalea onboarded a substantial account of a Security Village with 300 residents. “Without MRI, we wouldn’t have been able to do that” Paul Somers, Office Manager, Azalea Properties

The team have also found that by using MRI Property Central, they have a competitive advantage within the industry.

“As soon as we opened, we got a very large tender, word spread very quickly and we grew rapidly. MRI gives us a competitive advantage and allows us to work more efficiently so we regularly take contracts from competitors.” – Carla Wentzel, Administration & Sales, Azalea Properties

Streamlined Processes

With MRI Property Central, the team at Azalea are seeing improvements in their processes, both in the fact that time and effort is minimised in day to day operations, but that duplicate data entry is eradicated. This is thanks to MRI’s ethos of ensuring our products are open and connected,

“Now we all have an understanding of how the system can be utilised, it saves us a lot of time and effort. Everything is interlinked, so you do something once and it’s done and dusted.” – Carla Wentzel, Administration & Sales, Azalea Properties.

Flexible Working

MRI Property Central’s Cloud based system allows for working remotely, which during the COVID-19 pandemic has proved vital for the business. “It’s easier to work away from the office, as we don’t need to go and get files to be able to work from home – we already have it all in the system” –Carla Wentzel, Administration & Sales, Azalea Properties

A Futureproof Solution

Azalea are at the start of their journey as a business, but with MRI Property Central they can be sure their system will develop and grow alongside them.

“System-wise, in my view, MRI Property Central is the best property management system, and the best rental management system… unfortunately we’re not using 60% of the system at this stage. There’s so much we can log onto which we are going to at a later stage, but as a young start-up company we’re utilising the system to capacity from our side. If it wasn’t for MRI we wouldn’t be functioning day to day.”

Paul Somers, Office Manager
Azalea Properties

At MRI, our suite of property management software helps to streamline operations and add real value to businesses. Get in touch with our team to discuss your needs.

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