At tourist hotspots, real estate is being changed and reimagined in many different ways. Here is a quick view of the significant changes that are happening and the ones affecting this shift.  

• More properties and land allotted for hotels 

Tourism brings in instant profit, and hence many real estate owners, be it building owners or property owners, are now reassigning their resources towards tourism real estate. The transaction in tourism and hospitality is quicker, and this industry is booming. But this has a highly negative impact on the land, and the effects are long-term and harm the environment in more ways than one. According to statistics published by The World Counts, tourism alone degraded more than 1,747,493 square kilometers of land to date. Added to that, the carbon footprint of tourism alone is more than 8%, and most of it is not eco-friendly.  

• Residential houses converted to BnB 

According to Forbes news reports, each 1% increase in Airbnb listings leads to an instant 0.018% increase in rents and a 0.026% increase in local house prices. These numbers are scary for residential tenants and house owners. Why? New Airbnb properties are listed every other minute, and if the property prices keep increasing in relation to them, soon they will be off the roofs.  

We are already halfway there in 2022, and these trends are here to stay and make long-term changes in the CRE biz. Check them out and take them into account while planning your strategy and leadership to better your business and management plans.  

1. Retail is being reshaped  

Retail shopping was badly hit during the pandemic due to all the social distancing norms and travel restrictions. Leisure shopping or shopping for non-essentials took a backseat. Since then, malls and other retail outlets have been grilling under pressure and are yet to bounce back to their original form. But there is a high inclination toward retail being reshaped. People are now going for hybrid shopping options where they choose a product from a company’s online website or app and place an order. Later they drive by the retail outlet and pick up their order. For this new type of business, retail shops need to replan their inventory management and get in new storage spaces to handle this extra load.  

2. Multi-family homes are in demand 

There is a rise in demand for multi-family homes. Why? Remote work is slowly being removed from most company policies, and employees are called back to offices. Many first-time renters, fresh graduates, and college students who had moved back home or to the suburbs during the pandemic are now heading back into the cities. They are all looking for cheap rental options, and multi-family homes are the answer.  

3. The industrial sector is consistent 

Industrial construction in CRE is still consistent as before. With the high demand for e-commerce goods and to produce them and get them delivered, the industrial sector real estate remains popular. Factories and warehouse spaces are in high demand to make and store the added orders coming in through online shopping portals. Forbes reports back up these changes; e-commerce saw a 14.2% rise between 2020 to 2021 and a 50.5% rise between 2019 to 2021. Among these, Amazon accounted for over 40% of the sale. This is why Amazon went on to increase its number of warehouses around the country.  

4. Tourism real estate to rebound 

Tourism and hospitality real estate are slowly but steadily getting back in business. When the pandemic hit the world, this industry was one of the worst-hit. Travel is treated as one of the most non-essential, and both leisure and corporate took a backseat in people's priority lists. But in the present age, people are rethinking tourism to help beat the pandemic blues. New hotel spaces to encourage “workation” crowds where they offer both working spaces and leisure options under the same roof.

5. Offices types set to change  

The typical office space is being reimagined after the pandemic. Hybrid workspaces with more open spaces and workstations are rising in demand. Both offices and their employees are now focusing on leisure and relaxation offices and work. If you are a real estate property manager or owner of office spaces, you must consider these demands to make more sales.  

6. Investment in technology 

The use of PropTech is on the rise. There is much new-age tech that is shaking up the real estate market. You can do a lot with the correct technology, from integrating software like Yardi or MRI to automate your property management work to using autonomous drones for home tours. You can also use RPA chatbots or CRM software to automate customer communication.  

7. Mixed-use properties are rising 

Another major CRE trend is the rise of mixed-use properties. People no longer want to travel in their cars and get far from home to access other amenities. CRE is now developing properties and complexes which residential spaces, office spaces, retail outlets, recreational facilities, and shopping malls all under the same compound. This gives tenants are wholesome life within the same compound without setting foot outside or working hard to get to their things of need.  

8. Sustainable real estate is crucial 

Forbes news reports have pointed out that real estate accounts for 40% of the global carbon emissions. That is a scary number, and CRE is a major contributor to this problem. But the present tenants or homebuying crowd are the millennials, and this generation is highly conscious about the environment. You need to make an effort to make your real estate more sustainable or try to build zero-net energy homes to cater to this crowd. Why? This generation is ready to pay for more eco-friendly housing options than invest in non-sustainable properties.  

MRI Software offers property management services that can transform the way communities live. Here’s how. 

• MRI Living 

MRI Living is MRI software’s residential property management solution. This is the perfect software solution for property managers handling multi-family properties and has features to help you in every step of the tenant life cycle. From attracting prospective new tenants to handling their lease work or even automating the maintenance work, they have a solution for it.  

• MRI@Work 

MRI@Work has a larger focus on commercial properties and office workplaces. This software solution can handle the bulky data work and commercial business and space management of places like retail properties, shopping malls, warehouses, etc. The commercial real estate market is volatile, especially after the pandemic, and MRI services can help you beat the pandemic blues.  

MRI is a property management software, but it has some exclusive features.

• Online application management 

The MRI software services help you open up a waitlist system for your online applications. This will help you filter through bulks of data, shortlist applicants without long phone calls, and do lots of data entry work. It can even flag duplicate or fake applicants and save time for your business by streamlining the whole process. Choosing tenants or your office staff can all be done by customizing this feature into your existing system. 

• Voucher management 

Managing affordable housing work can be a daunting task, but MRI has a solution for all kinds of properties. MRI voucher management helps PHAs administer Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers to keep track of program participants, collect their data, and manage payments and minor leases to speed up the process.  

Yardi software can be used for all kinds of real estate properties, from senior living homes, affordable housing, and multi-family homes to shopping malls and parks. Here’s a deep dive into its features.  

• Yardi Breeze 

Yardi Breeze is fairly easier to integrate and use. They do not have very high-end technical solutions. At times, it is better suited for real estate companies just starting out on their PropTech journey. This is cheaper and has all the features for basic property management. 

• Yardi Voyager 

Yardi Voyager needs software support and staff training to use; they have customized features and solutions for specific property management needs. This version of Yardi works best for bigger commercial real estate businesses.  

• Automated CAM reconciliation 

They offer a quick CAM reconciliation feature, they tall estimated CAM charges against actual CAM charges to avoid any discrepancies and charge tenants accordingly. CAM experts generally do this work, but Yardi offers a software solution to this.  

• Resident screenings 

The top property management features are similar in MRI and Yardi.  

• Asset management 

Each real estate property has numerous assets, and keeping track of their maintenance, conditions, and tenant feedback can get automated and save your property manager a lot of time.  

• Back office accounting 

Back office accounting can be a tedious task with invoice checking, verifications, and matching all transactions to close books at month-end can be a lot of work. Yardi or MRI property management software can easily automate the back office accounting work.  

• Tenant portals 

The property management software will offer you easy-to-use tenant portals where you can interact with your tenants, collect rent, look at their grievances, and provide immediate solutions to make their time feel valued and improve relations.  

• Real estate budgeting and forecasting 

Budgeting and forecasting are crucial in any business, and the right property management software has proper analytic tools and finances and accounts tracking services that help them with your budgeting and forecasting plans. It will help you understand your current financial conditions and also plan your way ahead. 

So, how do you decide which property managing partner is the best fit for your business that goes beyond their qualifications on paper? Here is a carefully curated list of key questions you can ask a property management partner before getting them on board.  

1. How much experience do they have in handling real estate properties? 

The right qualifications are just the beginning. You also need to ask your property management partner how many years of experience they have in handling properties and projects. Real estate property deals are of many kinds, from single residential homes to multi-family homes to restaurants, malls, warehouses, hotels, properties can vary. Every type of these businesses need different business abilities and experience. You need to make sure that your partner has specific experience in the field that your property dealings happen in.  

2. What kind of property management plans do they offer? 

Property management has many different needs, rent collection, tenant onboarding, tenant eviction, common area maintenance, property listings, tenant screenings, sales, home tours and much more. Before you partner up with a property manager you need to tell them your business needs and also get a holistic understanding of which of these services they offer under their purview. You will lose out on money if you hire a property manager who does not offer all the property management plans you need to smoothen your business process overview. The strategy and leadership team at your business needs to think this through before making a decision. 

3. How are the property management fees divided among parties? 

If you are a real estate business owner or landlord and get a third-party property management partner, they will take a portion of the management fees. Before cracking a deal, all stakeholders must agree on the share of management fees they are entitled to with each sale and each customer onboarding. 

4. Do they use any property management software to automate the work? 

Property management data collection is a necessity for any business with growth plans. Getting customer data, feedback, making logs and registering these information is crucial to understand buying patterns and improvement areas. According to UNITrends market reports more than 94% of companies that suffer from data loss do not recover from it and have to call for bankruptcy. 

These can be solved with the use of latest property management software like Yardi project management or MRI software services. From data collection to rent collection or even accounting and budgeting and forecasting work can be automated with these software. Ask your property managing partner which software they use to streamline your work and ensure you get to leverage the best tech in the market. 

5. Ask if they are real estate investors 

Many property management firms and staff are real estate investors and property owners. As a fellow real estate business owner, you need to know who you are dealing with before making a move. Be upfront about it; you can not afford to lose out on business if your property manager themselves own properties and make sales at your expense without sharing profits with you.  

6. Ask if they do the marketing for properties listed with them 

Property management also includes sales, which should include the marketing o listed properties. You must ask if your partner provides marketing strategies for your units to drive sales and what they charge for these extra services.  

7. Ask if you have any say in the lease agreement terms & conditions 

Not all software is made equally; there are advantages and drawbacks to all of them. While you make a technology selection for your particular business, you need to keep these in mind to make a wise choice.  

1. Make a list of your needs 

All project management software has different features to offer. You need to make a detailed list of what you want to get from your project management software to understand which fits best for your business. Make a list of the challenges you face in manual project management, the restrictions you face regularly, and the work that needs to be automated. After this list is made, you can tally that with the list of available features in each project management software to understand which is the best fit for you. 

Some companies only want to do internal communication between property managers and agents, some want to do property management, and some even want construction management. There are different software solutions for all of them, and some offer a cumulative support system. Understanding your own needs will help you make a fruitful purchase. 

2. Create a list of all available project management software 

There are many real estate project management software out there in the market. The strategy and leadership at your company need to make a list of these to know which one fits best with your needs and is cost-effective too. Make a list of things like ease of use, reliability, scalability, if it is mobile-friendly and if it has post-integration support, and such things. Why? More than 73% of global executives in business feel that reliability, ease of use, and ease of integration are the biggest factors affecting a project management software selection.  

3. Test and get trails of each software 

More than 77% of successful projects use project management software to run their business. But that does not mean they are the right fit for you. You need to ask your IT outsourcing partner to give you trial runs and tests of the software options and make you understand which one would work best for your business needs.  

4. Check the comfort of your staff with the software 

You are not the only one who will work with the software you integrate into your system; your property managers, agents and realtors, and back office staff will also take the load. So it is best to understand the technology comfort level of your staff before taking the leap. Ensure the software dashboard is easy to use for not-so-tech-savvy people, too, for better inclusivity and resource optimization.  

5. Get detailed feedback from all stakeholders 

When you pitch your project management software options to all stakeholders in the office, get feedback from all of them to understand what they need or what can be better. As a real estate business owner or manager, it is important that you get all stakeholders on board before making a purchase to avoid any miscommunications in the future.  

6. Understand and justify the cost of investing in the software 

1. Never invest in software because it is trendy 

There is many project and property management software in the market; just because your competition uses one does not mean it is the right one for you. Do not make an investment in software because it is in trend. That can be the biggest mistake one can make in business management.  

2. Not taking the opinion of your staff 

Your staff has on-ground ideas about what their needs are from a project management software; if you do not take their opinion while integrating new software, then it might not come to any use. They are the ones that will use the software on a daily basis to streamline your work, so their opinion is vital.  

3. Not getting external support to adapt to the new tech 

When it comes to new technology it can be hard to handle, and if your IT outsourcing partner does not provide enough technical support like staff training, troubleshooting, holistic integration and such, then you are in a soup. You need to make sure that you have enough technical support, at least in the preliminary days when you are getting familiarized with the new workings.  

Yardi Breeze is a very simple property management software for residential and commercial real estate businesses. Their market value grew due to the ease of use features, and in 2020 they launched the Yardi Breeze Premier, which has some advanced features for marketing, advanced leasing, and other operational needs. You can shift to this semi-advanced plan when your business is slowly growing and getting more work under its portfolio. Here are the top benefiting features of Yardi Breeze that you need to check out. 

• Easy to set-up 

This software is straightforward to use, can be set up in your existing system within a day, and does not need your staff to be very tech-savvy to understand its simple workings of it. Yardi Breeze is also mobile-friendly, agile, and all information about the business is available on one single dashboard.  

• Live chat support 

There is a live chat with the Yardi support service team that will help you set up the system every step of the way.  

• Easy to train staff 

Yardi Voyager works best for larger real estate property management operations. When you think of expanding your automation process in project management you can make the shift from Yardi Breeze to Yardi Voyager. Why? These additional and advanced features in Voyager will tell you why.  

• Facilities management 

From parks to hospitals, airports, and warehouses, Yardi Voyager can manage all kinds of largescale facilities under your portfolio. All of your multiple facilities can be controlled remotely when you install the Voyager into your system.  

• Revenue management 

Managing the pricing and revenue of multiple units of properties can be daunting. That is where Yardi Voyager comes into play. When your business is growing, your inventory and revenue increase proportionately, and Voyager is correct for such advanced management needs. 

• Construction management 

Hardly any other property management software offers construction management plans. This feature can be customized and used under the Yardi Voyager system at a minimal additional cost.  

• Advanced budgeting and forecasting 

Budgeting and forecasting are necessary to understand the present conditions of any real estate business. But this is a very tedious task involving lots of data handling that can be filled with errors and lead to a loss of money. Yardi Voyager can help you in doing the budgeting and forecasting plans with all the accounting information it has pre-loaded in the system.  

• Rent control  

Collecting and managing the rent of multiple facilities can be a living nightmare if property managers have to collect them individually. That is why when your business grows, you can opt for the Yardi Voyager rent control facilities and automate the whole system. This feature can now be found in Breeze Premier for the last two years.  

• Customer relationship management 

Most real estate property management software does not offer CRM services. Companies have to pay for another CRM software installation. With Yardi Voyager, you can send notifications, emails, and reminders to customers and respond to them on time from the Yardi dashboard.  

Beyond the exclusive features, there are some amazing standard features in both Yardi Breeze and Yardi Voyager.  

• Back office accounting 

Back office accounting forms the backbone of the company that manages the finances of your real estate business and cash flow. This can rightly be automated with the correct technology selection with Yardi. No more getting caught up in bulky accounting data when Yardi can get it automated.  

• Automated CAM reconciliation 

CAM reconciliation helps real estate businesses run smoothly and better their leasing policies. They are filled with legal jargon that can be loopholes for human error. That is why automating the CAM work with Yardi can be beneficial for both tenants, landlords, and property managers.  

• Resident screening 

Screening residents before onboarding and doing their background research can be a tough job for property managers and agents, given that they have hundreds of customers in a day. The Yardi software can automate this process and free up your valuable time. 

• Sales tracking 

Tracking sales and things in the pipeline can be a great way to work towards a great budgeting and forecasting plan for your real estate business. Yardi can help you keep track of these sales and ease the process.  

Here are a few of the top best practices in project management that you must follow to the T to build an effective system in your everyday business functionings. 

1. Constant communication with tenants 

Your real estate business exists because you have enough tenants occupying your units. Be it Commercial Real Estate (CRE) or residential, it is essential that you frequently and constantly communicate with your tenants about any issues at hand. They need to know that your property manager or property management system is at their constant beck and call and will help in any moment of crisis. Like raising maintenance issues on your user dashboard should be easy and readily solved, or talking to your property manager should be a viable option at all times of the day. This will make tenants renew their lease with you, and you will avoid turnovers.  

2. Dynamic marketing strategies 

You can take your company and products to social media and market them. You can hire a social media manager, but you can also get the latest Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software like ZOHO to get a fully integrated marketing system. This will help you communicate with tenants and employees and at the same, automate your marketing system to help you drive sales in the long run.  

3. Proper back office accounting and expense tracking 

A property management system, be it a human or software, it needs to keep track of all expenses. This will help in back office accounting work and keep up with all the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), never pay any penalties, and close all books on time. Not only this, but it will also keep more clarity in the tenant-landlord relation, and no one will feel cheated with gross accounting processes. And when your business has proper accounting, it will stabilize your cash flow and never create roadblocks in business. 

4. Offer consistent common area maintenance services 

Do not wait for your tenants to ask for common area maintenance services to provide them. Develop a standardized system for all your buildings and units and conduct periodic maintenance work before you start getting complaints. This will help tenants rely on you and develop trust in your brand and help in your CAM reconciliation work.  

5. Getting technological help in property management 

There are many different property management software like Yardi, MRI, Procore, and many more. You need a proper technology selection plan for your real estate properties to automate and streamline the process and take the burden off your employees. 

Global News Wire reports believe that real estate property management software increased from $902.6 million to $964.1 million between 2020 to 2021. This means more companies are investing in it to save money and time, and you should too.  

6. Outsourcing your property management plans 

There are many property management service providers who provide outsourced services. They provide holistic business support services and some of them even use top-notch technology to get the job done faster. You do not need to employ an in-house property manager; you can simply outsource the work to a partnering company. 

Our team at Assetsoft can provide you with assistance in choosing the right property management software for your business. We can also help with the software integration and provide constant support to your staff to understand its functions.  

7. Training your staff and educating them 

As a property manager, you are not the only one looking after the properties. You might look at the business process overview but your employees need to understand the minute workings of the company and proper tenant interaction methods to keep up with the industry standards and retain clients.  

8. Attracting new tenants 

The best practice to attract new tenants is to keep the previously existing ones satisfied. Why? NAR Consumer Profile reports found that almost all tenants who found good homes via their agents have always recommended that business at least once to their friends and families.  

9. The leasing process should be simplified  

Most leasing processes are filled with complicated legal matters and tedious due diligence. You can automate this process and simplify form fill-ups and agreements with a CRM software integration. Contract signing, negotiations, and raising queries about particular properties can all be automated with a simple, easy-to-use CRM dashboard and will help both parties save valuable time.  

10. Networking and getting updated about the industry trends are crucial