As a rule, individual landlords don’t center their business or living interests around one or several properties they rent out. In other words, they have day jobs or family to take care of (or both) and are just as busy as their potential tenants.
The same goes for corporate landlords renting out entire buildings: a business model like this requires precision and automation. However, following the shift to remote work and associated circumstances, there was a rapid increase in demand for homes and rental properties worldwide, which only means the global real estate market is on its verge.
Custom property management systems are stepping in to help navigate rental management. These are SaaS applications helping landlords and tenants communicate. They make the renting experience convenient, understandable, and automated. Businesses show their interest: 40% of respondents in a recent Deloitte study of executives in commercial real estate indicated their organization has a plan in place for digital transformation.
Having collected yearly expertise in custom real estate development systems, the Integrio team will share its knowledge and tell you why custom property management software development is a streamlining solution for any real estate-based business.
What is Property Management Systems?
Custom real estate management systems typically feature the following:
data and cards for real estate object visualization,
options to add or delete property,
tools for communication with tenants (platform built-in chats or via email) and their data cards,
accounting software (which assist in managing utility bills, security deposits, spending, and payment history) and online payment systems, submitting repair requests,
a tool for creating digital signatures or keys (Buildium, AppFolio, TurboTenant, Propertyware, etc.)
Businesses in the global real estate market use such systems to streamline their internal operations and make their work more effective.
Types of Real Estate Management Systems
A guide to real estate management system development can’t be complete without the types of property management systems. Let’s look at them in more detail.
Condo management software
Condominiums, townhomes, properties, and more are all constructed with home management systems in mind. Property owners may use services like accounting, e-payment, reporting, background screening, and more with this kind of property management solution. An example of condo management software can be Smoobu.
Tenant management software
Vendors use these programs to manage single-family homes, apartment complexes, and multi-unit structures. It aids property managers in doing clerical duties, including collecting rent, keeping track of occupancies, and acquiring and storing tenant information. Buildium is an example of such a property management system.
Hotel and hostel management tools
These resources support hotels and hostels with billing, scheduling, and guest administration. For instance, such an application is Cloudbeds.
Industrial property management platforms
These solutions integrate enterprise resource planning and other features for the most economical management of the industrial property. Yardi Breeze is a great example.
Office management software
Office complexes and retail real estate management are made simpler by these solutions. They include scheduling and people administration in addition to basic functionality. For instance, one such application is ProofHub.
Why is a Custom Property Management System Better than Off-the-Shelf Solutions?
It first seems like a ready-made platform for property management is a rather good choice, given the market competition and high demand. However, custom property management systems will actually meet more of your goals, and here’s why.
Tailored to your business’s needs
Be it a condo set, a hotel or hostel, an industrial set, or the suite of offices your company is renting out, ordering custom property management systems development will bring the final product as close to your individual needs as possible. You won’t have to worry about the missing functions. A custom interface will make sure both your tenants and you enjoy the convenient process of managing the renting process.
Streamlined problem-solving
Addressing unexpected and complex issues with a customer care team can, in the worst-case scenario, take days (if not weeks). A custom property management system speeding up the processes as tasks are assigned to designated specialists. It also allows further growth and enriches the system with new updates or functionality.
Higher security level
Data protection is necessary for all businesses, including real estate. Thanks to custom real estate management systems, you can safeguard your company against data loss, cyberattacks, fraudsters, and other threats more efficiently.
It’s not only the individual approach but also uniqueness, as stealing data from an untypical product is challenging. You won't have to worry about the security of your business because contemporary security solutions may be included in real estate management software.
Custom Property Management Most Efficient Use Cases
Let’s go through business cases that could greatly benefit from custom property management systems development.
Residential rent
Houses and apartments lease is the first thing to mind when discussing rent. Although it’s simple from an organizational and legal perspective (evidently the simplest of the entire list), both landlords and tenants face inconveniences and problems regarding paying, requesting a repair, or legal interference.
In this case, a real estate management system helps consolidate most processes. While there’s no apparent need for custom development for an individual landlord, a real estate agency could greatly benefit from such a solution.
In turn, Integrio has a case of development software for real estate management in an area of residential rent. Our team worked on Wescoast project, which aims to provide housing for senior citizens. On the case, Integrio was responsible for setting up all the technical infrastructure.
Hotels and hospitality chains
Lack of time to effectively manage many properties and interact with guests is a common issue for major hotel companies. The efficient running of every hotel in the chain may be ensured using real estate management software, which can simplify all documentation, streamline hotel administration, and increase customer communication.
Commercial real estate
When renting out something as huge as an office, warehouse, or shopping center area, the documentation must be treated with the utmost care. Your business may systematize work with clients and with company personnel by using management software. All important papers will be kept in a single, totally secure location.
Industrial property
The field of industrial property is substantial and complicated. This industry may automate production management, set up the capabilities of managing contracts, projects, risks, and budgets, and acquire a module for analysis, cost control, and forecasting thanks to real estate management software development.
Businesses renting out industrial property won't face the risk of losing or mixing up data, dig through mountains of paperwork to find a crucial document. They will generally get rid of dozens of organizational struggles. In management software, all data will already be organized and simplified.
7 Steps to Develop Software for Real Estate Management
There are seven main steps explaining how to develop property management software.
Roadmap & Consulting
With the business analyst and product owner, you will discuss the project requirements. If necessary, a project manager and team leads can get involved. A basic project blueprint and a tentative scope of work are produced at this stage.
Developing project plan
The second stage focuses on estimates in more detail: you have to answer the “when, where, and what” questions. Determine your project's timeframe, how long it can last, and when you expect to conclude it. Allocate the budget for project implementation after that. The final third step is selecting a team, which is best done with outsourcing - Integrio can be your best match.
Technical stage
The following stage is about writing technical documentation that both the development and design teams will take advantage of at the later stages. It involves creating functional and non-functional requirements for the project and documenting all the desired features you want your property management system to have. This stage includes the work of designers (UI/UX development), as well as front-end and back-end developers.
Testing
At this stage, QA engineers should manually test all provided code and create component testing. The primary QA components are CI/CD, Integrational, Automation Strategy, Regression, and Resource Planning.
Deployment
The team proceeds to production deployment and integration once the QA team completes its development and regression testing. Users get access to the solution's tested version for beta testing. The group gathers user input while also implementing some changes and issue fixes.
Maintenance
The development team is in charge of a product's maintenance once it is put into use in a production environment, or if any problems arise that need to be rectified or enhancements that need to be made.
Onboarding
When your custom real estate management system is finally live, the last thing to do is to onboard your clients and employees. Familiarize your workers with the newest solution and take steps to introduce the clients to this technology.
Main Features of Real Estate Management Software
There’s a crucial functionality custom real estate management systems should have to help businesses achieve their goals:
Asset management tool
Helps oversee corporate assets. This instrument will aid in managing asset utilization and streamlining related operations.
CRM tool
A necessary tool to store clients’ essential information. Through process automation, CRM aids in improving customer engagement and reducing workplace errors. Lease tool.
Inventory tool
You may manage your assets by using an inventory tool. This product is an essential part of management software businesses that work in the construction industry.
Accounting tools
To oversee and manage all financial activities inside the organization, accounting and finance tools are crucial. It gives you a detailed view of your budget and assists you in various financial tasks.
Pitfalls of Property Management Software Development
Custom property management software is undoubtedly better than a ready-made solution. Yet, there are aspects to keep in mind. To minimize their negative impact, make sure to choose the best outsourcing team to help you mitigate these risks.
Security
Storage of numerous contracts and papers is common in the real estate industry. Modern digital solutions make it simple to safeguard your business from unintended data leaks, though custom real estate management systems security is best reached after detailed functional and non-functional requirements specification. Determine the most sensitive data, think about the weak spots in reaching or exchanging data, and trust your property management software development to a team of professionals like Integrio.
External tools integration
Your management software must be able to interface with other tools employed to carry out all essential tasks. Such tools can be payment systems or, for instance, CRMs where all of the business clients’ information is kept. The matter of external tools integration is a part of choosing an appropriate technology stack and architecture, which, in turn, is best done with a truly qualified development team.
Onboarding and integrating the team and clients
Familiarizing your team with the newest software shouldn’t be a lot of fuss; however, it usually takes one or two months for the staff to get entirely in tune with the software.
Of course, you’ll have to provide onboarding for your team and the clients. They usually need approximately the same amount of time to get used to the system. While this process is natural and signifies the least struggle of all the mentioned pitfalls, keep in mind that delays and human factors can serve as minor blockers at this stage.
Cost of Developing Software for Property Management
Four factors — app development time, app development cost per hour, features and functions, and app complexity — are crucial in determining the precise cost and full financial guide to real estate software development. The usual cost to produce an MVP solution will be between USD 17,000 and 20,000 USD and may take 4 to 6 weeks to design, taking into account and analyzing the aforementioned features to create property management software.
The usual cost will be between USD 25,000 and 35,000 USD. It can reach over USD 50,000 USD depending on the complexity of the app that you pick for your business if you plan to develop a fully functional mobile app including all these additional and current features and technology.
The Integrio team doesn’t charge a specific figure for custom property management software development. Get in touch with us to discuss your idea and determine more precise pricing.
How Can Integrio Help You?
Integrio Systems has collaborated with businesses and startups in the USA, Canada, and Western Europe to offer custom software development services since 2000, which means we have turnaround expertise in developing custom property management systems.
Homebuzz is a property management tool that aids US and Canadian businesses in more effective property management. With the ambitious objective of assisting top real estate & property management firms in the US and Canada to manage and market their properties more effectively, Homebuzz collaborated closely with Integrio, having achieved the following goals:
Through marketing syndication, real estate advertising may be posted and updated from a single location on the most major real estate websites in the US and Canada as well as social media;
Real estate operations assist day-to-day activities of real estate businesses, such as facility upkeep and troubleshooting, service booking, appointment scheduling, and more; POS integration offers consumers easier payment alternatives and consolidates payment processing.
Case study: Wescoast
Wescoaster's main vision is to provide housing for senior citizens. It's a startup offering to book a cabin on a cruise ship for retired people with a minimum commitment of 3 years. To make the process of reserving accommodations aboard the ship for the upcoming years as simple and straightforward as possible for everyone, Integrio created the most practical and clear user interface.
Integrio helped Wescoast set up the website with cabin listing, booking application, users account, payment integration, email notification and special admin dashboard for managing all the processes that occur on the site.
Integrio as Your Committed Partner for Property Management System Development
Custom real estate software development is a solution more beneficial for any business than an off-the-shelf solution because it is directly tailored to the particular company’s needs. While ordering such a solution, you need access to experts, whether you're a real estate software development company or a property management firm, to guarantee trustworthy software delivery.
Integrio has the expertise to revamp an existing PMS or create brand-new property management software from the ground up. Get in contact with us right away to discuss the potential benefits of developing real estate management software for your company.
FAQ
Custom real estate management systems automate and keep track of a variety of duties and activities that are connected to your property, such as tenant and lease tracking, document flows, accounting, billing, and building maintenance.
If you lack access to reliable in-house property management software development knowledge, outsourcing is certainly the best option. You will obtain qualified expertise while dramatically reducing your project price and development time through outsourcing.
Seek out technology suppliers with the necessary experience, positive client feedback, and case studies in their portfolio. Speak with former clients, and evaluate the project's outcomes as well as the management style used by the technology partner. In this manner, you'll be prepared.
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