As of 2020, the global real estate management market size was valued at $902 million.
Are you looking for the right commercial real estate management software to give you a competitive edge? There are tons of software you could leverage on the market, but not all might be the best for your needs. To get the best to solve your inefficiency, you need to factor in various points.
Choosing the right software that will fit your business needs can be a daunting task. This article will divulge essential factors you might incorporate during your search.
Read along to get six tips on how to choose the right commercial real estate management software.
1. Features in the Software
Having an endless list of features in a real estate management software doesn’t mean it’s the right one. Having too many features than what’s needed can affect the quality of the user experience. You need to have the features required to make operations seamless in your organization.
The decision to choose the right software should start at assessing the needs of your business and how they’re getting solved. You have to figure out which processes are the biggest headache for the company. That way, you are aware of which functionality you should focus on when choosing the software.
Some of the features to look out for include;
A tenant dashboard – This interface should have all the tenants’ data in a central point. It should show their address, payments, and any other tenant’s communications.
Maintenance portal – A good software for commercial real estate management should have an interface to track work orders. Communication between the maintenance personnel and the tenants should occur there.
Accounting – tracking of all different types of payments, such as a lease and rent.
Owner dashboard – A central place where you can get all the reports for managed properties.
Before anything else, look for these essential features in the software.
2. Budget
When choosing software, it’s always advisable to consider how much the platform will cost you every month. A good commercial real estate software can cost you between $2,000 to $8,000. Each software most likely has something unique in its offering.
The cost of the software depends on the number of features offered to make your work seamless. The good thing about most commercial software is that you can choose the features you want. This makes it convenient and affordable for you to choose the features you are likely going to use.
Commercial real estate management software gets purchased to integrate all the operations. This includes tracking leases, vacancies, maintenance services, and the collection of rent. Any accounting software can do that, but you need real estate software to get the real value.
Commercial real estate management tools get tailored to suit the needs of your operations. The specific needs you want to get automated should guide you when purchasing. Request for quotations from different vendors and check the various prices charged.
For some vendors, you might have to get a customized package for your needs. If you can’t see a package that includes all the real estate management tools you want, ask for a personalized package.
3. IT Infrastructure
In the past decade, companies had to buy and maintain on-premises IT infrastructure to host the software they were using. With advancements in technology, most commercial software gets designed to leverage cloud computing. Companies no longer have to host the commercial software; they run it online through a web browser.
Nowadays, the number of hardware acquisitions you have to make when purchasing software is not factored in. Before, you had to get servers and computers which had the capability to run the software. Now, you only need to have a good internet services provider to ensure the software is always connected.
But, since cloud computing is still being innovated, there are several security issues. If your company operates under a non-disclosure agreement policy, having on promises software will be the best option. Factor in the type of hardware you’ll need to run a particular software you might consider buying.
Key players who’ve been in the industry before the introduction of cloud computing still offer on-premises software. To reduce your costs, you might want to buy software compatible with the hardware system you have. Your IT systems should also be up-to-date to enjoy more features that have been recently developed.
For every software, you’ll find the specification requirements on their website. Do an assessment to understand the cost of maintaining and repairing the computers. Make sure you have enough in-house IT technicians who can offer support for any hardware problems.
Does your team work remotely or at the office? This will guide you to know if there’s a need to buy laptops for your remote staff. The laptops must have the required specifications to run the real estate management software.
4. Costs of Implementations and Support Staff
Onboarding a new technology into an organization can be daunting and requires a lot of resources. The intensity of resources required varies with the sophistication of the software. The resources and time required to put in place the software will influence your decision.
Real estate management tools got used for accounting purposes; only the people in that department got onboarded. But, the software now integrates all the operations related to managing properties. From the people providing hands-on services such as maintenance to the accounting team.
This means implementing software for real estate management now requires many people to get trained. Training costs your organization both time and money to get everyone to be well-versed with the software. This is why most organizations tend to put computer literacy as a requirement for any job opening.
For your employees to get comfortable using real estate management software, they need training. Every real estate management tool has features that will impact the functions of some of the departments. It won’t be possible to digitize how your maintenance team handles work orders without the training.
The software is intended to bring efficiency and reduce how much you spend on your operations. This gets achieved by automating monotonous tasks. It won’t make sense if the team uses more time when using the software than they would have used without.
To get a good return on investment for your real estate management software, you need to invest in training. The success of implementing the software will get gauged by how fast it took to adopt. You need to choose a vendor who has invested a lot in documentation and videos on using the platform.
In most cases, once a vendor has sold you the software, they won’t allocate enough time to train all your stuff. You’ll have to train your best staff to offer support to the rest of the employees afterward. There are third-party companies that offer training on some of the real estate management software in the market.
Have a rundown on the number of resources you’ll need to put in place the software in your organization. Based on that, determine the software you feel is easier to onboard and will cost you within your budget. Office Control offers an easier solution to integrate your office while providing efficiency.
5. How Easy It Is to Use
The primary purpose for procuring software is to ease operations; it beats the purpose if it’s hard to use. A poor user experience and convoluted processes are what make software complicated to use. The user interface should be easy to navigate and designed in such a way it’s easy to find the tools needed.
The main features in the real estate management software are tenant portal, maintenance, and accounting. It should thus be easy to switch from one feature to another without lagging. If you manage many tenants, it should be easy to search using many fields such as address.
6. Marketing Vacancies Capability
A good commercial real estate management software should be able to track the number of properties occupied. If not, it should automatically enlist the vacancies on your website. Other software even publishes the vacancies on popular real estate websites.
Take Your Commercial Real Estate Management Operations to the Next Level
Factors used to get the right commercial real estate management software are not limited to the above. Security of your data is also a major consideration you should put in mind.
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