Can technology revolutionise property management?
The traditional, full-service property management model could change with the emergence of technology allowing for a streamlined process, according to an industry expert.
In a conversation with Smart Property Investment, Heidi Guenther, co-founder and CMO at Yabonza, explained how technology can revolutionise the property managing experience.
“It’s very manual at the moment for a normal property manager. Everything they do is manual, which isn’t scalable.”
“The usual property manager can manage 200-250 properties and are very stressed. They are very reactive to problems. But when we use technology, we are proactive instead of firefighting all the time,” Ms Guenther explained.
Highlighting how technology can tap into the “on demand” workforce, Ms Guenther explained how property managers can spend less time working.
Using the example of a mum who was previously a real estate agent “who use to work 24/7 and was on call, who can’t work nine-to-five in an office, they can work when they want to work but stay in the industry,” Ms Guenther said.
What’s holding the industry back?
While highlighting how property management is a people-to-people service, Ms Guenther believes current regulations are holding the industry back.
“The real estate industry needs to catch up with what the rest of the world is doing. It’s online, it’s on demand, people expect things to be done straightaway, they expect everything to be online, they want to see what is happening,” Ms Guenther said.
“Looking at property as an asset, you can look at your shares, why can’t you look at property?” Ms Guenther said.
Liking the real estate industry to the banking sector, Ms Guenther explained how it’s the norm to purchase online.
“Most things we will able to do online. In America and the UK, you don’t have to visit a property to do an open for inspection. You can do it online. Here in Australia you have to view it to be accepted; that’s going to change. Things like that will change with technology, but legislation has to keep up,” Ms Guenther concluded.