The real estate industry, along with property management, is graduating from the collection of raw data, to applying context to the information and now gaining real insights. Big Data is changing the face of real estate investment and management, where every company within this industry should be giving it a high priority, in terms of efficiency in their back office, and more importantly their front office, since this can allow them to strengthen or develop differentiators that generate more direct value to their clients, and overall increase competitiveness.
This is where outsourcing companies can truly become a strategic ally in order to effectively structure automated back office processes, that are driven and supervised by data, ensuring an optimal flow of operations that allows to easily detect areas of improvement and a transparent control of those decentralized operations by the real estate/ property management company. This type of partnerships allow these companies to have a greater focus on setting up an effective gathering and analysis of front end data.
Here are some examples/ types of insights that every real estate/ property management company should be focusing on generating from their front end:
Reducing vacancy loss
Vacancy is an issue for all property managers and investors. Everyone wants a portfolio of fully occupied, revenue-producing units, but how can you streamline the leasing process?
This is just one area where Big Data can help find a solution. Research has shown that the majority of prospective tenants react positively to the chance of showing themselves a unit (made possible by pre-screening for eligibility, and a one-time, expiring entry code to let them in). With this information, renters can avoid the time-consuming scheduling process and are able to make decisions more rapidly, reducing the time the unit sits on the market and the corresponding vacancy loss.
Strategic property acquisitions
The amount of information now available through Big Data takes the legwork out of investing in a new rental property. Big Data helps fuel the decision-making process by providing much more information about property value, income and demographic information of potential renters. It consolidates the information into readable statistics that can easily be analyzed by investors and their commercial real estate agents in order to make the most profitable choice.
The data can also be used to provide real estate investors with the same kind of real-time data available to investors in stocks and bonds.
Customer satisfaction in communities
Big Data isn’t only a management tool to help property managers and owners make decisions. It can also greatly increase company efficiency in property maintenance, leading to a more satisfied tenant base. It can be used to analyze data from sensors placed in ceiling fans or dishwashers, for example, to anticipate maintenance requests and generate work orders before they even come in.
The reduced wait time makes for happier customers who are more likely to remain in the community and recommend it to other qualified prospects. The ability to detect and service larger issues like water leaks also helps protect your investment.
Marketing and understanding prospect needs
Social media already provides an endless amount of data related to tenant demographics and interests, and this information can be analyzed to target desired tenants and send them the right message at the right time. It helps to identify tenants who will be responsive to your marketing initiatives.
Gaining a better understanding of how Big Data is currently being used and can be further utilized allows you to leverage it for your success in property management.