Salesforce for Property Management: Top Real Estate Software

Based on the GrandViewResearch study, the global property management software market size is expected to reach $14 million by 2028. It means that more and more companies are going to invest in residential and commercial real estate technology and CRM consulting. Learn what companies look for in the property management CRM, why they choose Salesforce for property management, and what top solutions are powered by this platform.

What Property Management CRM Software Should Have

Besides that, Property Management Industry Report by Buildium mentions the most popular features real estate management software users look for:

• Online rental listings (77%),
• Rental applications (63%),
• Lease signing (52%),
• Virtual showings, 3D video tours (25%),
• Self-service showings (15%).

How Property Managers Use CRM

Most property rent managers also look for other features in the CRM:

• Improved visibility in property portfolios and cataloging of property units, and leases extension.
• Enterprise-level system security and data protection.
• Automated lease management process via creating renewals and reminders
• Seamless integration to daily sales and trading platforms, data warehouses, and commission systems.
• Automated client and tenants’ reminders to stay on top of their payments.
• Real-time analytics of all business-critical information via customizable dashboards.
• Simplified property and unit search and view.
• Centralized tracking capabilities to report on in-progress or upcoming new and renewal leases.
• Seamless integration with e-signature and document generation apps.
• Data encryption with effective data-recovery techniques.
• Managing the fundraising and property acquisition process.
• Built-in analytics and forecasting tools to generate accurate reports insights you need to be able to act with confidence.

What is Salesforce for Property Management

Salesforce is the world’s leading CRM platform that caters to the needs of over 150,000 clients of all business domains and sizes. It offers 20 off-the-shelf CRM suites called “Clouds” that focus on various needs and industries. Among the most popular ones are Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Marketing Cloud.

As a CRM industry leader, Salesforce tries to fulfill the basic demands for the software of any business. And over 2,000 Salesforce consulting partners are ready to tweak the system to every tiny business request.

And even if Salesforce doesn’t offer CRM packages specifically for property management companies, there are Salesforce consulting and AppExchange app development partners like Ascendix that can customize and configure the system to match any tiny requirement.

Moreover, if you want to purchase an out-of-the-box CRM system with the most common feature set for property managers, developers, and investors, Salesforce’s app marketplace – AppExchange – already has 400+ apps and solutions designed for this.

Why Real Estate Companies Use Salesforce for Property Management

With the help of this cloud-based property management software, managers can automate collaboration with tenants, nurture these relationships, and track essential information about properties in both residential and commercial real estate verticals.

The core property management CRM software functionality helps:

• Leverage real-time reports and dashboards
• Streamline lead, opportunity, and contact management
• Simplify document management and data sharing
• Enhance communication and collaboration tools
• Have reminders and notifications of important events, emails, and calls
• Synchronize calendar, task management system, and email services with the CRM
• Integrate digital advertising with the client-management system
• Centralize management of all tenure contracts, units, and other data
• Stay in touch with clients, monitor all client communications, and rent administrator’s activities and their statuses
• Synchronize Activity administration and email tracking
• Integrate a website with a customer portal to allow for requests, client profiles, account statements, etc.
• Automate conditional and client’s approvals and workflows

With little Salesforce configuration and customization, you can leverage:

• Various features for managing lease and sale inquires
• Improved data management for straightforward data import/export
• Automated tenant notifications
• Administration of inventory by unit, floor, or building
• Streamlined creation of invoices and track installments as individually tailored installment plans
• Automation of sending payment notifications to clients’
• Profiling and categorization of properties by size
• Simplified generation of documents like offers and reservation form
• Automated follow-ups to successfully convert referrals into conversions
• Unified SMS messaging, sending emails, messaging via social platforms to convert a lead into a client and nurture a connection with your current and former customers.

Benefits of Salesforce CRM for Property Management

This cloud-based property management software attracts users thanks to:

• Enterprise-level platform security that improves with each release
• Infinite customizability of the system
• Over 4,000 native integrations both free and paid
• Consolidated databases via integration of various data sources to build a central database of accounts, properties, tenants, or listings.
• Data integration of various data sources
• Streamlined lead management and nurturing with Salesforce to ensure that you can generate leads from various channels and streamline lead-to-deal workflows.
• Automated omnichannel lead tracking, Account and Lead management, and routing
• Boosted document management and improved collaboration on contracts, agreements, and deals by defining user roles
• Simplified template-based document generation, tracking, and approval
• Improved management of maintenance requests/tasks/calls
• Simplified tenant onboarding routine and creation of administrative information, service descriptions, and agreements within a real estate app
• Facilitated the rent collection/payment process
• Unified data storage, lease administration, and portfolio management
• Comprehensive reporting & analytics on property status and availability, agents’ KPIs, profitability, local and global trends, and real estate market fluctuations
• Forecasting based on interaction history and automated report scheduling
• Simplified renewals and leases management
• Automated tenant notifications.

How to Use Salesforce for Property Management

Salesforce property management enables the realty managers to keep track of crucial data about financial & household properties incorporating associated cash flow, primary tenants, and occupancy rates.

Since there is no off-the-shelf solution offered directly by Salesforce for property management, you have three options:

• Customize core Salesforce Clouds,
• Buy a pre-configured solution from Salesforce partners,
• Develop a custom app on the Force.com platform.

All of them have their pros and cons, so let’s start with the customization option.

Pros & Cons of Customizing Salesforce for Property Management Needs

The key advantage of Salesforce is its huge infrastructure of consulting partners that specialize in CRM customization. There are over 1,700 certified consultants listed on AppExchange and thousands of freelance professionals worldwide.

You can find out more about each option in our post: Salesforce Implementation Guide from A to Z.

Salesforce Customization Pros

• Ability to modify the system the way you get used to instead of adjusting your processes to the new system functionality and, consequently, increase user adoption rates.
• Easy integration of all real estate management systems with Salesforce without the risk of disrupting the pre-built features.
• Almost infinite scalability of the solution exactly when you need it.
• Ability to make the system interface as user-friendly as possible to simplify the transfer to a new system. Especially, if you migrate from another CRM system that your users have got accustomed to.
• Possibility to get your system issues resolved faster and get in-time support from your Salesforce consultant and developer.

Salesforce Customization Cons

• Lack of specialists that have a deep understanding of property management business and its priorities.
• Higher price if you look not only for technical skills but for industry expertise, especially in specific niches like property management.
• Need for continuous platform improvement and maintenance with each Salesforce release to ensure that all custom features work as it has been planned.
• Creation of custom user training material and workshops.
• Documentation of every important product customization milestone.

Pros & Cons of Out-of-the-Box Salesforce-Based Solutions for Property Management

There is no shortage of pre-built CRM software for any real estate domain on the market. But not all of them are created equal. Especially if you search for the one that will reflect your business operations. But all of them have several things in common:

Pros of Buying a Pre-Built CRM System

• A possibility to know exact pricing without surprises and unexpected payments.
• You don’t have to reinvent the wheel and think about the realization of the features and their relationships. You can start leveraging out-of-the-box functionality right from the start.
• Saved time and money on adjusting and building your system.
• All system maintenance and support activities are performed by the vendor.
• An opportunity to leverage video tutorials, troubleshooting material, or FAQs created by real experts and get help as soon as you need it.

Cons of Buying a Pre-Built CRM System

• Time-consuming selection and trial process to find the best-fit solution.
• Heavy dependence on the customer support team to get help or resolve an issue.
• You can’t engage with a third-party consultant to eliminate the issue or the bug and should wait till the issue is resolved by the support team.
• Some essential features can be available only in more expensive pricing plans so you’ll have to pay more for a tiny feature you can’t go without.
• If you want to get a new feature in the system, you need to wait till the feature is approved and released.

Pros and Cons of Developing a Custom Property Management App on Top of Salesforce

If you have a revolutionary idea of the software that will disrupt the PropTech world and is not yet available on the market. Or you have an idea of an app that will fill in the functionality gap in Salesforce and will smoothly integrate with it, this is definitely the best option for you.

Pros of Custom Development

• An opportunity to create a unique software not only for internal use but to successfully sell it to other real estate companies.
• A chance to elevate the business to a new, more digitalized level and dominate the real estate market.
• A possibility to create a true one-stop-shop solution and unify multiple business directions within a user-friendly interface.
• A shorter custom development cycle thanks to using Salesforce click-not-code tools.
• Improved user experience thanks to designing the most intuitive system powered by Salesforce platform benefits.

Cons of Custom Development

• The necessity to have a dedicated team that will develop, maintain, and improve the system release by release.
• Need for continuous improvement to meet Salesforce’s security requirements and prove market fitness.
• Substantial time and money investment.

What makes Ascendix unique is that we can eliminate all the disadvantages of the above-mentioned options and multiply their advantages. We are both consulting service and software product company with a strong presence in the CRE Tech business for over 15 years.

We are a Salesforce consulting partner with a 21-year track record of successfully completed projects of Salesforce implementation, migration, configuration, and customization for different real estate companies.

We aim to deliver superior and top-notch quality services to clients all around the world. Instead of focusing just on making money from our clients, we dedicate our efforts to delivering them perfection and maximum satisfaction.

Our team works sincerely and aggressively to implement a customer-centric practical philosophy in our services and CRM products.

Besides that, we are a certified AppExchange app development partner that has built 17 own software products, among which our flagship products for commercial real estate pros: AscendixRE, Ascendix Search, Composer, and Marketspace.

AscendixRE CRM is a cutting-edge solution that combines Salesforce robustness with features designed for commercial real estate companies, agents, investors, and property managers.

Ascendix Search is an app with advanced geo-mapping and property search features.

Composer is an application for a fast and creative generation of branded CRE flyers, tour books, and brochures.

Marketspace is an innovative portal for secure collaboration of brokers, clients, and partners.

Thanks to this experience, we not only know how to build commercially successful products but also how to create an effective marketing strategy, pass security reviews to be listed on AppExchange, and constantly evolve CRETEch software to meet clients’ needs.

Book an appointment with our sales team and discuss your requirements to get an ideal quote for our services.

Comparison of Property Management Software

Best Property Management CRM on Top of Salesforce

1. AscendixRE CRM

AscendixRE CRM offers a core suite of customer relationship management features that include lead, deal, and contact management, email marketing, automated follow-up, listing and document management, and business reporting.

It helps to manage your workflow through a mess of ineffective spreadsheets, paperwork, and record-keeping. It enables automation of your processes to ensure your business can maximize all rental owner leads from beginning to end.

The navigation in a CRM is intuitive and clear. You can quickly switch from reporting spreadsheets to stacking plans, sync/import/export relevant data in a few clicks.

As real estate shifts to the technological side, Ascendix helps property owners, managers, rent administrators, and realtors keep in step with digital transformation. Together with our flagship software product – AscendixRE CRM – we’ll help your firm embrace customer-centricity and leverage all the benefits of the Salesforce platform.

Also, we’ll help you with adjusting your Salesforce platform property management needs.

As your CRM consulting partner, we’ll tailor Salesforce products to facilitate the processes related to leasing and management of commercial spaces.

We’ll modify your Salesforce CRM to support real estate management cycles as well as coordinate the participants of these complex projects. Our team can enhance your current property management system with Salesforce tools or build a unique real estate application on top of this market-leading platform.

Ascendix has deep experience in both Salesforce CRM consulting and the real estate industry. For 21 years, we’ve worked with commercial and residential REITs and real estate firms to streamline their property management and lease management lifecycle.

AscendixRE Key Features:

• Contact, Account, Lead management
• Prospecting tools
• Email marketing
• Mass records update & editing
• Calendar & contact sync
• Dashboards & reporting
• Data deduplication & management
• Custom fields
• Bulk emailing & campaign management
• Third-party integrations
• Lead management, distribution & segmentation
• Enhanced drip campaigns
• Customizable property listing portal
• Map search
• Branded report & flyer generation tool
• Centralized data storage
• Secure virtual collaboration & deal rooms
• Automated workflows/processes
• Property alerts & listing management.

Watch how AscendixRE CRM helps with lease management and tracking in the video:

AscendixRE CRM Pros:

• The customizability of CRM for property management
• The extensive skillset of the Ascendix team and years of experience
• Good post-launch CRM support

AscendixRE CRM Cons:

• It takes a lot of time to learn
• It can be not very easy to use.

2. BReal Estate

BREal Real Asset Management CRM

BReal is another property management CRM software that offers property managers a versatile solution for sales, lease, and condominium management. Built for estate agents, shopping malls, investors, and tenant companies.

BReal Estate Key Features:

• Property sales, lease, and owner management
• Automation of property capturing, listing registration, rent collection, control of service charges and utilities, notifications, and work orders
• Property search
• Payment and legal documents management
• Objections, land registries, loans, commissions, and delivery of property tracking
• Management of Lease Property as an Owner
• Readjustment for inflation or price increase
• Automated control of service charges and utilities, notifications, and work orders
• Automated capturing of the property information, rent, and commission payments
• Streamlined property tours organization
• Tenant portal and integration to the GoPlaceIt portal
• Contract generation
• Integrated E-signature solution
• Documenting and tracking of repairs
• Tracking of all the commissions generated by brokers
• Registration and control of repairs during the process
• Control of payment of Sales and Leasing Commissions.

3. Agent Hub Property CRM & MLS

AgentHub Property Administration CRM

Agent Hub Property CRM was created in the UK and, like other listed property management CRMs, is based on market-leading Salesforce software with a built-in multiple property listing (MLS) functionality.

Agent Hub Property Key Features:

• Contacts, properties/projects, sales pipeline, communications, and to-do lists management
• Marketing campaigns management
• Task & event management
• Built-in MLS
• Residential and commercial letting/leasing, unit and block management
• Rental payments, rental renewals, work orders, offers, deals agreed, viewings, or finance deals management
• Centralized company communication
• Integration of calls, emails, and WhatsApp or SMS messages.

4. Rethink CRM

Rethink Real Estate Administration CRM

Rethink CRM (Now a part of the Bildout product family) is another CRM for property managers, investors, commercial brokerages, and independent agents. It helps them buy, sell, lease, and manage properties.

Rethink CRM Key Features:

• Properties, Contacts, Prospect, Companies, Comps, Tasks, Activities management
• Email marketing
• Activity reporting and automated workflows
• Real estate property, comps, and spaces search tools
• Integrated Google Map functionality
• Generation of marketing brochures, listing agreements, or comp docs
• Customization capabilities
• Deal pipeline management
• Stacking plans.

Rethink CRM Pros:

• This property management CRM allows the transparency of data
• Rethink CRM gives an ability to maintain private records of deals, listings, and contact notes
• It provides better visibility into the deal pipeline and reporting across any number of objects.

Rethink CRM Cons:

• It requires so much third-party work
• Rethink CRM doesn’t have a user-friendly interface
• CRM doesn’t really seem to be fully supported by the company
• It requires a great learning and adoption curve.

5. PropertyBase CRM

Propertybase CRM Property Rent Management CRM

Propertybase is another property management platform designed for companies that want to connect with more clients and help agents close deals faster.

PropertyBase CRM Key Features:

• IDX and MLS-integrated websites
• Lead generation, capturing, and nurturing
• Drip campaigns
• Reports & dashboards
• Transaction management
• Integrated forms and E-signatures.

PropertyBase CRM Pros:

• PropertyBase’s support goes above and beyond just “fixing issues” and educates users in the process.
• The property management CRM system is highly customizable
• It has a HUGE amount of storage for everything from contact data to photos and documents.

PropertyBase CRM Cons:

• PropertyBase’s customer service is terrible
• The integration of properties function doesn’t work
• The property management CRM is buggy and constantly rolling out new tools, while the others do not work and have never worked
• The workflow and sales pipeline can be cumbersome when working through a deal.

Bottom Line

Salesforce is a comprehensive tool with an exhausting list of benefits and, despite its seeming complexity that can overwhelm at first, can become the best friend for property managers.

Each property management company can take advantage of the platform in its unique way due to its scalability and flexibility. And even if you don’t want to spend time tuning the standard functionality of Salesforce, you can leverage its advantages with pre-configured Salesforce solutions for property management.

Once you are ready to welcome Salesforce CRM into your real estate agency and simplify the process of its implementation, then our Salesforce consulting services will be the best fit for you.

We, at Ascendix, are ready to take on any Salesforce-related challenges and successfully overcome them.

Our broad range of Salesforce services, 15 years of CRE Tech experience together with product development expertise and the number of happy clients speak for themselves. All you need is to contact us and share your project challenges.