Remote Property Management

Remote Property Management: Smart moves in challenging new work environments

We’re all familiar with “smart” homes. From controlling light switches and remotely managing thermostats, to locking and unlocking doors, and from remote home monitoring to intelligent sprinkler systems – technology has precipitated major shifts in how we live. But almost every sphere of our lives has seen paradigm shifts recently. As a result, people in every walk of life have had to adjust how they live, work and carry out day-to-day activities. Property managers in Baltimore are no exception. Many in the industry have embraced technology that not only helps deliver a safer property maintenance and management experience, but encourages practitioners to work safely and “smarter”.

To some, the world of property management might seem a dull, routine, boring field to work in. However, that’s farthest from reality! The excitement of the challenges, that each new day brings, are unlike many other sectors of the economy. And property managers are uniquely placed to work with a cross-section of society, from tenants looking for rental solutions, to property owners eager to have professionals manage their investment on their behalf.

Because of the deep personal impact that property managers make, like members of any other industry, companies providing property management in Baltimore MD too have had to redefine and reinvent themselves. Thankfully, there are “smarter” ways to work by using technology. Some of these solutions include:

1)  Virtual Tours: Touring a property, either to inspect damage, show the property to prospective renters, or as part of your property management contract bidding process, isn’t likely to be a thing of the past. Property managers in Baltimore, who would rather minimize their in-person contacts, should consider making virtual tours part of their service offerings. But here are some  mind-blowing statistics about virtual tours that every property manager might wish to look at:

·   Globally, over 5-million hopeful renters and lessees take daily virtual tours of prospective homes and rooms that they’d like to rent and live in

·   Many renters, in today’s work environment, are younger – under age 35. If you wish to attract this demographic to the buildings you manage, then virtual tours are likely to result in 130% greater rental interest and success

·   Nearly 50% of renters rely on virtual tours to drive their decision-making process. That’s likely higher than what you would expect from in-person home tours 

Of course, virtual tours can’t eliminate every in-person interaction – that’s just not possible! For example, when inspecting property damage virtually, you’ll get a broad sense of the damage. However, if the damage is extensive – such as caused by a 2-alarm (or above) fire, or flooding, then an in-person damage assessment visit might be unavoidable.

However, the current health crisis has shown that many face-to-face contacts aren’t essential. If a Baltimore property management company succeeds in reducing even a fraction of such visits, through the use of virtual tours, that’ll provide clients, employees and tenants a much safer property management experience. 

2)  Smart Lockers: Many building managers offer front reception staff or consignee services to large multi-tenant facilities and other commercial properties that they manage. One of the hallmarks of this premier service is the in-person receipt, storage and delivery (to residents and tenants of the buildings) of mail, packages and other items into individual drop boxes. That’s yet another area where property management companies in Baltimore are looking at adding contact-less service. 

Smart lock-enabled delivery boxes can address the unease that some building tenants, especially those with respiratory or other issues, have with too many non-family interactions. In a smart locker equipped complex, property management staff might provide supervised (via CC-TV) access to package and parcel delivery staff, to designated lockers.

Once the package is delivered, residents may automatically receive notification of its arrival. This approach can dramatically reduce unnecessary contact, and keeps everyone safe, including visiting contractors and guests, property management staff as well as residents and tenants.

Some companies, engaged in property management in Baltimore, may see a challenge in providing smart lockers to each resident or tenant. It may be an extremely costly exercise to retrofit existing “dumb” lockers with smart technology. Perhaps you could consider a work-around:

Instead of having smart locks on each individual locker or drop box, why not put a keyless (“smart”) gate to restrict entry into communal locker/mail box spaces. A single resident may then be allowed to enter that space, and bolt the gate from the inside. They then access their locker as they did previously, and exit the space, causing the “smart gate” to shut behind them. Any Baltimore County property management company, that implements such a solution, ensures that there are no in-person interactions throughout the transaction of receiving, storing and retrieving mail, packages and other deliveries. 

3)  Routine Meetings: Any Baltimore-based property management company will agree that meetings are an integral part of service delivery. In fact, meetings are essential even with non-client actors, including with employees, legal specialists, government functionaries and contractors. Unfortunately, far too many property managers (needlessly) spend a lot of time travelling from/to meeting venues. This not only wastes time and money, but it also exposes you (and your staff) to avoidable person-to-person contact.

Given the new paradigm of remote work, it’s easy for property managers to embrace technological solutions that cut down on needless in-person meetings. Increasingly, property management companies in Baltimore MD are turning to online meeting tools – some paid and some free, to conduct remote meetings. These include:

·   Zoom

·   Google Meet

·   Microsoft Teams

·   Cisco WebEx

·   RingCentral Video

The great thing about using these tools, of course, is that they reduce avoidable in-person meetings. But more importantly, they’re a great way to bring a cross-section of property management stakeholders together within an instant’s notice. Maintenance supervisors, plumbing contractors, safety inspectors and condo board members can get onto a video (or audio) call to resolve resident/tenant issues in record time.

4)  Document Sharing: Ask any owner of a company, that provides rental property management in Baltimore, what one of their biggest concerns is, and it’s likely to be expediting contracts, tenant agreements and other related paperwork. Typically, once a deal is agreed, documents (some of them legally binding) are prepared and sent by courier service. Recipients (usually tenants and residents) receive those documents in-person, sign and courier them back to the originator. That takes time!

Often, there are documentation requirements necessitating multiple reviewers, approvers and signatures. A significant amount of time spent, by professionals providing property management in Baltimore, involves tracking documents sent and received, or trying to expedite the delivery of time-sensitive documentation to multiple stakeholders.   Sure, you could email those documents – but emails are sometimes unsecure.

Well, technology has a solution for that too!

If you are a company offering property management in Baltimore County, then you could embrace secure cloud storage as one alternative to snail mail, for sending and receiving your documentation.   Consider using tools such as:

·   Microsoft OneDrive

·   Google Drive

·   Dropbox

·   Box

·   Apple’s iCloud

·   Amazon Drive

Some of these services are entirely free, while others offer limited free features. Some require licensing to use – but the cost outweighs the benefits.

So, are these technologies really effective for property managers to embrace, and do they really add efficiency to the day to day workings of busy property managers? To appreciate that, we’ll need to take a look at a “typical” day in the life of a property management company.

Property management companies in Baltimore, that opt to work “smart” can benefit greatly from adopting these technologies. While some of them help save time, others may drive cost savings across the company. However, all these technologies help mold property management to conform to industry best practices – which is to reduce unnecessary (and avoidable) in-person contact while delivering service.

A company, providing rental property management in Baltimore, might offer a young family a virtual tour of a few rental apartments.  Then, the account executive may hold several Zoom (or other virtual video) calls to discuss details of each of the properties viewed. Once a specific unit or apartment has been selected, the company may share, through secure cloud storage, draft contracts with the prospective tenants – perhaps using those services to meticulously track multiple revisions and versions of contracts and agreements during the negotiation process.

Some property management companies in Baltimore may finalize all discussions and documentation entirely online. However, there may be a legal requirement to provide original copies of documents to the tenant, which can easily be accomplished using a smart locker solution.

Once tenants have occupied a space, whether it’s a commercial or residential unit, there’ll be need for other interactions due to routine business, including confirming status of workorders, requesting special services – such as a deep clean or power wash – or providing notification of relinquishing a lease or moving out of a space. Using “smart” tools, these interactions may also be held remotely, without any need for in-person meetings – other than for contracted service providers to deliver the service discussed.



The best thing about making such smart moves, in today’s challenging property management environment, is that Baltimore County property management companies don’t compromise on the quality of service delivery. In fact, using these smart tools does the opposite: While enhancing service delivery quality, technology also injects efficiency and transparency throughout the management process.