AIM 2023: How Centralization is being Re-invented/Democratized by Proptech for Small & Large Firms

Centralization models will look slightly different for each organization, based on geographical footprint, ownership, workforce, and technology stack. 

Centralizing key functions of the real estate industry is an opportunity for lowering costs and improving customer service. 

Using it, some firms are tripling their portfolios while adding no more maintenance coordinators.

Centralized Leasing (CLO) and Centralized Maintenance (CMO) operations are including AI and cross-department information sharing to get the job done at large-, middle-, and smaller-sized firms.

Panelists Stephanie Versin, SVP, Head of Marketing and Leasing at Veritas Investments; Heather Wallace, Managing Director, Bozzuto; Tyler Christiansen, CEO, Funnel; and Sunny Juneja, CEO, Canopy Analytics; discussed the topic. 

Versin said a centralization model will look slightly different for each organization, based on their geographical footprint, ownership, workforce, and technology stack. 

“Nowadays centralization and role specialization go hand in hand: a unified workforce of specialized teams can deliver elevated service, cost savings, and ultimately, a superior customer experience,” she said. 

“Allowing technology to handle repetitive and mundane administrative tasks not only eases the burden of our centralized leasing team, but it also ensures no prospect falls through the cracks.

“With centralization, you are one team, one brand, which creates great consistency in operations and services, which boosts your reputation.”

Heather Wallace said the technology to do this just wasn’t there 10 years ago, such as using it for rent collections. Right now, we’re seeing insane expense creep, eating away at our margins and it’s affecting hiring staff.

“We have specialized teams such as those that handle accounting offsite,” said Wallace, who is using centralization at four communities. 

“Our offsite workers stay connected to their communities by visiting them once per week, visiting the corporate office two days, and working remotely for two days as part of a pilot we’ve done for the past eight months.

 - More Interesting Points:
- Veritas hires staff and trains them for marketing and leasing. They share in the commissions. 
- Wallace is seeing about $35,000 in operational savings per year per community, which have been able to close on Saturdays and Sundays.
- “When you are a property management company, you have to honor your fiduciary responsibilities with each client,” Wallace said.
- Christiansen said when companies are whiteboarding for adopting centralization, “look separately at technology, operations, and staffing. You can’t do all three at once. What can be streamlined?”