Property managers have a lot going on. From handling incoming inquiries from prospective tenants to handling maintenance requests from existing ones, and in some cases, also managing vacation rental bookings, it can be a lot to take care of.
CRMs offer property management companies a way to handle all these incoming requests from different sources and organize them in a way that nothing gets left behind. When managing multiple properties, this is essential as you don’t want to leave a prospective tenant waiting or an existing one unhappy due to unfulfilled maintenance needs.
We’ve rounded up a few of the top contenders for CRMs you can use to manage your properties. We’ll also look at why a platform like monday CRM stands out among the rest. Let’s dive right in.
Try monday CRMWhat is a CRM for property management?
Customer relationship management, or CRM, is a platform that enables property managers and owners to improve interactions with customers, whether they’re tenants, short-term renters, guests, or prospects. Whether you own one or multiple properties for the purpose of earning rental income, selling properties, or turning them into vacation rentals, it’s essential to have a system in place to manage it all.
A CRM for property management allows you to track things like maintenance requests, vacancy rates, property performance, and more. You can also automate tasks like lease renewal reminders and tenant communications, making it easier to reach everyone at once. A good CRM will also enable you to integrate important tools like marketing apps or financial and accounting systems to keep all your data unified.
Features to look for in a CRM for property management
There are many different features to consider when shopping around for a CRM for property management. Depending on the type of property you manage, you may need specific functionalities, but overall, there are some specific features that are essential for all types of property managers. Here’s a look at a few key features to look for in a CRM for property management.
Lead management tools
Leads can come from anywhere when you manage property, but it’s important to stay on top of incoming leads and data on existing guests or tenants like contact information or credit scores. Look for software that allows you to prioritize, score, and segment leads based on property type, entry dates, urgency, or budget so you can ensure you minimize vacancies.
Communication features
As a property manager, communication with tenants is essential. It’s even more important if you have a short-term or vacation rental and you’re regularly communicating about check-ins or issues. A good system will be able to centralize communications like SMSs, emails, and other messages so that you can keep everything in one place.
Document storage
Property management includes a lot of paperwork, from signed documents to passport copies for vacation renters and more. Look for a CRM that offers enough storage space to keep all your important documents centralized and make them easily accessible on the go as you need them. With a platform like monday CRM, you can link documents to specific properties, tenants, or guests to keep everything clear and organized.
Try monday CRMIntegrations
A CRM will undoubtedly make your property management workflows easier, but you still have other tools you’ll need, like payment processors or booking software. When considering a CRM, look for one that integrates with the software you already use or need to implement to ensure that it can act as your core tool and support the other apps you use.
Marketing automations
Opt for a property management CRM that allows you to automate marketing and other tasks, like lead management, rent collection reminders, and communications. This makes it easier especially with short-term rentals as you’ll need to handle a lot of communications, and automations can take all the manual work out of this for you.
5 best CRMs for property management
When working in a specific industry, it can be tempting to opt for platforms that are built for your unique purposes. While CRMs for property management can be good solutions, they may not offer the flexibility and customization capabilities of more generalized CRM platforms. Below, we’ll look at a select few of the best CRMs for property management, including some made for the industry and others that weren’t but can even outperform the competition.
1. monday CRM
Best for: Teams of any size looking for a highly collaborative and customizable platform
monday CRM is a fully customizable and versatile platform that can fit many use cases, including property management. Users can streamline their workflows and better manage tenant and guest relationships, monitor vacancies, track property maintenance needs, and more. As a flexible and easily scalable solution, it’s ideal for people handling any amount of properties.
Top monday CRM features
- Property management template: Get started quickly with a property management template and easily screen applicants, handle leases, and manage maintenance needs
- Automate communications: Create communication automations with tenants, guests, leads, and maintenance teams from one place
- Advanced insights: Comprehensive dashboard for insights and reports on finances, conversion rates, vacancies, and more
monday CRM pricing
- Prices starting from $9/seat/month
- Four plans available: Basic, Standard, Pro, and Enterprise
- Free trial available
- View more monday CRM plans and pricing details here
2. Entrata
Best for: Companies looking for a solution specifically tailored to property management
Entrata is a comprehensive property management platform that’s built to help companies manage residential and commercial properties. With features for accounting, leasing, maintenance, and more built-in, property managers can use this integrated solution for many needs. While it offers many integrations with popular property search and booking platforms, some companies may find it lacking in other types of integrations, like reporting, marketing, accounting, and others.
Top Entrata features
- Resident payment tools: Make it easier for tenants to pay you online directly through this CRM to never miss a payment
- Resident portal: Post messages for tenants and get maintenance requests instantly and directly through a dedicated portal
- Centralized communication: Automate messages and responses for easy communication with tenants, leads, and others
Entrata pricing
- Pricing information provided privately
- Contact Entrata for a demo and pricing details
3. Hubspot CRM
Best for: Teams who want to focus on marketing and tenant engagement
As a well-known work platform and CRM, Hubspot can also be used for property management. For teams who want to focus on different aspects of property management, such as sales, marketing, and service, Hubspot offers multiple products that can be used alongside the CRM platform.
Top Hubspot features
- Lead management tools: Track, manage, score, and prioritize leads to connect with new clients and get more real estate sold or rented
- Email template builder: Turn emails into templates to quickly send out regular communications to leads and tenants
- Form builder: Builder forms for potential tenants to fill out, send out surveys to tenants, or gather more leads
Hubspot CRM pricing
- Prices start from $15/seat/month
- Free plan with limited features available for up to 5 users
- Find out more about Hubspot CRM plans and pricing here
4. Knock
Knock is a CRM specifically designed for multifamily property management. The platform is focused on improving operational efficiency with a suite of tools and features to help you improve tenant and visitor experiences. With features for tenant communication, leasing efficiency, and lead management, it’s a good option for property managers.
Top Knock features
- Scheduling: Allow prospective renters to self-schedule tours to increase tour volume of your properties
- Communication tools: Message leads and tenants through different channels like email, text, voice, and more, all from one place
- Data-driven insights: Knock gives you insights to help property managers measure performance, budgets, and make more confident decisions
Knock pricing
- Pricing and free trial information isn’t publicly available
- Contact Knock for a quote on plans and pricing
5. Pipedrive
Best for: Small to medium property management teams looking for an easy-to-use CRM
Pipedrive is a CRM that can be adapted for property management. It offers users many features that are helpful for lead tracking and sales, streamlining communication, and optimizing leasing processes. It’s easy to use, making it a good fit for smaller property management teams, but some users may feel it’s not robust enough to handle larger teams or property rosters.
Top Pipedrive features
- Sales pipeline view: View potential leases in a pipeline so you can see which deals to focus on most as well as their value, win probability, close dates, and more
- Automated lead nurturing: Put lead nurturing on auto-pilot with Pipedrive and create easy automations to connect with new leads
- Insights and reports: Generate custom reports and insights on a visual dashboard based on your unique KPIs and parameters
Pipedrive pricing
- Prices starting from $14/seat/month
- Five plans available: Essential, Advanced, Professional, Power, and Enterprise
- Free trial available
- Take a closer look at Pipedrive’s plans and pricing here
6. Zoho CRM
Best for: Property management teams already using other Zoho products
Zoho CRM is a versatile platform offering a range of features for property management, such as communication tools, lead management, and task tracking for maintenance teams. Zoho CRM is customizable and easily integrates with other Zoho products as well as multiple third-party apps that make it ideal for managing multiple properties.
Top Zoho CRM features
- Advanced analytics: Zoho CRM’s advanced analytics tool can help you better understand property and tenant metrics
- Integrations: Zoho CRM integrates with over 800 apps, including PayPal, Zapier, Quickbooks, and more
- Development platform: Extend Zoho CRM’s capabilities to manage more specific property management needs with a development platform
Zoho CRM pricing
- Pricing starts from $14/month/user
- Four plans available: Standard, Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate
- Free trial available
- Learn more about Zoho CRM’s plans and pricing here
Better track properties and tenants with monday CRM
While property-specific CRMs can be a tempting option, they’re not always the only choice or the most affordable one. Let’s look at monday CRM as an example. With 200+ apps and integration options as well as 27+ different work views, it provides all the customization possibilities you need to tailor the platform to your exact needs, making it a fit whether you manage one property or hundreds.
As a flexible solution, monday CRM offers users tons of features and functionalities that can help track properties, nurture leads, close more leases and books, and and retain tenants. Let’s take a closer look at some of the features that make it the best fit.
Screen and sort residents, applicants, or guests
monday CRM is the ideal solution for managing your leads and tenants. You can easily screen and sort incoming leads by priority, entry date, budgets, and more through personalized boards. You can also organize your existing tenant data so you can quickly see essential data at a glance like who’s up for renewal soon.
Set automatic notifications for maintenance
With monday CRM, you can build your own custom automations in just a few clicks. Set up an automation to trigger communication with your maintenance team once a task is tagged as needing maintenance. This way, maintenance needs don’t fall through the cracks and your tenants or guests stay happy.
See property metrics in a glace
monday CRM’s detailed dashboard gives you insights at a glance into your most important data. You can view profits, tasks like lease signings that need your attention, budget data such as maintenance costs, and a lot more. Additionally, you can download customizable reports to get more information on specific properties or your tenants so you’re better informed when it comes to making important decisions.
Try monday CRMSign more leases with the right CRM
As a property manager, your goal is to fill as many properties as possible to maximize profits. With the right CRM, you can do a better job of staying on top of leads, vacancies, bookings, and tenants so that you have all the information you need at your fingertips. A solution like monday CRM can help you accomplish this while giving you the flexibility you need to work the way you want and scale your software as your properties and business grows.
FAQs
What is a CRM used for in property management?
A CRM for property management is used to streamline interactions with leads, tenants, guests, vendors, and maintenance teams. It can be used to centralize data and manage tasks like lease tracking, communications, and maintenance requests.
Do real estate agents use a CRM?
Yes, real estate agents use CRMs as well to manage client relationships and track properties, however, their needs may be slightly different than a property manager’s. A real estate agent would use a CRM to focus on selling real estate, while a property manager wants to ensure that properties are being filled and tenant’s needs are being met, whether they’re rentals or vacation properties.
How do I choose the best CRM for property management?
To choose the best CRM for property management, consider your team’s specific needs and look for features that are aligned. You should also take into account factors like scalability, ease of use, integration capabilities, and pricing.