Property Software

With over 6,000 property companies there are many Managers who are “happy” to put up with their software crashing, sometimes as much as once a week, staff who are expected to complete mundane administrational tasks after years of experience and owners who have received fines or worse, by missing key legal requirements, or falling foul of the OFT or governing body guidelines. It becomes crystal clear that although many property software programs look the same and purport to have functionality in depth, that this is not the case.’

Property Software is not intended as a tool to assist Estate Agents and Letting and Management Agents in their day to day operations but is far more, a system and framework within which the daily business of Letting & Management is cared for by the property software and above this, the troubles and cares of staff and managers should be catered for by a myriad of checks and cross checks, backed by Client Protection Scheme’ s. Making the difference between a highly successful agency and an average agency, is the quality of the staff in that company and that the role of software is not to replace that market edge but to serve and enhance the staff role, so that maximum time is spent on customer service and business development, rather than chasing mistakes, worrying about legal and compliance issues, or God forbid correcting errors in the software system itself.’

When choosing your Property Software there are many key variables to take into account. The paradox is that from a cursory look or a demo disk these do not become clear, for example:

• If you had not received a valid gas check certificate, would your property software send a letter to the tenants advising them not to use their gas appliances, without human interaction and so saving your business from ruin?
• Does your property software already include and police all the requirements for anti-money laundering, has it already taken into account the new deposit holder scheme requirements and HMO licencing?
• Can your property software give you immediate breakdowns of branch by branch performance and even negotiator performance to highlight staff training requirements?
• Can your mail merge to groups such as managed property landlords and produce letters and letter suites without having to click in and out of four screens?
• Does it control where your keys are and ensure you have control over them at all times?

When it comes to gaining market edge, building a business and creating a happy working environment you need more than software and although a zirconium looks like a diamond one is of so much less value that it will shatter and break when it comes under pressure.

With many companies providing different Property Software packages from off the shelf software to bespoke systems, researching and listing your key requirements and any legal requirements will help you in making the right choice. Your software should care for your daily business of being and Estate Agent and Letting & Management Agent reducing the time spent on mundane administrational tasks and preventing costly mistakes by checking and cross checking the information in the database, resulting in your staff having more time to for customer service and business development.

Peter Grant is Managing Director of Vision Teknology, a company that has nearly 20 years of experience within Property Software Solutions for Estate Agents and Letting Management Agents in the UK.