Product Showcase
What’s new in AppFolio:
Winter 2023
At the start of 2023, we asked, “What does 2023 have in store for the residential real estate market?” In our 2023 AppFolio Property Manager Benchmark Report, the three areas of opportunities we identified were around growth: adding new units/expanding, improving customer service, and hiring additional team members. Throughout 2023, we’ve considered these opportunities and transformed them into new ways of introducing innovations to solve these challenges and more.
This has led to significant strides in the technology and solutions we’re offering to boost efficiency, streamline processes to reduce busywork, and enhance the experiences of residents. As we enter a new year, let’s recap some of the significant milestones for AppFolio product innovation in 2023:
Affordable housing continues to be a pressing need within our industry, and managing affordable housing can come with a unique set of challenges. However, AppFolio provides the key to running your entire portfolio with our affordable housing solution. Our approach to affordable housing allows you to streamline your operations to boost efficiency and maintain compliance.
Announced at the 2023 NAA Apartmentalize, AppFolio Realm provides a new way of working, powered by AI. AppFolio Realm unites all of our AI-powered capabilities that include features you’re already familiar with, such as Smart Maintenance, Smart Bill Entry, and FolioGuard™ Smart Ensure. Read more about our approach to AI and how this technology can automate many repetitive tasks, help you work smarter (not harder), and supercharge your team's productivity.
The AppFolio Stack™ Marketplace continues to grow and expand, as we’re continuously bringing in new integration partners to help our customers take their business to the next level. Our marketplace now features nearly 50 app partners, but we haven’t stopped there. We’ve introduced Solution Partners — expert AppFolio consultants that can assist with accounting and bookkeeping, business process improvement, and more.
Last, we're excited to announce the upcoming availability of AppFolio Property Manager Max, a new and expanded AppFolio plan. Debuting in January 2024, this enterprise solution designed for large operators focuses on customization, data insights, and revenue — all to help you increase operational efficiency, remove friction, and maximize your technology investment so your teams can operate at the top of their skill sets, enabling you to reach your goals faster.
Read on to learn what we delivered in Q4 in the areas of communication and support, marketing and leasing, affordable housing, and community associations. We’d love to know what you think! Want to see all of the innovations that were released in 2023? Check out our product showcases for Spring, Summer, and Fall.
Last modified: Dec 22, 2023
By: Rae Parker
Communication and support
An enhanced support experience
We’re committed to providing the best support experience possible, and we’ve continued to improve our powerful platform so you can transform your day-to-day operations, boost efficiency, and quickly remove roadblocks.
We’ve moved to a specialized model in our Customer Care department and are now routing your support cases directly to representatives with subject-matter expertise in your specific area of need, enabling faster case resolutions.
We’ve leveled up our support tech stack, leveraging AI-powered tools to guide you through specific processes, and we’ve invested in more live chat capabilities that have improved response times, resolution times, and customer satisfaction.
For ongoing product education, we’ve expanded our training programs with free and paid options through The Academy, and we introduced AppFolio Stack™ Solution Partners to provide you with an expert network of certified consultants ready to assist you with additional accounting and bookkeeping needs. We continue to invest in improving our support experience, so be on the lookout for more to come.
Communicating through the Online Portal
Text messages are the preferred method of communication for many residents these days, so we've made it possible for residents, homeowners, and board members to send text messages to their management company from the Online Portal. Along with streamlining incoming communications, channeling text messages into AppFolio Property Manager saves them for future reference and improves visibility across management teams. In the early stages of this release, we saw 60% of residents opt for texting over calling, so this enhancement should free up your phone lines as well. Texting from the portal is enabled by default, but you can always disable it in your settings.
Apple Pay for residents
One of the biggest benefits of Apple Pay is its familiarity to consumers. We're excited to announce that we have expanded the availability of Apple Pay in our iOS mobile app. Residents who choose to purchase renters insurance within the Online Portal can now complete their purchase using Apple Pay.
Marketing and leasing
Leasing Signals
Make thoughtful pricing decisions using your unique pricing strategy and explainable pricing suggestions based on public data. This product:
Puts you firmly in charge of your pricing strategy: Pricing suggestions are tailored to your unique pricing strategy and business goals, which you input and control.
Takes your experience and expertise into account: Modify pricing suggestions by adjusting the weight of each factor, reviewing comparable units, and setting a price you believe in.
Reduces time-consuming and manual processes: An intuitive interface provides transparency and accessibility for your teams.
Uses only publicly available data on comparable units: All information on comparable units is automatically sourced, exclusively through publicly available sources.
Never shares your proprietary information: Your strategy, goals, data, and pricing decisions are kept confidential and never shared.
Leasing CRM
Leasing teams often spend valuable time determining next steps and engaging in repetitive, manual tasks. Provide your team with a single location from which they can manage their pipeline with AppFolio Leasing CRM.
Our new CRM tool helps your on-site leasing teams save time, reduce errors, and provides a more streamlined experience for your leasing team and prospective renters. Give your on-site leasing agents a single location from which they can manage their pipeline, and gain clarity and efficiency in your leasing process by tracking leads from first contact to move-in.
Bulk Actions
Last quarter, we introduced Bulk Move Outs and have since offered you even more bulk actions to help save your team weeks of time and drive efficiency across your properties:
Bulk Lease Renewals allow you to prepare and send out lease renewals for a large number of residents at once; enable residents to select from predefined offers; and set renewal offers and monthly charges in a single, customizable workflow.
With Bulk Pricing, you have a centralized workflow to easily update pricing across all units, unit types, and campaigns. This can save hours of repetitive data entry by easily setting the market rent and advertised rent across your portfolio with just a few clicks.
With these additional bulk actions, you can keep your team on the same page with one source of truth.
Affordable housing
HUD onboarding
For those who manage affordable housing, we know how important it is to be able to onboard Housing and Urban Development (HUD) properties quickly and accurately in as few steps as possible. Confidently onboard your HUD properties with a step-by-step guide so you can start submitting your Housing Assistance Payments requests.
We’ve streamlined this self-service process to be easier and more intuitive so that you can focus on empowering your teams and strengthening your communities.
Community associations
Board Member Reports
When it comes to information about their association, most board members rely on monthly board packets to keep them up to date. Meanwhile, community association managers are often faced with constant questions from homeowners that are difficult to answer.
Now, community association managers can enable real-time, in-portal reporting for each association board and specify which reports they'd like each board to have access to. Once saved, board members can use their online portal to view their association data at any time and even adjust report filters to create custom views that meet their unique needs. This results in fewer calls and questions so you have more time to devote to delivering exceptional experiences that help you retain your community association clients.
Investment Management
Smart Compose and Offering Memorandum
Streamline the process of creating and sharing new investment offerings by automatically parsing offering memorandums and composing announcement emails. Using AI, this feature offers an even more efficient investor relations workflow and allows you to personalize at scale for individual investors and easily share information they care about.
Closing
Take advantage of the latest innovations in your business
As an AppFolio Property Manager customer, you can find out more about each of these features by logging into the Help Center.
Not yet an AppFolio customer but want to see how these powerful tools can help your business grow? Let’s chat — sign up now for a customized product demo.