Doubled HOA Portfolio in 3 Months
with AppFolio

A Bit of Backstory

McCombs Commercial Realty, LLC is one of the largest operating companies in Lincoln, Nebraska, managing a portfolio of HOA and commercial real estate. McCombs switched to AppFolio Property Manager in June of 2017. In less than one year, with increased efficiency and a larger capacity for work, the team has seen the opportunity to more than double the number of units in their portfolio.

Interview with Chris

We interviewed Chris McCombs to learn how his team manages their large, HOA portfolio with AppFolio.

How has switching to AppFolio impacted your business?

When I joined McCombs Commercial Realty, the health of the company was not doing very well. We had an operating system that kept us afloat, but it didn't allow us the opportunities to be able to grow. We were still trying to dig through a lot of menus and systems to get information, but with AppFolio you don’t have to do much digging. With the ease of AppFolio, we were able to streamline our processes to focus more on the health of our company and the growth of our business.

AppFolio has really just lightened the load on us. We run a skeleton crew, with only three of us managing the HOA side of the business. With AppFolio, we’ve been able to literally double our portfolio in three months. We started with 1,100 HOA units, and now we’re in the process of bringing on new units, which will bump us up to 2,400 total HOA units. We have long-term plans for growth as well, and by the time everything is said and done, we'll be close to 3,500 units. Managing this size of a portfolio in AppFolio with a three man crew is insane. It wouldn't be possible with our old operating system. AppFolio has definitely saved us a lot of time; it's been a lifesaver.

Has your ability to provide service to your customers changed?

Customers that we had while on our old operating system can tell the difference in our service since switching to AppFolio. With AppFolio, it has made life so much easier – to be able to communicate with the client – and they love everything we can do now. Our customers can easily send in a maintenance request, then once the work has been done, our contractors will take pictures and send a notification back to the customer showing that the job has been done on time. Our customers trust that we're doing the job, and we know that they're being taken care of.

How have AppFolio’s HOA features allowed you to grow your business?

The Architectural Review feature has helped us immensely. We have newly developed HOAs that are coming onboard soon, and the Architectural Review feature has allowed us to be organized and communicate with our customers through this process. For example, one of our homeowners wanted to update their backyard with a new patio layout and landscaping. We were able to drive out to the location, take some pictures of the property, and upload the information into AppFolio. We’re able to communicate directly with the homeowner through AppFolio to manage the architectural review process. It's been a godsend, truly.

Are you able to be more mobile in your work?

I use AppFolio’s mobile application everyday. If I'm in the office, I will work on computer, but when I'm in the field, I'm always using my phone. I’m able to document everything on the properties, upload them into AppFolio, and communicate with our customers, instantly from wherever I'm at. If I'm at home working late at night, which tends to be the case more times than I'd like, we use the phone as well. We're able to get quick communication between client and customer. It's great.

How is AppFolio a partner to you and your business?

I feel safe and secure knowing that AppFolio has my company's back, in taking care of the clients and all of the work that needs to be done. If we have a problem, the Customer Service teams have always been on time with us in response, and helped us fix everything.

My favorite thing about AppFolio is the ease of use, truly. There are so many operating systems out there, but they don't offer it in a way that makes it easy for people to navigate. Our employees, even those who are new to technology, have been able to access AppFolio and just flow like water through it, and understand it fully. They know what's going on. AppFolio is a great system for the company. I haven’t found anything easier to use.