Managing a Mixed Portfolio with an All-In-One Solution

A Bit of Backstory

Founded in 1993, Coldwell Banker Danforth has grown to include a full service property management division. They manage a mixed portfolio consisting of Residential, Community Associations, as well as Commercial properties. Byron Hiller, the managing broker for the property management division, oversees the operations for the property management business.

Interview with Byron

We met with Byron to discuss how he finds success while managing a mixed portfolio within AppFolio Property Manager.

Why did you make the switch to AppFolio Property Manager?

We switched to AppFolio in 2009. Before AppFolio, it was chaotic. We were not backing up our business or database, and we never updated our software, as you had to update manually through a disc. Staying up with the technology was inconvenient, and we were at risk without any backups.

Now, with AppFolio, we're reducing our costs, such as paying for file storage, and we're saving time automating our manual processes. Everything is where we need it to be. We're all on the same platform, and our team is able to bypass bottlenecks that we typically had beforehand.

How is AppFolio Property Manager impacting your business?

I have a better view of my business through the reports such as the Diagnostic Tool. It lets me know right where we're going wrong and what we need to fix. The Tenant Portal has been a big one for us. We have seen a great deal of time savings since being able to collect rent online. Our renters feel that they're getting good service because they can call any one of us and get answers without having to get a call-back. We actually have free time to work with our customers.

In addition, we use AppFolio's in-app texting and emailing features for all of our communication. Our experience with these features has been great. Everything we need to know can be found in one place, and we're not spending time looking for records through different email servers and so on.

How are you using AppFolio's Community Association features in your business?

Our management of our HOA business has been greatly improved due to the fact that the AppFolio tools are designed specifically for Community Associations. Before we were jury-rigging everything in our system together. Now it's more seamless and customers feel that we actually have a good system designed for them.

How do you feel about AppFolio?

My team and I find AppFolio easy to use. There are new areas we are always learning more about, and are mastering. My favorite thing about AppFolio is having everything I need in one place, and learning about new things that I don't even know I need yet but are coming.

AppFolio gives me a great amount of confidence that our data is secure and that we can do business no matter what the circumstances are. We can operate from anywhere and that gives me a lot of confidence.