The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) applications in multifamily property technology is revolutionizing operations and enabling property managers to optimize property performance like never before. But it first required a leap of faith by a sometimes tech-hesitant industry to even let AI in the door.

Apartment operators are finally beginning to embrace and leverage AI solutions, particularly on the front end, to drive lease conversion. Chatbots now engage prospective residents during their initial inquiries, and AI-powered lead-nurturing tools manage much of the prospect experience until lease signing. But the industry has only begun to tap the potential of AI tech beyond leasing operations.

What areas of the lease life cycle are ripe for optimization through AI?

Tremendous opportunity exists for further deployment of AI-based solutions across the property life cycle and the span of a lease. Risk mitigation, bad debt recovery, revenue management and pricing are just a few examples of AI-powered proptech solutions that pioneering multifamily management companies are strategically implementing to drive property performance and NOI.

As AI-driven leasing solutions become more mainstream and flatten the playing field, operators need new tactics to establish a competitive advantage. Not every answer will be found in leasing tools, however, some proptech products that leverage AI for unrelated objectives can actually have a dramatic impact on lease conversion rates.

For example, lease insurance software that employs AI to customize coverage plans for individual assets also serves to eliminate traditional security deposits, which often create financial barriers for prospective renters and operational burdens for site teams. By removing this leasing obstacle, operators clear the path to residency for many qualified prospects, which improves move-in times and occupancy and lowers administrative workload and regulatory risk.

The lease insurance model also optimizes back-end operations by expediting claims processing and absorbs account balances at move-out, establishing consistency and predictability in the claims process and improving revenue capture. The solution significantly reduces the amount of time spent by site teams on claims, returning valuable hours that can be used to focus on leasing and customer service.

Multifamily is sitting on mountains of data—let’s unpack that value 

While standalone solutions may enhance a specific aspect of operations, AI technologies are most impactful and effective when fully integrated into the native PMS workflow and easy to use. These factors are critical to comprehensive data capture. From there, the mechanics of AI, machine-learning, and trained-model solutions should enable operators to not only tap the unused ledger data they’re currently sitting on but also derive actionable insights from that data. Those insights empower operators to make more informed decisions, particularly regarding lease insurance coverage levels, compliance measures or debt recovery.

Data-driven risk mitigation solutions like lease insurance create opportunities for smarter loss protection. In turn, operators limit lost revenue and bolster core operations, thus boosting overall property performance and maximizing asset value.

Looking past traditional leasing moves the industry into future-proof operations

The transition to AI and automated solutions on the leasing end was a wary and uncomfortable undertaking for many multifamily operators. But the immediate impact on lease conversion results has helped to establish trust in the technology. However, the industry still remains at the surface-scratching phase of AI implementation across the full cycle of the lease. Operators need to continue to look beyond the leasing process for AI-powered proptech with the capability of positively impacting operations and asset values through unconventional and indirect means.

Data is all the rage in multifamily right now, and industry suppliers are going to great lengths to identify themselves as tech companies and market their products as data-driven solutions. While data is king, data is just noise and historical trends without analytics and intelligent inference. Integrated AI technologies generate enhanced, robust data with predictive potential, enabling operators to make informed, data-backed decisions to elevate and future-proof their assets. But operators must embrace new data strategies and develop an AI technology roadmap that encompasses core functions and back-end processes and enabled properties to realize their full potential.