Three shifts AI is driving for property managers

As more companies embrace AI for their organizations, it's not surprising that some employees and leaders will be fearful of displacement. But in this age of "prompt design," the teams that optimize the most successfully are the ones that embrace a reframing on the value of people—and general up-leveling on their people's skills. This is a sweeping change that affects every industry, but the vertical of property management will see its own specific shifts.

Property management is a very task-oriented industry. It is composed of time-based tasks (such as regular collection of rent), ongoing tasks (such as leasing), and ad hoc tasks (such as maintenance requests). But it's also an incredibly human industry: built on relationships and strong communication.

With AI comes a transformational opportunity to help management teams lean more heavily into their deepest differentiators—people and relationships—and streamline all of the task-driven work. But to truly see these types of results, you need every person on your team to become a strong prompt designer.

What does this mean for teams?

1. Shift from task-based to goal-oriented work

When enabled by AI, there's two opportunities for teams. One is automation to eliminate work, such as answering calls and responding to basic questions. The other is to help them with the more demanding, strategic work. To leverage these tools effectively though, your team needs to know how to leverage AI and prompt it effectively. That requires something more profound than knowing the steps in a process—it demands a deep understanding of your business and your customers.

When a property manager's role shifts from checklists to defining the process, it also becomes much more outcomes oriented. In an environment where execution can be automated, what teams get to focus on is the broader business goal or customer outcome.

AI tools, especially those driven by natural language models, thrive when given context-rich, goal-oriented inputs. A task like "Send renewal letters to tenants with leases ending in 90 days" performs far better when paired with specific knowledge and an understanding of goals, such as: "Show me which tenants with leases ending in 120 days have open work orders and prioritize those work orders." Now that the work of sending those renewals is off their plates, managers can focus on ensuring that they are optimizing for happy tenants before they send that renewal offer.

To write effective prompts, employees must now ask themselves: What is the ultimate goal of this task or workflow? This is a mindset shift from "complete the task" to "meet the business goal." In the example above, the shift is from "make sure all renewal letters get out on time" to "make sure we are in the best position to maximize our renewal rate."

2. Use the "Jobs to Be Done" Framework

This approach aligns with the "jobs to be done" framework, a simple and effective way to make sure that the ultimate goal—the job to be done—is guiding the work. In a task-oriented environment, it's easy to fall into patterns that don't encourage enough curiosity and strategic thinking. But in a world where these repetitive workflows can be automated, what people are best equipped to accomplish requires zooming out. Understand exactly what your customer or business needs to accomplish, and ensure the straightest line to the result you need, fine tuning your workflows from there.

The jobs to be done framework is simple, and can be turned into a prompt for an AI tool to even help solve. At Super, we frame our jobs to be done in the following phrasing: When [situation or trigger happens], I want to [take an action or make progress], so that [desired outcome or benefit].

For example, in property management this might translate into: 

• When a prospect applies for a lease, I want them to hear back from us right away, so that we can show care and build trust.
• When a tenant calls about an emergency, I want them to get transferred to a person, so that the issue is resolved as quickly as possible.
• When a landlord asks about property management, I want them to hear back from our owner, so that they see our high-touch service.
• When a lease is expiring, I want the tenant to feel taken care of, so that we have the highest likelihood of renewal.

Understanding the "job to be done" allows us to take a step back and interrogate the best way to achieve the goal. In this world, it's less about team members knowing how to use specific tools (like a leasing app), and more about team members that know what they want out of their leasing tools (faster, customized responses).

3. Act even more people-first

It may sound counterintuitive, but this AI-led environment is an opportunity to be even more people-first and empathetic. Let's be honest: no body likes to be put on hold. And on the flipside, no one wants to be on the receiving end of a grouchy tenant who's been trying to reach you for hours. A hybrid of AI and people allows you to have the best of all worlds. Instant responsiveness for tenants paired with less overwhelmed teams that can problem-solve faster.

When your employees aren't saddled with rote process execution, they can shift from button pushers to relationship builders and business strategists. They get to apply their unique understanding of the intricacies of property management to train AI tooling that can help them analyze market trends, tenant behavior, and company insights. Training must pivot toward building business acumen, empathy, and creative problem-solving skills alongside technical AI capabilities.

By embracing this shift, employees can position themselves not as task doers but as strategic contributors, enabling AI to augment their expertise tactically.

We're excited to see what 2025 yields for AI and property management!