Top Questions Multifamily Property Owners Have About AI & Automation

If you’re still on the fence about adopting AI and automation tools for property management, you’re not alone. According to a 2025 report, 66% of multifamily property management professionals have yet to adopt AI tools.

You may have a lot of questions about AI and automation for property management. The good news is, we have answers. This guide tackles some of the most pressing questions multifamily owners and professionals are asking about AI and automation tools. We hope it helps you make an informed decision about the right tools for your portfolio.

How Do AI and Automation Work in Property Management?

More than a third (35%) of property managers say they’re not using AI because they’re unfamiliar with it. These tools have accelerated rapidly in property management in just a few years, so this hesitation is understandable. Let’s break down what AI and automation are and how these tools work.

AI and Automation, Defined

The terms AI and automation are confusing because they’re often used as catch-all labels for a variety of tools. Let’s start with definitions:

• Automation uses technology to complete simple, repetitive tasks with little or no human intervention.
• AI is a collection of technologies that allow machines to perform complex, decision-making tasks that typically require human intelligence.

AI technologies include natural language processing, conversational AI, generative AI, robotic process automation, predictive analytics, predictive modeling, machine learning, the Internet of Things, and more, and all of these technologies work in different ways. Fortunately, you don’t need to understand the technical details of each type of AI to benefit from it. It helps, though, to have a good grasp of which problems AI tools can solve in property management.

How AI and Automation Support Property Management

Property management AI and automation tools can help multifamily teams:

• Set rental pricing
• Reply to inquiries from prospective residents
• Screen prospective residents
• Schedule tours
• Facilitate resident communication
• Automate maintenance tasks
• Automate bookkeeping
• Automate package handling
• Analyze data
• And more

A Real-World Look at AI and Automation in Action

Once you understand the problem you’d like to solve with automation and AI, you can research tools and dig deeper into how they work. For example, if you’re struggling with slow maintenance response times, you may want to explore maintenance automation tools like ApartmentAdvisor ASSIST.

ApartmentAdvisor ASSIST uses conversational AI to respond immediately to maintenance requests via text message. It guides residents through easy fixes for minor issues, like mounting a TV or resetting a circuit breaker, while routing more complex problems to your maintenance team. ASSIST improves the resident experience by offering 24/7 issue support and saves teams time by resolving some tickets automatically.

How Can I Evaluate the Security Features of AI and Automation Tools?

Four in 10 (41%) property managers say they’re concerned about security and data breaches, and 33% aren’t using AI because of those concerns. Many AI and automation platforms store residents’ personal and financial data, so it’s smart to be cautious about security. Data breaches can harm your reputation and lead to financial loss. Even so, you don’t need to let security concerns stop you from benefiting from valuable automation and AI tools. These practical steps can help you find tools you can trust.

Make Sure Vendors Follow Robust Security Measures

Any vendor you’re considering should meet the following essential standards. It should encrypt resident PII (personally Identifiable Information) and financial data. It should employ security best practices such as strong passwords, role-based access, and multi-factor authentication when any financial transactions are taking place. Finally, if the software connects to your property management system, it should include strong API security to keep data exchanges safe.

The good news? The right vendor can improve your data security, especially if you still use manual processesthat expose you to risk. For example, if you collect rent manually and log it into a non-encrypted spreadsheet or accounting system, your residents’ financial data may be vulnerable to a breach. Scanned or stored paper applications with sensitive information can also be targets for theft. If you choose a vendor that offers secure payment portals, encrypted databases, automated fraud detection, multi-factor authentication, and other safety measures, you’ll improve security, as long as you turn on the system’s security features and maintain oversight.

Find Out What Happens When Things Go Wrong

Breaches happen, and you don’t want to be caught off guard by your vendor’s response. Ask your vendor how they would handle a security breach, and make sure that you are aligned with your vendor on how minimize data loss and fix vulnerabilities quickly.

How Can I Ensure AI Outputs Meet Compliance Standards?

Staying compliant with legal requirements and regulations is a critical part of property management, so it’s not surprising that a third (33%) of property managers say they’re concerned about the compliance of AI and automation tools. Nearly a quarter (22%) cite this reason for not deploying AI.

With federal, state, and local laws and regulations constantly changing, navigating compliance is already a challenge. These best practices can help you adopt AI and automation tools while remaining compliant with regulations.

Follow Fair Housing Best Practices

While PropTech tools can help you streamline screening, prevent application fraud, and reduce evictions, they must be compliant with fair housing laws. In recent years, residents have brought several lawsuits against landlords, claiming discrimination by tenant screening software. If you’re considering leasing software to help you screen potential residents, make sure the vendor follows HUD’s best practices for non-discriminatory tenant screening and advertising. Also, make sure all AI-driven communication is accessible for residents with disabilities.

Be Transparent About AI Usage

Some jurisdictions require businesses to disclose the use of generative AI if a customer requests it. With laws trending that direction, it may be best to err on the side of transparency. When you roll out a new tool, consider letting your residents know if AI is part of the experience.

Document Decisions

Ideally, AI tools shouldn’t make high-level decisions that could result in negative consequences. Even so, it’s important to maintain logs of AI decisions and human overrides to establish an evidence trail for internal reviews and external audits. Some AI tools have built-in documentation features that automatically log decisions to make this step easier. 

Establish Human Oversight

Any AI system that makes decisions—such as screening applications or prioritizing maintenance requests—can be biased based on its data or algorithms. That’s why it’s important for humans to regularly audit AI systems. This type of oversight helps reduce the risk of fair housing violations and supports compliance with anti-discrimination laws.

How Do I Know if AI Outputs Are Accurate?

Four in 10 (40%) property managers are not using AI because they’re skeptical about its accuracy. Accuracy is a known limitation for large language models (LLMs), which are the foundation of many AI tools, including AI agents.  

These models are trained to predict the next word in a sequence based on patterns in large bodies of text. They’re only as good as the data they’re trained on, and they can’t assess the correctness of information. In many cases, they generate accurate information, especially for well-defined tasks, such as summarizing maintenance logs or answering resident questions. But most AI tools generate incorrect or misleading information sometimes.

 Some newer tools combine LLMs with trusted data sources to improve accuracy, but they’re not standard yet. The good news is, you can benefit from AI tools now and still maintain high accuracy. At ApartmentAdvisor, our highly-skilled engineers rigorously train ASSIST on accurate datasets to ensure top performance. The system has yet to hallucinate or give a resident wildly inaccurate data. Follow these best practices to find AI tools with high accuracy.

Opt for AI Companies with Multifamily Expertise

Many companies are releasing multifamily AI products right now, and it can be hard to sort through their claims. As Oliver Chrzan, Vice Chairman at ApartmentAdvisor points out, “There’s a lot that AI can offer this industry, especially when it comes to saving you time and money. But not all the products out there right now are delivering on their promises.”

So how do you find AI that delivers high accuracy? As a first rule, look for AI providers that are training their tools on relevant, accurate knowledge bases, such as maintenance and repair manuals. Large language models trained on limited data are less prone to hallucinations than general-purpose chatbots trained on internet data.

ApartmentAdvisor’s engineers prepare ASSIST to triage most basic maintenance requests out of the box. They can also train the system using your community’s maintenance manual, so residents get fast, accurate answers based on your procedures. The training process continues as you use the tool. You can leave feedback on the system’s interactions with residents to help continually improve performance.

Monitor Performance

Establish and track metrics that help you keep an eye on the accuracy of outputs. “Like any other employee, an AI agent needs to be shown the ropes, monitored, and have its performance evaluated,” Chrzan explains. With the use of ApartmentAdvisor ASSIST™’s dashboard, you can monitor AI ticket resolution rate and escalation rate, which provide insight into the performance of AI tools. Plus, you can individually read any AI conversation that has taken place to get insight on user satisfaction.

Keep Human Oversight in Place

Some AI tools don’t allow any information to go to users without human review as a safeguard in fields where misinformation can be dangerous. In property management, a full manual review usually isn’t necessary. But regular audits of AI outputs are a must for identifying inaccuracies and updating the AI’s knowledge base as needed. Property managers and owners can review every resident interaction with ASSIST and course correct if needed.

What Skills or Expertise Do I and My Teams Need to Deploy AI?

Nearly three in 10 (29%) property managers say they lack the expertise to deploy AI, and about the same percentage (30%) say employee training is one of their biggest concerns with AI implementation. Rest assured, you and your team don’t need to be AI experts to deploy AI. For example, ASSIST is trained by skilled engineers and designed with user-friendly interfaces, so you don’t need tech skills to work with it.

The most important factor for success with new tools is being open to change and willing to learn. If your team isn’t on board yet, a few best practices can help you get them excited about AI implementation:

• Clearly communicate the benefits of AI tools in multifamily property management.
• Reassure them that AI will augment, not replace, their roles.
• Bring them into the decision process about specific tools from the start.
• Thoroughly train them on how to use the tools.
• Gather feedback and act on it quickly to improve the implementation process. 

Since it’s impossible to become an AI expert overnight, it’s critical to partner with the right AI vendor. Look for a partner that can help make the implementation process easier. Ideally, they should have a deep understanding of your business and needs and offer:

• Hands-on assistance during setup
• Customizable, user-friendly interfaces
• Ongoing support

What’s the ROI for AI and Automation Tools?

About a quarter (26%) of property managers are concerned about the cost of AI, and 16% don’t understand how AI will be valuable for their companies. It’s difficult to generalize about the ROI for AI tools because returns vary widely depending on the specific tool, your usage, and your portfolio size.

One study shows that companies across industries that led in adopting automation reduced the cost of their processes by 22% in 2023, compared to just 8% for those who lagged in automation. In a multifamily study of property decision makers who had added smart technologies (smart devices or automated software systems):

• 73% commanded higher rents.
• 97% improved resident satisfaction.
• 97% attracted new residents.
• 90% improved staff satisfaction.
• 85% boosted staff recruitment and hiring.
• 84% lowered resident turnover.
• 81% boosted staff productivity.
• 80% lowered staff turnover.
• 52% lowered resident complaints.

Of course, you’ll need to determine the potential ROI for the specific tool you’re considering. These practical strategies can help you identify software that delivers strong returns.

Ask for Real Performance Data

If the vendor’s marketing information is vague, ask for data about how their tools have performed, including:

• Stats from real customers
• Time savings
• Case studies from owners with a similar portfolio size

Understand the True Total Cost of Ownership

To accurately predict ROI, you need to have a clear picture of your investment. Consider the base price plus potential extra costs, such as:

• Customization fees
• Ongoing support charges
• Upgrade costs
• Fees for API access or additional users

Opt for Integration

If adding another tool adds extra work or complexity, it reduces ROI. Prioritize tools that seamlessly integrate with your current tools, including your PMS. ASSIST seamlessly integrates and works alongside Appfolio and Buildium.

Find a Real Partner

Look for vendors that offer customization and hands-on help to get your team up to speed. Preferably, opt for a company with a customer service team that is as invested in your success as you are.

Conclusion: Get Started With AI and Automation for Multifamily

More than a quarter (29%) of property management professionals plan to adopt AI or automation tools. If you’re in that group, learning more about AI security, accuracy, compliance, implementation, and ROI can ease your concerns about adoption. The next step is to look into specific property management tools and determine which ones are likely to deliver strong results for your portfolio.

If you’re looking for a platform that drives real results, ApartmentAdvisor ASSIST™ can help you find the best renters, optimize pricing, simplify maintenance, and streamline rent collection. Schedule a demo to see how it can optimize your portfolio’s performance.