AppFolio Innovation Surges Ahead With AI, Resident Experience Offerings – A Roundup

On the heels of AppFolio’s recent FUTURE Conference – where we connected with customers, partners, and industry experts alike – we’re eagerly looking forward.

⏩Spoiler: customer success remains top of mind.

Of course, artificial intelligence continues to be a hot topic in every professional circle, and it’s certainly been a priority for me. During our recent conference, we showcased new AI capabilities – now saving operators 10-plus hours per week – and demoed other impressive features, including our next-generation resident experience platform. Our innovations are already making a meaningful difference – priming customers for greater efficiency and better performance. 

Here's everything property management teams need to know as they flip their calendars:

Realm-X on the Rise 🤖

In recent months, I’ve had numerous conversations with customers, and one thing has become clear: Our AI technology is already making a difference.

Realm-X, our embedded GenAI solution, provides real-time intelligence to property managers and features three core functions:

• Assistant: This provides the “co-pilot experience” and is accessible everywhere in AppFolio so that rental housing teams can get work done faster and easier. Users can generate ad hoc reports, initiate individual and bulk processes, and automate time-consuming tasks like personalizing resident communications.

• Messages: This reimagines the traditional inbox by helping property managers keep their resident communications under control. They can sort through, act on, and respond to routine inquiries. It also has several enhancements including a freshly designed user interface, ‘Suggested Actions’ and ‘Suggested Responses.’

• Flows: Our workflow automation engine helps operators standardize processes and increase speed, efficiency, and consistency. They can teach Realm-X their best practices, and it will guide them and effectively complete the work, whether managing rental applications, lease renewals, collecting payments, or anything else.

In a FUTURE Conference demo with my colleague, Cat Allday, we walked attendees through common, real-world AI use cases – like pulling vacancy rates ahead of an investor meeting or quickly sharing applications with new prospects.

TL;DR ➡️ In 2024, we’ve demonstrated how Realm-X enhances business performance.

FolioSpace 101📲

We also recently unveiled FolioSpace, our new resident experience platform, to help operators attract and retain residents. This new, end-to-end platform indeed raises the bar.

Our vision for FolioSpace is to give residents 24/7 access to everything they need to manage their rental experience—from application to renewal—all in a single, easy-to-understand space.

To that end, we also recently welcomed the LiveEasy team to the AppFolio community. This concierge platform will help power resident onboarding within FolioSpace.

In addition to onboarding, FolioSpace also includes a Resident Services Marketplace and an AI-powered Resident Inbox, enabling swift, easy communications with management.

FolioSpace helps deliver exceptional value and experiences to our property management customers and the residents they serve. We can’t wait to hear some incredible success stories!

Accounting, Maintenance, and Leasing 📝

The excitement around AI and resident experience is real, but let’s not forget some other stellar innovations, including new Accounting and Maintenance features.

On the accounting front, we recently opened the beta program for our forthcoming Credit Card Accounting functionality, which integrates directly with Smart Bill Entry, Bank Feed, and Reporting. Our Bill Approvals process has also gotten a complete facelift with a new interface that lets users design custom and automatic approval workflows. So far, beta customers have loved the boost in accuracy, consistency, and speed in their regular cycles.

For ‘Smart Maintenance,’ we’ve highlighted two exciting updates: First, a new Scheduling feature for in-house teams that gives coordinators more visibility into their queue via a simple timeline view. We also unveiled additional automation features to Work Order Billing.

Behind the Scenes: Screening 🔍

AppFolio innovation also includes essential “behind the scenes” work – namely methods designed to curtail rental fraud, which has unfortunately become rampant (experienced by 93.3% of property management professionals).

We’ve developed two new screening features to help managers combat application fraud more easily and accurately:

• ☑️ Document Verification: Detects content tampering and tests the authenticity of submitted paystubs in the application process

• ☑️ ID Verification: Ensures the applicant is who they say they are by closely vetting ID documentation

Both features give operators peace of mind that their units are rented to the most trusted applicants.

Our Commitment 🤝

That’s quite the list…

Thanks to our AI innovation, we believe operators will have more time to focus on other strategic tasks. Plus, new offerings like FolioSpace will help ensure that residents get the white-glove experience they deserve, which will boost both satisfaction and retention.

I’m grateful to have connected with so many folks in person this fall, all of whom continue to inspire us. Looking ahead, we’re energized by the possibilities and steadfast in our commitment to our customers.

Stay tuned for other exciting announcements!