On this episode, Bob discusses the evolution of the property management software market with his guest, Joe Easton, Channel Partner Account Manager, at one such solution called Rent Manager. Joe shares his views about the property management software market and about Rent Manager, which combines many features needed by property managers to run their businesses into a single integrated solution.
A time-stamped transcript of this episode is below.
Topics Covered
[2:30] Bob greets Joe Easton to the show and asks him to introduce himself and product, Rent Manager.
[4:25] Where does Rent Manager fall on that spectrum of the various property management software solutions available?
[6:25] Joe describes Rent Manager's differentiation and strategic advantage from the other property management software platforms along that spectrum.
[7:50] How Rent Manager avoids feature creep and prioritizes which new features to implement.
[10:15] Joe describes the critical feature sets of the Rent Manager software and the importance of integrated communications within the platform.
[16:30] How property managers should determine the technologies to adopt within their property management company.
[20:15] Rent Manager is described as being exceptionally customizable and ideal for properties of every size. Joe explains what that means and gives examples.
[23:20] Integrating with other technology solutions within the property management software.
[28:00] Joe describes his journey from the beginning of his career to finding his dream job at Rent Manager.
[31:00] Final comments and how to get in touch with Joe and Rent Manager.
Connect to Rent Manager
Joe Easton on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/get-to-know-joe-easton/
Connect with Bob
North County Property Group
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Bob Preston: 01:10 Welcome to all you brainstormers who are listening in today. This is Bob Preston, your host of the show broadcasting from our studio at North County Property Group in Del Mar California. If you're new here, please subscribe. So you have ongoing access to all of our great episodes. And if you like what you hear, please pay it forward with a positive review. I can remember back when I was starting my company North County property group many, many years ago, and I was using notepads sticky notes spreadsheets. Some of you old timers probably can remember those days and storing all our pieces of paper and folders in a filing cabinet. And that's how I managed my property management business. Well today with the size of our property portfolio, like many of you, this would simply be impossible. And also, it's just not staying current with the time. But back then, software as a service was just emerging. And the concept of property management software was very much in its infancy today. The property management software market has evolved and there were some amazing solutions for companies of all sizes. I can't imagine doing it any other way without the platform that I'm operating on the show today, I have with me as a guest Joe Easton, who is the Channel Partner Account Manager at one such solution called Rent Manager. Joe will be sharing with us about the property management software market and about his product rent manager, which combines many features needed by property managers to run their business on a single integrated solution. Joe, welcome to the show today.
Joe Easton: 02:33 Thanks for having me. I'm really excited about this.
Bob Preston: 02:35 Great me to a good place to start always is I ask my guests to introduce themselves, you know, how you got into this industry property management and what the core concept is behind rent manager.
Joe Easton: 02:47 Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, we all find our way into property management in a number of different ways for me, if you go back far enough in my career, I spent about six years in the self-storage industry, uh, primarily as a district manager for a couple of different companies. And, you know, I really enjoyed that part of property management, uh, especially the multi-site operations and helping other people be successful. Uh, so that's really kind of where I got my feet wet and property management. Um, unfortunately I stepped away from the industry around 2010 following kind of the economic downturn that we experienced. Um, but I always kind of wanted to get back into it because I liked it a lot and, you know, roles following that were always technology focused. So, I was really excited to get the opportunity about two and a half, almost three years ago to join, uh, the right manager scene. You know, it was a software, right manager is a property management software. Um, I guess the core idea behind right manager is this idea that we all should be able to operate the way that we really want to and need to, to be competitive. And, you know, we've been around since the eighties and not a lot of software companies around that long. Wow. But through many different iterations of the software, you know, we've really built a culture. That's all about helping people, uh, lifting up our team and making sure that we're providing really top-notch solutions and support for our customers.
Bob Preston: 04:12 That's interesting that you've been around that long. When I started the show, I was reflecting a bit on when I started my company and I couldn't really find anything in software as the service was just kind of in its infancy anyway, fast forward to today, there's lots of platforms out there and it seems like, I don’t know, maybe I'm oversimplifying it, but they could almost be positioned on a spectrum, right? At one end of the spectrum, you have lower end platforms like cozy, you know, kind of intended maybe for self-managing landlords. And then you got the ultra-high end, the Yardi Voyager, which is extreme high-end asset managers with thousands and thousands of properties. And there are several other property management software companies kind of maybe in between, if you agree with that, where does rent manager fall on that spectrum?
Joe Easton: 04:50 Yeah, there definitely is a spectrum. Um, right. We're all positioned uniquely theoretically to help specific types of customers. So, uh, I would say we're kind of different in the fact that we really kind of help a wide range of customers. Um, we work with a lot of smaller operators with dozens or hundreds of units all the way up to large operators with tens of thousands of units. Um, and I think we're a little unique there in the fact that our product and we use the same platform for all of our customers is able to really be customized. And it's flexible in a way that no matter how large or small you are, you can find value there. Um, I would typically say that we are pretty forward and upfront, you know, mid-market is really kind of where we fall, you know, high hundreds to several thousands of units are probably the type of customers that can leverage our software the best, but really no matter how large or small you are, we probably have a good fit for you.
Bob Preston: 05:45 So you're a modular system for lack of maybe a better term. I don't know if that's a in your vernacular, but you can build your own solution based on the customization.
Joe Easton: 05:54 Uh, to some degree, I would agree with that. I mean, most of the feature sets available to all of our customers. Um, there are a few that are kind of bolt-on, especially if you're talking, uh, you know, web portals or tenants and things like that, or, uh, we build websites and so forth for customers. So a little bit that would be, I'd say more on the modular side. Um, if they would add text messaging and stuff like that.
Bob Preston: 06:14 And what would you say is your key differentiator from the other players on that spectrum?
Joe Easton: 06:19 I think we'll probably mention this a few times throughout our talk today. Um, different terminology, but we really believe the future of property management is all about choice, you know, about operating the way that they need or once operate. Um, I say this all the time, you know, most companies greatest competitive advantage is really how they operate. Uh, so we want our software to support that. Uh, we don't want to box them into how they operate. We want to kind of be flexible, customizable, um, so they can leverage the tools and the things that we have in our software, uh, to make it possible for them to mirror their real processes on the software side. Um, that's not always easy to do, um, but that's what we strive for. And we also strive really to be scaled wide. I had mentioned earlier that all of our customers use the same platform and that's unique. And I think that's important because we find a lot of customers aren't looking to grow. Um, if you're on the smaller end, maybe you're currently using QuickBooks or something like that. And you're looking to get into a, you know, a property management software system. You probably have your eye on growth, right? You're trying to, you are currently growing, you want to continue to grow. Um, and we want to be that platform that walks alongside you the entire time.
Bob Preston: 07:31 Oh, that's interesting. You know, I am a NARPM member and have attended the various national conference and broker owner conferences. So through the years at the trade shows they have at these events, I've seen demos from pretty much every player in the software market for property management, you know, Buildium AppFolio property ware and some of these platforms, I won't name names. It seems like they kind of have feature creep where they do a lot, but they don't necessarily do it particularly well or kind of to your point, they sort of force fit you to do it a certain way. And that could be kind of challenging to navigate if you're, if you're trying to grow your company. I mean, do you agree with that statement and how does rent manager choose which features to implement and how you implement them?
Joe Easton: 08:14 Yeah, yeah. Um, definitely talk about that because you know, one of the things that also makes us different is this idea of like an open architecture, um, whether it's, you know, custom views, um, we'll talk about custom roles maybe later, but this idea of open architecture, uh, through the use of even our API or integrations, our platform does all types of things, but we never want to box somebody in to using our tool or doing it the way that we tell them to do it. Um, and that really goes hand in hand with how we look at adding new features. Uh, you know, historically our extent been around for over 30 years, the mantra has always been, make the software better, just keep making it better. And a lot of that focus is on functionality, features that are already there. So making the current functionality even better, even better, even better over time. Um, you can only imagine after 30 years of making something better, you're pretty good at those, those foundational pieces that really everyone needs that just work. Right. Um, but I would say even more so when you talk about adding new features, um, you know, we've got, you know, people like myself and a few other members that are active in, uh, Northam, we've got members and other asset classes like NAA that are really listening to the industry and, and what's happening and what's needed, but we listen to our customers, none of the day, uh, your customers are normally going to tell you exactly what you need to do to become stronger. Uh, so we have a, you know, a really good ability to listen to our customers, uh, through our customer support and product support teams, our implementation teams, they're listening to these people and really trying to respond. Um, and I would say the growth of our company has really been attributed to that ability to listen and then internally build up systems with, you know, uh, business analysts and developers and so forth that are focused on providing those tools. Those features that our customers really are looking for out of our software, right. Not necessarily always trying to do what other people are doing.
Bob Preston: 10:14 Sure. And I mean, for those who are listening, let's get specific here. I mean, what are the critical feature sets that you see most property managers need that you can offer through rent manager?
Joe Easton: 10:25 Yeah. Yeah. Great question. I mean, when you look at our software, be easy to kind of pay attention to like the accounting pieces, accounts payable, receivables, all the financial that's really critical, uh, managing the resident life cycle, right with service issues and leasing and things like that. Uh, but one of the elements that we truly believe has been challenging over the last couple of years, maybe even a few decades is communication. Um, you know, technology has moved its way into every aspect of our lives. And one of the biggest challenges with that is now we're communicating in many different ways. And we, as, uh, you know, as a property manager would want to record every piece of communication that happens, right? Because we have to understand what's happening with that tenant at all times. But if you're sending out a letter or you're sending out an email, uh, maybe you're text messaging them, a lot of those things can be done on different systems. And all of a sudden you end up with communication. That's really spread out all over the place. So we focus a lot on communication tools, uh, from within the software, obviously being able to do text messaging and emails and letters, um, all of that is connected back to the tenant file and notes, and it has date and timestamp and, you know, what's happening there and you can actually type out notes, uh, but even more. So phone calls really important, right? We're all communicating, uh, you know, as much as text is popular now, and we can record those phone calls still happen. Um, so, you know, years ago we developed a voiceover IP system that works with our software integrated with our software. And so it records all of the conversations, it documents all of those conversations and our software, um, because we know keeping track of all that communication is a huge challenge. Especially if your team is scattered all over the place. And right now, even if you had everyone in the office at one point, they probably aren't there right now. So, um, voiceover IP, you know, it keeps you mobile keeps you able to operate wherever you need to operate, but always ties you back to that main system.
Bob Preston: 12:36 That's really important. I can confirm that. I mean, we, we don't have a lot of turnover here, but when we have lost some of our employees through the years, we ended up sort of in this, he said, she said situation with tenants, perhaps, where will, you know, so-and-so told me it would be this way. Well, you mean, we no longer have that person with the company and we don't have any record of what was, what was said. You know, it can be kind of challenging
Joe Easton: 12:56 And you have no way to, you know, uh, legitimize what they're saying or support, you know, what the company policy is. You're just kind of stuck in this gray area and it gets even worse with, you know, personal cell phones. Um, you know, I don't know how many property managers are like out there in the field. A lot of them are, and sometimes are using their personal cell phone to their personal cell phone numbers communicate that communication is 100% lost. Right. So, so how do you track that? How do you work around that? Um, so we've developed solutions around that as well through mobile apps that use the same phone system to communicate even through a personal cell phone. So it all ties back in. They don't give out their personal cell phone number. They can call and text directly from an app that's tied into rent manager. Um, and again, like you're saying, you don't want the, he said, he said, you want it to all be very clear, what's happening to make sure that resident has a really good experience with your company.
Bob Preston: 13:52 Where's the industry headed? What are some of the features perhaps that rent manager's looking at implementing moving forward?
Joe Easton: 13:58 You know, the bottom line is you gotta be more efficient and you have to improve resident experience. And, you know, if anyone's been around for any industry, you know, experience is one of these terms that seems to have creeped into our, you know, our discussions a little more of the last couple of years, but we've always focused on it, even if we didn't realize it. So, I think those are the two things that people are going to focus on, um, efficiency and resonant experience. And some of that goes back to communication. Some of it goes to, you know, how we interact with them. Are we giving them apps? Are we giving them what portals are we allowing them to communicate? Just through text message. What's that experience look like, um, throughout the life cycle of a resident. And I would say specifically, and I don't know about your experience, Bob, but I would say specifically mobility for both the property manager and the resident is really huge focus. I don't want our end. And I think for a lot of people, um, again, we're just not sitting still anymore. We're wanting to operate and, and working by to where we're at.
Bob Preston: 15:00 Yeah. Convenience mobility. And I would agree with your statement. I think when I started my business, there was a big focus on taking care of the owners, right? Your owners or golden tenants will come and go. And it seems like over the years, especially now in the midst of this pandemic, tenants are golden, right? You don't want them moving. You don't want to go through a move to change a turnover at your property. Do you want to take care of them and keep them there? So I feel like there's been this sort of shift in the industry to, okay, what can we do to really, really take care and show appreciation for our tenants. So I think you're spot on there, you know, make it easier for them. They're going to stick around, they're going to renew. And that's a big benefit to not only the property management companies that are out there, but also to the owners that are the landlords.
Joe Easton: 15:37 Yeah. 100%. How do you better take care of an owner than to keep their, their properties full? Um, and I think the resident experience discussion obviously started before the pandemic, uh, but like anything else, you know, we saw everything that expedited through the pandemic and hyper-focused, and all of a sudden like, Oh, well, evictions, aren't an option. Um, what else can we do? How can we help our residents? How do they feel safe here? Because all of a sudden, the way they're making decisions on what bills to pay or where to live, it's shifted really fast, almost overnight. And I'd say, you know, the property managers I've talked to, they've done a phenomenal job keeping up with all that because it did happen so quickly
Bob Preston: 16:19 Choices out there, not a lot, but there, there are several right other platforms which are competitive to rent manager. And I got to believe that either you or your salespeople speak with property managers all the time about maybe their frustrations or getting them to shift from one of the other platforms or maybe adopt one for the first time. And how does that conversation go? I mean, how would you suggest somebody who might be looking to adopt a new platform? How should they determine which technology provider to work with?
Joe Easton: 16:47 Yeah. I love this topic. So, you know, my role at rent managers I work with in our integrations program. Um, and I know we'll talk about that a little bit later, I think, but what I love about my exposure is I'm working with other software companies and this discussion about how to pick a software provider. Isn't just about property management software, right? It's about all software decisions. And we see customers shopping for all types of different solutions. And there are a few things that always kind of stand out, um, as far as like how to make a good decision. Um, and it really is kind of basic. Like you have to get back to how you operate, like, what are their processes today? How are you taking care of business and can that software meet your current needs? Right. Cause the worst thing you can do is put a new software that makes your current processes broken or non-repeatable, right. That would be a bad experience. Um, and then kind of step two is one of the pain points. Are you even trying to solve, like really define those, understand what those are and look five to 10 years down the road. Um, one of the things, you know, and you talk about different size companies, um, some companies aren't going to grow in the number of units, you know, whether you have a hundred units or 5,000 units, some companies are right where they want to be other ones aren't looking to add units, but regardless, they're all trying to solve for future needs, right? To become more competitive, stronger, more efficient, whatever it might be. So you have to almost look into your crystal ball and try to predict what those future pain points are going to be. As you grow. Are you adding more employees? Are you trying to be more automated to avoid needing that employees or at least delay adding employees kind of, what are those goals I think are, are really critical? Um, one of the things I would also say is don't buy new software until you've evaluated what you currently use. Um, what's the old 80 20 rule that 80% of your customers, aren't using 20% of your software so that, you know, they should go back and say, if I'm trying to automate this process, or if I'm trying to do, let's say online leasing or whatever it might be, do I already own a tool that can do that? Um, you know, we talked about, you know, are the right managers or software specifically and, um, whether or not it's modular and for the most part, all of our customers have access to almost every single feature in our software. Um, so one of our big jobs, one of our big focuses is utilization. How do we ensure that they're getting the most out of our software, getting the most value out of it, not paying us more, right. How do they use the current tool set even better?
Bob Preston: 19:27 You know, I won't name the software we use when we first started. We didn't use probably like you said, 80% of the features, and now I think we've become much more better at taking full advantage.
Joe Easton: 19:37 That's good. That's good. Because I think more people should, um, and I'd add one of the, one of the dangers with, you know, adding new software and sometimes people do it because they've seen others do it in the industry. Um, I think we've all been guilty of kind of just following group think and uh, what other people see. Um, and I think that's dangerous, right? We have to figure out how we're going to operate. It kind of goes back to my, one of my original thoughts of, you know, your biggest competitive advantage is how you operate, not how other people operate, right? So you have to define those operational, um, principles for yourself and then go find solutions that fit into that and make you better.
Bob Preston: 20:15 So you've mentioned it a couple of times and I noticed from visiting your website, it seems like you're exceptionally customizable, right. And ideal perhaps for properties of every size and property portfolios of different sizes. So what does that mean? And can you give us some examples of what is customizable mean?
Joe Easton: 20:31 Yeah. I have said customization quite a bit is it's all of our website. And, um, you know, we really have to ask ourselves like, what's even the value of customizing the first place. Um, because some may look at it as like, Oh, that sounds complicated, right. To customize it. But the idea customizing is to make things better for you, right? So you can have better reporting, faster processes, better experiences for your staff, for your tenants. Um, and you kind of mentioned like, even though your company doesn't have a lot of turnover, if you do have turnover or if you promote somebody, you want to ensure processes stay in line. Um, and that really is what customizing is all about. So, I mean, if we want to get like really granular, if we're talking about, um, maybe a new prospect is being entered into a system, um, our customization is going to let you 100% dictate what data is collected, what data is required to be collected. Um, so through custom fields, we call them user defined fields, pretty common, right? We're going to let you 100% control that experience. So it matches your process. Uh, because if, if John starts the prospect and he doesn't put in a first name and then someone also, you're seeing selling, walks up to the process and wants to call this prospect and doesn't have a first name, that's a bad experience, so you can require certain things. So that's pretty granular there. Um, one of the other things that we see, that's really powerful. That's like a really great example is idea of different roles within a company and roles within software roles are pretty common in software programs, right? You set up a user, you tell the system what type of user they should be. So you kind of understand what they can get access to. Um, we take it to the, to the ends degree with this because we believe that not every customer company's the same. So you should be able to really create unique roles and control and give access based on that role, um, all the way down to different portions of the software, different reports on the software, uh, whatever it might be, software really should remove the waste from, um, your time and make you more efficient. So if a user logs in, they should see the tools that are going to help them do their job better. If they see all the tools and all the reports and it clutters their day to day, it slows them down. So we want to streamline that. And I would say customize roles is another great example of, of what we do. And really the whole software is kind of built around. That idea is, um, however you operate, whatever type of report you want to use. Uh, we probably have a, a way in the system to make it your own.
Bob Preston: 23:14 Very good. It seems like rent manager believes in integrating with other solutions out there. For example, I am going to name one Z inspector. We use the inspector, we love it, but we use that instead of what's on our software platform, it sounds like you would integrate with the inspector just as one example. Right. And so it's sort of the open system approach versus a, well, we don't want to play with others. We have a closed system approach. You guys are open it's I guess. I mean, that's what I'm assuming. Can you tell us a little bit about that and how maybe that gives you an advantage over some of your competition? Yeah, absolutely.
Joe Easton: 23:46 We are. We are open and, um, your example is right on target, right? Your primary software already offers an inspection tool, but for some reason you've decided that it's not the right fit for you. So you went outside the software and Zen inspector, um, and we believe fundamentally that that is always going to be the case with a certain percentage of your customers, right? We have an inspection tool and lots of our customers love it. They use it all the time, but it's not going to be for everyone. And if, and I almost think it's almost a point of just strategy that we will never be able to make a solution that's right. For every single customer. So being open is this idea of freedom of choice. Um, you know, we make it easy for our customers to find what integrations are out there through a built-in marketplace, make it easy for them to connect with these providers and easy for them to use it. And if you look at our list of integrations, uh, there's a lot of overlap with things that we offer. Um, so many people would be like, are you crazy? Why would you do that? Like, why wouldn't you make them use what you use? And it's just that idea of choice. Um, you know, we want them to grow. We want them to be successful. Um, we want to continue to be their primary system and we truly believe that it's a better experience if they can use it in an integrated way. Uh, because if it's not integrated, there has to be some level of double data entry or potential human error that can happen along the way. If those systems aren't really talking to each other. Um, so we, we believe there's a huge opportunity there. Um, you know, as far as advantage in the, in the industry, you know, it's just the way we view things. Uh, I mean, I think there's different ways to view what will happen in the future. And we are kind of hedging our bets on this idea of being open, um, idea of having a platform for integrations. And if you look a lot of, even our communication and our marketing, we, we really walk alongside these companies and help provide resources so they can even get in front of our customers. Uh, cause again, we want to put it back to our system every time, if we can make sure they're aware of what we offer, but if it's not the right fit, I think we would be doing them a disservice to force them in there.
Bob Preston: 25:55 Like the concept of you sort of walking alongside your customer through the path of their growth and the path of their journey in the property management industry. I see a lot of ourselves in that comment. You know, when we first started, we were using most of the tools that were provided in our property management software, just because, you know, we wanted to keep it simple. We didn't have much head count. We didn't have a big portfolio and we didn't know any better. And then over the course of time, we found as the company grew, more people got added, more properties, got added processes, start to break. You know, you find that you maybe need to do something a bit more thoroughly than you used to have to do it. Right. And that solution wasn't always the best that was in our property management software. So we would end up having to turn off that feature and look to the outside for something XE inspectors, a good example, right? We love the ability of 300 degree full hi-def photos. I mean, record now, like you're going to be in court tomorrow, right. Um, we don't get that in our property management software, but we get it in Z inspector. So that's just one example. And we've had to actually turn off several features and our property management software and look to the outside you guys integrate. I just think it's a great, it's a great analogy.
Joe Easton: 27:01 No, we appreciate that. And you know, I love analogies and I think a great analogy is like, if you look at any product out there and whether they're shopping for a hammer or a car or a washing machine, there's hundreds, if not thousands of options sometimes, right. And you always have to ask yourself, why are there so many options? Well, because people have different needs, they just have different needs. And we live in a world where options are really what the consumer, what the customer is looking for. Um, when it comes to streaming services to watch TV, you know, we just have worse voice than ever. Um, and the consumer really demands it. And, and I, we do believe that's kind of a future and I'm not, I'm excited to see where the future goes because I think a lot more, um, open architecture type programs will become available in the future.
Bob Preston: 27:46 Well, it sounds like rent manager has a lot to offer to the property management industry. So folks, I would encourage you all to check this out. Joe, one of the things I always like to ask my guests to do, if you're, if you're willing is to share a brief story about themselves, you know, something that maybe defines you as a person or something on your career path. And so what do you have for us that you're willing to share today?
Joe Easton: 28:06 The question, um, you know, I'm a big fan of podcasts. I love the storytelling and we didn't get too deep in the storytelling today, but I love this question because it does give me a little bit of an opportunity, uh, with storytelling. Um, so my story really is kind of my career path. And I had mentioned early on in my career, I had some self-storage experience, and it was an industry I really liked. And unfortunately, because of economic downturn, I did walk away from that industry. Um, following that, uh, you know, I went back to school, I got a degree and you know, you always start to wonder like, are, where am I headed? Like, what path am I going down? Am I headed anywhere in value? And I ended up floating around a few different technology companies, um, before with rent, uh, I was a threat manager. I worked for an it distributor and I found myself an opportunity to start doing some business development, understanding, marketing better, and understanding kind of the world of software and hardware, how they work together, how people procure those things and kind of this bigger picture of how businesses operate. But again, I always say trying to do the math, like where's my career headed. I had some property management, I went back to school to get a business degree. Now I'm doing some business development in the it world. And I just couldn't do the math of where I was headed. And I was really kind of lost, honestly, looking for what that next step was. And it was amazing to find myself interviewing and getting a job at rent manager because it was almost like the, the equal, the other side of the equal sign of the equation that my property management experience my experience in sales and it equal to career at rent manager and all the pieces, all the puzzle pieces started to fall together. And I felt at home almost instantly, I was making connections, everything, everything just clicked. And I just tell that story. Um, you know, I think a lot of people listening to this are in property management and it's probably their career. They probably love it. Cause most people in property management really do fall in love with the industry. But if someone feels lost, if they feel like the pieces aren't adding up quite yet, I don't think just keep going and look for those little connections along the way. And don't miss out on an opportunity to learn because there are many times where when I was feeling lost and kind of wondering where things were headed, I didn't always take opportunities the way I should have. Right. I didn't learn from every situation. And as I look back, I wish I would've learned a little bit more. I probably would've gotten here faster, but, um, just a little bit of encouragement to those that are still finding their career path and trying to find out where they want to end up, just keep going. And, uh, remember the past experiences, it all adds up in the end.
Bob Preston: 30:45 That's a cool story. And it's almost like, Hey, you gotta follow your heart and your passion, you know? And, uh, it sounds like your passion was putting all those different pieces together until you kind of landed in the spot you are in today. So congratulations on that sounds like you've found a career that's really working for you. Hey, I would love to continue this super interesting. And I thank you so much for coming on the show today, but we kind of need to wrap up here. What are your last words or thoughts for our audience about not only property management software, but perhaps rent manager?
Joe Easton: 31:14 Oh, kind of talk high level about software in general, uh, technology in general that, you know, whether you know right managers and employee, and as we look at our software or as a property management company and how you guys look at your software, everyone has to embrace the idea of adopting technology as part of your business plan. It's not something you do once a year, once a quarter, or once every five years. It's really something we all have to do continually. Um, so if you have questions about that and I think rent manager would be a great resource to kind of help paint that picture and what that may look like for your company. But I think just in general, you know, we just have to adopt technology. It's not going anywhere. And we always see examples of those that are succeeding are the ones that live by that mantra. Just continue to embrace and adopt new technologies.
Bob Preston: 32:02 Yeah. In the name of efficiency. I think that's where this industry is going. Right. Hey, and if someone wanted to learn more about rent manager, how could they do that? Who would they reach out to
Joe Easton: 32:11 Slowly? Um, I would say our website will be a great place to start. Uh, rent manager.com I think would be the place I'd send you first. Um, shameless plug. We have our podcast as well that I host called beyond rent. So if you want to even start there, uh, we don't talk a whole lot about our software. There. We talk with people that are operators in the industry or other industry experts. Uh, so we kind of dive into the world of education there. Uh, but those are the two places I would, um, send you or if you want to with me now, so you can find me on LinkedIn search for Joe Easton, right. Manager. You'll probably find me pretty easily there.
Bob Preston: 32:46 Okay, man, I'm expecting a return invite here for your podcasts, right? Quid pro quo.
Joe Easton: 32:54 Absolutely. Yeah.
Bob Preston: 32:55 Awesome. Well, Hey Joe, thanks again for coming on the show. This is going to be a great episode. As we wrap up today, I'd like to make another quick plug to our listeners to click on the subscribe button and give us a like also please pay it forward with a positive review to help encourage more great guests to come on the show that concludes today's episode of the property management brainstorm. Thank you for joining until next time we will be in the field, working hard for our clients to maximize rental income and property value while maintaining top tenant relations and we'll catch up.
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