AMC Partners with AppFolio for Improved Property Management

IRVINE, CA—February 1, 2024—Advanced Management Company (AMC) has taken a bold step into the future of property management. It has partnered with AppFolio to embrace innovative, customizable solutions for operating its portfolio of 62 communities and nearly 12,000 individual units throughout Southern California.

AppFolio, a technology leader powering the future of the real estate industry, provides strategic property management options along with increased reliability and efficiency. According to AMC President Danielle McCarthy, the choice to partner with AppFolio manifests an investment in the future of both companies.

“AppFolio has developed the most robust platform, which accommodates everything we need to manage and scale our property management portfolio effectively for years to come,” said McCarthy. “Anything we would like to achieve from a tech and generative AI standpoint, we can accomplish with AppFolio. I look at this as a true partnership. Focusing on the future, AppFolio wants to be the first ones to do innovative things in our industry, and we want to be driving them to get there.”

According to McCarthy, the move was a long time coming, as AMC had been using its previous property management software since 2003. While development and upgrades did occur along the way, there were so many advances in technology occurring in the industry that simply outpaced what the previous product could deliver.

McCarthy said she had an epiphany one day at a National Apartment Association conference when she realized it was time to go all in on embracing the future.

“I just got this realization that we would never be where I wanted us to be as a company if we kept treading water with the previous software,” McCarthy said, noting that they vetted the AppFolio partnership for a period of 10 months. “We needed to just bite the bullet and go for it. Our team made the unanimous decision to go with AppFolio, and we went live on September 26 after just a six-month turnaround. We didn’t anticipate it being that fast, but I’m really happy that we just ripped off the Band-Aid, and went forward with it. It’s been a tremendous asset in continuing to provide first-class service to our communities.”

AMC selected AppFolio due to its comprehensive property management solution, which includes AppFolio Realm, and its suite of AI solutions that covers Realm-X, a conversational interface powered by Generative AI for the real estate industry. These innovations — coupled with advanced insights, reporting tools and user-friendly dashboards — offer high-growth, large-scale property management firms the reliability and efficiency necessary for smooth, strategic portfolio management.

“We’re excited about our collaborative journey with AMC,” said Katelyn Graumann, Vice President of Customer Success and Growth at AppFolio. “AMC’s adoption of AppFolio Realm has empowered them with an exceptional user experience, achieving more with fewer resources. Our suite of AI products has helped AMC reshape property management workflows, optimized operations and allowed their team to focus on strategic challenges. We’ve learned a great deal about their current and future challenges and we’ll continue to listen as we innovate together to solve complex challenges facing the property management industry.”

Among AppFolio’s impact for AMC, McCarthy listed the following benefits:

• Digitized vendor payments: Enables direct payments between property management and vendors.
• Enhanced owner experience: AppFolio provides property owners on-demand access to property data, documents and tasks, offering direct visibility into the health of their properties.
• 100% mobile utilization: Allows Community Directors and AMC staff access to key data at their fingertips.
• AppFolio’s AI Leasing Assistant Lisa: Enables prospective renters the ability to book tours and allows property managers to drive higher productivity, cost efficiency and better experiences for VIPs.

One member of the management team who can vouch for AppFolio’s immediate impact is Ken Kayoda, AMC’s Director of Finance. Kayoda has been with AMC since 1990 and used to maintain all the financial records by hand. Challenges are expected with any big technology changes, he said, but AppFolio’s abilities are already paying dividends.

“Overall, we feel we made a change that will have direct benefits to our day-to-day operations, and we hope future improvements will enhance what we currently have,” Kayoda said. “With AppFolio, we have seen some tasks disappear, freeing resources to concentrate on other things as well as time savings for some current tasks. I think we’ve only seen a portion of what AI can do, and we welcome the potential that we can apply in all areas.”

The improved connectivity AppFolio fosters has also been a hit with the VIPs who make AMC communities their home. Here’s what four of them had to say in online reviews:

“The community is very clean, and trash is picked up regularly,” said Hasib A. of Stonybrook Apartment Homes in Anaheim. “Maintenance issues are taken care of promptly. To give you an example, a minor maintenance request was submitted online on a Sunday afternoon. I was under the impression that somebody would come fix the issue, maybe on Monday or Tuesday. However, thanks to Seth, the problem was fixed within hours on the same day.”

“I want to leave another review for the maintenance team and reference Erick and Kenneth,” wrote Cambria U. of Surf House Apartments in Huntington Beach. “They have been so helpful. . . . The communication is also very professional, and they go above and beyond to make sure our needs are met. I also love how the updated emails make notes of what needs to be done and schedules appointments. I also want to mention Brett who has been super helpful, communicative and gets back to us very quickly. He even wished my husband a happy birthday, and made sure everything was taken care of. I have been super impressed by the new staff care.”

“The Grand Costa Mesa is fantastic!” wrote Margaret Gelini of the newly acquired The Grand Apartments in Costa Mesa. “We got great service from Lori and Nick (leasing agents) when moving in. I arrived really late, and Lori stayed after work to make sure I got my keys. Nick helped with setting up internet and cable in my apartment. And Juan (the maintenance manager) and his team updated items in my bathroom and in the apartment. The entire team is very responsive and the service is outstanding. I would highly recommend The Grand Apartments as your new home! I’m very, very happy to be part of the neighborhood!”

“I’ve lived here for almost six months now, and I really don’t have any complaints,” wrote Lela K., a VIP of Lakewood Manor Apartments in Lakewood. “When I first moved in, staff members were very, very helpful, understanding of the situation and really sped up the process when I needed it. (Cruz was the best!) Maintenance is always available and friendly. They come on time and are very fast and efficient. Any inconvenient tasks are explained and given lots of warning time. They even host cute events in the office for holidays (even small ones like National Dog Day). It is well-kept, and I feel safe while inside my apartment. The rent portal is easy to use and sends you notifications a couple days before to remind you.”

McCarthy said it’s not an easy decision for companies to commit to such substantial changes in technology, even considering the improved overall solution. 

“A change of this magnitude still presents drastic impacts on all aspects of a business with a heavy lift required from staff and residents,” McCarthy said. “We made the change because we’re confident in the current technology and that it will be something that will continue to grow with us.” 

About AMC

AMC is a subsidiary of Advanced Real Estate Services, Inc., a real estate investment company founded in 1982 by Richard Julian and Frank Holloway. AMC maintains and operates nearly 12,000 multifamily units in Southern California. Find out more at amcliving.com.