ARTICLE
Bolt-On vs. Built-In: The True Impact of Native AI in Real Estate Technology
Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a future promise — it’s an active force transforming industries today, and real estate is no exception. Over the past year alone, AI capabilities have leaped forward, driven by breakthroughs in large language models, multi-modal systems, and real-world use cases across business functions. But as AI becomes more embedded in everyday workflows, the gap between bolt-on AI features and truly AI-native platforms is becoming clearer — and more consequential.
The Limitations of Bolt-On AI
In the early wave of AI adoption in property management, most solutions followed a bolt-on approach. Individual tools — such as AI leasing assistants, maintenance bots, or invoice scanners — were added onto existing software platforms as stand-alone modules. While these tools offer isolated gains in automation or responsiveness, they don’t always work together or connect workflows. Those who use these types of AI tools are left switching between siloed systems that can’t share data or context, forcing them to act as the integrators between disjointed tools.
Think of it this way: If you’re a property owner, it’s like hiring a different management company for every part of your operation: one for leasing, one for maintenance, one for accounting, and so on, with each team using their own processes, software, and reporting formats — and they all speak a different language. So when something breaks, or a lease needs to be renewed, or a unit inspected and turned, there’s no connecting the dots. Inevitably things fall through the cracks. You couldn’t reasonably expect such a patchwork setup to perform like a unified business.
That’s the reality of bolt-on AI. Software providers that didn’t build their platforms with AI in mind are now layering on isolated tools that are not truly connected. You end up with more complexity, not less. We recently sat down with Cat Allday, Vice President of Product at AppFolio and Daniel Waas, Vice President of Product Marketing, to go deeper on this topic. Keep reading to uncover their insights.
“Why can’t I just buy a point solution AI tool and plug it into my property management system and get the same results? And that really goes back to, now, you’ve got distributed data, and the context isn’t necessarily shared.”
Cat Allday
Vice President, Product, AppFolio
Sound bite:
“And I think that’s one downside. If you’re in your business saying, ‘Okay, I’m going to apply a generic tool,’ you’re never going to get that industry learning and that best practice that comes with that, right? And if you’re plugging in a third-party point solution, right, then there’s no way to actually connect deeply into all these data dimensions, data points into all the actions that are actually possible within the system. And I mean, I think that’s our belief as AppFolio that no, you want AI deeply embedded in the property management platform that you’re using every day because otherwise it can’t be successful. Either you’re going to have lack of access to the data, or you’re going to have lack of context.”
The Case for AI-Native Platforms
Today, the most impactful shift in real estate technology isn’t just what AI can do — it’s how AI is applied. AppFolio Realm is the industry’s only true AI-native platform, built from the ground up with artificial intelligence at its core. Rather than layering the technology on top of legacy software, AppFolio has AI embedded across the entire platform, enabling it to learn, adapt, and act across every property management function. Other solutions are trying to catch up by bolting on third-party tools or acquiring external AI companies or by encouraging operators to purchase point solutions.
With a unified data layer and conversational interface, AI-native platforms understand context, access real-time operational data, and take action on behalf of property managers. It’s a paradigm shift in how work is done.
Sound bite:
“We started with Realm-X Assistant. So hey, I have an interface. I can actually ask AppFolio, and I can have a conversation with AppFolio. AppFolio can give me the answers to what it knows. And as we started seeing what people were asking it, we were able to connect it to all the context that is available in the databases.”
Unlike generic AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude, for example, which are disconnected from your primary property management platform, natively integrated AI tools can turn insight into action.
Sound bite:
“If I am working in a native AI tool, I could say, ‘Hey, I need some information,’ [and] ask it [for] information. And then once I get the information back, now I can ask it to actually take an action on the information. Versus if you go to ChatGPT, you can’t ask it to take action into another system. And I think that it’s like there’s a disconnect there. So if I wanted to go and say, ‘Hey, I got this report out of my property management system, and I need to analyze it, and I want to,’ then once I’ve analyzed it, I want to add a bunch of activities into the system based on what I’ve learned. You have to jump between systems to do that, and you’re probably not going to get the full picture, which doesn’t drive any outcomes or drive, improve your performance.”
What You Can Actually Do With AI in 2025 and Beyond
This isn’t about hypothetical use cases or early-stage experiments — these real-world features are already in use and producing measurable results.
More Time to Focus on Higher-Value Work
As AI handles repetitive tasks, your team can now focus on strategy and decision-making.
Sound bite:
“Instead of actually doing the work, they’re going to need to make sure that they’re reviewing the work of the AI, right? And that’s going to become actually really important. And I think that is a really interesting concept when you think about the higher level of thinking that you have to do. And again, when we’re freeing up people to not have to worry about doing the actual task, you’re now letting them do the problem-solving and the decision-making and the creative work.”
Faster Rent Collection, No Extra Work
With AI automating your delinquency flow, late payments are gently nudged — automatically.
Sound bite:
“You’re actually getting your cash flow sooner. So think about that. You get cash faster. That’s a pretty amazing outcome. And people sometimes just are busy, and they forget to pay their rent. And you could have a system give them a gentle reminder, and they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, okay, yeah, I’ll pay my rent because I lost track of the date.’ And it didn’t take any effort on your team to do that. And now you’ve got, you’re improving your rent collection by just having a standardized process that’s automated, and nobody’s having to think about it.”
Here’s What It Looks Like:
Is There a Case for Bolt-On AI?
For some property management companies, especially those early in their AI journey, bolt-on tools may offer a low-risk way to explore the technology.
Here are Some Examples:
These cases are understandable, but they often highlight the very limitations that make bolt-on AI unsustainable at scale. While point solutions can provide isolated benefits, they don’t solve the root problem: disconnected systems, duplicate work, and a lack of visibility.
Choose a Solution Built with Native AI
The future of real performance lies in AI-native platforms where AI is foundational, not added. Check out the in-platform capabilities available to real estate professionals today with AppFolio Realm-X.
Ask
Ask AppFolio questions to discover patterns in your business data, gain actionable insights, and drive your business toward success. For example: “Show me assigned work orders with no activity over the past five days.”
Tell
Tell AppFolio to complete tasks, draft and send communications, and initiate actions or processes on your behalf. Something like: “Draft a text message to these vendors asking for a status update,” followed by “Send the text message.”
Teach
Teach AppFolio your unique business processes so the system can automate and execute them. Imagine this: “Schedule the following three steps to happen every Monday. (Step 1: Pull assigned work orders report. Step 2: Draft and send text message to resident. Step 3: Draft and send text message to assigned maintenance technician.)”
Boots-on-the-ground operators are ready for AI that truly makes their lives easier and doesn’t just give them more software to manage. The only way to deliver on that promise is with foundational, AI-native solutions.
Explore AppFolio Realm, our fully integrated AI ecosystem. It includes AppFolio Realm-X — the industry’s first conversational interface — and Realm-X Performers, our first set of AI agents that can make decisions and take actions on their own to achieve defined goals. Real estate companies can use these innovations, together with the rest of our suite of AI tools, to operate smarter, scale faster, and deliver better outcomes. Want more insights on where the industry is headed? Check out our top takeaways from NAA Apartmentalize 2025.