How purpose-built technology took Barrington Real Estate Company to the next level
Barrington Real Estate Company
Established: 1964\ Location: Birmingham, Alabama \ Portfolio: Single-family, AffordableBarrington Real Estate Company is a property management organization based in Birmingham, Alabama. After a period of explosive growth, it became clear their off-the-shelf solutions were holding them back. After switching to AppFolio Property Manager, Lindsey Barefoot, Chief Operating Officer at Barrington Real Estate Company, can’t imagine having to work without it, especially since they’re able to manage both their affordable and market-rate units in one comprehensive, centralized solution.
Units managed
1,020+
Tenant portal adoption rate
84%
Years with AppFolio
13+
Unit growth with AppFolio
3X
“I don't ever want to get to a point where I have to tell someone we can’t take on any more clients; I want to keep growing. AppFolio makes it possible to manage a high volume of work, even with a small team.”
From manual to maximized
Since its formation in 1964, Barrington Real Estate Company relied on traditional pen-and-paper processes and manual systems to keep track of day-to-day tasks. But after experiencing extensive growth in 2010, the team quickly realized they had outgrown their processes and needed a new solution to take them to the next level.
“Before AppFolio, we were using QuickBooks for business, Excel spreadsheets to keep up with rent collection and note-taking, and carbon copy books for maintenance work orders. We have owners that have single-family, multifamily, and Section 8 together. As we were approaching several hundred properties, changes had to be made. It was just too much work for three people to do with a manual system.”
Onboarding with ease
Switching processes and moving to all-new solutions can be complicated, even when it’s a change for the better. Barrington Real Estate Company had support from AppFolio’s customer care team every step of the way.
“The AppFolio team spent a lot of time with us during the onboarding process. They helped us work through a lot of questions and how to use the solutions. AppFolio was there for us from the beginning, and that helped us through all of it.”
More manageable maintenance operations
By eliminating maintenance inefficiencies and manual processes, the Barrington Real Estate Company team can more effectively and intelligently manage maintenance requests and apply themselves to high-value work.
“AppFolio Smart Maintenance is a feature I don't think we could live without. When we started using Smart Maintenance, it removed the need to have one person dedicated to fielding phone calls. Now they can focus on other things that need to be done.”
Purpose-built for more efficient accounting
Instead of spending hours every week on manual finance and reporting tasks, Barrington Real Estate Company looked to smart automation solutions to improve every aspect of their accounting processes.
“Accounting features like recurring bills, Smart Bill Entry, and reconciliation — I couldn't imagine not having all of that. Not only do they help me recordkeeping-wise, they also help make sure everything lines up. Being able to do all that immediately instead of waiting until the end of the month or whenever I have time to do full reconciliation is huge.”
Fully mobile vendor portals provide efficiency and transparency
Barrington Real Estate Company team members were often caught in the middle of communications and scheduling between vendors and residents. Now, to eliminate delays and reduce admin work, vendor portals offer self-serve functionality without taking away their team’s visibility and control.
“The Vendor Portal in AppFolio saves so much time. Our vendors used to text us photos, and we would upload them to invoices or a work order. Now, they can use the Vendor Portal to make notes and take pictures. With the new text feature that's inside of the work orders, vendors can communicate and schedule directly with tenants, and we can see everything they're saying. That is so amazing.”
Intuitive and integrated affordable housing management
With AppFolio, Barrington Real Estate Company has everything it needs to manage affordable housing to market rate units in one powerful platform. In addition, with seamless compliance features built in, team members can easily stay on top of affordable program requirements and needs without losing efficiency or worrying about things falling through the cracks.
“We have over 500 Section 8 tenants, and each one has a different voucher. We started using the subsidy program within AppFolio, and now I wonder how we lived without it. Being able to have everything from caseworker information to re-certification dates helps us remind property owners and tenants about what they need to do and when. It's hard to keep up with, but AppFolio’s subsidy program has been very helpful.”
Achieving sustainable and scalable growth
Not only was AppFolio the solution to helping Barrington Real Estate Company streamline processes and workflows after seeing exponential growth, it’s also the reason they’re able to continue to grow even more today. Only this time, it’s in healthy, sustainable, and intentional ways.
“I know we've grown a lot, but I want to see more. I want to see the company grow enough so we can hire another person because that will be a little bit more efficient within the office. I want to see growth, slow and steady. That’s my goal.”
Creating exceptional experiences for owners and residents
By streamlining processes, maximizing team bandwidth, and automating manual and repetitive workflows with AppFolio, Barrington Real Estate Company delivers exceptional resident and customer experiences that help them stand out and reach new levels of success.
“A lot of our business is from word of mouth because we make time to develop relationships with people. When you manage over a thousand properties with 6 or 7 people, it can be hard to do that and still maintain personalization. But with AppFolio, each owner and resident feels like they're being catered to because we’re able to work much faster.”
Lindsey Barefoot
Chief Operating Officer, Barrington Real Estate Company, 1,020+ units
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