Customer Story

Real Property Management Express: Driving Growth Through AI-Powered Tools

“We want RPM Express to grow, and to do that, we need automation and full access to the tools that make it possible. Partnering with AppFolio gives us exactly that.”

Maddie Todd
Senior Director of Technology, RPM Express, 6,500+ units

How would you describe RPM Express today in terms of scale, team, and the communities you serve?

We have 154 employees right now and manage about 6,500 units across 425 properties. Our footprint spans South Dakota and Iowa. In Iowa, we’re in Des Moines, Sioux City, Spencer, Sheldon, and smaller towns like Estherville and Le Mars.

Managing at this scale means there’s always something moving. It’s a large portfolio spread across diverse communities, and it takes coordination, consistent technology, and a strong team to keep everything running smoothly.

What sets RPM Express apart from other management companies in your area?

I’d compare our business to a beehive because it’s always humming with something new. We tend to attract driven visionaries, social butterflies, and specialized craftsmen, and all of us share a passion for our purpose: to shelter the world.

What sets us apart is our willingness to reinvent ourselves to meet our clients’ needs. It’s not about any one individual at RPM. It’s about being whatever RPM needs us to be and whatever our investors need us to be. That mindset and constant willingness to evolve is what differentiates us.

As a primarily third-party property management company, performance has always been defined by investor satisfaction. We perform for investors by caring for people and property. When residents love where they live and properties are well-cared for, performance becomes the outcome.

As Senior Director of Technology, how do you ensure your team is fully utilizing AppFolio to drive operational performance?

My role is to ensure we’re getting the most out of AppFolio by fully adopting its capabilities. AppFolio powers our core operations — maintenance, applications, leasing, onboarding, resident communications — so the opportunity isn’t just using it but using it well.

I’m in AppFolio every day, whether it’s on the app or desktop, monitoring workflows and identifying where we can gain more efficiency. I spend a lot of time working cross-functionally, meeting with teams, demonstrating functionality, gathering feedback, and helping them adopt tools more strategically.

We’re currently exploring ways to streamline bill approvals to ease pressure on our accounting team and to determine how expanded usage can reduce manual effort and improve performance. For me, performance isn’t static. It’s about continuously evolving how we use the platform to support our people.

What drove your decision to upgrade to AppFolio Max, and how has that investment supported your growth strategy?

The decision for RPM Express to upgrade to the AppFolio Max tier came down to where we’re headed as a business. We’re focused on growth, and to scale responsibly, we need deeper automation and broader access to advanced capabilities. AppFolio Max gives us that.

We’ve always wanted to be on the leading edge with AppFolio, and the Max tier provides a level of access that allows us to fully leverage the AppFolio Performance Platform. One of the original drivers was gaining full utilization of the Leasing CRM, but it has expanded beyond that. The potential of the database API is especially exciting for us, and we anticipate making much greater use of it this year.

“Upgrading to Max wasn’t about adding features. It was about positioning our business with the infrastructure, flexibility, and automation needed to support long-term, scalable growth.”

As the industry moves toward AI-driven tools, how do you view the role of AI in real estate? What would you say to leaders who are hesitant to adopt it?

There isn’t a chance that AI will just go away. AI reminds me of when the internet first emerged and how transformative it was. Businesses could either adopt it and evolve or risk becoming irrelevant, and AI feels very similar to this. That said, guardrails do matter.

One of the reasons I see AppFolio as a safe place to adopt AI is that it’s built around the compliance standards property managers already have to follow. The automations aren’t random but thoughtfully designed, researched, and informed by real client workflows. In many cases, I’ve even discovered best practices baked into the tools that improve how we operate.

For us, AI isn’t about replacing people; it’s about elevating them. By reducing busywork, we create more space for meaningful conversations with residents and investors. It allows us to be more human, not less.

For anyone on the fence, I’d recommend starting with documentation. Record yourself completing a repeatable process or task by first transcribing it and building it into a clear workflow. For us, the most repeatable task was delinquency, from sending reminders, updating notes, and charging fees. That process happens every single month, and automating something predictable like that is a safe, high-impact place to begin.