How Commercial Real Estate Operators are Using AI to Empower Their Property Teams
Artificial intelligence is no longer just a buzzword in real estate—it is already being harnessed to help operators, including property management teams and building owners, reduce their workload and cut costs. Some real estate operators may have initially balked at the idea of handing over aspects of their operations to AI, but as more software platforms integrate the technology, the landscape is changing.
Early applications of AI in real estate barely scratched the surface of AI’s potential. They focused primarily on extracting information from documents like leases, contracts, and financial statements. Today, AI’s potential to revolutionize building operations is much greater. It can shape property operations strategies, offering insights and automating tasks that were once unimaginable.
Managing property operations is a highly complex undertaking. Many assumed that AI would struggle to address such a multifaceted industry, but in reality, the opposite has proven true.
A unified AI platform ties together once disparate elements of building operations. Platforms like Visitt utilize AI to create greater insights that can be gleaned from property management, facilities management, tenants, vendors, and billing. AI is particularly well suited for property operations because of its ability to analyze large amounts of data, recognize patterns, and make predictions that drive smarter decision-making. Instead of simply responding to issues as they arise, AI allows property managers to anticipate problems before they occur, reducing disruptions and improving overall operational efficiency.
Itay Oren, Co-founder and CEO of Visitt, recognized the limitations of existing property operations platforms and saw an opportunity to leverage AI to create a more effective solution. “We saw that there were a lot of apps for tenants but not many for owners, operators, third-party property management teams, or engineers. We decided to create a solution that unifies all aspects of property operations in one place,” Oren said. Understanding that the success of a property depends as much on its operational team as on its tenants, he and his team developed an AI-driven building operations platform designed specifically for property managers. “Most systems are built for property owners, not operators,” he explained. “We took a different approach because we knew that if we made property managers’ lives easier, it would ultimately benefit owners and asset managers as well. Our customers have seen processes that previously took eight hours manually reduced to just one hour with automation, freeing up valuable time for higher-impact work.”
One of AI’s biggest advantages in property operations management is its ability to identify and address recurring maintenance issues. Traditionally, maintenance requests are handled reactively—when something breaks, a ticket is created, and a technician is dispatched to resolve the issue. AI, however, can analyze the history of maintenance requests and detect recurring issues that indicate potential future failures. This predictive capability allows property managers to address maintenance needs before they escalate into costly emergencies.
AI is also helping property teams optimize workflows across entire portfolios. By comparing the performance of different buildings, AI can provide insights into which engineers are the most efficient, which properties have the highest tenant satisfaction rates, and where operational improvements are needed. This level of analysis was previously difficult to achieve because of the vast amount of data involved. Now, AI can process this information in real-time and deliver actionable recommendations to property managers and owners.
Artificial intelligence has become so advanced that it can even understand human sentiment. In property management, AI can detect frustration or dissatisfaction in tenant communications and flag these interactions for follow-up. Property managers often only hear from tenants when something is wrong, making it difficult to gauge overall tenant satisfaction. AI helps bridge this gap by identifying potentially negative experiences early, allowing property teams to proactively address concerns before they escalate. “Negative sentiment is usually all a property manager hears since people only reach out when they have a problem,” Oren said. “The goal isn’t just to prevent frustration—it’s to make people happy, and that’s much easier when they know they’re being heard. Visitt customers experience three times more tenant engagement, fostering stronger relationships with their customers.”
One of the biggest challenges of introducing new technology into property management is adoption. Property managers are busy professionals who don’t always have the time or inclination to learn complex software. That’s why AI-driven platforms must be designed to be intuitive and customizable. With AI, users can simply prompt the system for the actions they want to perform, bypassing the need to learn the entire product flow and removing barriers to adoption.
The most effective AI solutions don’t just wait for users to search for information—they actively push insights and flag potential problems. “Our AI doesn’t just sit in the background—it actively pushes information to users and flags potential problems,” said Jonathan Kroll, co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Visitt. “Similarity detection is one of AI’s strengths, allowing it to recognize recurring issues and suggest ways to address them.”
Despite the advancements in AI technology, many property managers still want a level of human oversight. The Visitt team built the platform to allow users to input their own taxonomies and human approval layers. “At first, our software automatically categorized maintenance tickets,” Kroll said. “Then we heard from users that they wanted to approve these categorizations to keep the human approval level in place, so we built that option into our platform.”
Although there has been much discussion about AI replacing human workers, the reality in property management is quite different. AI is not eliminating jobs but rather enhancing the capabilities of property teams. By handling tedious administrative tasks, AI allows property managers and engineers to focus on improving tenant experiences and optimizing building performance. “We think of AI as another layer of management,” Kroll said.
Every property operations management software claims to use AI, but not all solutions are created equal when it comes to automating and unifying complex workflows. Older systems were built before AI became mainstream, so they lack the infrastructure needed to automate complex workflows effectively. “Legacy systems was designed before AI became widely adopted, so it isn’t built to fully automate complex processes,” said Idan Wender, co-founder and CTO of Visitt.
Next-generation platforms like Visitt in the property operations management space are designed natively with AI and are helping property management teams do more with less. While a strong property operations team will always be essential to a high-performing building, AI is now giving these teams powerful tools to save money and time while expanding their capabilities—ultimately making buildings more profitable and more appealing to tenants.