MOBILE APPS FOR MANAGEMENT: A PRINT 'EM OUT CHECKLIST

He's put together a list of smartphone apps he'd like to see developed for property management. Most of the technology already exists in property management software and other mobile apps, but just needs to be adapted for co-op and condo management use. "Some of these save time," says Neal. "Others save money. And some of them are just plain cool."

1) Augmented-Realty Applications

By far, we are most excited about "augmented reality" applications. Augmented-reality apps display computer graphics laid atop real-world data in real-time. Envision the kind of thing you see in Terminator movies, where the Terminator sees his target and all sorts of information about the target pops up in his line of sight. Except that this is for-real and already here.

Here’s how it works: turn on your smartphone's video camera, and point it at your property. The augmented-reality app will overlay data about the property in your viewfinder. This could include things like vacant units, tenants with arrears or repairs that need to be finished. To get details, simply touch one of the onscreen captions to go to a tenant account, a work order or a vacancy report.

From there, you can click a button to dial a tenant to ask about arrears, send out a work order to maintenance staff or e-mail a prospect about viewing a space. These tasks would all be tied to your punchlist and to-do list, and would automatically be removed as you complete them.

This isn’t far-fetched. Check out this video of a company called Layar's free augmented-reality app for home buyers:

2) Mobile Background Research

Screening applicants who want to buy an apartment is a critical process. Smartphones can make it easier. To start, a marketing app could perform a credit and background check from your phone. Most background-screening services already offer this over the web.

After board approval, new co-op shareholders could, say, review and sign the proprietary lease electronically using your phone. Not only would this save time, but also a lot of paper and associated costs (purchasing, printing and archiving). Just remember to use the ol' "pinch-and-release" to zoom in on that fine print.

3) Wireless Building Maintenance Management

Deep Forest Systems, the maker of OnCite Software, offers a wireless work-order application. This app allows maintenance staff to access and edit work orders in the field. One notable time-saver is the "acceptance feature," in which work orders can be dispatched to multiple maintenance-crew members. Whoever is closest to the property accepts the request. The "to do" is added to that engineer's list and removed from others' queues.

We’d like to see this developed one step further. Utilizing GPS in smartphones, the app could ping crew members' phones and automatically assign the task to whoever is closest.

Next: Two more app ideas, and where to find apps >>