The senior management team of Property Vista includes: Leonard Drimmer, CEO/founder; David Whitney, chief financial officer; John-Paul Gaconnier, chief product officer; Richard Robins, chief experience officer. (Courtesy Property Vista)

When Leonard Drimmer was chief executive officer of TransGlobe Property Management – predecessor to Starlight Investments – he was not satisfied with the property management software systems of the day. Those platforms dealt primarily with accounting and he wanted more.

So he founded Property Vista in 2011 to deal with all aspects of the apartment rental process.

Property Vista is a software solution that integrates tools necessary for property managers to efficiently oversee their properties and improve the tenant experience — from prospective tenant applications to move-out inspections, and everything in between.

“Our big focus, and where we really shine, is in multires,” Drimmer told RENX during an interview that also included Property Vista chief experience officer Richard Robins.

Apartments form the biggest part of Property Vista’s business and it also wants to become more involved with student housing and seniors living. A few office and industrial building owners are also using the intuitive, cloud-based platform.

Drimmer said eight of the top 10 property managers in Canada, by unit count, are using Property Vista. Its partnership with Starlight enabled it to add approximately 27,000 residential units to its platform after Starlight and KingSett Capital’s $4.9-billion acquisition of Northview REIT last November.

Sixty people now work for Property Vista, up from 15 a few years ago.

Yardi is the company’s biggest competitor in Canada, but Drimmer said the firms have a good working relationship. He noted other smaller companies are involved in various aspects of property management technology, but said they don’t offer full solutions like Property Vista.

What Property Vista does

“We really want to build value for the owners of the asset and do so by connecting everything within it, in the interior and on the exterior, to make a better experience,” Drimmer said.

Property Vista enables building owners and managers to fill vacant units with an Internet listing service, marketing software tools, and customizable and flexible website templates. They can then screen potential tenants and take successful applicants through the leasing process.

The system will also manage evictions, if necessary, at the other end of the cycle.

Property Vista’s tenant portal connects residents with property managers, staff and owners via email, text and phone to communicate, make rent payments and maintenance requests, purchase tenant insurance and stay up to date on what’s happening at the property.

The Toronto-headquartered company’s maintenance and inspections module provides an end-to-end solution, from handling maintenance requests to generating purchase and work orders, straight through to mobile inspections.

Property Vista’s accounting software enables managers and accountants to handle rent payments, purchase orders, accounts receivable and payable, property valuation and reporting.

LeadManaging acquisition

Property Vista recently acquired LeadManaging, a real-time communications and lead-tracking platform. The technology leverages integrated communication technologies and measurable metrics, allowing property management companies to capture, convert and visualize residential leasing activities.

The acquisition price of the company, located in the Greater Toronto Area city of Cambridge, was undisclosed.

“This acquisition represents the continued execution of our growth strategy and commitment to our clients,” said Robins. “We can digitally transform the way property management companies interact with and understand their prospects and tenants to deliver powerful data-driven insights throughout the whole leasing cycle.

“LeadManaging makes Property Vista’s solution stronger than ever, a game-changer that empowers our clients to accelerate innovation across every part of their business.”

Revenues, funding and growth

The firm has a software-as-a-service business model and offers three tiers of packages offering different levels of service. Property Vista’s Essential package costs $1.40 per unit per month and the Premium package costs $2.20 per unit per month.

There’s a minimum monthly fee of $250 for Essential and $400 for Premium.

Those interested in the highest tier can contact the company about the Enterprise package.

Property Vista also secured $3.8 million in funding from FirePower Capital and National Bank of Canada’s Technology and Innovation Banking Group in April to support its ongoing customer growth, talent acquisition and product development efforts.

“We’ve been adding some significant product enhancements every year for the last 10 years,” said Drimmer. “We’re now doing a bigger push into the U.S. market and looking at a U.K. market expansion as well.”