Apex Property Management is an award-winning property management business located on Sydney’s Lower North Shore.

As an agency principal in one of Australia’s most exclusive property markets, licensee Juliette Hughes has worked with client investments spanning $300 to $30,000 per week over her 20-year career.

Passionate about delivering exceptional customer service in Sydney’s competitive real estate market, Juliette is always looking for new technologies that will give her business an edge.

Apex’s 150 properties are managed under the expert guidance of Asset Manager Rachel Ball. With more than a decade of experience in property management, Rachel said what she loves about Ailo is the oversight and insight it provides her.

For example, checking that a tenant had sent through their holding deposit used to be a “huge drama”. She’d have to constantly reach out to accounts to see if they could see whether the money had arrived in the bank account, and inevitably have to follow up the tenant.

Similarly, she’d have to wait for a colleague to finish receipting rent and finalising the bank reconciliation every day before she could get accurate information to tackle arrears.

With Ailo, none of that busy work is needed. “I don’t have to wait for someone else to tick something off their list before I can do my job. I can see everything that’s going on with a property, and get my work done faster.”

Their clients also appreciate how easy it is to jump on the app to pay any larger expenses, like minor property upgrades or special strata levies, rather than waiting for rental income to build up and incur late fees.

“Whether owners choose to pay bills with rent, direct debit or a credit card, the expense is automatically logged in Ailo – which means it’s conveniently listed in their monthly and end of financial year statement, too,” said Rachel.

Rachel spends the extra time building meaningful relationships with her clients.

“With Ailo, I’m no longer having these pointless conversations about paid-to dates or overdue bills. I finally have the capacity to have meaningful conversations with my clients about how their investment properties are actually performing.”

The extra capacity has been particularly important during Sydney’s recent lockdowns. “It’s been a difficult year, and everyone is struggling at some level. To have the space to finally be able to call my clients just to check-in… that’s powerful.”

Rachel said learning how to use Ailo was easy, but breaking old habits she picked up using her previous property management system took some time.

“Ailo’s Support Team is literally the first support team in my entire 10-year career that I’ve actually engaged with,” she said.

And today, “Ailo is literally the first thing” Rachel opens in the morning when she arrives at the office.