While many see innovation as a competitive endeavour, an REB Innovation Awards winner urged property managers to collaborate when operating with cutting-edge technology, as the industry adapts to a rapidly changing technology landscape.
With more than 20 years of real estate experience across sales, business development, and property management services, Pulse Property Agents’ head of property management, Leigh Anderson, has seen a range of technological changes come through the industry.
With a heavy administrative workload, Anderson told REB that property managers (PMs) were often the ones pursuing new technologies, but needed to ensure they found ones that suited their needs.
“New programs are a big space right now, and you have to make sure you are getting the right ones or at least keeping an eye on the right ones,” Anderson said.
“I don’t want to put something in, spend a whole lot of money or spend the time on it if it’s not going to work.”
To ensure PMs weren’t solely relying on technology, Anderson said they could benefit from a more well-rounded knowledge base and learn from sales agents and business development managers (BDMs) within their own businesses to strengthen their service.
“I think we pigeonhole PMs too much in their role, and they don’t learn enough about the whole industry.”
“To be able to go to clients and say they ask you a sales question, being able to answer it because you’ve done it all, it makes all the difference.”
According to Anderson, a varied knowledge base could enable PMs to act as a one-stop shop for clients and keep them within the network.
“That way, you are never competing with another agency because they are already your client.”
“It’s easy, they listen to you, they trust you, and it’s a real smooth process.”
Recognition of the right path
Once he joined Pulse Property, Anderson recognised that his previous setup wouldn’t handle the scale and began working on a better way to manage the office workflow, ensuring the data wasn’t lost between departments.
“Unfortunately, the systems that I had previously were never going to work here because it (the business) was double the size,” he said.
He initially developed a workflow system to track data across the business, before introducing automated emails and alerts.
“It takes away the need for PMs to have to check where things are up to. It’s now just in front of them,” he said.
The success of his new workflow system culminated in his winning Innovator of the Year – Property Manager at the REB Innovation Awards in 2025.
He said that winning the award showed him that he was doing meaningful work.
“Property management doesn’t get a lot of recognition, but to get it and know that you spent hours doing something that the industry actually needs, that’s pretty cool.”
“It’s a massive accomplishment, and it makes you feel great because you realise you were on the right track.”
As an added bonus, Anderson said the award submission process gave him a chance to reflect on the business and its performance.
“You get to go back and look at a few of the figures and really go ‘Oh, that did work.’ or ‘that hasn’t gone as well as I expected.”
“It was quite fun to do because you look back and realise how much you had actually done that year.”
To submit for the upcoming REB Innovation Awards 2026, click here
Continued innovation
Following the win, Anderson said he has continued to make tweaks to his system, as each break gives him the chance to look at it with a fresh perspective.
He said that as technology continued to evolve in the real estate space, it was up to principals and directors to identify where to spend time and money.
Yet not all tech would work for every business, Anderson said that before adopting a new software, he would sit down and push the program to its limits to see where its shortcomings may lie.
“I look for ways to try and break it or make it make a mistake, then you can work out where things could go wrong with it.”
“You have to spend hours teaching it, and once it knows what you want it to do, then it’s actually great.”
“You’ve got to make sure you are staying at the forefront of technology, particularly with the wealth of new products available,” he said.
While artificial intelligence (AI) and automation loomed as an area poised to make significant strides in real estate, Anderson warned that PMs would have to consider the impact of legislative changes in the space.
“There is going to be a lot more legislation coming through the NSW government in the future, and we are already seeing that,” he said.
“I think the days of being a problem solver will disappear, and they’ll become legislation experts.”
The future of property management
While PMs typically compete for business, Anderson said he hoped the industry would shift toward a more collaborative focus.
“Collaboration is going to be a big part of property management in the future.”
“I think that we are going to be in a tougher time with client expectations and legislation changes, and I think PMs will need to collaborate more.”
He said he was already seeing a willingness to collaborate among more senior PMs in the industry, while there is still resistance from those who are newer to the space.
“I’m in a number of groups where we talk and help each other out, but you see that some people are afraid to get involved,”
“I find it’s probably the ones coming through that get a bit competitive and secretive.”
“I think that mainly being from a sales background, principals get a bit worried about their PMs talking to other businesses, but to be honest, if you are doing a good job, I don’t want to take your management.”
