Extend your office hours, establish an after-hours maintenance hotline, give a fast response to your tenants, and more with our property management answering service.
How it works
Sign up, tell us about your property management company, and let Upfirst handle your calls.
Tell us about your property management company and how you’d like your calls handled, including any special instructions. We follow them every time.
We pick up each call on the first ring, no matter the hour of the day. Your tenants get a quick response and will always reach a helpful voice. No more voicemails.
Get call summaries delivered to you via SMS and email. Plus, call recordings are viewable anytime in your account. Get peace of mind and save time as we answer.
Answering service for property management companies
We've all been there - showing a property when a tenant calls frantically about maintenance, or trying to focus on lease paperwork while calls keep rolling in. As a property manager, your attention is already split between countless tasks. Traditional property management call centers promise a solution, but often less than exceptional customer service at premium prices.
With Upfirst, anyone can afford to professionally answer their calls — whether you manage a few doors or hundreds of mid-rise apartments.
With our service, you can take better detailed messages, give faster response to tenants, establish helpful after-hours maintenance call support, and even help screen new potential tenants.
Let Upfirst’s virtual receptionist for property managers handle your calls so you can get back to focusing on the work that creates happier tenants.
Get an always-on assistant and AI leasing agent that acts as your property management after hours answering service — ready to answer questions, transfer calls, and collect important details.
Upfirst's professional answering service for real estate and property managers is like having an in-house receptionist at your leasing office. It can capture all incoming calls, collect the information you need, and email you a detailed summary. This means more qualified leads and less time spent on phone tag.
Improve tenant satisfaction by ensuring their calls are always answered on the first ring. Upfirst can handle maintenance requests 24/7, giving tenants the attention they need when they need it. Happy tenants are more likely to stay, reducing turnover rates.
Maintenance emergencies don’t wait for business hours. Upfirst takes detailed messages—asking the right questions to differentiate emergencies from non-emergencies—so you get all necessary information upfront and forward calls to the proper maitenance team.
From scheduling tours to lead qualification, Upfirst captures every detail and routes qualified prospects straight to your inbox or calendar. Spend less time chasing voicemails and more time converting interested renters into long-term tenants.
No two portfolios are the same, so your call handling shouldn’t be either. With Upfirst, you control every prompt, question, and escalation path—whether you need to emphasize pet policies, parking rules, or income requirements. Simply upload your guidelines and tweak scripts so every call is handled exactly the way you want.
Upfirst's voice AI automatically detects a caller’s language and responds in English, Spanish, or 30+ other languages. It can also be set up to transfer Spanish-speaking callers directly to a bilingual human.
We make powerful call answering features affordable for small businesses, so you can run your property management company with less stress and more savings.
Stay connected day and night. We’ll answer every call, whether it’s midnight or midday.
Speak your tenants’ language with fluent English, Spanish, and more. Deliver clear, friendly service.
Shape every conversation with prompts tailored to your business. Update questions and responses anytime.
Get premium service at a fraction of the cost of hiring full-time staff. Scale up or down without overpaying.
Direct calls to the right person or department. Forward urgent calls to your maintenance team with call routing.
Capture detailed notes on every caller’s needs. Receive clear, organized summaries and call recordings.
Book tours and maintenance visits. Set appointments directly with your calendar.
Apartment answering service
With Upfirst, it only takes a few minutes to set up our answering service for your property management company.
Start by inputting key information about your property management business. Think about the types of questions you typically get and any unique aspects of how you operate. Use this to customize your AI agent's responses to match your management style and preferred tone. Upfirst integrates seamlessly with tools like Buildium or Appfolio, ensuring your calls and data stay connected from day one.
Before going live, run a few test phone calls to ensure your AI agent is responding the way you want. Listen to how it handles different scenarios and make adjustments as needed until it's just right for your property management business. You can easily tweak the answering service's responses based on these results.
Once you're happy with the setup, you're ready to go live. You can either forward just overflow calls to Upfirst or you can have our virtual receptionist answer all of your phone calls. If you need any help along the way, our support team is ready to assist. We're committed to ensuring your call answering service works exactly as you expect it to.
Who uses our apartment answering service
The short answer: everyone. Upfirst is a pro at multitasking and making your life as a property manager, landlord, or investor easier.
Be reachable even after hours. Upfirst answers resident calls, collects maintenance details, and keeps communication flowing.
Impress potential tenants with professional, responsive communication—without sacrificing your time.
Never miss a viewing call. Upfirst picks up tenant calls automatically, keeps them satisfied, and lightens your workload.
Whether you need to pass a lead to Appfolio or schedule an appointment in Calendly, you can use Zapier to pass caller info from Upfirst to any app.
Have a question about our virtual receptionist for property management that isn't answered here? Get in touch.
How much does your answering service cost?
We understand that traditional property management call centers can be prohibitively expensive, especially when you're managing multiple properties with a small team. Our service starts at just $24.95 for 30 calls - making professional 24/7 coverage affordable even for independent property managers. No hidden fees, no long-term contracts.
Do you offer call routing?
Yes, our call routing feature allows you to direct calls to the right person or department, ensuring that urgent matters are addressed promptly. Whether it’s a maintenance emergency or a prospective tenant inquiry, our system can route calls to your office, cell phone, or any other designated number.
How do you handle after-hours maintenance emergencies?
We follow your exact protocols for emergency triage. You tell us what constitutes a true emergency (like a burst pipe) versus what can wait until morning (like a dripping faucet). We'll only call up for the urgent issues you specify, while professionally logging everything else for your morning review.
What information do you collect from callers?
That's up to you. For maintenance requests, we can collect unit numbers, detailed issue descriptions, and access instructions. For prospective tenants, we can gather their requirements, timeline, and contact details. You get organized summaries instead of voicemails.
What if multiple people call at the same time?
Unlike a solo property manager who can only handle one call at a time, our service manages multiple simultaneous calls seamlessly. So when one tenant is having a maintenance emergency while another is repeatedly calling about lease paperwork, both get immediate professional attention.
Will the service be able to distinguish between urgent and non-urgent calls?
Yes—during setup you tell us exactly what scenarios require a flash notification (burst pipe, security issues, etc.). Our AI will ask targeted questions, flag true emergencies, and bundle less urgent requests into an easy-to-review summary.
Can it help with lead capture and tenant screening?
Definitely. Let us know what key prospect details to gather and we’ll follow them—preferred move-in dates, budget, pet policies—and relay those straight to your inbox or CRM. You can program custom qualifying questions to pre-screen applicants before you ever pick up the phone.
Is it customizable for different types of properties (residential, commercial, HOA)?
Definitely. Let us know what key prospect details to gather and we’ll follow them—preferred move-in dates, budget, pet policies—and relay those straight to your inbox or CRM. Whether you manage apartments, office suites, vacation rentals, or a homeowners association, you can tailor scripts, FAQs, and escalation paths to each property type. Upload your guidelines and tweak on the fly so every caller gets the right information. You can program custom qualifying questions to pre-screen applicants before you ever pick up the phone.
Does your answering service for property management companies have transcripts and call logs?
Yes, you’ll receive full call recordings, transcripts, and concise call logs after every interaction. All data is stored securely and accessible via your dashboard anytime you need to review details.
Is it easy to update and make changes to my account?
Super easy. Our user-friendly dashboard lets you edit scripts, call handling flows, and add new properties in just a few clicks. And if you ever need a hand, our support team is always standing by to help.
Can you connect with my property management software?
Yes! Through Zapier, Upfirst integrates with thousands of apps including popular property management platforms. This means maintenance requests, lead inquiries, and tenant communications can flow directly into your existing systems. Many property managers use this to automatically create maintenance tickets or update tenant records, saving even more time.
Can you reduce missed calls from Zillow and Apartments.com?
Yes! Our always-on assistant ensures you never miss a call, even after hours or when your team is busy. We can answer inquiries from Zillow, Apartments.com, and other platforms right away. Upfirst captures leads, collects details, and makes sure prospects hear back quickly.
Can you route Spanish-speaking tenants directly to a bilingual human?
Absolutely. Our system automatically detects a caller’s language and can either respond in Spanish or transfer Spanish-speaking tenants directly to a bilingual human, depending on your preference.
Our answering service isn't just about picking up your leasing calls - it's about making your life as a property manager manageable, your tenants happier, and your business more successful.
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