In this era where technology is reshaping every corner of real estate, the daily routine of a property manager has remained surprisingly noisy.
Between managing maintenance, conducting routines, and handling lease renewals, property management teams spend countless hours fielding repetitive inquiries from prospective tenants.
For property veteran Russell Peter, the turning point arrived after a quarter of a century running Brisbane agency Pure Real Estate.
Originally starting as a dedicated property management business called Pure Rentals before expanding into sales, Russell had seen every operational shift in the book, yet he found himself staring at a monthly technology bill of nearly $900 for software that was supposed to streamline his agency’s communications, while his team was still drowning in administrative noise.
“It got to the point where my tenants were calling up every second day,” Russell says.
“We calculated that we were getting 47 phone calls a week from prospective tenants asking us the exact same questions over and over again. When is it available? How do I apply? Can I have a pet? Is there air conditioning in the bedroom? What school catchment is it in?”
The irony, he realised, was that modern property tech had inadvertently created a reverse pager system and the existing tools on the market were highly efficient at blasting out automated links, but hopelessly incapable of actually answering simple, human questions.
“A tenant responds to a text message and it goes nowhere,” Russell says.
“They click a link to book an inspection, but there is still no phone number or way to ask a question. They are not going to turn up to an open home if the place does not suit their needs, so they have to run around hunting for agency details just to ask if there is a lock up garage.”
Fed up with the system, he cancelled his software contracts and made a bold call. He teamed up with his agency’s marketing and social media operator, Milo Holmes, and spent the next 18 months building a bespoke solution from the ground up called Crayons CRM.
The real estate industry has taken swift notice of their grassroots innovation.
Six promising PropTech businesses took to the stage at REACH Australia and New Zealand’s Top of the Props pitch showdown and Crayons CRM scooped up the prestigious People’s Choice Award, decided directly by audience voting on the night.
It was a massive validation from peers and industry leaders that the platform is solving a genuine, everyday pain point for Australian agencies.
An AI with an eye for detail
Unlike traditional software tools that sometimes act as glorified digital filing cabinets, Crayons CRM operates as a 24/7 intelligent leasing assistant built natively by property managers for the local market.
The moment a prospective tenant inquires on portals like realestate.com.au or Domain, Crayons CRM generates a personalised, interactive portal within seconds; from there, artificial intelligence takes over the heavy lifting without requiring the agent to manually re-upload listing data.
“We run image analysis on every single listing photo,” explains co-founder Milo.
“The chatbot can analyse images to see if there is carpet in the bedrooms, whether a wall has a split system air conditioner, or if the cooktop is gas or electric.”
The technology recently proved its worth during a live test case involving an old, brick apartment building in Brisbane managed by Pure Real Estate.
“Someone messaged the chatbot asking if the top floor apartment was wheelchair accessible,” Milo says.
“It is not something you would normally think to put in a listing script, but the bot connected the dots. It replied saying, ‘We see no mention of a lift, it is on the top floor of an older building, so there are likely stairs. Feel free to inspect or I can escalate this to the manager.’ That single interaction saved a phone call, saved a wasted trip, and spared everyone’s time.”
Beyond image recognition, the platform is trained across state by state residential tenancy legislation and communicates fluently in multiple languages, making it a critical asset for dense inner city and CBD rental markets with diverse applicant pools.
It also addresses a major operational headache for regional agencies: wasted travel time. Through offline inspection workflows, tenants must RSVP through the portal before an open home is locked in.
If no one registers, the event cancels automatically, saving regional agents from driving an hour down a country road for a no show.
Restoring sanity to a high burnout industry
In an industry where 18 months in a property management role is often considered a long tenure, the emotional strain on staff is immense. Property managers are constantly juggling maintenance requests, lease renewals, and tenant disputes.
The additional barrage of incoming inquiry calls means agents rarely get a moment of deep focus during work hours, let alone true peace when off the clock.
“I would love to say Crayons CRM saves you time, but anyone in property management knows there is always another task waiting,” Russell says.
“What it actually does is adequately answer those questions when you do not want to be dealing with them, like when you are sitting at dinner with your family or watching your kids play soccer on Saturday.”
By filtering out routine inquiry noise, property managers are freed up to handle genuine edge cases where human empathy is required.
When a night shift worker recently inquired about a property, noting she slept until midday and needed an afternoon callback to arrange a private viewing, the system flagged her message instantly.
The team followed up, booked the appointment, and secured a high quality tenant who promptly left a five star Google review.
Beyond saving agent sanity, elevating the tenant experience is central to the platform’s philosophy.
For many young Australians, renting a property is their first formal interaction with the real estate ecosystem, and all too often, that experience is defined by administrative barriers, delayed callbacks, and poor communication.
By removing gatekeeping tactics, such as hiding property details, Crayons CRM brings a level of polish and transparency to rentals that has historically been reserved for high end property sales.
The system gives renters immediate clarity, allowing them to make informed choices about whether a home fits their life before stepping foot through the door.
From leasing friction to rent roll growth
The underlying business philosophy behind Crayons CRM is straightforward: you cannot aggressively grow a rent roll if your team is trapped in administrative quicksand.
By automating the front end leasing cycle, agencies unlock the critical staff capacity required for Business Development Managers (BDMs) to win new managements.
Every post inspection journey on Crayons CRM includes a brief, 30 second survey asking prospects to rate both the property manager and the home on a 1 to 5 scale – which leads to more Google reviews, giving agencies the vital social proof needed to win prospective landlords over competitor brand listings.
“People treat rentals as the poor cousin of sales, but that is a mistake,” says Milo.
“Whoever walks through your door to rent a home is having their first real experience with a real estate agency. They will eventually become buyers, vendors, and property investors.”
Now expanding nationwide with clients across Queensland, New South Wales, and South Australia, Crayons CRM is backed by the REACH ANZ accelerator program.
With a dedicated property management focused growth CRM currently in development to streamline the BDM pipeline, Crayons CRM is proving that fixing the property management crisis starts with fixing the daily tools agents use.
“It is about giving tenants the immediate answers they expect in 2026,” Russell says, “while giving property managers their lives back.”