Peter LohmannAll Things Residential Property Management | CEO of RL Property Management | Co-Founder of Crane

TurboTenant's 80% Cheaper PM Alternative

13 Jul 2026 · 2 min

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1:36

In this commentary, Peter Lohmann outlines TurboTenant’s recent expansion of its Autopilot service into Colorado, marking the company’s rollout across roughly ten U.S. states. Autopilot combines TurboTenant’s existing landlord‑focused software platform—already used by about 900,000 landlords—with a “boots‑on‑the‑ground” management component that handles basic leasing and maintenance triage. Lohmann frames the offering as a disruptive hybrid model that delivers roughly 80 % of the functions of a traditional property manager at about 20 % of the price. He notes that while TurboTenant will never be a full‑service manager, the lower‑cost, high‑control solution could be compelling for independent landlords. Lohmann advises incumbent property‑management firms to stay close to their customers and continuously add value rather than dismiss the threat.

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TurboTenant, which started as a landlord-focused PM software, just expanded their Autopilot service into Colorado. Autopilot is a hybrid of software and boots-on-the-ground services. They launched Autopilot nationally back in January, and now they're rolling it out state by state, with Colorado being the latest to launch. I think they're operating in around 10 states right now. Their pitch is straightforward: independent landlords shouldn't have to choose between doing everything themselves or paying a traditional property manager for their all-or-nothing suite of services. Turbotenant already has the software relationship with over 900,000 landlords. That's crazy. Now they're layering an actual management service on top of it. So here's the play. They're offering 80% of what a traditional property manager does at 20% of the price. Classic disruptor move. I've talked to the Hemline founder about basically this same model. They're doing something very similar, and I think it's worth watching very carefully. Now, incumbents, which is us and me in this case, always shrug this type of stuff off, claiming they could never do what we do. Which is technically correct. TurboTenant is never going to be a full-service property manager in your market, but we know that landlords want more control over what's happening at their rental property. And when you combine that with a drastically lower price that solves 80+% of their problems with software and some basic leasing and maintenance triage, it starts to look really compelling and potentially disruptive. This isn't necessarily a sign to panic, but us incumbents are going to wanna stay very close to our customers and continue to deliver more and more value.