Yarmmys Vargas is a property manager at Zen Living Management. With 15 years of industry experience, she has worked for large companies with hundreds of doors as well as boutique services with just a few. We spoke to her about her past experience using property management systems and what led her back to Breeze. Check out this interview if you work at a small property management office and are in need of a tech upgrade.
Meet Yarmmys Vargas
Interviewer: What is your role at Zen Living Management?
Yarmmys Vargas: I am a property manager. My overall goal is to protect our investments while creating a positive rental experience for everyone involved. I’m also focused on growing our small, boutique-style organization, which currently has 40 or so units.
Challenges of a small residential business
Interviewer: What are some of the unique challenges that you face?
Yarmmys: In this business, the two main challenges we face are balancing owner expectations and tenant needs, especially with other competitors.
How Breeze helps address challenges
Interviewer: What did you need from your software in order to address these challenges?
Yarmmys: We needed to stay ahead of maintenance issues and keep up with changing regulations and laws. We juggle a high volume of communication and documentation, so we needed a program that offered efficiency and transparency. And now, with the rise of AI and automation, we needed something to help streamline our workflows and centralize information without losing that human touch.
The need for automation
Interviewer: What were you doing manually that needed to be automated?
Yarmmys: In the system my broker was using before I joined, everything was manual: charging fees, rent and even late fees. Everything you can think of. When I came on board, I was used to having a system that handled those tasks for me. I said, “We need to get some automation because if we grow by 100 doors next year, which is the goal, we aren’t going to survive doing everything manually.”
Finding Breeze
Interviewer: What led you to Yardi Breeze?
Yarmmys: We needed a true property management system. The one my broker was using tried to be an all-in-one solution for a flat fee of $50 a month. That might’ve worked for her small portfolio, but not with me coming in and expanding. We needed stability, and that system wasn’t going to grow with us. We were already capped at a certain number of units.
In my previous role at a larger property management institution, we used a system that was shared across multiple franchise offices. It was a big franchise, so we had access to a highly customized and personalized platform.
So, I started looking at different platforms, some I’d used before, others that colleagues in the industry recommended. That’s when I thought back to Yardi, which I had past experience with. I explored it again, and during the interview process, it just felt like a natural fit both in terms of what it offered and what we could afford. We started fresh with Breeze, knowing we’d get professional support and the scalability we needed. With Breeze, we can grow to 1,000 doors if we want, and nothing’s going to slow us down.
Everyday uses for property management software
Interviewer: How does Breeze help in your day to day?
Yarmmys: The dashboard is very user friendly as well as customizable. At Zen Living, we all manage our portfolios differently. I’m numbers- and calendar-focused. So those are front and center on my customized dashboard. Breeze gives me an immediate snapshot of where my business stands, whether that means tracking tenant balances, monitoring lease expirations or preparing for upcoming meetings.
Breeze also allows me to customize reports for my owners. Some want more detail, especially those with hands-on accountants. Breeze helps give them the confidence that their portfolios are being managed clearly and professionally.
And with all the built-in tools, we’ve used Breeze’s features as a value-add when marketing our services to potential clients. We show them a sample owner statement and explain that they’ll have access to their portfolio through the app. It’s been a great marketing tool.
Setup & implementation
Interviewer: Was setup and implementation easy?
Yarmmys: The setup was fairly easy. We uploaded everything into Excel sheets, and from there, the onboarding support at Yardi was able to get everything up and running in 24 hours.
The training was great. Every question I threw at them was answered. No one got offended when I kept bringing up my previous platform. They’d just show me where I can find that feature in Breeze. It made the transition smoother.
After training, it was easy to click the chat button and get help right away. Someone would pop up, answer my question and even reference where I could find the answer on my own for future use.
For ongoing training, the built-in Help Center is a great tool. When we onboard new property managers, we walk them through the basics in the system with real-life examples. We always tell them to start there. They can click in from whatever screen they’re on and find a related video or article. Even now, if I need a refresher on something I haven’t done since last year, I can find it.
Using the mobile app
Interviewer: How do residents respond to using the app and making online payments?
Yarmmys: Many residents are already used to the ability to submit maintenance requests and pay rent online. We believe we should be offering that, too, even though we’re a boutique operation.
Pleasant surprises
Interviewer: Were there any pleasant surprises when you started using Breeze?
Yarmmys: With the growth of technology, having an app was a nice surprise. We didn’t have that when I used Yardi 15 years ago, so that was definitely a good addition. Overall, the system has been performing the way we need it to. It’s supported our operations well.
Our vendors are now getting paid directly through the system, which is huge for us. Before, we had to pay them through QuickBooks and then do double data entry—once in QuickBooks and again in Rentec. Breeze has saved us hours every week just in data entry alone.
Implementing Breeze has been a big win for our business. It gives us more time to focus on prospecting—and for us, that’s a no-brainer when it comes to impacting ROI.
Mentorship program for property managers
Interviewer: Tell us about the mentorship program you run.
Yarmmys: I’m the chair of the Property Management Council of the Orlando Regional Realtor Association. One of my goals when I joined the committee was to create a mentorship program. Many realtors try to get into property management while still buying and selling, but they often don’t have brokerage support for proper training. My goal was to help create better-prepared property managers.
We created a six-month program where each month focuses on a different theme: legal, inspections, marketing, management and so on. Each time we meet, I provide real-life examples and bring in actual companies to talk. For instance, during a module on inspections, I had a large institutional inspection company, a local mom-and-pop business and a community member who showed attendees how to do your own inspection. I wanted the mentees to leave with three perspectives: professional, local and personal.
Yardi accepted an invitation to speak as well. I wanted attendees to see businesses of different scales. When you’re starting out, you just want something cheap that gets the job done because you think you can’t afford anything else. But the takeaway from Yardi’s presentation was that it’s better to spend the money and start your business properly than have to transfer everything to a property management software system later.
I was trying to teach them that sometimes it’s best to go with a professional company that has everything in place to help your business grow.
Favorite thing about Breeze
Interviewer: In one sentence, what is your favorite thing about Breeze?
Yarmmys: Breeze brings everything — tenant payments, owner disbursement, vendor management and reporting — all into one streamlined system, saving us hours each week and eliminating the need for double entry.
