At the NRTA conference in Tucson this year, AI was the topic of the day! But what does that really mean? Will it take my job?

I left more confident than ever that the fundamentals of lease admin are a requirement and AI will enhance the work. With the right AI tools, process, and training, lease admin teams will transition from administrators to strategic partners.

Nothing causes more 4-letter words out of real estate directors more than a carelessly missed date.

Missed renewal, termination, and co-tenancy deadlines are the most expensive blind spot in lease admin. The retailers who get this right build redundancy into date tracking instead of relying on a single system or person.

Lease audits have a reputation for being tedious, but the retailers who skip them are leaving recoverable dollars on the table every year. A smart audit strategy does not have to feel overwhelming.

A slick platform means nothing if the data feeding it is wrong. The retailers who get value out of these systems treat data quality as an ongoing discipline, not a one-time setup.

Most retailers treat this as a cost decision, but it's really a control decision. The right answer is usually a hybrid: a lean internal team for strategy and exceptions, paired with an outsourced partner for volume work.