2026 Mid-Year Review: Sara Sicilian, Sara Sicilian Advisory

What projects, initiatives, or types of work have been keeping your team busiest during the first half of 2026?
The first half of 2026 has been all about operational reclamation. I’ve been deep in the trenches doing high-level AppFolio optimizations and providing fractional operations management for scaling real estate portfolios. Property managers are burned out by messy tech stacks and outdated workflows. Our primary focus has been audit-and-rescue missions. I’m cleaning up backend systems, streamlining data flow, and stepping in to run operations so owners can finally breathe and focus on growth rather than daily fires.

What trends or shifts have stood out most to you so far this year within your industry?
The most glaring trend is the collective exhaustion of leadership and a massive shift toward energetic alignment in business. Industry leaders are realizing that traditional ‘hustle culture’ is unsustainable. Software automation is no longer just a luxury for profit margins; it’s a necessity for mental sanity. We are seeing a powerful movement where business owners are rejecting chaotic environments and demanding systems that protect their energy and peace as much as their bottom line

What challenges or opportunities have had the biggest impact on your business during the first half of 2026?
The biggest impact has been our deep dive into custom AI integration. I’ve seized the opportunity to build proprietary AI bots designed specifically to automate highly repetitive, manual property management processes. The challenge in our industry has always been data silos and human error in day-to-day workflows. By training AI to handle those bottlenecks, I’ve been able to radically scale our operational efficiency, passing those massive time savings directly back to clients.

As we look ahead to the second half of the year, what are you watching most closely?
I’m watching the massive friction point between hyper-speed tech and slow municipal realities. While we are aggressively integrating AI to accelerate deal flow and automate back-end operations, traditional processes like city permitting remain painfully manual and slow. I’m closely tracking how platforms close this gap, and how forward-thinking leaders can use advanced AI workflows to mitigate these external bottlenecks.