Your assistant asks which property a call is about once, takes the caller's answer as given, and keeps going. It never tells a caller it cannot find their building.
Why the property matters
A message is only useful if you know where the problem is. A person answering phones for a property manager would ask who is calling and which property it is about before anything else. Your assistant does the same, and it does it without turning the question into a test the caller can fail.
What the caller is asked
It depends on who is calling and how many properties you have added.
A tenant you have on file. The assistant confirms what it already knows: "I've got you at Maple Court, is that right?" and then "Still in unit 204?" If the caller says no and names somewhere else, the assistant uses their answer for the rest of the call and does not bring the old one up again.
A caller it does not recognize, when you have several properties. It asks once: "Which property is that? The name or the address is fine." It never reads your list of properties aloud and never offers names to choose from. When the answer matches a property you have added, it says the name back so the caller can correct it, then asks for the unit.
A caller it does not recognize, when you have one property. It checks once that the call is about that property and does not simply assume it. Some accounts have one property added and several more that were never entered.
When you have not added any properties yet. It still asks once which property the call is about. A name is fine and so is an address. It keeps the caller's words exactly as they said them, then asks for the unit.
A leasing prospect. It asks once which property or listing they are interested in. If they have no preference, it notes that and moves on.
The question is asked one time. If the caller does not answer it, the assistant moves on with the rest of the call and takes the message anyway.
When the caller names a building you have not added
This happens more than you would expect: an old building name, a nickname, a property you manage that was never entered. The assistant does not argue and does not ask the caller to repeat or spell it.
It keeps the caller's own words as the property for the rest of the call.
It skips the unit question, because a unit means nothing without its building.
It finishes the call the normal way for that kind of request.
It does not answer questions about that building from another property's information.
You see what the caller said on the call afterward, so you can match it to the right property or add the building.
How a name is recognized
The assistant recognizes a property by its name or by its address. Callers rarely say the name exactly as you entered it, so some looseness is built in and some is deliberately left out.
Recognized: the name without its type word ("Riverside" or "the Riverside building" for Riverside Apartments), the street address ("100 Oak Street"), and the name said together with that property's own street.
Not recognized: a different name that shares a word ("Maple Grove" is not Maple Court), a different street number on the same street, and a city on its own. Many accounts have every property in one city, so a city does not tell one building from another.
The rule behind this is simple. Recording a call against the wrong building is worse than recording it against none, because you would act on it without checking.
Emergencies come first
When a caller describes danger to a person, the assistant recommends calling 9-1-1 before it asks anything about the property. An emergency is handled the same way whether or not the building is one you have added.
What the assistant will not say
It will not say it cannot find a property, or that a property is not in the system, in a way that leaves the caller stuck.
It will not ask the caller to prove where they live.
It will not ask the same question twice.
It will not guess a building and carry on as if the caller had confirmed it.
What helps most
Add every property you take calls for, with the name tenants actually use and the street address. The more complete the list, the more often the call arrives already filed under the right building.