Property management is not easy. Leasing professionals are constantly working to juggle many diverse operational tasks, maintain tenancy rates, and ensure that their properties are managed at maximum efficiency. Everyday, there is a long “to-do” list of projects that often get interrupted or delayed by unpredictable factors. To help property managers optimize their daily operations, Rently has created a Smart Leasing Platform that uses innovative technology to automate critical tasks and optimize leasing ROI (return on investment).
“Automation” can be a scary word, especially if it’s understood as job replacement, rather than as job enhancement.
Automation is happening everywhere. A 2020 global survey of business leaders from a wide cross-section of industries conducted by McKinsey & Co. found that 66% were piloting solutions to automate at least one business process, up from 57% two years earlier.
More and more industries are adding automation to their traditional business processes. Organizations need to “do more with less” to remain competitive in an efficiency-driven marketplace.
For Rently, automation is a leasing enhancement. It’s how we help property managers streamline time-consuming tasks and simplify operations to achieve larger business goals.
We see leasing automation as helping (often understaffed) property management teams move renters through the entire leasing process faster, while creating better, more personalized experiences. With automation, by the time renters interact with a leasing associate, they already have most of the information they need to sign a lease.
On average, it takes 8 to 12 touchpoints to convert a lease.
However, with leasing automation, operators yield
conversion rates of 30% or more from just 6 touchpoints.
Many automated leasing solutions on the market today focus on single tasks, such as financial data processing or CRM interactions (emails, texts, etc.).
In positive contrast, Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform automates every step of the leasing lifecycle – from listings, to tours, to applications, to move-in, to smart home amenities, to maintenance and property turnovers.
Rently’s “All-in-One” Smart Leasing Platform
automates every step of the leasing lifecycle
and offers these 7 ways to optimize leasing ROI
1. Smart Leasing with Rently Listings
The leasing life cycle begins with a property listing. Managers create listings as the primary way to attract renters and generate new leads.
Not so long ago, listings could be found in newspapers or posted on flyers in leasing offices. With the Internet came many new marketing possibilities.
Internet listing sites (ILS) now provide many popular spaces to advertise vacancies. And, the ubiquity of mobile devices makes it possible for renters to see listings from anywhere, at any time, with real-time notifications of property availability.
According to Zillow (2022 Report), 74% of renters now search for properties online using a mobile device, and 60% use an app.
Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform responds to these new trends with Rently Listings, our popular ILS that receives 10 million visits and also activates 3 million self-guided tours each year.
Rently Listings also automatically syndicates to over 30 other listing sites, including Zillow, HotPads, Trulia and Apartments.com. Property managers save valuable time by using a single listing service for all their marketing needs.
Rently Listings helps millions of renters find properties that offer self-guided tours. The site promotes properties that offer self touring with badges that say “Smart Lock,” “Easy to Tour,” or “Interactive Map.” Listings with these badges get 3 times as many tours as those without.
By showcasing self-guided tours,
Rently Listings increases self touring activity by as much as 30%
Rently Listings provides properties with immediate exposure to a giant universe of renters who want to tour on demand. It also includes a “waitlist” feature for units not yet available for self-guided tours. Managers receive those leads every morning so they can arrange for traditional tours.
Using Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform to automate property listings creates valuable lead generation opportunities and provides property managers with a single, streamlined view of all of their listings.
Our automated ILS feature is the lead generation tool of Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform. It optimizes leasing ROI by accelerating the lead-to-tour process.
With one login for one platform, property listings are quickly posted across the Internet, easily updated, and automatically activated to schedule tours.
2. Optimize Leasing ROI with Rently’s Self-Guided Tours
Leasing automation also benefits property managers when scheduling tours. While traditional tours require an onsite presence and time-consuming coordination, leasing automation eliminates these logistical hurdles by making self-tours possible anytime.
Self-touring technology is an integrated software-hardware solution that Rently invented to address challenges faced by renters and managers alike when scheduling property tours.
What started out as an innovative response to 40% of renters preferring to tour outside of regular business hours, evolved into a popular proptech solution.
Self-touring combines a mobile app (or web experience) with property smart access devices, (like lockboxes or smart locks) to create a secure, independent property-viewing experience.
Since most renters these days use their mobile phones for property searches, the ability to self-tour trends well with consumer preferences. In fact, property managers are increasingly discovering that self-guided property tours are very popular with tech-savvy renters who are accustomed to on-demand experiences.
For managers, self-guided tours are easy to manage and offer significant time savings by eliminating the need to travel to and spend time on-site for tours.
The convenience of scheduling tours outside of regular business hours, combined with the ability to manage the entire process from a mobile app, is very pleasing to the modern renter, as well as to the modern property manager.
As mentioned above, renters schedule tours directly Rently Listings, and Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform sends automated confirmation of those tour requests.
Next, an automated multi-layer security process is activated to screen renters prior to touring. Once that security check is complete, renters are free to tour properties at their convenience.
Thanks to a recent feature enhancement, Rently’s self-guided tours now also include Wayfinding which provides self-touring renters with precise navigation to and around a multifamily property.
Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform provides managers with pre-programmed digital property maps that can be viewed on their desktop portal. From there, a manager simply adds navigation “pins” to the map to mark the best parking spots, the property access location, the residential units to be toured, and community points of interest. Dynamic blue-dot navigation on their app guides the renter to each pinned location.
With easy setup, leasing teams can activate units for self-guided tours in seconds!
Wayfinding reduces the number of calls to leasing offices by lost prospects and avoids logistical delays, so that prospects and managers keep more precise appointment times.
Property managers who implement self-touring solutions experience tremendous operational satisfaction. Self-guided tours accelerate leasing workflows and expedite lease signings by expanding showing opportunities.
Self-guided tours increase overall touring traffic by 25%
increase lease conversions by 2%
and reduce a property’s time on market by 75%
Using Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform to automate touring expands showing opportunities and provides renters and managers with scheduling flexibility.
Our automated touring feature is the property showing tool of Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform. It optimizes leasing ROI by increasing the number of tours, which increases the possibilities for lease signings.
With one login for one platform, managers provide renters with desired touring flexibility and create positive impressions that motivate rental prospects to fill out rental applications.
3. Optimize Leasing ROI with Rently’s Tenant Screening
Once renters have found and toured a property, managers hope they become tenants. However, before that can happen, property managers must screen applicants to check their financial qualifications.
Vetting rental prospects is one of a managers most important responsibilities. That is why 84% of leasing professionals qualify rental applications themselves.
Recent rental housing surveys report that 78% of property managers do not have an application process that flags bad applicants, and 75% of landlords blame inaccurate screening reports for bad leasing experiences.
On average, the renter screening process takes anywhere between 4-10 hours per rental application. This is valuable staff time all spent on just one leasing task!
Rently automates this step in the leasing lifecycle by providing property managers with a fast and accurate 3-in-1 rental screening to simplify the entire verification process.
By combining three critical renter screenings – ID, Income, and Credit – into one automated process, Rently’s screening eliminates the hassle of verifying renter information separately with third-party service providers.
Thanks to its comprehensive features, Rently’s combined screening is the most robust solution on the market today.
Using the Rently Smart Leasing Platform to automate tenant screening expedites the leasing lifecycle so that managers can accelerate move-ins, which lowers vacancy rates and increases NOI.
Rently’s integrated ID, income and credit verifications comprise the tenant screening tool of Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform. These optimize leasing ROI by empowering managers to do their best due diligence, resulting in fewer evictions, saving thousands of dollars in lost revenue and leasing time.
With one login for one platform, managers quickly identify tenants who present low risk for smart home properties.
4. Optimize Leasing ROI with Rently Smart Home Technology
We see how Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform provides property managers with the automated marketing, touring and screening tools to lease properties faster. In addition, with a comprehensive portfolio of smart home devices, Rently’s platform allows for the automation of rental properties themselves.
Rently’s smart home devices enhance property management and create luxury amenities that attract a steady stream of renters and motivate lease renewals.
Operationally, Rently’s smart home solution helps managers ensure property security, save on energy costs, and avoid costly damages from leaks and fires.
Smart home technology enhances property security
Rently’s smart lock solution incorporates top-tier physical locks made of tamper-resistant materials. Should a property breach occur, Rently sends immediate desktop and mobile device notifications to property managers or residents.
Similarly, Rently’s smart common area access solution helps to secure a property’s shared amenities, such as pools, gyms, and conference rooms. Smart access panels create extra security by requiring guest entry codes to access these spaces.
Smart home technology reduces energy costs
Smart thermostats and smart lighting are popular with renters concerned about energy footprints and monthly bills. A recent Greystone survey revealed that smart thermostats are the most popular smart home device, with 70% of renters responding that they won’t rent a unit without one.
Smart home technology helps managers and residents
reduce energy costs by up to 30% annually.
These same energy management devices also help property managers monitor HVAC units for malfunctions. Managers can remotely adjust utility usage in vacant units, reducing unnecessary expenses.
Smart home technology reduces damage expenses
Smart water leak sensors alert property managers to address threats before they become larger, more costly problems.
On average, managers report between 4-5 water leaks every year, with an average repair cost of $12,000 per leak. Rently’s smart property monitoring devices notify property managers (via text notification or email) as soon as a risk is detected.
Detecting leaks early saves managers tens of thousands of dollars annually!
Adding smart home technology to rental properties
makes it possible to negotiate a 10-20% reduction
in annual insurance premiums!
Using the Rently Smart Leasing Platform to automate rental properties with smart devices offers valuable operational benefits and creates significant income-generating potential.
Our smart home amenities are physical extensions of Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform. These devices optimize leasing ROI by creating luxury amenities that renters are willing to pay more rent for ($37.65) every month.
With one login for one platform, managers use smart home devices to enhance security, control utility usage, prevent expensive damages and control property access.
5. Optimize Leasing ROI with Rently’s Automated Work Orders
Leasing automation also simplifies property maintenance and reduces operational budgets.
Rently automates work orders from its Smart Leasing Platform and enables vendor access using smart locks. The result is a streamlined technician workflow that expedites project completion and enhances the resident experience.
From Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform, managers create work orders, assign technicians, and send emails to vendors with temporary smart lock codes.
Technicians receive timely emails with links to work orders, appointment times, and property access codes. Thanks to the smart locks installed on properties, maintenance technicians can go directly to a unit without having to retrieve keys at another location. The technician’s durational entry code expires after a work order is completed. Technicians update work orders online with notes about each project and managers receive notification once a project has been completed.
Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform automatically sends residents emails with appointment confirmations, same-day reminders and completion notifications.
Using Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform to automate work orders streamlines workflows and reduces onsite staff requirements.
Our automated work order is the property maintenance tool of Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform. It optimizes leasing ROI by lowering labor costs.
With one login, from one platform, managers can expedite maintenance projects and simultaneously communicate with residents and technicians.
6. Smart Leasing with Rently’s Management Portal
Any kind of operational automation becomes cumbersome if it requires multiple platforms with multiple logins, with multiple passwords, etc.
To truly experience the benefits of a cross-functional platform, ease of use is key.
Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform provides managers with a single, operational dashboard to manage all leasing tasks – listings, tours, applications, move-ins, smart home amenities, unit turnovers, and maintenance requests.
The Manager Portal empowers managers with the ability to exercise real-time remote property management and respond quickly to onsite events without having to travel onsite.
Rently’s platform includes metrics related to property inquiries and tour-to-lease ratios. Up-to-date statistics inform managers about leasing trends and measure market demand (wait list features) that affect occupancy rates.
The ability to view the same metrics across an entire property portfolio gives managers the advantage of being able to identify strengths and weaknesses in their leasing processes and standardize successful processes.
Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform offers the ability to evaluate leasing activity data using consistent metrics. The more units or communities that are connected to a single data platform, the better the data analysis potential.
Using Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform provides managers with a single view of all community operations and enables remote property management capabilities.
Our Manager Portal is the operational dashboard of Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform. It optimizes leasing ROI by providing managers with data to refine the operational efficiency of every leasing task.
With one login for one platform, managers gain community-wide control of all leasing operations and related data.
7. Smart Leasing with Rently’s Smart Home App
As mentioned above, the Rently Manager Portal is a leasing tool with the benefit of providing a single desktop view (and operational dashboard) of the entire leasing lifecycle.
In addition, Rently provides managers with 2 mobile device apps that include the functionality of the manager desktop portal.
Rently’s Tour Manager App controls property access for touring renters.
Rently’s Smart Home App controls smart home devices in units.
Managers can use the Rently apps from anywhere in the world to respond to tour requests, schedule maintenance services, and control smart home devices in vacant units.
Renters can use the Rently Apps to access Rently Listings, schedule their tours, complete their security check, receive smart lock codes, fill out rental screenings, and, as tenants, control all of the smart home devices in their units.
Rently’s apps are pleasing to rental prospects who are accustomed to using mobile services, and our apps receive high ratings from users.
Using Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform provides managers with mobile device extensions that allow them to do their job from anywhere.
Our Smart Home App is the mobile feature of Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform.
It optimizes leasing ROI by providing the time/location flexibility to accelerate all leasing activities.
With one login for one platform, managers accomplish all of their leasing tasks and residents control their smart home devices from anywhere in the world.
Use Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform to Optimize ROI
At Every Step of Your Leasing Lifecycle
Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform is a busy manager’s dream come true. It empowers them to do so much more, often without leaving their desks.
Thanks to partnerships with other leading property management softwares, our smart home platform integrates and scales smoothly into existing systems. In addition, all of Rently’s smart home devices are easily installed and activated using cellular, Wi-Fi, or Ethernet connectivity. Rently’s device packages can be customized to fit any property type.
Rently’s Smart Leasing Platform provides managers with remote control of the entire spectrum of leasing activity. It enables operators to benefit from a centralized management structure that allows for confident remote property management, a capability greatly appreciated in today’s climate of staffing shortages and off-site work preferences.
Even in difficult economic times, rental properties can be a rewarding investment – especially when managed with smart home technology that creates ROI-enhancing leasing automation. Using the Rently Smart Leasing Platform to automate many small leasing steps leads to significant (cumulative) ROI gains.
Rently is pleased to offer the rental housing industry a full-service Smart Leasing Platform with many innovative, time and cost-saving tools.
