Rocking Renting

RentCafe Insight

By Leah Etling on Jul 30, 2012 in Marketing

There’s no arguing that the way renters search for a new apartment has undergone a dramatic, tech-influenced shift, one that is still evolving for multifamily. No matter what your property size, producing results via apartment search, mobile marketing and online leasing is crucial.

When it comes to optimizing the online presence of an apartment community, Yardi’s RentCafe platform – which offers an Internet Listing Service (ILS) as well as customized property marketing web sites and secure portals– is on the rise and making great strides.

We spoke with Patrick Lawler, Product Manager for RentCafe, who shared insight about the offerings of this dynamic product slate.  RentCafe is fully integrated with Yardi Voyager. A single-entry system  allows managers to upload property information to a RentCafe Admin site and then have those same details listed on the ILS.

“Clients will love the integration with the Yardi PopCard and Yardi Call Center, and the price is super competitive at half the price of other major pay-for-performance ILS sites.  It also gives clients an easier way to manage not only their ILS listing, but also their Property Website and Portal as well as their Call Center administration; it all happens in one central site. Another thing that I love is the online lease execution,  allowing prospects to act and apply to rent while we have their captive attention,” said Lawler, who has worked for the company since 2000 in the areas of technical support, analysis, Billing, Cash and as the Director of Residential Programming.
“Clients are dedicating more of their resource toward an online presence. They are increasingly accepting of online functionality, for application and renewal processing such as electronic signatures, payments, and screening. There is a growing demand for integration with social media sites and other networking tools as well as the need for a strong mobile presence.   The RentCafe product team is focused on delivering and growing these solutions” Lawler said.Over the last several years, he’s observed the multifamily industry’s move toward the new online paradigm.

The RentCafe platform offers the following features to meet consumer and client needs:

• Online listing service with nationwide listings in a clean elegant format uncluttered by ads.
• Highly mobile site,  RentCafe also works on mobile browsers like an iPad or Android phone.
• The RentCafe app for iPhone users is also available for download and enables mobile searching.
• Real time pricing and availability so listed information is always current and accurate.
• Property portal sites for communities to present information to prospective renters, with information synced directly to the RentCafe Internet listing service.
• Online leasing, offering tenants the option to rent an apartment via the Internet, including screening, lease preview and signing via e-signature.
• RentCafe Resident App allows residents to pay rent and submit maintenance requests on a mobile phone. They can also submit photos of the issue or leave a voice memo with details about the problem/damage for the maintenance staff. The requests are also integrated with Voyager, populating directly onto the Maintenance Manager Dashboard.
• RentCafe is fully integrated with Yardi Voyager transactional engine, so all data is updated cohesively during the rental process. The Voyager Ledger and Dashboard is updated real time with payment and traffic activity.
• RentCafe offers syndication to other major ILSs for the broadest property visibility possible as well as the ability to accept syndication from leading third party data management systems.

RentCafe is a dynamic platform that just keeps getting better – integration with the Yardi PopCard, which makes lead tracking for prospects a snap. PopCard is an automated guest card that immediately populates when a prospect contacts a property. Yardi Call Center is also integrated with RentCafe, offering clients a 24-7 service option for responding to prospect inquiries.

Other exciting developments include new partnerships with other listing sites, including listing syndication from ApartmentFinder.com. RentCafe  is showing double digit growth in key metrics of leads generated and  site visitors on a month-over-month basis in 2012, as well as a 427% year to date site traffic and 844% growth on leads generated.

“My outlook for RentCafe is extremely optimistic. We’re moving in the right direction on all fronts,” Lawler said. Clients will get a look at the fresh new features of RentCafe at the Santa Barbara Yardi Advanced Solutions Conference on October 17-19, or you can contact your Yardi sales professional.