Property marketing has always been an art, but these days, there’s more science involved than ever before. Sure, you need art to tell the story of your community and inspire prospective renters to take the next step. But you need science to prove that your campaigns are working or, if they’re not working, help redirect your strategy. That’s where marketing data and analytics come in. Sarah Wieman, senior manager of branding and marketing at PRG Real Estate, is no stranger to this concept. Taking advantage of the increasing accessibility to marketing data, she compiled her own case study to see which strategies and sources bring in the most renters. What she found has had a significant impact on PRG’s marketing mix — and will continue to do so as new data becomes available. Here, Sarah shares her discoveries in her own words. Why is marketing data so important to you? Sarah: I was told in grad school that the hardest thing about being a marketer is proving your worth. People like to joke that marketing just asks for and spends budget, but it’s important to me to show that my team’s strategies are working. That we’re actually bringing money in. Can you share an example of a time you used data to prove results? Sarah: In response to the pandemic, PRG Real Estate took the initiative to reevaluate how we market our properties and where we spend our ad dollars. We branded our properties and refocused our budget. After we did that, I decided to do a case study for our executives and also for our regional directors and managers to prove that the adaptations to our strategy are working and paying off in terms of ROI. It was an exercise to secure their trust. What did the case study find? Sarah: I looked at applications-by-source and cost-per-lease for five of our top sources: Google Ads, website SEO and three different ILSs. Looking at applications-by-source in 2020, we received the most from Google Ads. A total of 2,080 applications in fact. And we also onboarded with our new SEO provider which happens to be REACH by RentCafe. Our sites began to pick up more traffic as we optimized them more effectively, and they became our second top source, bringing in a total of 1,952 applications last year. With the ILSs, there was one that stood out with a higher number, 677 applications, but they represented the smaller chunk overall. The, when I reviewed the data for the first half of 2021, I found that model was still holding true. PRG Real Estate applications-by-source in 2020 Google Ads: 2,080SEO: 1,952ILS 1: 677ILS 2: 511ILS 3: 286 What did your cost-per-lease data reveal? Sarah: I made the decision to look at leases instead of leads because that’s where the actual money comes in. In 2020, average cost-per-lease across our portfolio was $265.91. Again, looking at our top five sources, we found that Google Ads had the lowest cost-per-lease, followed by website SEO and then the ILSs. We realize that the PPC rates we’ve experienced are amazing. I’m happy to report that our 2021 data showed much the same thing. Google Ads cost-per-lease has gone up slightly and SEO cost-per-lease has decreased as site optimization continues to improve our reach, but PPC is still our top source for leads that convert. PRG Real Estate cost-per-lease by source in 2020 Google Ads: $32.77SEO: $65.96ILS 1: $524.29ILS 2: $1,362.37ILS 3: $349 What was the big takeaway for you? Sarah: When I started this case study — and I’m going to continue to do them — I wanted to create a holistic view that unites all my vendor and partner data. For us, the biggest takeaway was that, at our portfolio, PPC yields the most approved applications, and it has the lowest price tag. One of my properties has a $15 PPC cost-per-lease. SEO is...

Imagine it: your property, November 1st, 2021. Your team is scheduled to turn six units when you get a numbing report. Your trusted suppliers are out of stock on carpet and semi-gloss paint for trim. You scramble to find a new supplier, but the cost is 14% higher and expedited shipping costs are extreme. It’s not an unlikely scenario, and you can potentially avoid it. More than 80% of the world’s goods are transported by sea. The latest records indicate that sea freight charges have increased by 547% over their seasonal average. The result on land will be more out-of-stock items and higher costs on everyday goods for your property. Property managers would be wise to plan ahead on items that they need most. International cargo shipping rates and times increase The average price of a 40-foot shipping container has quadrupled from this time last year and there was a surge of more than 53% in July, reports the Wall Street Journal. Congested ports are one of the leading problems. In the first five months of 2021, Sea-Intelligence ApS of Denmark reported record-breaking delays. Nearly 700 ships were more than a week late to their destinations along the West Coast. For comparison, there were 1,535 late arrivals throughout all of 2012-2020. This summer, a daily average of 30 containers wait in queue outside of the Ports of Los Angeles. Other factors include a shortage in containers, skeleton crews at docks, labor shortages at manufacturers and rising demand as retailers reopen in the West. When might delays plateau? Analysts foresee serious delays at least until after the Lunar New Year of 2022, mid-February at the earliest. Most Chinese factories shut down for the holiday, halting production and shipping. This may afford a few days where in-progress shipments continue while manufacturing pauses (temporarily easing the influx of ships to ports). But once workers return, they’ll have to play catch up. The delays will continue, at least for a while. How do shipping delays impact property owners? Brian Bourke, chief growth officer at Seko Logistics based in Itasca, Ill. recommends placing large trans-Pacific orders at least two months in advance of normally anticipated dates. “Global trade right now is the hottest restaurant in town,” he said. “If you want to get a reservation, you need to plan it out two months in advance.” As a result, property managers can expect shipping delays and higher prices on imported goods. Though the shipping backlog has been growing for months, price increases were nominal and less frequent. Companies lock in contractual rates with container lines. Yet as their annual contracts end, new contracted rates will reflect higher shipping costs which will, in turn, be passed to consumers. HSBC Holdings Plc estimates that a 205% increase in freight costs translates to about a 2% price increase for European producers. (The cost increase is currently closer to 550%.) Canadian businesses are passing price increases as high as 20% on to consumers for bulky items like appliances. Estimates on U.S. consumer price increases vary, but the consensus is that prices will rise.   Some goods simply won’t be available, large and small items alike. From the coffee stocked in the leasing office to furniture for furnished units, “temporarily out-of-stock” will become common on supplier websites. In these cases, freight costs can compose more than 60% of product cost, become cost prohibitive for suppliers. Property manager game plan A few tips can help property managers navigate the turbulent waters ahead. Plan ahead. Use reporting tools in your maintenance operations software to understand your fall and winter trends for supplies. Transparency into maintenance operations facilitates better foresight and planning. Review what you’ve spent on supplies in previous falls and winters. This may give you a baseline of what to expect. Take a moment to research available data on price increases and shipping delays in your market. That information will allow...

For the last year, CRE professionals have closely watched the overall economy and the commercial real estate market to monitor the effects of the pandemic. We’ve discussed the value of knowing your tenant, how the industrial market has largely remained strong and how to handle rent concessions and deferrals. One concept that has flown under the radar is the percentage rent model. Percentage rent is simply the process of applying a percentage rate, above a monthly base rent, based on the monthly income of a tenant. According to Peter Morris, principal at Greenstead Consulting Group, “this royalty is paid to the landlord to entice the landlord to consistently improve their property for more traffic flow, better co-tenancy, etc.” Morris appeared on a recent ICSC webinar to address the percentage rent model and its effectiveness in today’s market. “Percentage rent has no offsetting costs,” Morris added. He believes this is a tool that can be used effectively by both landlords and tenants. “If you can’t give all of one thing, you can offer the rest in percentage rent and negotiate it all the way down to zero,” he said. One of the keys, however, is to introduce the model at the beginning of negotiations. Because landlords are highly focused on certainty, “percentage rent is a tool that should be in every lease,” as Ivy Z. Greaner, COO at Bedrock Detroit, explained. Now, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, “landlords should implement percentage rent as the place to alleviate for all retail tenants,” she added. The general consensus is that this model does not get used often enough. Typically, in retail leases, 7% on every dollar is industry standard when gross sales reach an agreed-upon amount known as the breakpoint. However, tenants may choose to offer a higher percentage, in exchange for lower base rent or lease renewal right, if they believe their income may not rise quickly. When it comes to financing a property, percentage rent could play a role as well. “Because percentage rent is fluid and a retailer isn’t obligated to pay it, lenders don’t necessarily underwrite on it, but it does give them confidence,” Greaner said. Lenders can tie it into longevity at a site versus the odds a retailer would leave elsewhere, but the panelists agreed overall it wouldn’t move the needle on the cap rate or on the determining factors whether to make a deal. As a landlord relying heavily on percentage rent, Morris suggested looking at the market rent versus the base rent you are achieving, which will help you get a deal or justify the financing needed for another property. It may not be a driving factor in negotiations with a lender, but it could be a smart add-on to conversations. Gavin Farnam, president of retail services at Madison Marquette, said that his company has actually used COVID-19 restrictions as a driver for new deals that previously would not have been as desirable as they are now, such as open-air restaurants or gathering spaces.  He said their company is doing lower base rent with increased percentage rent to incentivize business owners to create cool, trendy establishments where there is community demand. While offering percentage rent is not feasible or advisable in all instances, Morris says he uses this tool often. “In my history of doing leasing for landlords and tenants, I mention it right off the top in a quid pro quo basis in order to get a deal done,” he said. Airport retail is almost exclusively a percentage rent business. While the actual hangar space and other tenancy in the airport is traditional rent, retail establishments are driven by percentage rent and are typically very profitable due to upcharged goods (for example, $20 for a breakfast that would be $10 elsewhere). There are several factors to take into consideration, such as a user’s occupancy cost and gross margins, when negotiating percentage rent. “We...

So, you’ve decided to invest in innovative property management software to navigate the challenges of remote work and our changing economy. One look around the proptech marketplace reveals that there are dozens of options available. Many seem to offer similar services. With so many options on the market, how do you know what’s right for you? Below are five key features to look for when choosing property management software. Seamless integration with the ancillary software There are plenty of property management solutions that are compatible with ancillary software. There are, however, a few problems with integration between different platforms: Primarily, there is no guarantee of long-term integration. When you’re dealing with two separate companies, there are opportunities for acquisitions and other changes that may affect long-term compatibility and availability of either product. Secondly, there are two software systems that need regular updates. That means more maintenance and headaches for your staff. When one system receives an update, you can only hope for the best with the other. If they’re not in sync, you may experience delays, lose functionality or accuracy. That’s wasted time for your staff and costly errors for you. Seamless integration occurs when both the property management software and ancillary products function on a single platform by a single provider. Such integration ensures optimal efficiency and accuracy in the long-term because there is less work to keep products and data in sync. Mobile-ready and browser agnostic A web-based property management solution is essential as remote work environments become more commonplace. Web-based and mobile-ready software allows you and your team to work without being tethered to the leasing office. When working from home, out in the field or travelling, you can securely access the information you need. Your office staff will be empowered to complete rent payments and procurement online –checks, money orders, debit and credit cards, and even cash—without prolonged processing times, fewer in-person meetings and zero trips to the bank. Additionally, browser agnostic software (easily accessible with any major web browser) increases user flexibility. You can get the job done on any operating system including Android, iOS and Windows and with any browser such as Chrome, Safari and Firefox. Automated tools that promote efficiency Both remote and in-office employees benefit from tools that help them focus on what’s important and bypass tedious tasks. Fortunately, today’s property management software offers impressive automation tools. In marketing, customizable automation tools deliver targeted messages to prospects, send follow-up correspondences, handle appointment and tour scheduling and even update your ILS. Once your prospect becomes a resident, systems can automatically transfer prospect data to a resident file without redundant data entry. Staff can automate workflows including leasing, move-ins and move-outs, work orders, purchase orders and check writing. Those features are just a sample of the automated services available through modern property management software and add-ons. Automation frees up time for staff members to focus on building relationships, closing sales and earning loyalty. Scalability Is the software prepared to grow with you? Property management software is a powerful, long-term investment. Consider a solution that will grow with you through pandemic recovery and beyond. Protect your investment by choosing a platform that is configurable to your current needs and scalable to your future. Innovative solutions make it easy to add and integrate marketing, customer relationship management, procurement, facilities management, energy management and business intelligence solutions as needed. Save time by skipping new core product evaluations and training as your organization and needs grow. Built-in enterprise management and accounting all in realtime When it comes to accounting and property data, few things matter more than safety, consistency, accuracy and transparency. Seek property management software with built-in accounting that meets all applicable accounting standards and regulatory requirements. With cloud services, accounting and property data can produce real-time reports with a single source of truth for more informed decision making. Get 8 questions to ask before choosing...

Digital technology and tools are transforming every industry all across the world. Every day the digital transformation is opening up new opportunities, possibilities, and offering new levels of accuracy, efficiency, cost-savings, and growth for businesses. The unprecedented pandemic and the new lease standards IFRS 16 and ASC 842 have further reinforced the need for digital solutions like lease accounting software. Those companies which have implemented new lease standards have realized that lease management software is critical for maintaining balance sheets and financial statements without errors. The complex nature of new lease standards also asks for digital lease management and accounting solutions which can generate positive results. Therefore, digital technologies and software are a must for success in the lease management and accounting discipline. Benefits of Digital Lease Management and Accounting Implementing the new lease accounting standards can be overwhelming. Gathering necessary data, modifying each of the leases and calculations can be complex. Many leading organizations are missing the opportunity to automate lease-related tasks and improving efficiency. It is high time to use digital technology and experience its many advantages. Lease management and accounting software can benefit businesses in many ways. Centralized Data The world is going digital with industries storing important data using digital tools and advanced technology. It is a complex task to maintain an enormous amount of lease data, obligations, and provisions on spreadsheets. Moreover, it becomes difficult when different members of the technical and other teams need access to it. Lease management software solves this significant problem by providing centralized data. It can be accessed by anyone from anywhere whenever you need it. It saves time and increases productivity. Tracking the Leases Another advantage of using lease management software is that it makes tracking all information related to leases easy. You can find the lease commencement date, expiration date, and other tailored insights as per your need. The reporting features can help you analyze lease spending. Thus, lease management software gives you better control over lease data and helps in managing them effectively. Compliance with Latest Standards The new lease accounting standards direct finance and operating leases to be included in the balance sheet. This requires extra work and effort where leases need to be modified to comply with the new standards. Using a lease accounting software will help with calculations, disclosure requirements and other software features will make it easy, efficient, and cost-effective to carry out the implementation process. Make Better Deals The tailored reports, auditing features, and better control over leases help you in making better leasing deals. The software makes it easier to understand the errors and highlights benefits which eventually helps in adding or removing provisions that benefit your organization in the long run. Seamless Workflows  Digital lease management and accounting solutions enable seamless workflows for the lease accounting and management team. Automatically generated reminders, easy landlord reports, intimation letters as part of the schedule makes day to day operations easy. With new digital innovations happening across the industries, it is time to embrace the latest lease management and lease accounting software. Yardi’s Corporate Lease Management Software simplifies operational and system changes to comply with new lease accounting standards. For more details,...

October 20-22, Yardi provided three days of education, training, inspiration and support to clients during the YASC Global conference. The expansion of the online event to attendees worldwide, building on a U.S.-focused event held in May, was well received. Over 20,000 attendees, representing more than 2,500 companies from 58 countries, took 45,000 courses over 72 hours. The event was hosted on the Yardi Aspire learning platform. Anant Yardi, founder and president of Yardi, delivered an introduction to the event and remarked on the rapid adaptations real estate professionals have made worldwide. “Last year we had six different conferences: Washington, D.C., San Diego, London, Dubai, Singapore and Sydney. They were festive occasions where we had the opportunity to meet and greet you. Today, things have changed,” Mr. Yardi said. “We now work from home. We no longer meet face to face, but through digital media. And as all of this is going on, we yearn for those good old days. I don’t know about you, but it sure is nice to meet face to face. And we look forward to the day when we can do that.” But to help deal with the “new normal” that the real estate industry now faces, Yardi has continued to expand its product suites to assist with remote business management, data transparency, social distancing, working from home and much more. These features augment the business and accounting features that have made Yardi the go-to technology provider for real estate over the last 40 years. Product spotlights During YASC Spotlight sessions, clients heard from Yardi executives about the development and progress of product suites, including Affordable Housing, Commercial, Investment Management, Multifamily, Senior Living, and Public Housing. There were also regional updates for international clients from Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Europe and the Middle East. “Through a single connected solution, we remain focused on providing a set of products and services that have a real impact on your property operations and property performance. These products help to create transparency and efficiencies in the interest of reducing risk, reducing expenses, increasing revenues and increasing property values,“ said John Pendergast, senior vice president at Yardi. Products highlighted for multifamily operators were RENTCafé Reach search marketing;  Marketing IQ, a new marketing analytics product; RENTCafé  Self-Guided Tours, which allows socially distanced property tours; RENTCafé Chat IQ, an automated marketing assistant using AI and machine learning; Maintenance IQ; Asset IQ; and the Procure to Pay suite. “There have been some dramatic changes. Remote working, asset distress, residents and tenants’ ability to pay rent, and a real focus on data have been part of our conversations with clients both big and small, operational or institutional ownership. The challenges are common across the different platforms and client perspectives,” shared Richard Malpica, vice president and general manager, Eastern region for Yardi, in the investment management spotlight. While different commercial real estate sectors have been affected uniquely, data visibility and the ability to access operational data have been especially important to investors and operators alike. The Investment Management product suite provides tools to deliver data transparency, risk exposure analysis and real time reporting that investors are seeking now. “Though we have incredible optimism about the next 18 months, it is important that we acknowledge the hardship that many of you have faced in a personal and professional manner,” said Rob Teel, senior vice president at Yardi, in the commercial product spotlight. “I want to assure you that Yardi has passionately contributed philanthropically and to professional trade organizations to help with a global rebound from this crisis.” Commercial clients learned about the latest updates to the Yardi Commercial Suite, including Yardi Elevate, which sits on top of Yardi Voyager and provides operational tools to drive performance and gain operational visibility. Leasing, forecasting, deals, retail tenants and construction projects all have specialized management modules and reporting oversight within Yardi Elevate. Its real time informational visibility has been especially beneficial...

These days it might be easy, perhaps even understandable, for those in commercial real estate to downplay the relationship of tenant interaction to asset performance. After all, the COVID-19 pandemic has largely evicted workers from their offices while retail continues to endure e-commerce’s expanding presence. But property owners shouldn’t lose sight of how important ongoing communication between owners and their tenants is for attracting prospects, retaining tenants and operating efficiently. Erin Wicomb of San Diego real estate investor Mavrik Investing has noted that “customer retention is often an underestimated factor in real estate success and not given nearly enough attention. Plenty of effort is spent finding and marketing to new tenants, but investors and landlords often neglect to take care of existing customers and make them happy.” Focusing on the residential market, the U.S. National Multifamily Housing Council noted in a 2018 report titled Disruption: How Demographics, Psychographics and Technology Are Bringing Multifamily to the Brink of a Design Revolution that “tomorrow’s renters’ needs and wants are shaping up to be so very different in any number of ways that the industry must begin thinking about how to adapt or risk facing a disconnect with their future customers.” In a similar vein, a commercial property leasing guide published by Colliers International declared that “the number one reason that an owner’s relationship with his or tenant falls apart is lack of communication – and this is often the responsibility of the property manager,” adding, “You can have the best customer service on the planet, but when property management breaks down through lack of foresight or poor communication, that one action can strike a fatal blow against all the goodwill you had built up.” Residential tech demonstrates success How do residential property owners avoid that fatal blow and take care of their residents, maintain communication and build goodwill? Many have embraced portals as the answer. They are a valuable tool for connecting residential community members to the services they might need any time of day or night. Seamless access to contact, lead, lease, resident and property data lets staff focus their attention on higher-value operations. Advanced property management technology platforms host portals as part of an end-to-end system that performs all prospect and resident services in the rental lifecycle, from initial contact to move-in, lease renewal and move-out, as well as timely communication. New advantages for commercial real estate Commercial real estate operators might want to consider emulating their residential counterparts by implementing portals and apps that deliver tenant services much more efficiently than is possible with telephones and emails. Property managers, for example, can easily dispatch announcements, emergency plans and other vital information through a portal. Tenants, for their part, can record maintenance requests and attach audio and photo documentation. Although millennials seeking cutting-edge amenities in their living spaces are the most visible advocates of property technology innovations, commercial real estate is undergoing its own generational shift. The younger workers among the sector’s cohort similarly expect the convenience of online and mobile self-services such as document access, electronic payments, maintenance requests, retail sales data entry and concierge services. Ideally, portals are built into a property management and accounting platform that centralizes financials, operations, leasing, maintenance management and other operations in a cloud-hosted database. Relieved of manual tasks such as the recording of tasks, property owners can concentrate on closing leases, maximizing rental income, increasing conversions and renewals, and ultimately enhancing their assets’ value. Some property management platforms leverage artificial intelligence, machine learning and chatbots to combine historical unit-level performance data with market outlooks. The resulting portfolio-wide data and prescriptive recommendations help managers make informed decisions that cut costs and elevate asset performance. Portal technology offers a human touch that contributes measurably to tenant satisfaction, a key element of retention and a property’s reputation in the marketplace. As Mavrik Investing’s Wicomb advises, “From the start, develop and provide channels of open...

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, multifamily market experts were talking about preparing for big economic changes. Now that rising unemployment rates, benefit delays and social distancing have created new challenges for real estate managers and renters alike, it’s time to re-think every aspect of your operations. Here’s some good news: there are real upsides to the downturn, including opportunities to move business online and improve communication to form stronger relationships with your customers. Read on for five key takeaways from Yardi’s operational strategies webinar that can help you right now and into the future. 1) Maximize marketing websites Apartment searches are on the rise and units are being rented sight unseen — and it’s all happening online. How can you keep up? Provide a virtual marketing and leasing experience from start to finish. Make sure your websites provide plenty of curb appeal for your listings, and include optimized photos, videos and 3-D floor plans along with virtual meeting and tour options. Offer live chat to answer questions from prospects and consider a chatbot when your agents are unavailable — a “contact us” email address or web form isn’t enough anymore. Use nudge marketing campaigns and page narratives to help prospects make timely rental decisions. And this is critical: bring your entire leasing process online from application to self-screening to lease execution with an electronic signature. Are you providing unit touring options? If you’re not offering self-guided tours yet, in this new world of contactless marketing it’s a great way to sign more leases. Even before the pandemic, self-guided tours were growing in popularity, and now they are a must to ensure social distancing and a contactless experience for your staff and customers. It’s important to plan for self-guided tours at the site level including the ability to verify prospect identities remotely before allowing access to your units. With COVID-19 concerns, you’ll also need a strategy for cleaning and sanitizing units after every visit. Once you figure it out, you’re likely to reap the benefits of agentless tours. 2) Consider strategy changes Take a good look at your marketing spend and identify which channels have provided you with long-term contracts and where your new opportunities are coming from. With a growing number of prospects willing to rent a unit sight unseen you need to take advantage of contactless opportunities. Ramp up your targeted marketing to those socially distant customers with a clear message about your easy online leasing process. Once you drive that motivated traffic to your website, those prospective renters can enjoy all the good stuff covered above including around-the-clock applications and leasing. 3) Send the right message Now is a great time to build stronger relationships with your residents. More than ever, communication with customers and within companies is critical. Be sure that your content, messaging and tone are not only aligned with your brand and our current reality but also resonate with what people really care about. We all need to feel safe and supported, and multifamily managers are in a unique position to create an inclusive and positive community for staff and residents. You can offer residents who are struggling financially payment plans and deferral options. If you haven’t accepted credit card payments for rent in the past, maybe now is the time to allow it to help keep your payment percentages high. There are also the day-to-day messages you need to push out to make sure your social distancing policies are followed when common areas and amenities are used. You will most likely see a big difference when it comes to renewing leases and keeping quality residents for the long term. 4) Reduce leasing risk With high unemployment and apartment fraud on the rise, you need to be sure you know exactly who you’re renting to. That doesn’t mean that prospects who are short on cash won’t be quality residents, so you’ll want to screen...

It has been about four months since U.S. multifamily communities restricted access to amenities like gyms and swimming pools. You’re likely eager to resume offering the stellar features that helped build your community brand. (Your residents are probably antsy, too!) As shelter-in-place restrictions lift, you may be unsure how to reopen those amenities with ongoing social distancing. It’s a valid concern, but we’re here to help. In this post, we’ll explore tips and tools for reopening your community amenities and public spaces. Before reopening your amenities Start by creating a reopening plan. The National Apartment Association (NAA) released recommended best practices for reopening amenities at multifamily properties. Along with those best practices, consider that a single reopening plan may not work for all properties, even those within a portfolio. It is important to customize a plan for each property so that directives align with the relevant guidelines issued by national and local health officials. You will also want to review your liability insurance policy and update it with pandemic provisions. Many insurance providers and legal institutions offer helpful customizable templates. Communicate these updates and obtain compliance signatures from property managers, vendors, staff and residents. Watch this webinar to learn how LumaCorp and Gables Residential navigated the reopening process. Preparing maintenance staff and vendors for reopening Your maintenance staff will be working double duty. You may even need to expand your maintenance team. Keep all team members on the same page with the latest cleaning schedules and updates using a mobile maintenance app. Yardi Advanced Maintenance provides the tools that you need to assign tasks, track and supervise your site’s schedule. Manage all preventive, routine and emergency maintenance within a single app. This tool will allow staff members to access revised cleaning schedules on the go and signoff on completed tasks without revisiting the office. Outside vendors will also need additional resources to stay up to date on revised supply and service schedules. Use a mobile vendor management system like VendorCafe to issue updates to existing vendors and onboard new vendors. You can also use the software to pay vendors, which will reduce traffic in the leasing office as well as lower printing, mailing and storage costs. Watch this video to learn how VendorCafe streamlines vendor communication and payments. Restoring full functionality to the leasing office If the community is like a body, then the leasing office is its brain. It’s the epicenter of services and sales that helps the community function. Due to its necessary function, the leasing office probably never completely closed, and that’s okay. The key now is to resume as much functionality as possible with fewer nonessential interactions. Use online payments and online maintenance requests to limit foot traffic in the leasing office. The RentCafe Resident app empowers residents to do both with a single login. The app has experienced 89% year-over-year adoption growth due to its simple user interface. You can also offer services to prospects while practicing social distancing at the leasing office. A survey of 3,000 apartment shoppers reveals that 83% of respondents would take a self-guided tour if available. Their reasons vary: nearly 60% of respondents wanted to observe social distancing. About 63% of renters want to tour model units at their own pace and 43% appreciate more flexible scheduling. Prospects can easily schedule self-guided tours online through your RentCafe marketing website. The app will automatically create a guest card and convenient customizable follow-ups. Join a webinar to learn more about the versatility and flexibility of RentCafe. You’ve got mail … and lots of packages Mailrooms have remained open at all properties, yet revisiting mailroom protocols can improve safety for occupants. Mailrooms are rarely spacious, which makes social distancing difficult for residents and mail personnel. Consider limiting the number of people who can enter the space at any given time. It may also be beneficial to close the mailroom for disinfecting after...

More than 100,000 Dubai residents rely on 10 housing communities, ranging from studio apartments to luxury villas, owned by Dubai Asset Management (a subsidiary of Dubai Holding). The subsidiary of Dubai Holding developed its portfolio of 20 million square feet of leasable assets by providing the best customer experience in terms of product, pricing and location, and resident services. Maintaining outstanding customer service as communities, headcount and staffing grow larger isn’t easy. Company leaders realized that retaining stature as Dubai’s premier provider of residential property required better technology and increased staff efficiency in the form of real-time property availability, online leasing, rent payments and resident self services, along with 24/7 online and mobile access to account data. Achieving this goal required a technology platform capable of managing the entire residential lifecycle. In 2015 Dubai Asset Management adopted Yardi Voyager as its property management and accounting platform. Yardi Voyager centralised Dubai Asset Management’s operational, financial, maintenance management and compliance data on a single connected solution. With information easily available online and via remote devices, Dubai Asset Management can show prospective residents real-time apartment unit inventory, including floor plans, which helps the company close leases faster and achieve occupancy targets. The easy access to information also helps the company make and implement better-informed decisions. The full integration of Yardi Voyager with RentCafe and Yardi Maintenance further enhances Dubai Asset Management’s resident service and staff efficiency. Units available for lease are displayed online as soon as they become available, enabling faster unit turnover. Residents have the convenience of making rent payments online, and the company’s maintenance staff can manage work orders in the field without returning to the office. Leasing agents can close deals as easily in the field as in the office. The portfolio-wide data transparency enabled by Yardi Voyager also enhanced reporting efficiency by reducing the time staff members spend manually compiling data. “Yardi Voyager reduces the friction of moving in, moving out, contacting maintenance and paying rent. These benefits make our communities more convenient and satisfying for our residents and solidifies our reputation as a leading residential services provider in Dubai,” said Mohamed Roushdy, head of technology for Dubai Asset Management. Learn more about Dubai Asset Management at dubaiam.ae/. Learn how Yardi serves property management companies across the Middle East at...

Recent world events surrounding COVID-19 have led us all to adopt new consumer behaviors, and it’s likely that many of these behaviors will stick. With that in mind, it might be time for us to revisit our approach to apartment tours. Did you know that 80% of renters seriously considered just four or fewer properties during their last apartment search, according to the  2020 NMHC/Kingsley Apartment Resident Preferences Report? And 38% of renters only toured one or two communities before making their rental decision. That number is likely to grow now that we’ve all grown accustomed to doing more online. So how do you get your property on renters’ short list — especially now that they’re more likely to be influenced by online content than in-person experiences — and secure more tours? Keep reading for three data-driven tips for getting more property tours, whether virtual, self-guided or led by an agent. Then, watch a video from our “Moments of Genius with Drew Davis” series to learn how you can create a better virtual experience to attract renters who are actively searching for apartments. Provide unit-level photos & details Renters in the same survey were asked, “What would you need to see online to rent an apartment without seeing it in person?” The top three answers were: 83% said unit photos 64% said community/amenity photos 64% said unit location within the community That’s right. Just like other online purchases, your prospects want to see exactly what they’re getting for their money. To get them to tour (or lease online, sight unseen), you need to make sure that your property website is attractive, user friendly and full of pictures, including an accurate property map. Unit-level photos and video tours create an experience that not only shows the unit but also builds a foundation of trust for your brand and leasing associates. Additionally, property maps with unit-specific locations help prospects envision life in their new home on your property. Are they close to the pool? Do they have a sunset view? The more supporting material you can provide, the quicker prospects will be able to mentally move-in. “Did you know that roughly 60% of searches are mobile? That means a lot of web visitors are viewing your site on their phones,” said Catriona Orosco, director for RENTCafé Reach. “Be sure to include vertical photos as well as horizontal ones to give them a better viewing experience.” Add online appointment scheduling & tour options 80% of renters said they would use online appointment scheduling in their next apartment search. Online appointment scheduling accommodates busy renters who don’t have time or simply don’t want to call during office hours. After all, consumers are used to booking everything from restaurant reservations to DMV appointments online. Data shows that self-scheduled appointments convert at a high rate. In fact, QuadReal, a RENTCafé client, found that 33% of its self-made appointments converted to leases. Additionally, another 59% of surveyed renters said they wanted self-navigated virtual tours, and 26% wanted real-time video tours done through FaceTime or a similar service. Adding these options to your website or as part of your leasing agent follow-ups will help you meet the needs of a greater range of renters. Offer self-guided tours Of the 370,000 survey participants in the NMHC study, 16% of renters said they would prefer a self-guided tour, while another 15% indicated no preference between self-guided or community-staffed tours. That’s almost 115,000 prospects who would happily tour your property unguided, expanding your tour offerings and giving your staff more time to assist guests and residents with urgent needs. And that study happened pre-pandemic. A more recent survey of 4,974 apartment shoppers on RentCafe.com revealed that 70% would take a self-guided tour now. Why do some prospects prefer self-guided tours? Their responses were almost equally divided between these four reasons: It’s more convenient for their schedule (to book tours outside...