Along with changing the way we do almost everything, 2020 caused multifamily operators to re-think their marketing and leasing strategies — including applicant screening. While most businesses have pivoted to online services and are seeing benefits including reduced operational costs, online resident screening requires some attention to ensure quality renters are selected and risk is minimized. The latest webcast of The Executive Brief series, Emerging Trends & Strategies in Resident Screening, tackles this very issue. In this session Patrick Hennessey, Yardi’s vice president overseeing ScreeningWorks Pro, talks to Sarah Ogelsby-Battle, president of residential at Beztak and Jennifer Hayward, vice president of transition management at Pennrose, about how they’ve adjusted their resident screening strategies during the pandemic and for the future. From national trends in apartment application data to fraud prevention, these industry pros share insights to help guide multifamily screening practices in 2021 and beyond. National Rental Application Trends While screening volumes were at a historic low from mid-March to mid-May in 2020, after reaching normal volumes by the end of May, the industry saw a spike with higher-than-ever volumes in July, August and September. According to Hennessey, “Not only did most of the people who weren’t in the rental market in March and April re-enter, but we also saw additional people entering the market.” Hennessey pointed out a few other interesting trends in rental applications including how and when they’re being submitted. “One of the interesting things we observed as things went virtual and people were doing self-guided tours and applying online, is we’ve been seeing fewer and fewer screenings on weekends and into Mondays, and a spike in screening and leasing activity on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.” He added that some clients have restructured their on-site team schedules as a result. With...

For its speed and efficiency, online leasing might be one of the best things that’s ever happened to property managers and renters. And with the current impact of COVID-19 on multifamily operators and renters alike, mobile tools and services that enable social distancing for necessary transactions are more valuable than ever. Renting sight unseen Prior to the pandemic, the 2020 NMHC/Kingsley Associates Apartment Resident Preferences Report found that 14% of respondents would rent without seeing an apartment in person. There’s no doubt that the number of unvisited rentals will explode with social distancing rules in place. But that comes with increased risk. In order for online leasing to support your bottom line by filling your units with quality residents, you need to be sure your applicants are who they claim to be. New technology can help you safely confirm the identity of your applicants online in just a matter of seconds. ID Verify is a smart software solution that quickly authenticates real world personal ID documents such as driver’s licenses and passports and it’s now accessible within the RentCafe leasing workflow. Protection that converts The right online services can help you sign leases with quality renters without meeting them in person. Customer journey statistics show that while engaging a customer in a mobile transaction, if you require them to leave the channel to provide documentation, such as a personal ID for a rental application, the abandonment rate can be as high as 90%. Allowing applicants to provide ID documents online as part of the leasing process can make a big difference in your conversion rates. ID Verify harnesses computer vision and artificial intelligence technologies to automatically classify, extract and authenticate ID documents within seconds. Automated verifications For optimal processing, guided document capture helps applicants...

Identifying quality residents will keep your long-term costs low. Low occupancy rates in the current Canadian rental market allow property managers to focus on selecting the most desirable residents for their vacancies. It is important, however, to make quality selections quickly before those ideal prospects sign a lease elsewhere! Explore how technology can help you efficiently sign leases with the right residents. Know your applicants Basic credit checks aren’t enough to get to know prospective renters. Add a range of inquiries to screening process to give you deeper insights that help mitigate risk—without slowing down the process. “A more robust screening process doesn’t have to be time consuming. Online, automated applicant screening improves speed, data access, and accuracy. Your screening software should integrate with your property management platform for full transparency,” suggests Peter Altobelli, vice president and general manager of Yardi Canada. Screen confidently Regardless of income, prospective renters need to be held to the same screening standards. Equifax credit data, criminal and court records, fraud checks, employment and rental histories are all important sources of information to properly evaluate an applicant. “Consider adding Certn as well to your screening process as well. Certn is the world’s largest risk relevant database, uses data from thousands of publicly available records and incorporates artificial intelligence and machine learning to evaluate prospects,” Altobelli says. Certn data includes high-risk behaviors, criminal and court records from 240 countries, 350 Canadian court boards and tribunals, adverse media, eviction records, watch lists and social media profiles. Understand the benefits  Advanced screening technology that analyzes a range of reliable data can help you consistently choose quality residents. When that technology integrates with your leasing and accounting platform, it brings additional benefits. “An integrated screening solution compares your screening process with the overall...

Property managers using Yardi’s ScreeningWorks Pro solution have a new tool for making resident screening faster and more reliable. The Work Number® from Equifax enables instant online verification of current employment status and payroll income and eliminates reliance on applicant-provided pay stubs and federal W-2 forms. “We are very excited to join forces with Yardi to offer instant verifications to the rent community utilizing The Work Number database,” says Tom Ciulla, vice president of enterprise alliances at Equifax, which manages the nation’s largest repository of verified income and employment information. “Available for the first time in rental markets, these solutions will not only help speed up the application process, but greatly assist the consumer and property manager with each transaction.” Patrick Hennessey, vice president of resident screening for Yardi, adds, “Without online access to verified income data, property managers could spend hours tracking down current and legitimate pay stubs. The Work Number is a great service that helps ScreeningWorks Pro clients reduce fraud and speed up the approval of qualified applicants.” The Work Number database houses employment records contributed by tens of thousands of employers nationwide, including 82% of the Fortune 500, a rapidly increasing number of small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) and the majority of the federal government’s civilian employers. See how companies are finding success with ScreenWorks Pro, a comprehensive solution that includes credit reports, rental history and other publicly reportable civil or criminal records....

Amanda Smeltzer, executive director at Banyan Living, reports, “Yardi Resident Screening streamlines our screening process with easy to read reports and automatic renter approvals. The solution makes life easy for our staff, while it provides convenience for our customers.” As part of our mission to keep delivering solutions that help our Yardi clients succeed, enhancements to the popular Yardi Resident Screening module were recently released. Clients already know that approving quality residents automatically as part of their leasing workflow with Yardi Resident Screening saves time and money. Now, the system includes even more features to help clients not only easily select low risk residents who improve their bottom line, but also get more detailed analytics about individual applicants, local area renters and overall property performance. Single sign-on and better UI: now with a single sign-on from Yardi Voyager, a fully responsive UI and an enhanced Executive Dashboard, clients can work more quickly, access needed data instantly and navigate the entire system with greater ease. Fee Manager functionality: a new “fee manager” compatibility feature conveniently shows all of a fee manager’s Yardi Resident Screening analytics under one account, even if they operate from multiple owners’ Voyager databases. Criminal conviction details and improved accuracy: when an applicant is rejected based on the criminal background check, the system now provides detail about the type of conviction(s) that resulted in the rejection. And to continue to ensure and improve accuracy, applicant middle names will be required for all screenings starting in early 2017. New reports and deeper insight: to make the daily lives of property managers and owners easier than ever, more reports are available, and a new property performance feature provides a snapshot of application volume and demographic information. And to discover which local employers provide the...

Patrick Hennessey, Vice President and General Manager at Yardi, joined the team in 2010 as an expert in screening software. He found Yardi’s small company feel and large company resources appealing.  “We have a great team of people, cutting edge technology, and the efficiencies that a company the size of Yardi are able to attain with support teams on both coasts and flexible hours for our clients,” says Hennessey. Hennessey leads the Yardi Resident Screening team in honing and refining online screening software for multifamily clients. The team introduced the product to Canadian markets earlier this year. Benefits of Yardi Resident Screening Hennessey’s focus, Yardi Resident Screening, helps leasing agents select and retain low-risk residents. The system facilitates: comprehensive reports reliable data automated recommendations insights into applicant traffic applicant and resident performance reporting improved efficiencies Hennessey explains, “We do a few key things to help our clients through Resident Screening. First, we help our clients make the best possible leasing decisions. We do that by helping them find more high quality applicants and fewer low quality applicants. Thus we help them maximize revenue by minimizing unwarranted financial risks.” He continues, “Additionally, we limit their legal exposure by using a neutral third party for their screening process. That ensure that the applicants’ rights are protected and that they are given a fair opportunity in the leasing process.” In addition to increased consistency in the selection process of their residents, property managers who adopt Yardi Resident Screening can expect cost savings as a result of improved efficiencies in the leasing office. Rather than requesting a credit report and scoring it by hand, users execute tasks online. Added Security The efficiency and convenience of online leasing has directly influenced the demand for resident screening tools. With Resident...

For many consumers, the credit reporting industry is key to achieving important milestones — including buying a car, getting a job, and leasing a home. And when it comes to renting an apartment, property managers typically prefer applicants with a record of paying rent on time (even if they’ve made a few late payments on their credit card bills). But what about new renters or renters who are looking to build or rebuild their credit history? Thanks to a new collaboration between Yardi and Experian RentBureau, rent payments can now be used to build credit history. Yardi has worked with Experian RentBureau to launch an interface that helps renters build credit history by having their rental payments reported to Experian RentBureau. “We are on a mission to broaden opportunities for consumers to gain access to the credit marketplace,” said Emily Christiansen, director of Experian RentBureau. “By working with Yardi, we are significantly expanding the number of consumers who can benefit from having their rental payments reported, which can make a real impact in the daily lives of renters nationwide.” In addition to the benefits for consumers, property managers who furnish rental payment history data to Experian RentBureau gain enhanced protection from lease skips, a faster debt-recovery process and more residents paying rent in a timely manner. Yardi clients simply sign up with Experian RentBureau to have their rental payment history data reported automatically from Yardi Voyager®. “We are dedicated to continually improving our platforms and services to further meet the evolving needs of our clients,” said Patrick Hennessey, vice president and general manager of Resident Screening at Yardi. “Adding the capability to report valuable rental payment data to Experian RentBureau through a seamless process will help our clients manage their portfolios more efficiently and enhance...