Efficiency Unlocked

RentCafe for Affordable Housing

By Erica Rascón on Feb 27, 2018 in Technology

Linda Greenwaldt, an IT specialist with CommonBond Communities, has a well-rounded understanding of the affordable housing industry. She has turned units and worked her way up to help manage properties. Her career path has given her a unique perspective to her current role in IT. She asked, “What can we do to make the process more efficient, for prospects, residents, and staff?”

Yardi RentCafe for subsidized housing is a robust multifamily marketing and leasing platform. It simplifies marketing, SEO, SEM, online leasing, and resident engagement. Greenwaldt and the CommonBond team saw the potential for RentCafe to simplify operations for prospects, residents, and staff.

CommonBond recently implemented RentCafe. The nonprofit organization is rolling out the software to its 11,000 residents at a pace of about five properties every two weeks, beginning with property websites and resident-facing services.

“It’s a lot easier in RentCafe,” says Greenwaldt. “We’re to the point now where the websites are awesome.”

CommonBond’s new property websites include modern layouts, user-friendly navigation, easy access to floor plans and pricing information. When prospects are ready to make a decision, online leasing is available.

“I really like the way it all works in RentCafe. It’s so much easier to manage RentCafe marketing than lots of separate components. I’m not a web designer, but I can throw myself in RentCafe and achieve consistency between sites,” says Greenwaldt.

RentCafe goes beyond prospects’ first steps to improve the resident experience. In the RentCafe resident portal, renters can file and track maintenance requests, receive updates on community message boards, and access a variety of ways to pay their rent.

“I’m loving the resident experience in RentCafe. Residents have so many options in how to pay,” says Greenwaldt. “Credit card payments, ACH payments, reoccurring payments, Walk In Payments (WIPS). We get a lot of that.”

CommonBond’s Skyline property is home to roughly 700 units. Most of the residents do not have checking accounts.  Residents are able to pay securely using WIPS. Leasing office staff does not have to handle or store cash, issue receipts, or enter payment data. Electronic confirmations are automatically sent to Yardi Voyager the next business day and funds are available within three business days.

“When you look at the numbers that we’re doing, that’s four or five large batches that the resident manager isn’t entering,” says Greenwaldt.

The flexible features in RentCafe benefit the organization’s staff in multiple ways.  Online leasing and payments minimize redundant data entry and room for human error, making the leasing process faster for property staff. RentCafe’s integration to Voyager streamlines and simplifies accounting for back office staff.

“My favorite feature is cash management, though you wouldn’t really think that if you looked at our cases,” laughs Greenwaldt. “We’re more proactive now. We’ve figure out what we need to make the process smoother.”

Interested in creating a smoother process for your prospects, residents, and staff? Learn more about RentCafe for subsidized housing.