Integrated online marketing, resident services and reporting increase leasing opportunities and occupancy
SANTA BARBARA, CALIF., Jan. 7, 2015 – For multifamily property operator Post Properties Inc., adopting the Yardi Multifamily Suite™ was a matter of meeting demand with supply. “Our millennial customers want the convenience of online services, so the suite is a huge benefit for us,” said Laura VanLoh, senior vice president, Post Apartment Management.
RentCafe™, a full online leasing and resident services solution, is part of the Yardi Multifamily Suite and forms the basis for a prospective resident’s crucial first impression. “The branding is consistent with our website, so prospects don’t know they’re leaving Post Properties and entering RentCafe,” said Janet Ham, vice president of information technology for Post Properties. “Full integration with our Yardi Voyager® property management and accounting system means we enter information about apartment units once, not multiple times.”
She added, “In a recent month, with RentCafe we surpassed the number of online leases over the same month the previous year, even though it wasn’t fully deployed. Customers can easily choose their units, complete the screening process, pay any required fees, and soon have the unit of their dreams.”
After moving in, residents can submit service requests, pay rent and renew leases in RentCafe. “All the things that they previously had to either call or come in the office for, they can do now online,” VanLoh said.
Post’s Yardi Multifamily Suite also includes Yardi LeasingPad CRM™, a mobile solution for leasing managers that lets them complete any leasing task from any location. “LeasingPad CRM is great for our leasing agents. They can pull up real-time unit availability from Voyager on their mobile devices right in front of a prospect, narrow the search and take him to the property,” VanLoh said. “If that unit won’t work out for some reason, the agent can pull up other possibilities with LeasingPad CRM. In Dallas, for example, we have 11 communities in a one-mile radius, so it’s easy to narrow the search again on the spot and suggest other properties, without waiting and risking losing the prospect. It’s been a great advantage.”
Once a prospect is ready to lease, integration comes into play again with ResidentShield® Protection Plan™, a renters insurance program that prospects can select during the online application process. “We require insurance for our renters, and ResidentShield is great for efficiency because all prospect information automatically populates into Voyager. Our previous system took so much time because associates had to hand-key information into a third party system. Now, it’s automatic, it’s simple, it’s fast, it’s streamlined, so there’s no work, no fuss,” Ham said. “We’ve been very pleased with the results so far.”
“Getting really good reports on our occupants’ insurance status and alerts that tell us when policies will expire is a great tool for our onsite teams,” VanLoh said. “When we file a claim, we can easily pull up the resident’s account in Voyager and include pictures and other information, which is very time-efficient.”
VanLoh added, “The Multifamily Suite gives us transparent financial reporting and drill-through, from the general ledger all the way to resident payments. We didn’t have this previously and it’s a huge time-saver for our onsite associates and accounting team. We’ve been able to eliminate entire procedures and areas of responsibility, allowing associates to focus on cutting expenses and increasing revenue rather than on low-value tasks.”
About Post Properties Inc.
Atlanta-based Post Properties Inc. (NYSE:PPS) is a leading developer and operator of upscale multifamily apartment communities, with a total market capitalization of over $3 billion. The company operates as a real estate investment trust whose primary business consists of developing and managing Post brand name apartment communities for its own account. For more information, visit www.postproperties.com.
About Yardi
Now in its fourth decade, Yardi® is committed to the design, development and support of software for real estate investment management and property management. With the Yardi Multifamily Suite™, Yardi Commercial Suite™, Yardi Investment Suite™ and Yardi Orion™ Business Intelligence, the Yardi Voyager® platform is a complete real estate management solution. It includes operations, accounting and ancillary processes and services with portfolio-wide business intelligence and platform-wide mobility. Yardi is based in Santa Barbara, Calif., and serves clients worldwide from offices in North America, Asia, Australia, Europe and the Middle East. For more information, visit www.yardi.com.