The Future of the Rental Industry
Our understanding of the rental market continues to evolve. Maybe not as fast as our more technology centric industries, but we move nonetheless at an inevitable rate whether we see it or not. We all have an honest desire for innovation, greater collaboration and affordability.
More recently, Centralized Leasing has become a hot topic of innovation within the growing rental market. Why? Because it’s evolving our idea of how we engage our tenant audience potentially before they even begin seeking a new home. As we learn more about this process, we’re beginning to see a reduction of cost, time and headaches we may have thought simply par for the course. Evolving the way we operate throughout the early days of consumer engagement, however, cannot be the whole story. The mere narrative leaves so much opportunity unmet. What, once a consumer has been brought through the process of leasing an apartment, are we not covering in this new narrative?
Together, let’s uncover a more advanced perspective. One that doesn’t exclusively focus on how we can change the leasing experience for the property management team but that includes the resident and other service teams. Then, maybe it can benefit your portfolio by putting real innovation to use. We’ll follow up with more information about how you can take the idea of Centralized Leasing well beyond today’s aspirations and into the future of what we’re calling Ecosystem Centralization (open to better terminology suggestions).
First: What Is Centralized Leasing
Recently, centralized leasing gained popularity across the enterprise rental industry. This concept centralizes leasing and operations staff into one or more regional sites.
This strategy has gained appeal due to several variables. Certainly, digital adoption, connection and capabilities have been spurred on by the pandemic and have accelerated this narrative. Regardless, the necessity to run more efficiently, to scale technology, and recent increases in asset buying and selling activities have caused properties and tenants to change hands. In a recent conversation with Barry Blanton, President of IREM, he noted, the workforce wants better scheduling, pay, assignments of responsibility along with the occasional option to work from home if appropriate. No different than what we’re seeing across every industry that can allow it.
A centralized leasing strategy allows on-site personnel to operate remotely, simplifies a tenant’s hunt for an apartment, and reduces operational costs. This paradigm can only be accomplished effectively with larger management companies, the correct people and implementation of the right technology.
What’s centralized leasing?
For centralized leasing to succeed, property management businesses must consolidate lease activity from various properties. Centralized leasing isn’t meant to reduce your number of team members.. rather to reposition the responsibilities of existing team members. The idea is for teams to perform more efficiently under flexible working conditions and not feel over worked.
Let’s imagine a tenant discovers your unit online but notices it doesn’t have a gym or WFH conference center. A centralized leasing strategy would enable this leasing agent to be connected with most, if not all, other communities in the portfolio surrounding the specified region. The agency can then rent another amenity-equipped unit to the same prospect. This helps tenants with their apartment search and helps the sister property in their leasing efforts.
Centralized leasing benefits
Property management organizations have to keep competitive with virtual workforces and the Great Resignation. These firms trial a centralized leasing approach. Centralized leasing advantages (as identified by Realync) over traditional leasing.
Reduce duplicate guest card entry
Retain quality staff
Create appealing work schedules and hours with weekends off
Increase compensation
Improve renting
Allow employees to specialize
Reduce service staff on-call hours
Convert more leases (lead-to-lease or tour-to-rental)
Scale up and cut expenses
Each organization’s centralization model will vary dependent on geography, manpower, tech systems, and other considerations.
Clients of Leasera automatically have insight into their lead to lease operations as well as a comprehensive set of tools that help the leasing and management team to offer a consistent experience from search through stay through service.
Today’s apartment marketing strategy goes against how the consumer usually shops. This diminishes each residential community’s “brand value” and requires far greater advertising costs to stand out.
This is called Centralized Leasing.
Finally: What Is A Centralized Ecosystem
It’s not easy to compete in today’s rental market. We’re all pretty much working with the same tools everyone else is. However, recent advancements in digital innovation and adoption elude to potentially new beginnings. Once our industry figures out the immense value that can be unlocked by allowing a different and fully centralized ecosystem to operate within, there will be a rush for the door(s).
Enter a new era of renting, Ecosystem Centralization. A hyper efficient, more affordable and more collaborative rental market. One that allows operators, service professionals and renters to exist together in a true state of alignment. Yes, a full tear down of the walled gardens of yesterday.
Full ecosystem alignment hasn’t been possible until now. For decades, we’ve been beholden to several major, legacy property management software companies. These companies were built prior to any significant shift towards consumer demand and ancillary service inclusion (think dog walking, ride share, food delivery and more). In other words, it was all about the property and it’s no wonder innovation is only just now considering centralization an important narrative. A narrative that will only offer impact at the leasing phase of a much bigger opportunity at hand.
The harsh reality is that aside from only being a small part of a greater picture, implementing Centralized Leasing is altogether impossible for smaller to medium sized property management firms. Experiencing the collaborative power that larger companies have simply is non-starter. If the smaller property manager can’t support the needs of the applicant, that applicant is forced to look for another home elsewhere. The property manager sees no benefit from the interaction and must continue to spend money on marketing through third party their vacancy.
They can’t collaborate with the greater property management industry around them or leverage information the way larger enterprise property management companies can. However, full ecosystem centralization can and will eventually be attained through purpose built platforms that understand today’s dynamic. Collaboration will be experienced across search, service and stay and strategies at the property level will become more dynamic and personalized as a result of better tools.
The benefits are going to be well beyond what we ever thought possible from an NOI, scalability and consumer satisfaction perspective. Additionally, it’ll be beneficial for our communities at large due to a more inclusive atmosphere where service professionals and local retail will experience a deeper connection to those living or managing within their area.
Though we will witness a tidal wave of innovation, here are few new opportunities we’re excited to experience across the rental market:
Cross company collaboration
Reduced vacancy rates across markets
Stronger local commerce through access compensation
Reduction in misaligned operational costs
More loyaly, longer term tenants
More flexible duration
Identification of new revenue streams
Less burdened, happier staff through task and service outsourcing
Scale management businesses and portfolios faster
Currently, even a company with a Centralized Leasing system still leaves their new tenant high and dry of the personalized, higher touch experience they received when they signed the lease. However, now, in an era of Ecosystem Centralization, that consumer will come to understand that the level of care and consideration didn’t simply stop the moment they committed to paying rent.
They are now welcomed into a lifestyle where property managers support their property related needs and the community comes in to support the tenant with their various other needs on-demand and affordably. The property manager, large or small, doesn’t have to pay more and more per unit to leverage these tools because they are curated and supported by the community all through a Centralized Ecosystem.
The time for total alignment is here and major advancements are about to be felt across the rental industry. Many have eluded to certain benefits and at the enterprise level, some of these benefits can be experienced if you’re willing to pay for them. The extent of these solutions simply won’t be attainable to those leveraging management systems that don’t lend to a more open and accessible mentality towards value add partnerships, information and service.
The new era is exciting and countless service partners, property managers and tenants will experience rewards and benefits simply not possible before. It’s a great time to scale your property management business, to serve and to enjoy the lifestyle that is renting.
This is just the beginning of the power of a Centralized Ecosystem.
LEASERA is the only rental ecosystem, offering a unified management suite equipped with an on-demand rental marketplace and loyalty program. We integrate connected travel accommodations and direct-to-door services like dog walking, food delivery and ride share to our property management clients and their consumer communities. We enable fast moving property owners and a dynamic renter demographic with benefits and options needed for today. By serving our property management companies, and property investment groups, as well as our partnerships with hotels, travel rentals, investment groups and more, LEASERA has ushered the rental market into a new era.
LEASERA offers our PMC clients added value across their long term rental portfolios with a core, SaaS free, consumer-loyalty, an intelligent leasing-as-a-service platform with an integrated marketplace of supportive tools and service providers. Consumers gain rewards and empowerment and flexibility. LEASERA is a portfolio company of Second Century Ventures, was named Plug and Play’s top 50 Proptech Innovations, CREtech’s Hot List as one of the “Top Companies to Discover in Real Estate” and as a “Leading tech site to discover” and has been dubbed years ahead of the market by industry investors, professionals and insiders.
This is a new life on leasing. Learn more at www.leasera.com
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