There are more people renting today than at any point in the last 50 years. It’s no mystery that the rental market is vital to our economy. Equally obvious, the rental market is highly dysfunctional whether you’re talking about residents, managers or service access. Traditionally, a lack of collaboration across property manager, service group and consumer weren’t intentional. Frankly, they weren’t considered a thing in the first place. I’m taking a moment to discuss the dynamics of this fast moving market, how it’s changing and how we might approach new solutions to support a more productive future. Some discoveries may surprise you while others may seem, well… painfully obvious.
MARKET DRIVERS
If you look at the macro rental market (both sectors long and short term, the consumer-renter, and the growing vendor and services marketplace), it no longer looks like it did even 5 years ago. It used to be those that owned and operated rental properties had only to focus on the operation of that property and to make sure that operation was profitable. The systems and operational responsibilities consisted of handing out 12, 18 or 24 month leases, handling maintenance issues, reporting and accounting.. that’s it.
Now, operating rentals goes well beyond the typical duration of leases and responsibilities now stretch well beyond walls of the property. The idea of operations now includes a responsibility to the community at large and the social, physical and financial wellbeing of your consumer-renters. (Note I said, “consumer-renter”.. not renter. We must understand the narrative shift.)
And what about renters? Since renting was a thing, the relationship has looked like this. “Renter, you give me money and I’ll give you temporary shelter and a set of stiff terms that if perceived to be broken in any way, I will show you the door!” Yet, you aren’t technically doing them a favor. You’re entering into a business relationship with this person where they’re supporting your business by purchasing a service. The renter demographic is shifting drastically and has become a vibrant part of our economy from on-demand services, to travel, to investments and more. We’re only just now beginning to recognize and adapt to this monumental shift in the relationship dynamic.
All across the world, on-demand services like dog walking app Rover, ride share app Uber, food delivery from Instacart and consumer focused financial services like Lemonade and Robinhood have become household brand names all targeting the growing, highly dynamic renter demographic. These services aren’t just for consumers though, they’re also perfectly positioned to fill the gaps within property management as well. We’d include all of the above as well as IoT like Latch or SmartRent and professional services like Porch or Pro.com.
Whether a small DIY property owner or a fast scaling multifamily portfolio manager, handling varied demands of a property go well beyond the property itself. These responsibilities also surpass the time you realistically have for day to day tasks or even the staff you might consider hiring if you plan on remaining profitable. It comes down to focusing on those tasks that you are positioned to succeed at and deciding which technology you use to meet today’s demands. We need to maximize our efforts on behalf of community and consumer by allowing innovation to pull us forward and solve for a long awaited flywheel opportunity. In rentals that comes only by figuring out what needs a property manager, service professional and consumer ultimately share in common goals.
MARKET CHANGES
As a society we now travel more, are required to own less cars, and food is delivered directly to our door within minutes. As individuals, we can invest like a large financial institution. Consumers now regularly spend money on countless direct to door services such as dog walking, ride share, food delivery and other financial services and they’re shown appreciation and customer service when they do. So why should renting.. a business relationship where renters can spend 30% or at times nearly 100% of their income in a given month be any different?
It wouldn’t be reasonable to think that a property manager is all of a sudden going to be able to solve for the demands of the property, community, the vendors they work with and the consumer renter all at the same time. Yet, that’s how complex the industry has become. Consumers know they deserve better but we deal with a significant bottle neck across our market.
The property management software of today is too fragmented to support such needs. It’s become a slow moving ship, rooted in a legacy business model that never accounted for the market changes we’re seeing today. Mainly changes around consumer demand and the on demand service economy. The lack of services, access and appreciation renting offers to consumers has very little to do with the property managers themselves. I’ve personally spoken to hundreds, if not thousands of property managers and the resounding truth is that they really do care about their renters. Unfortunately, the cards are stacked against them in the form of continuously increasing fees per unit, software that is too short sighted to support their clients’ relationship with the service community and an inability to access thoughtful financial services that provide flexibility to their consumer.
MARKET SOLUTION
Imagine whether you’re a property manager, service group or consumer, you can go to a single platform to engage with the entire rental network collaboratively under a shared mission. Well, we just created that very solution. Once you enter the network, you instantly have the tools to efficiently connect and directly access what you need at an affordable rate. As a matter of fact, the value only increases the more you engage.
A few real world scenarios:
A consumer found the unit they loved and chose to schedule a tour. Instantly, they realized something was different when they received loyalty points for setting up and completing the tour. Then, the property manager personalized an offer to go along with signing the lease in the form of two free food deliveries and a highly discounted gym membership for the next year. As it turned out, the appreciation didn’t stop there as they received loyalty points for every month the rent payment came in on time. During their stay they were able to access other benefits including 2 hotel bookings, credit bureaus reporting and a maintenance request for a leaky faucet all within their renter’s portal. The idea of renting elsewhere is nonexistent because they’d never give up the value of where they live and ability to travel seamlessly.
A property manager decides their property management software isn’t meeting their needs. It’s super complex, expensive and they need to find a new way of engaging their tenants more effectively. When they found Leasera, they were met with a much different pitch. No ongoing SaaS fees, a more flexible management approach to duration and service and new tools to solve for a dynamic property and consumer base. They also learn that they are opened up to a different relationship with their applicants and existing residents. Now, they have a loyalty program, hotels and other services at their disposal to retain their residents. They now have a much bigger tool belt. Fast forward, they operate with more affordability, have a stronger and more personalized relationship with consumers and save a ton of money. They can leverage the skills of an on-demand services community around them to fill administrative and service gaps directly from their management portal.
A service group, focused on house cleaning has been operating in their market for over 10 years. They’ve used paid ads, Craigslist, Angie’s List and more with limited success. Having found Leasera, they set up a service portal to see what it was all about. Within the first week, several residents as well as one property manager had all sent in booking requests within their service area. They saved huge on time vetting inbound calls and marketing. Now, all they have to do is accept a structured request and they have access to a massive multifamily funnel. The property is better taken care of, through their management portal scheduling software, for less money. The consumers all have a reliable source of service offered directly through their renter’s portal at a discount making it easy and reliable.
Imagine a scenario where each user group has a massive incentive to support and help the other succeed. Leasera has enabled this chain reaction in a really unique way. Find out what it means to be a part of a unified rental market at www.leasera.com, and discover a new life on leasing.
LEASERA is the only rental platform offering a unified management suite equipped with an on-demand rental marketplace and loyalty system. 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 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.
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