With 82% of renters planning on moving in the next 12 months, this leasing season is more competitive than ever. Now is the time to evolve your leasing and retention strategy to make the most of demand. Join us for the second session of our KPI Series, where we’ll share the leasing KPIs every property manager should track, and show how having automated and self-service features built into your property management software can help you streamline your leasing flow and better serve your residents.
[KADDATZ]
Good morning and afternoon everybody.
I am Matt Kaddatz, a member of the AppFolio team and one of your co-presenters for today, and I want to welcome you to today’s Webinar on Leasing KPIs Every Property Manager Should Track.
This is the second instalment of our KPI series this year, and we’re excited to highlight leasing to help improve your business.
[KADDATZ]
Good morning and afternoon everybody.
I am Matt Kaddatz, a member of the AppFolio team and one of your co-presenters for today, and I want to welcome you to today’s Webinar on Leasing KPIs Every Property Manager Should Track.
[KADDATZ]
… I want to introduce myself, and Matt Raphaelian, your presenters for today.
I am the Senior Director of Product at AppFolio and have spent the past 15 years working in the property management industry with experiences including founding and operating a property management company, as well as building technology for property management companies. In my current role, I am responsible for ensuring AppFolio is continually building innovative tools that help property management businesses like yours grow and become more efficient.
On the personal side, my family adopted two rescue dogs a few weeks ago so we’ve had a busy January welcoming them into our family.
Co-presenting we have Matt Raphaelian, Matt, I will had it to you for an intro.
Associate Manager of Solutions Engineering at AppFolio who knows property management software inside and out and will be walking through how a modern, complete property management solution can streamline your critical leasing workflows.
[mention a fun component - big plans for the summer?]
[KADDATZ]
As we ramp up for summer, we wanted to talk about leasing. What to measure, what to track and do you have systems in place to do so.
[KADDATZ]
So real quick, who are we and why should you listen to us?
[KADDATZ]
We have 15 years of experience in developing award-winning software designed for single-family and multifamily property managers, and community association managers. And we have over 6 million units managed on our platform today.
But we are not just a software provider, we are a true technology partner, and our customer connections are the heart of our culture. They are the backbone of how we fuel innovation, service, success, and growth.
Listening to our customers is in our DNA, and we continually ask for feedback to help innovate on our technology solutions and release features that YOU really want and need.
[KADDATZ]
Those features we build with customers in mind creates one powerful platform for you and your business. We hold central having remarkable service, exceptional ease-of-use, and groundbreaking innovation to help your business succeed.
Today, we’ll be focusing on Leasing. If you are interested in learning more about any of the areas that make up our platform, please fill out the survey as you exit the session and request to speak to a product expert and get a customized demo of our full solution.
But enough about us…let’s dive in to today’s topic.
[Kaddatz]
To gauge how you are all feeling today, let’s take a quick poll - I want to know, what is your biggest leasing-related challenge?
[KRISTINE LAUNCH POLL]
Reducing vacancy
Measuring overall leasing performance
Unit turns
Increasing renewals
Other - type it in the chat
Alright, we’ll leave this up for about 20 seconds…[ad lib]
Great, we’ll close that out and take a look at the results here for a second or two…
[POLL RESULTS CHATTER - Ok, let’s dive in to today’s content and we’ll cover each of these challenges and how to address them. But first let’s cover maybe the most obvious but important process - which is optimizing your leasing flow. ]
[KADDATZ]
The first step in in the your leasing flow is advertise your units. With a tool like AppFolio you can create listing for vacant units and automatically push them to listing websites. We’ve seen customers get a 7d improvement on days vacant just by using our tool. What is important to look for when evaluating software is how easy it is to get your listings on multiple ILS sites with a click of a button.
[KADDATZ]
Next, communicate with leads as they come in. You track your guest cards by lead source and quickly content them to convert into showings. Auto responders, prequal questionnaires and easy text communication are vital to making this happen in todays modern world.
[KADDATZ]
Turn around those conversations and schedule showings. One of the best ways to allow a customer to have a showing is let them schedule it themselves. It’s helpful in this market to offer flexibility to both potential tenants and your staff with virtual showings.
[KADDATZ]
Next, you’ll process applications. You should be able to customize your online applications which can be completed from anywhere on any mobile device.
[KADDATZ]
Next, screen tenants. This is something you’ll want to standardize your criteria for and automatically flag fraudulent information without manual verification. With an automated process, you’ll be able to screen tenants quicker and with less manual effort from you and your staff.
[KADDATZ]
Next, if all goes well you’re signing leases! Create a master lease to send to ever renter and easily allow all parties to sign electronically. No need for paper pushing or the delay that comes with doing things manually.
[KADDATZ]
Then the final step in your flow is managing move-in. With the right tool you can quickly prepare an inspection report and upload pictures on your mobile device - storing it directly in your system.
[KADDATZ]
At the end of the day - this is how your leasing flow should look. As I just mentioned in the previous slides - AppFolio can help you with each step of this process. But when looking at optimizing your leasing flow, you should ultimately be looking at your north star which is to reduce days vacant.
Reducing days vacant is the goal of any leasing team. You want to make sure you have the highest occupancy possible by attracting the right tenants and making sure you’re a well oiled machine of a team. In the following slides, I’ll go over the main KPIs for reducing days vacant and Matt will show you how AppFolio can help you achieve this goal.
[Kaddatz]
The first KPI I want to cover today is that contributes to our overall north star is Leasing Performance. The goal of tracking this KPI is to see which leasing agents are attracting the most leads to see the ROI of your leasing efforts.
[Kaddatz]
According to the Zumper 2021 Annual Rent Report, 82% of renters are planning to move in the next 12 months. This stat proves the point that tracking your leasing performance is as important as ever for your business to maximize the opportunity of this trend. Making sure your technology solution and your leasing flow is optimized as soon as possible can lead to increased occupancy and also fewer headaches on your end.
[Kaddatz]
What are the metrics that matter when it comes to leasing performance? First is leasing activity. Property managers need a tool to show total number of leads, showings, applications, and leases. When your technology tracks this for you, you and your staff are able to identify outliers and pinpoint areas of improvement to maximize your efforts
The next metric you want to track is inquiries by source. Visibility into attributing number of prospect inquiries for specific units, properties, or campaigns to their source - such as listing sites - is very important to gaining understanding the ROI of your marketing efforts to ensure you’re getting the most for your marketing spending.
Finally future occupancy. Measuring the leases needed to reach your 95% occupancy metric with leasing conversations gives your leasing teams tangible targets to meet occupancy goals, which of course is imperative to reducing days vacant.
[MATT R.]
Insert your own talk track
[Kaddatz]
Before Matt dives into the product to show you what this looks like in AppFolio I want to go over the second KPI - turn performance.
[Kaddatz]
Let’s dive into biggest challenges with it comes to unit turns and take a poll. What is the biggest challenge you face when turning units?
[KRISTINE LAUNCH POLL]
Tracking status of various turn tasks across units
Coordinating vendors and timing
Managing turn-related documents
Other
Alright, we’ll leave this up for about 20 seconds…[ad lib]
Great, we’ll close that out and take a look at the results here for a second or two…
[POLL RESULTS CHATTER - Ok, let’s cover each of these challenges]
[Kaddatz]
The first challenge is tracking turn tasks across units. As you all know, a lot of work goes into turning a unit from work orders and other unit turn details. With AppFolio you can:
Post recurring work orders to a unit turn
Unit turn detail reports give insights into the unit turn process
Easily check the status of unit turns across units
Work order reports can be viewed to check status, associated unit, and work order amount
This allows you to make unit turns more efficient and manage the status and costs around work orders in one central location.
[Kaddatz]
Next is coordinating vendors and timing. This can make or break with unit turns depending on how much work needs to be done with the unit. With a system like AppFolio you can:
Vendor portal allows contractors to do all their documentation in one place
Schedule with tenant’s preferred times
Communicate directly in the platform
Having a system to manage multiple vendors and scheduling helps to make sure you aren’t increasing days vacant on a unit purely from scheduling errors.
[Kaddatz]
The last challenge I’ll review before Matt shows us how to AppFolio can help is managing turn related documents. With an outdated system or with no system at all, it can be really easy to lose time because of manual effort needed to push the process along.
Alright Matt - over to you!
[MATT R.]
Insert your own talk track
[Kaddatz]
The final KPI I want to cover today is Renewal Performance. Maintaining occupancy year over year is essential for success. It is far easier and more profitable for your residents to stay in order to avoid risky vacancies, expensive and time consuming turnovers, and marketing efforts to attract new tenants. Ideally you want this process to be as streamlined as possible and the best way to do that is remove as much friction as you can in the renewal process.
[Kaddatz]
Before we dive into some lease renewal strategies, I would love to hear what incentives you offer to increase renewal rates. Let’s take a poll to hear how you all are making an impact on renewal rates.
[KRISTINE LAUNCH POLL]
Gift cards to local restaurants
Rent reductions
Flexible lease terms
Other - type it in the chat!
Alright, we’ll leave this up for about 20 seconds…[ad lib]
Great, we’ll close that out and take a look at the results here for a second or two…
[POLL RESULTS CHATTER - Let’s take a look at some ways you can improve your lease renewal strategy and how features in AppFolio can help.]
[Kaddatz]
Renewal performance is key to maintaining occupancy and reducing days vacant. We’ve seen some of the ways you all are incentivizing your residents to renew but let’s look at 5 key components to strengthen your renewal strategy. First provide flexible lease terms Allowing residents to choose the best offer for their needs can make it easier for them to want to stay. That increase in flexibility of terms gives a resident first approach and can help sign more renewals.
[Kaddatz]
Bring renewals to the renter. Getting head of the conversation with renters can help create a more seamless experience. You can send, track, and countersign lease renewals online through the online portal in AppFolio making it a quick and easy process and really helpful to have everything in one place.
[Kaddatz]
Reach out to your residents. Keeping up the conversation with residents ahead of their renewal can help the continual nurture of the relationship. You can also set automatic reminders 7 days prior to the renewal date.
[Kaddatz]
Last but not least. Use data to your advantage. Through AppFolio you can access the Renewal Summary Report to find insights on renewal performance over time. And I’ll actually pass it over to Matt who will walk through how you can do this in AppFolio.
Back over to you Matt!
[MATT R.]
Insert your own talk track
[Kaddatz]
Let’s review the areas I walked through today:
Optimizing your leasing flow can help you reduce days vacant
The first KPI you can track to reduce days vacant is leasing performance through tracking which agents and methods are working for you
Turn performance can help you identify areas for improvement and streamline processes to help you turn units faster and smoother
And finally - tracking renewal performance and placing the right incentives in place for renewal can contribute to higher occupancy rates
All of these are extremely important and all can be done through AppFolio
[Kaddatz]
Just to emphasize how AppFolio can help you and your leasing agents with reducing days vacant - our customers are seeing great success in how our technology helps achieve their goals. In a survey of our most successful customers 71% agree they can fill vacancies faster with our software than other solutions. So not only can we help you with maintaining occupancy and streamlining your workflows, but we’re the best software in the business to help you do so.
[Kaddatz]
I’ll leave you with a quick tease for our next webinar - We’ll be diving into leasing renewal strategies and taking a deeper dive on what I talked about today. You won’t want to miss this on May 26th.
[MATTHEW]
I really hope you all enjoyed today’s session and don’t forget, please take the survey and let us know what you thought of the content so we can continue to provide educational sessions like this one.
We appreciate your time today and take care of each other out there.
Thanks.