The NMHC Rent Payment Tracker reports 80.8 percent of apartment households paid their rent through June 6. That percentage is better than some industry analysts had predicted, though no one is cheering. The reason why: July, August, and September.
The economic uncertainty surrounding more spikes, surges, and lockdowns has the industry turning to the virtual world like never before. Take marketing, leasing, and resident services, for example.
Many owners were well along with online processes for generating and converting leads, automating lease-up, and implementing mobile apps for residents. As bad as things were in April, many operators had a virtual Plan B or furiously cobbled together one on the fly.
What about the weeks and months ahead? What is the new normal?
Safely Together
Ryan Perez, vice president of marketing at CF Real Estate Services, has some ideas, “Your messages to residents must be consistent and constant. Let them know ‘We are open and here to serve you.’ We’re all in this together, and we’ll safely get through it together.”
Jon Pastor says the challenge now is to uniformly sustain your message and brand across every touch point, from the initial inquiry through lease renewal and beyond.
Pastor leads the Consumer Solutions group at RealPage, a leading global provider of software and data analytics to the real estate industry. The company’s suite of software tools is the go-to solution for more and more owners of all sizes. Pastor recently shared his perspective on the days ahead:
- Marketing. “Every lead is precious. You need the flexibility to modulate your marketing based on vacancies,” Pastor says. “Any drop-off in answer rate directly impacts lease conversion. You need a responsive backup if your leasing office is down or overwhelmed by other responsibilities.”
- Leasing. Pastor recognizes there are many paperless solutions for closing leases online, such as DocuSign. But more and more, you need a marketing and leasing process that seamlessly integrates with a property management system for fully informed decision-making.
- Payments. Collecting payments is top of mind, especially with the added challenge of site staff working at home. The new normal requires the ability to collect payments remotely, including checks and money orders. Additionally, Pastor says the industry is consolidating around more flexible and creative payment strategies such as deferred payments, flexible/multiple payments, security deposit conversions, and/or payment incentive discounts to assist with collecting payments.
- Communication. Now is the time to “… keep residents involved,” advises Sheri Killingsworth, senior vice president of marketing and communications at Lincoln Properties. “Push out more content. Don’t necessarily change what you’re doing. Intensify it.” Pastor’s team has seen the result of that activity. “We’ve seen over a 100% increase in usage of resident apps since COVID-19 hit,” he says. “The pandemic may have accelerated the adoption of digital tools by at least five years.”
- Listen. Watch. Learn. What are your peers doing to navigate uncertainty? Pastor’s company has made the best thinking of industry leaders freely available to all. In recent weeks, RealPage has released dozens of live and on-demand webinars featuring voices from TruAmerica, Yarco, Campus Advantage, JVM Realty, Blue Ridge, and FCP Fairfield, among many others. “We just want to help everyone get through this,” Pastor explains.
No one can predict what lies ahead. But what is certain is that technology will play a central role in helping make July, August, September, and beyond perform as efficiently as possible.
Learn more how RealPage software tools can support your marketing, leasing, and communication needs.
