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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nKeep reading to hear their stories and get some ideas to incorporate in your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Virtual tours and online leasing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Munitz, Towne prides itself on being a high touch management company \u2014 and technology has increased its capabilities to offer more to its residents. With the onset of the pandemic, Towne quickly provided more contactless services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen the pandemic started, one of our initial fears was how do we keep those relationships and touches going with all of our residents. It allowed us to figure out the services we wanted to roll out quicker \u2014 including allowing people to pay rent online and sign leases digitally<\/a>. We really started focusing on a centralized leasing and management process and honed-in on some of our urban properties where we were seeing the most negative impacts of the pandemic in terms of revenue. So, we centralized all our leasing and management at one location and implemented technology to support it. We were as in touch with our residents as we were before, and we increased ways for them to communicate with us,\u201d said Munitz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Walton was close to 100% paperless at its properties for leasing and renewals, which was a great start heading into the pandemic. For its affordable housing, Price said the company had to be creative, and tech has played a central role, including virtual tours and video calls. \u201cIt also gave us a chance to push online payments, which have become even more important during the pandemic. We were able to drive adoption up at some of the more reluctant properties, and they continue to be paperless today,\u201d said Price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KETTLER\u2019s Slang agreed with Munitz and Price on the key role of tech to keep business moving. \u201cWe were looking at the issue of trying to solve some our smaller properties in terms of staffing. We got into virtual and self-guided tours<\/a> about a year ahead of the pandemic. The touchless self-guided tours were very helpful. Residents can get in and see the units without interacting with our staff, and that keeps our staff safe, too. Our biggest investment was in virtual tours, including great photography \u2014 and these tours have been key to successful leasing and have had the biggest positive impact we\u2019ve seen on our leasing so far.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Centralized multifamily operations and support<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Every multifamily operator knows that when prospects and residents want to communicate with you, it might not be during regular business hours. Using tech to centralize and automate leasing and maintenance requests<\/a> around the clock will keep business moving and provide a great customer experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Munitz, \u201cWe needed a way to control our expenses while still being able to serve our customers for increased hours, and a centralized office that acts sort of like a call center solves that. Our prospects and residents don\u2019t realize they\u2019re talking to one office, because they communicate with someone who knows their community and all its nuances. On the maintenance side, our focus is also staffing out of that centralized office and getting more people who are specialized to work across our properties, instead of generalists. Again, our prospects and residents are unaware that they\u2019re talking to a centralized office \u2014 they feel they\u2019re talking to someone at their community who really cares.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n At KETTLER, AI chat is part of the company\u2019s enhanced service offering. \u201cAI chat is another technology we\u2019ve rolled out at a faster pace because of the pandemic,\u201d said Slang. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing how good it is, and even when you know you\u2019re talking to a robot, you can feel like you\u2019re communicating with a human \u2014 and that\u2019s been exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maintenance tools and mobile apps <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n At Towne, hiring maintenance pros with expertise in plumbing, electrical and HVAC is key. \u201cOur specialists are using their time more wisely, and we equip them with mobile maintenance apps<\/a> and scheduling tools, so they have more visibility into how they\u2019re closing out work orders. We\u2019re seeing greater productivity from labor hours. This is having a positive impact on not only our operational expenses but also has improved the experience of our prospects and residents,\u201d said Munitz. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Slang and Price agreed with Munitz that it\u2019s important to ensure the technology that improves operations is also enhancing the customer experience. Price commented, \u201cThe more we can do and the quicker we can do it to build rapport, the faster we can lease to a prospect and respond to a resident\u2019s needs, including maintenance requests. So many of us are using apps to work fast now. Happy residents are invaluable. The more satisfied your residents are, the higher your revenue is going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keys to resident happiness<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n To make sure its residents are happy, Walton has recently started tracking its Net Promoter Score (NPS). According to Price, the NPS is a worldwide metric that companies use to measure their customer satisfaction. Walton tracks its score based on surveys and then gives each property a score from one to 100. \u201cWe trend really high on renewal percentage. An increase in our NPS leads to not only higher resident satisfaction but also to increased renewals and lower turnover \u2014 and higher revenue. We can easily tie satisfaction to our call answer rate,\u201d said Price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KETTLER\u2019s internal studies are proving that where they\u2019ve implemented virtual leasing tech, there\u2019s a roughly 10% increase in leasing compared with their properties that don\u2019t have it. \u201cI think it all equates to when someone is ready to lease. If they get an immediate answer to their inquiry, they\u2019re more likely to move forward and sign a lease. But if they have to wait for a response, they might move on to another website and end up leasing at another property. So online leasing is here to say, and we\u2019re really excited about that,\u201d said Slang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Munitz agreed and commented that technology isn\u2019t something Towne is trying to push on residents \u2014 rather, they\u2019re delivering the things that people want and expect. \u201cIt\u2019s making all our lives easier,\u201d said Munitz. \u201cIt\u2019s really about making residents happy, at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ready to improve NOI?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As Towne, Walton, and KETTLER have discovered, using technology for all aspects of multifamily operations can reduce expenses and increase efficiencies, including more responsive resident services, to grow NOI. Consider these top three strategies for your business:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1) Online leasing<\/a> including self-guided tours<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2) Centralized maintenance<\/a> including mobile apps<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3) 24\/7 customer support<\/a> including AI chatbots<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n