Last year, our consulting arm CREx Ally partnered with an owner who had just taken a big hit on occupancy when the third-party property manager dropped the ball on renewal and was slow to move on lease-up. Leaving 200k of lost rent on the table, we helped the owner recover this loss and get those units leased up with a combination of technology and old-fashioned roll-up-the-sleeve actions. Here’s how we applied our lease-up strategies for lost rent recovery.
Lease-Up Strategies and Lost Rent Recovery Tactics
- Monitoring Lease Expirations: By simply monitoring and understanding your exposure to 30, 60, and 90 days lease expirations, we were able to get renewal notices out early and get the process started for existing tenants.
- Offering Incentives: Understanding that incentives don’t always have to be rent concessions was key. Sometimes, tenants simply forget about their renewal. A small gesture, like a gift card, proved effective in not only securing renewals but also in fostering better relationships with tenants for future interactions.
- Accelerating Lease-Up with PPC: A good PPC campaign will cost around $2000/m. Usually, the cost of one month’s rent. But when you advertise for an entire community, you have the added benefit of one campaign advertising all the units and features of your properties. Be sure to hit the big two, Google and Facebook, but don’t sleep on others like Snapchat, TikTok, and physical signage. PPC can be complicated and a waste of money if not done right. Reach out to CREx Digital for some help if needed!
- Ramping Up SEO, Reputation Management, and Website Optimization: The tenant journey in the lease-up process can start at any point. A simple Google search, a website link, or an ad. It can also die at many points. A bad review, a hard-to-use website, tours that are hard to book, bad pictures are just a few things that can change prospective tenants’ minds about renting. Partnering with the owner, and using data as our guide, we refreshed all inbound sources and closed all the gaps in the prospect journey very quickly.
- Implementing a Software SDR Process: Stealing a page from our Software sales process, we set up a representative whose job was to reply to Zillow messages, website inquiries, text messages immediately using a combination of technology and tracking. These resources white-gloved new prospects to booking tours, confirming availability, and then worked with the property managers to confirm tours and provide any support needed to give the prospect the best experience possible, which meant more leases signed.
Conclusion
The effectiveness of our lease-up strategies and lost rent recovery efforts is evident in the recovery of $2.1 million in lost rent. By leveraging technology, personalized incentives, and a detailed digital marketing approach, CREx Ally not only mitigated the initial loss but also established a robust foundation for maintaining high occupancy rates and minimizing future rent loss.