E80: Innovation in Multifamily Marketing

Rentsync's Director of Sales and Business Development Matt Livingstone joins us in conversation today to explore recent innovations in Multifamily Marketing, why they are necessary, and what we might expect from the future. To kick off our conversation, we discuss the current climate in multifamily investment, the emergent needs and how they could be fulfilled. Exploring use cases and the development of the Floor Plan Navigator, we speak to increasing sophistication in condo development and the role and integration of interactive tools in the Canadian and US market. We touch on future plans for FPN based on the various ways in which it is currently being adopted, why there are so many possibilities arising from the advent of this tool, and potential benefits for corporate contexts, landlords, and renters. Join us today to hear all this and more! 

Key Points From This Episode:

• Context for this conversation: the housing crisis, rapid fluctuations, and more.
• Needs emerging from the current climate including cohesion and innovation. 
• Floor Plan Navigator (FPN) an interactive tool used to showcase unit availability. 
• Landlord and renter benefits that arise from using this tool.
• How sophistication has increased on the condo development side.
• Prevalence of interactive tools in the US market.
• Future plans for FPN with its beginnings in mind. 
• Use cases for FPN in a client context.
• The Point of Sale Device that has been developed.
• Why there are so many possibilities with this particular tool and how they might unfold.
• Potential corporate benefits of using the system.
• What is next for Rentsync beyond this model.
• How software can support safety and trust.

Listen to the episode wherever you get your podcasts, Apple, Google Podcasts, or Spotify.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Matt Livingstone on LinkedIn

“The possibilities are endless. I could even see a world where this tool is on your Rentals.ca listing, let's say, and people can find the Floorplan Navigator tool and navigate it even at the listing level, so lots of exciting potential in the future for that tool.” — Matt Livingstone 

[0:00:34] ANNOUNCER: Hello, and welcome to Sync or Swim, a weekly podcast brought to you by Rentsync, where we take a deep dive into the PropTech, multifamily, and rental housing industry. In each episode, we uncover the technologies and strategies used to help overcome operational challenges and increase the value of your multi-family investments. Let's get into our conversation today.

[INTERVIEW]

[0:00:58] Hey, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Sync or Swim, the podcast where we navigate the currents of the rental housing industry. I'm your host, Giacomo Ladas. Today, I'm joined by Matt Livingstone, Rentsync's Director of Sales and Business Development. Matt, thanks for coming on today. 

[0:01:11] ML: Thanks for having me, Giacomo. My long-awaited Sync or Swim debut. 

[0:01:15] GL: We even got this one on video for those who are watching. The reason why I wanted to have you on today, was because you just come back from visiting a whole bunch of clients from all around the country, and we think you're going to offer quite a lot of perspective through those travels, so no better time to jump on the pod than now. I think the best way to maybe open this up is we know there's a housing crisis going on. We know that the market is seeing fluctuation that we haven't really seen before, especially at this rapid pace. What are you actually finding that people are focusing on in this current housing market when it comes to low vacancy and basically the demand that we're seeing right now with the amount of supply? What are your clients saying? What are they looking for? How are they trying to stand out? 

[0:01:55] ML: Yeah, for sure. Now, as you mentioned, I've been traveling across the country. I was recently in Calgary meeting with several clients. Couple of consistent themes that I noticed. One is a need for a very cohesive and harmonious tech stack. You want to make sure that you're really capturing that lead to lease experience and collecting all relevant data throughout each of those critical touch points, so you want to make sure that all your software’s are compatible with one another, easy to use, right? There's definitely been a push to maybe evaluate what you're using on that side of things and maybe make some adjustments on that side of things. 

The other big theme that we've noticed is a need for innovation, right? You've got more time on your hands, and you're not dealing with as pressing vacancy concerns as you have in maybe years past. It's a slower rental season in the winter, typically. You've got more time on your hands to maybe pick up projects like maybe a new website, maybe innovative tools that you've been considering and adopting and rolling out projects like that. Those are definitely two big themes that I've noticed. 

[0:03:02] GL: Let's focus on a little more about these innovative tools, especially with what Rentsync’s offering and what your team really is trying to have as a stand out product. Then we want to mention a little bit about the Floorplan Navigator and the conversations we're having about it. Maybe for those who don't know, what exactly is the Floorplan Navigator or FPAN? 

[0:03:19] GL: Yeah, for sure. That's certainly the biggest innovation that we've made in the recent history here. What it is, is an interactive tool that you use to showcase your unit availability. It's really become an evolution of how units are displayed on websites. Traditionally, it's been very standard for many years here in our market to have units just displayed in a chart or a unit table or a suite table, as we would call it, which really isn't that dynamic. It isn't really that engaging from prospect side, but with this Floorplan Navigator Tool, we are giving an interactive way to showcase that availability. It'll take live look at your availability. It'll display it in a side-by-side rendering with actual unit availability of floor-by-floor units. 
 

[0:04:08] GL: If something like that sounds like a tool that's really beneficial for the renter. Yeah, I'm looking for a department. I'm going to go on someone's website. I can click the exact suite I'm interested in. I can see the floorplan, see what the view looks like. I get that side of things, full transparency. That's the side I truly understand, but you're saying that the landlord actually is the one that might benefit more from that than even the renter at times. 

[0:04:30] ML: Yeah, for sure. I mean, like the benefits to the renter are pretty obvious, right? They're going to get a lot more information by going through something that's a little more interactive. They're like able to see, in some cases, the actual view from the balcony. They'll be able to see what direction that the buildings face is, and the unit that they're interested in faces. They're able to shop around and compare units and find something that's within their budget and suits their lifestyle. 

Those benefits are pretty obvious from the renter side of things, but there are lots of benefits on the landlord side. I would say there's really three main ways to look at it. First from a marketing side, objectively, it's a nicer way to display your units. It's going to be more appealing visually and it'll elevate your rental website for a project. It's a great thing to put on like a new development to elevate that website and digital experience. 

Another great benefit is on the leasing side. Having these renters book an appointment, get all the information that they need right from the website that I mentioned before. Having them armed with all that information and they show up for their tour, a leasing agent can then just focus on really focusing on closing the deal and signing that lease, because they're going to have expectations set really appropriately for the prospect when they show up. So, that's a great tool. 

The third benefit that I'd say from the landlord side, maybe not be as obvious, but it's super beneficial is on the revenue optimisation side. With a tool like the Floorplan Navigator Tool, you're able to track engagement. You're able to see events throughout the website. You're able to see which units are being clicked on the most, which units are being clicked on the most and driving conversions. You're able to see if someone clicked on unit 502, but didn't inquire about it. They inquired on unit 501. 

You can make some conclusions based on that. Why is that? We thought that unit 502 was going to be this hot selling suite type. We loved the floorplan. We priced it accordingly. It allows you to test out and validate your pricing strategies and then be agile and adjust your strategy on the fly. You can raise prices if you're seeing a demand that warrants it or maybe you can adjust pricing if maybe your hypothesis isn't being validated in that regard. Three major benefits and I think, very different, but all can be implemented by just having something like a Floorplan Navigator Tool on your website. 

[MESSAGE]

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[INTERVIEW CONTINUED]

[0:07:12] GL: Yeah. The feedback's pretty consistent then for landlords that they're not only that you're enjoying the product, but a lot of this is actually just informing them exactly the tools for it, right? It's so much more than just an aesthetic thing on the site. You're finding that the feedback that you're hearing is, we're actually able to understand the data, make really good informed decisions. So far, it's going pretty positive. 

[0:07:32] ML: Yeah, absolutely. Our vision here is to make this the default in terms of how units are displayed on rental websites. I'd say the vast majority of new projects that we work on for new construction do have this incorporated into the website. Feedback's been great. It's been well received and it's definitely become part of people's strategy going forward. 

[0:07:55] GL: Now, I think you mentioned before to me that this is actually something that's been in the real estate space already. Something like a Floorplan Navigator, right? It's maybe not purpose-built rental specifically. 

[0:08:06] ML: Yeah, for sure. This type of technology is very commonplace in the condo world. When you've got a pre-construction condo, they've got really high-end 3D renderings of the building interactive models where they show all the different units, floor by floor. That's been around for years. Now, in the condo world, they're dealing most often with far different budgets than we're dealing with in the wealthy family space. Incorporating a tool like that into a multifamily budget can be a challenge and it might not be possible for all different projects, but what this tool allows us to do is offer that same functionality that can, in most cases, be incorporated into a marketing budget for that type of project. 

[0:08:51] GL: That's interesting though, and maybe just get your opinion on this put you on the spot a bit, but do you think there's becoming more of a merger between purpose or rentals and condos? Especially when you see like the price of rent is and the increases we're seeing year over year, but also what interest rates are and the difficulty sometimes for people to transition into the ownership market. Perhaps this is maybe what's happening more of amalgamation of housing, where purpose-build rentals and the experience someone has should be just the same almost as a condo. Do you think there's some merger happening there? 

[0:09:21] ML: Yeah, definitely. It's just as obvious as like some condo developers are now switching to multifamily development and purpose-build rental development. The level of sophistication that's happening in our industry is tremendous at the moment too. The marketing campaigns are at the same level of those that are in condo campaigns. It's definitely been a sophistication increase on the purpose-build rental side and also those condo developers also moving into the space as well. 

[0:09:52] GL: Has this been something that's it's mostly a Canadian thing? Is this more of like a con place tool in the States? If so, are we maybe looking to showcase it more in the States or are we getting reception from anyone down there? I need your perspective on that. 

[0:10:05] ML: Yeah, for sure. It is something that is pretty prevalent in the American market having an interactive tool that you're able to find units that you see that on most websites in the States for new construction. It's something that's been well received when we were talking to American clients and prospects as well. They're interested in our services in that space. We really are excited about the opportunity of having more conversations with the American clients on that side. 

[0:10:29] GL: Where does this go then? Because like, I feel like when we talk about innovations almost things are we love the product. What's next? Are we looking to anything about that? Are we staying at where we are now? Where do we see it going? 

[0:10:41] ML: Yeah, for sure. So, like the Floorplan Navigator tool specifically, it started out as just like a component of a website, but we've really see it as more than that. It's a standalone product, so it doesn't have to be a Rentsync website in order to utilise it. It can go on any website. It can be incorporated into. We've also seen some really cool use cases. I'd go to a client's new building and I'd see the website loaded up in their presentation centre. There's a touchscreen TV right in the lobby that has the Floorplan Navigator tool on it. We really embraced that. 

We've actually rolled out an extension of the Floorplan Navigator tool called the Point of Sale Device, where you can have the same functionality of the Floorplan Navigator tool, but it's a little more, I guess, natural and seamless to have just a paired down version in these leasing centres as supposed to having a like full on website in your lobby. That's been one really exciting advancement. 

We're also looking at incorporating 3D models, so you can have your static rendering that you can use to navigate or a 3D visualisation where you can see the neighbourhood and the surroundings of the building. That's an exciting development as well. The possibilities are endless. I could even see a world where this tool is on your rentals.ca listing, let's say, and people can find the Floorplan Navigator tool and navigate it even at the listing level, so lots of exciting potential in the future for that tool. 

[0:12:02] GL: Yeah. So, there's even some benefits on the corporate side of things then as well. It's really more than just like a renter focus tool, right? It seems to touch not only a bunch of data points for landlords, but corporate side of things, especially what you mentioned. It's like a touchscreen interactive thing where you can probably display your building and then you can get that instant feedback right away, even just by seeing what people's opinions are just by looking at a suite, right? So, there's that instant feedback as well if you're presenting a unit on a corporate level too. 

[0:12:28] ML: Yeah, absolutely. Like I mentioned before, I think that applies to a corporate website as well. We do see this as being the evolution of how units are displayed on websites, not just for new construction, but for existing buildings too, where appropriate. So, having an interactive model on your corporate side too is definitely something that I could see being adopted in the future too. 

[0:12:48] GL: Oh, that sounds great, but what's next? What else are we talking about when we talk about innovation in the space and what people are using, and some new tools that we're offering? I'm sure you have a whole bunch of other stuff to bring up for sure. 

[0:13:00] ML: Yeah, for sure. Rentsync’s obviously been super focused on capturing that lead to lease journey. Our online tour booking application's been really well received, constantly looking to refine and improve that tool. I'm also finding there is a large push by some of our clients to rethink their corporate website and maybe have a couple of things accentuated a little bit more. A lot of our clients and a lot of purpose-build rental developers and managers, they do so much, such great work in like the ESG space and having that showcased on their website is an important thing to do. We're finding a lot of people looking to amp up their presence on that side of things too. 

[0:13:44] GL: Yeah. That's interesting. I'm trying to put it all together, especially when you mentioned Floorplan never be on a rentals.ca listing. It seems like there's a real push for listings on that site specifically, and really all ILS's to just be on the forefront of transparency and safety even. It feels like addressing not only the back and tech side of things, but also the front facing where we're presenting landlords with not only as much information to give to renters, but just complete transparency. 

I know rentals that I'd say specifically and we try to promote this through the industry as a whole. It's just the importance of the whole safety thing and the verification of listings and just making sure that a renter can feel comfortable going to a listing, getting as much information as they can, but also knowing that there's safe avenue to do so. I feel like that's almost where we're seeing even more innovation happen right now, especially with everyone moving to online is the only way that they're actually reaching out to these landlords. I think it all plays together and even back to tours, right, like even trusting a listing side enough that you're willing to engage with a tour right away to even meet somebody. Even that sometimes is a leap for somebody. 

[0:14:48] ML: Yeah. You make a great point. Having that trust is super important and certainly rentals.ca is definitely taking that mission very seriously. 

[0:14:56] GL: Well, Matt, thanks again for joining us. We really appreciate your time. If anybody wants to get in touch with you, what's the best way to do so? 

[0:15:03] ML: Yeah. Thanks, Giacomo. I really appreciate it having me on. LinkedIn's a great spot to find me, rentsync.com is a great spot to find me. 

[0:15:09] GL: Great website. You got it. Well, thanks everybody for listening or watching on this video podcast. Make sure you rate and review the pod wherever you listen. Until next time. 

[END OF INTERVIEW]

[0:15:18] ANNOUNCER: You've reached the end of another episode of Sync or Swim. Make sure to visit us at rentsync.com/podcast to access show notes, key takeaways, and where you can sign up to our newsletter to receive free bonus content. If you found value in the show, please, also remember to rate, review, and subscribe. Don't forget to join us next week for another episode. Thanks for listening.