Overview

A leading NMHC top 10 owner of apartments with a total portfolio of over 100,000 units sought an innovative solution to increase operational efficiency and drive asset value. The owner worked with their manager on finding a solution and introduced Renew to address inefficiencies and capitalize on untapped opportunities during lease renewals. 

Renew is a comprehensive lease renewal platform designed to automate processes, optimize decision-making, and maximize asset performance.

Solutions & Results

In 2024, the owner initiated a year-long engagement of Renew across their properties.
Renew’s platform brought end-to-end automation to the lease renewal process and addressed the manager's challenges in four critical areas.

  • Rent growth
  • Decision speed
  • Process automation
  • Resident retention

Renew generated rent revenue via time-based pricing

Renew’s dynamic pricing capabilities incentivized timely decisions by implementing price increases for delayed responses. During the pilot, the manager experimented with a 2% offer increase for residents taking more than 30 days to respond. In addition to accelerating decisions, this feature generated $31,670 in additional revenue during the pilot.

  • In the test, 4% of residents renewed after the deadline and paid an average of $55.47/month, or $665.64/year in additional rent.
  • This 4% is in line with performance from Renew partners using a similar strategy.
  • For a 100,000-unit portfolio, 4,000 residents renewing at an additional $55.47/month represents $221,880 in additional monthly rent, or $2.66 million annualized.
  • On a per-unit basis, this equates to $2.22/unit/month in additional revenue.
  • When considered in terms of asset value, assuming a 5% cap rate, this equated to $53,251,200 in additional value creation.

73% of renewals completed with zero human intervention

Renew’s automations unlock efficiency, saving property teams an estimated 22 hours per month by handling critical renewal tasks that often go overlooked—such as proactive follow-ups and detailed tracking. By streamlining the process without adding administrative burden, Renew helps improve renewal performance. With the newly added BlueMoon integration, Renew further reduces manual work by automating resident outreach and lease signature collection. Which in turn significantly speeds up renewal decisions

  • Renew also proactively surfaced residents who needed assistance or were slow to decide, allowing teams to focus on efficient, targeted outreach.
  • 5% of residents sent help requests to the property through Renew. With the property able to respond to concerns, this cohort renewed at a 72% rate.
  • Renew also created reporting to alert teams to residents who did not interact with their offers, so property teams could contact them directly.
  • Altogether, this yielded faster decisions, higher resident satisfaction, and reduced time for property teams to manage renewals.

Renew accelerated resident renewal decisions dramatically

Renew drove 50% of residents to make their renewal decisions within the first two weeks, giving the manager early visibility to proactively plan for vacancies and reduce vacancy loss.

  • Half of residents decided within 2 weeks of getting renewal offers (70 days before lease expiration), and 88% decided within 30 days (56 days before expiration).
  • 14-day decision rates improved by 43%, and 30-day decision rates improved by 47% compared to historical benchmarks.
  • Earlier occupancy certainty allows for revenue management to more efficiently price vacant units and future renewals.
  • Conservatively estimating a $1/unit/month lift in future rents, this represents $1.2M in additional rent revenue annually across 100,000 units.
  • On average, notices were submitted 70 days prior to lease expiration.
  • Compared to the standard 60-day notice requirement, this represents a 17% improvement in speed. Using calculations of approximately one day of vacancy loss saved per five days of improved notice, this yields $6.5M in vacancy loss reduction annually across the owner's portfolio, assuming 40% annual turn.

3% improvement in retention rate

By providing insights into what delays a resident’s decision, Renew empowered the manager to address concerns, increase satisfaction, and improve retention. During the pilot, the manager saw a 3% increase in retention rates.

  • Propensity-to-renew surveys at six months gave properties insight into at-risk residents with the opportunity to improve their experience prior to renewal.
  • 39% of residents indicating they are unlikely to renew at six months ultimately renewed.
  • Renew helps residents surface needs at renewal, giving properties deeper insight and the ability to proactively address concerns before they vacate.
  • Assuming $1,000 to acquire a new resident and an additional $2,000 to turn a unit, this represents $6M in additional value created across 100,000 units.
  • Additionally, among 679 vacating residents, 54 (7.95%) submitted a lead to another property within the manager’s portfolio.
  • Assuming a 40% annual turn, 10% conversion on leads, and $1,000 to acquire a new resident, this represents an additional $320,000 in value across 100,000 units.

Conclusion

Renew enabled the manager to achieve measurable improvements in operational efficiency, decision speed, retention, and revenue generation. These outcomes 
not only enhanced the resident experience but also created significant value for 
the owner’s portfolio.