This is how they reduced vacancies by 29% in one year
Using Homepal, the leasing manager noticed that one area was getting more and more contract terminations while the number of applications was decreasing. With these insights, campaigns were launched to increase applications. In addition, measures were taken to improve the tenant's well-being in the area. One year later, vacancies dropped by 29%. Here the leasing manager tells you how.
"As a rental manager, my team and I always aim to rent out as much as we can at the highest possible price per square meter. However, following up on rentals has been quite difficult because the real estate system is pretty hard to get data from. Unfortunately, more decisions were made based on feelings than on facts, which may not be optimal.
When we started working with Homepal, there was a feeling that a particular area was becoming more difficult to rent out. This was a cause for concern because we really needed to reach our occupancy target as some other unforeseen events had negatively affected the results.
Thanks to the overview in Homepal, we could see clearly that the feeling we had was right. Applications had dropped quite significantly, and contract terminations were more frequent. When we looked at a couple of CSI surveys in the area, we saw that satisfaction had also decreased over time.
With Homepal, we were able to identify the problem at an early stage and decided to take action to reverse the trend together with the managers in the area. It was truly a team effort to reverse the trend!
We started by taking a deep dive into the CSI surveys and invited tenants in the area to talk to us. The area was perceived as less safe lately, with many unauthorized people in the area late at night.
The first thing we did was to update the gates with better lock systems. We also offered those who wanted to update the apartment doors to security doors at a slightly more favorable price. We cut down leafy shrubbery to create more open spaces and put in denser and stronger lighting.
As a second step, we also reviewed planned maintenance together with the tenants. Dialogue has improved considerably, and something I'm taking with me is that it's really worth investing time in talking to the tenants even if you have 100 balls in the air. If they feel involved and updated on what's going on, they are also more forgiving of things taking time to fix.
We started to organize "neighborhood coffee" to increase community among customers and reduce involuntary loneliness, which was appreciated by the tenants!
To increase footfall, we set up a campaign with targeted advertising on social media, mailing lists and outdoor advertising to reach out to potential tenants. We shifted our focus from brand-building advertising to focus more on the safety of the neighborhood, and we saw results.
One year later, we are happy to report that our efforts have paid off. Thanks to Homepal, we were able to identify the negative trend early on and take action to reverse it. Our vacancies have decreased by 29% and we have implemented CSI surveys a bit more often in this particular area. The last one we did showed better customer satisfaction than before!
Homepal actually became a game changer for us. Through better insight into our business, we can make more informed decisions, work more with facts and get away from gut feelings when it comes to customer satisfaction. It feels extra good when it's people's homes and security we work with, that's why we exist."
The real estate company works mainly with housing and community properties in a municipality in northern Sweden. They have around 13,000 apartments in their portfolio.
