As training manager for 29th Street Communities, Ronald Harrington specializes in helping industry professionals level up their approach to marketing and leasing. On this episode of The Top Floor podcast, he’ll do the same by sharing exactly what it takes for properties to stand out with prospects in 2025 and beyond: creating stellar renter experiences.

In addition, we’ll shed new light on what residents really want from property management, with key findings from the 2024 AppFolio Property Manager Renter Preferences Report, and hear about Ronald’s experiences from his “Lease Across America” project, where he secret shopped more than 100 different properties across the United States.

Key moments:

Why resident experience is essential for success in 2025

What Ronald learned from secret shopping more than 100 properties

The difference between resident experience and customer service

How Ronald has seen conversations about resident experience evolve

What prospects expect from property management

How resident technology is changing expectations

Key factors that make or break a property experience

How to create standout property experiences for prospects

Ways to help onsite teams improve the renter experience

Key links:

Research report: 2024 Renter Preferences Report: https://www.appfolio.com/renter-preferences

Podcast: Rooms with Ronald: https://multifamilymedianetwork.com/podcast/rooms-with-ronald

On this episode of The Top Floor podcast, we’re joined by Zack Kass, Futurist and Former Head of Go To Market for OpenAI. Bringing his extensive experience with navigating the rapidly evolving AI landscape, Zack offers practical advice and insights for how real estate management businesses can demystify AI and successfully implement new solutions.

Our conversations also explore key AI trends in real estate management, shed light on the current state of industry adoption, and uncover new ways to use AI to future-proof your business.

Tune in now to gain new insights into AI implementation for real estate management and position your organization for long-term success.

Key moments:

• The state of artificial intelligence today
• AI adoption across industries
• Key AI trends for real estate management businesses
• Business benefits of AI adoption
• Risks of delaying AI adoption
• Evaluating vendors' AI solutions and strategies
• Debunking common AI misconceptions
• The cultural impact of artificial intelligence
• Future-proofing your business in an AI-driven landscape

Key links:

• Research Report: The State of AI in Property Management
• On-demand webinar: Unlocking AI-Powered Innovation with Futurist Zack Kass
• AppFolio Realm-X

Celebrated real estate industry strategist Peter Linneman imparts his unique blend of scholarly rigor and practical business insights on this episode of The Top Floor podcast, to help property management businesses stay one step ahead of shifting market conditions in 2024 and beyond.

In addition, you’ll also hear his thoughts on key findings from the 2024 AppFolio Property Manager Benchmark Report, for which more than 5,000 property management professions were surveyed.

Tune in now to take a data-driven look at what’s in store for the year ahead. Plus, see how property management professionals are overcoming current economic challenges and positioning themselves for long-term success.

Key moments:

• What’s happening in the real estate market right now
• Economic factors influencing property management in 2024
• Key findings from the 2024 Property Management Benchmark Report
• New property management business benchmarks and trends
• Strategies to improve property management revenue
• The most important metrics for property management businesses
• How to achieve both growth and profitability in 2024
• Balancing long-term visions with short-term needs

Key links:

• Research report: 2024 AppFolio Property Manager Benchmark Report: https://www.appfolio.com/benchmark
• On-demand webinar: How Property Managers are Shifting Strategies for 2024: https://www.appfolio.com/sessions/research/2024-benchmark

Affordable housing property management already comes with its own unique set of challenges. But now, property management companies need to prepare for an entirely new set of challenges: Being fully compliant with the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016 (HOTMA) by January 1, 2025.

Even though HOTMA aims to simplify and reduce friction in affordable housing management, bringing welcomed changes for residents, property management companies and teams may still find that making big operational adjustments will be necessary, especially when it comes to staying compliant.

In this episode of The Top Floor podcast, two industry experts offer insights and advice on how property management organizations can guide their teams and residents through some of the most significant changes to HUD’s occupancy requirements in the last 10 years.

Joining the podcast are Jenny DeSilva, the President and CEO of DeSilva Housing Group and Colleen Winship, AppFolio's Affordable Housing Program Manager. Together, they break down the top HOTMA changes, the best ways property management companies can get prepared, and how to stay ahead of HOTMA’s final compliance deadline.

Key moments:

• Jenny explains why HOTMA is so important
• How HOTMA could benefit residents
• The benefits for owners and agents
• The top HOTMA changes to be aware of
• What property management companies need to know about the HOTMA compliance timeline
• Key milestones for HOTMA implementation
• How to approach employee training around HOTMA
• How property management companies can boost operational efficiency
• Changes Jenny would like to see around future affordable housing legislation

Key links:

• HOTMA preparation checklist
• Tips To Prepare For HOTMA And Operate Your Affordable Housing Management Business More Efficiently [Part 1]
• Tips To Prepare For HOTMA And Operate Your Affordable Housing Management Business More Efficiently [Part 2]
• 2023 top challenges and opportunities in affordable housing management

Hiring and retention have been major challenges for property management teams for years – long before other industries faced The Great Resignation. So how can property management teams improve the employee experience and boost retention?

On this episode of The Top Floor, we’ll explore survey results from the 2023 AppFolio Property Manager Hiring and Retention report and discuss opportunities for property management companies to bridge employee satisfaction gaps.

Joining the podcast to discuss are Chiccorra Connor, Founder & CEO at Occupancy Heroes, and Sean Forster, Lead Product Marketing Manager at AppFolio. They share insights into their own experiences with managing property management teams and highlight key findings from the Hiring and Retention report.

Key moments:

• Why the property management industry struggles to attract and hire top talent
• Why retaining top property management talent is challenging
• The two roles property management companies struggle to fill most
• What the 2023 Hiring and Retention report reveals
• Why employee culture is a competitive differentiator
• What companies can do to boost employee satisfaction now
• Thinking outside the box when it comes to compensating and rewarding teams
• Three biggest areas of opportunity for property management hiring and retention

Key links:

• 2023 AppFolio Property Manager Hiring and Retention Report: https://www.appfolio.com/resources/library/employee-experience/opt-in

With rent growth slowing and more supply coming online, what can property management companies do to stay competitive and improve resident retention?

In this episode of The Top Floor podcast, Jay Baer, Business Growth Expert, Speaker, Tequila Influencer, and Founder of Convince & Convert, and James Erickson, Sr. Product Marketing Manager at AppFolio, explore how offering a great resident experience is quickly becoming a make-or-break factor for property management success.

We also analyze the findings from the 2023 AppFolio Property Manager Renter Preferences Report, and explore how property management companies can put these insights into action.

Key moments:

• Why understanding resident preferences is essential to success
• Why customer experience is the same as resident experience
• Why improving the resident experience doesn’t need to be costly
• What data reveals about customer satisfaction in general
• Why property managers play a role in resident attraction and retention
• The correlation between resident satisfaction and technology
• Generational divides with resident preferences
• Why speed and communication are so important
• How maintenance resolution time impacts satisfaction
• Why you can’t provide great customer experience without a great employee experience

Key links:

• 2023 AppFolio Property Manager Resident Preferences Report: https://www.appfolio.com/resources/library/resident-preferences/
• Making Resident Satisfaction Your Competitive Advantage: https://info.appfolio.com/APM-CD-ASSET-CustomerExperienceEbook_etb_content_download_form_lp.html
• Customer Experience: What It Means & Why It Matters More Than Ever: https://www.appfolio.com/blog/customer-experience/
• “The Time to Win” by Jay Baer https://www.thetimetowin.com/the-time-to-win

Artificial intelligence (AI)I isn’t necessarily new, but the popularity of newly developed, publicly available AI solutions has skyrocketed over the last year due to advancements in generative AI. Now, almost every industry around the world has started embracing and adopting the power of AI, including property management.

While it’s already clear AI holds enormous potential for property management, there are still plenty of questions around how businesses can best implement AI solutions, and how to navigate brand-new AI territory, especially when it comes to using AI responsibly.

We explore this and more in episode one of season four of The Top Floor podcast, with two property management and AI experts: Cat Allday, AppFolio’s VP of AI, and Peter Lohmann, CEO of RL Property Management.

Tune in to the full episode to hear us discuss ways AI can reduce manual processes, overcome bias, streamline workflows, and help us manage data more efficiently — and how it can be implemented safely and responsibly.

Key moments:

• The most common types of AI available today

• Why property management businesses should explore AI

• How AI can address property management challenges

• The importance of taking a responsible approach to AI

• How AI could help to make things fairer

• How property management teams can embrace AI

Key links:

[Solutions] Explore AppFolio’s full suite of property management AI solutions

[Podcast] Owner Occupied with Peter Lohmann

[Article] Multifamily Property Management AI: Separating Myths from Facts

[Article] How AI based on large language models could change property management for the better

[News] AppFolio wins best AI-based solution for Real Estate

Affordable housing is in short supply across America, with prices and rents rising in all areas. The good news is, when it comes to increasing affordable housing supply, property management businesses are in a unique position to help.

However, while managing affordable units comes with many rewards and long-lasting benefits, it’s also not without its challenges, especially when compared to market-rate portfolios.

In this episode of The Top Floor podcast, you’ll hear from Jayme Deal, the Regional Property Manager and Compliance Director for Artisan Management Group, Josefin Graebe, AppFolio’s Senior Director of Affordable Housing, and Colleen Winship, the Program Manager for AppFolio’s Affordable Housing team. Tune in to hear them discuss all things affordable housing management, including solutions for overcoming its unique challenges.

Key Moments:

• Defining affordable housing
• How some of the most common affordable housing programs work
• The affordable housing supply problem
• Who qualifies for affordable housing
• How affordable housing benefits the wider community
• The top challenges of managing affordable housing
• How to get compliance right
• Hiring and training team members to work in affordable housing
• How technology can streamline affordable housing operations

Key Links

• More Affordable Housing resources from AppFolio: https://www.appfolio.com/affordable-housing-property-management

• A Closer Look at Affordable Housing: https://www.appfolio.com/blog/closer-look-affordable-housing/

• National Low Income Housing Coalition’s report on the affordable rental shortage: https://nlihc.org/gap

To ensure property management success, making data-driven decisions is essential. After all, the numbers don’t lie, and they can reveal insights and hidden issues that can help teams fine-tune processes, communication, marketing, and much more.

However, the 2023 AppFolio Property Manager Benchmark Report revealed that many organizations aren’t getting the level of data and insights they need. In fact, “greater customization” was cited as one of the biggest reporting needs for property management businesses today.

In this episode of The Top Floor, we dive into the many ways organizations can solve their reporting dilemmas and better collect, interpret, and leverage data for their businesses’ benefit. Joining this episode are Neil Cadman — President of Cadman Group — and Matthew Kaddatz — Sr. Director, Product, SMB Market at AppFolio — to share their insights and advice.

Key points:

• Why data is essential for property management
• How data can help you make better business decisions
• How data can improve the resident experience
• How data can improve the employee experience
• Why property management teams struggle to utilize data
• What data property management teams need to focus on
• Neil shares his unique property management data perspective
• How often property managers should look at data
• Why custom property management reports are more valuable
• Why you need to take action on data quickly
• How data can help property management teams drive business

Key links:

• 2023 AppFolio Property Manager Benchmark Report: https://info.appfolio.com/APM-CD-ASSET-2023BenchmarkReport_etb_content_download_form_lp.html

Now more than ever, renters value financial flexibility.

With flexible payment options like “buy now, pay later” and mobile payments becoming a standard part of consumers’ everyday lives, the pressure is on for property management companies and the rental housing industry to offer greater flexibility, too.

To dig deeper into what this looks like, we welcomed two AppFolio experts to The Top Floor to discuss the rise of flexible rent payments, security deposit alternatives, and how both can help meet residents’ shifting expectations.

In the first half of our conversation, Adam Feinstein, VP of Product – Payments, explores the rise of flexible rent payments across the industry. And Sean Saxena, Senior Director of FolioGuard™, rounds out the episode by discussing security deposit alternatives.

Listen to the full episode now to learn more about how financial flexibility trends and changing resident expectations are impacting the entire rental housing industry.

Key points:

• Why financial flexibility is important to consider
• How consumer trends have changed resident expectations
• The benefits of flexible rent payments

• How to choose a flexible payment solution
• Predictions on the future of flexible rent payments
• The current state of security deposits
• How security deposit alternatives work
• Why security deposit alternatives are rising in popularity
• The benefits of security deposit alternatives
• The future of security deposits

Key links:

• 2022 U.S. Resident Motivations report: https://info.appfolio.com/APM-CD-ASSET-MetroMotivationsNational_2021_etb_content_download_form_lp.html
• AppFolio Accelerates Platform Innovation with New Security Deposit Alternative Solution, Smart Accounting Tools and PropTech Integrations: https://www.appfolioinc.com/news/appfolio-accelerates-platform-with-new-security-deposit
• FolioGuard™: https://folio-guard.com/