With growth comes new possibilities, but it can also bring new challenges. This is what ResProp faced as the company more than tripled the number of units it operates. In doing so, the Austin-based firm realized that a partnership with Resident Interface was the optimal way to effectively and consistently address the increase in evictions across their portfolio.
ResProp’s teams have always been tech-focused, and they seek to elevate the property management experience, for both residents and teams. This includes an attitude toward centralization for greater efficiency and an embrace of multifamily technology that will help it achieve its operational goals.
Problem: Growth in Properties Led to Growth in Responsibilities
Founded in 2010, ResProp oversees properties in several metropolitan areas in Texas, Florida and South Carolina. The company’s surge to nearly 10,000 units under management within a two-year period, combined with a challenging environment navigating a pandemic, carried a significant increase in the volume of evictions that needed to be overseen. Even when properly and efficiently done, evictions have long timelines and strict deadlines. The eviction process is a cumbersome, time-consuming, and ever-changing legally-burdensome process. Understanding these challenges, ResProp knew that the eviction process had to be managed centrally – allowing the onsite teammates to focus on resident interactions and boosting the net operating income of their respective properties.
In addition, the company did not want to burden its corporate office with the task of following each eviction individually. ResProp also had one person who oversaw the eviction process at its properties, and the task became highly challenging when they expanded.
In need of a better and more centralized approach to their evictions, ResProp turned to Resident Interface and its Possession Partner service to improve the oversight and reliability of this tedious but necessary portion of its business.
“We had to have a relationship with each property, talk to them and follow up because they have specific protocols. These are responsibilities that have to get done, but they’re so interruptive in their day-to-day functions.” said Abby Pernalete, Director of Centralized Support at ResProp.
Solution: A Partnership That Makes It Easier to Oversee Eviction Responsibilities
ResProp was already utilizing the trusted services of Hunter Warfield, Resident Interface’s debt collection service, so the addition of Possession Partner to deftly maneuver through the eviction process was a natural choice.
“When we heard about Possession Partner our reaction was, ‘Yes, that’s absolutely what we’ve been looking for,’” Pernalete added. “It helped us quite a bit.’
The implementation of Possession Partner established a centralized team at ResProp that oversees evictions, and it ensured that all evictions were following the same protocols. They quickly realized that this would make the process easier and provide much-needed consistency and timeliness with legal filings.
“The central support team worked with Possession Partner to generate notices, file evictions and monitor each case at a faster and scalable rate,” said Marisol Rivera, Central Support Operations Lead at ResProp.
A key point of the Possession Partner system that was impressive to ResProp’s team was the availability of data and analytics that gave the company greater oversight on each property and allowed them to adjust and better plan for the future. ResProp could now quickly and easily utilize actionable data on the number of evictions at a property, the length of the eviction process for a particular region and what occupancy levels could be at a property after evictions were completed.
“We can go through evictions and, by using Possession Partner’s interactive reporting and dashboards, obtain timelines for each eviction by county and understand when we’ll be faced with leasing a higher level of units, so it helps us with the budgeting side,” Pernalete said, “That is something that is very beneficial.”
The Centralized Support Team introduced the new system to the onsite teams and helped establish their daily operations and training on the new eviction protocol. The results were dramatically beneficial.
“Everybody was already strapped for resources, so they welcomed the additional support,” Pernalete added. “We then explained how we would adjust some of the responsibilities from what used to be done on-site to how it is done now.”
Result: An Improved Centralized Eviction Process Without Additional Cost
The switch to Possession Partner was not a simple case of transferring all of its evictions to the platform and moving ahead. Evictions already in progress had to remain within their previous system and legal counsel. New evictions were added to the Possession Partner system and this provided ResProp with a better understanding of the benefits they were receiving by working with Resident Interface and their counsel.
“We were adding new cases to Possession Partner and realized they were being processed on a faster timeline than the ones that were already in progress,” said Pernalete. “That confirmed for us that in most cases, Possession Partner moved faster and more efficiently than the traditional approach.”
ResProp also discovered through this process that there was no increase in the costs it was experiencing from evictions, and in some cases, they were actually reduced. Combined with the ability to apply Possession Partner’s data to their budgeting, the cost-effectiveness of the switch was apparent.
“We looked at the costs associated with evictions and realized it’s not more expensive than filing a traditional case, and we get analytics with it,” Pernalete explained. “If we can get some of the numbers, we’re saving time, we have the scale and it’s not more expensive or sometimes less expensive, why not make the switch?”
Time and cost savings has been an additional factor for ResProp, as Possession Partner moves all of their eviction information into a central portal where the corporate team, regional managers and property managers all have up-to-date information on the evictions at specific properties. Each is able to analyze information and gain the actionable insight they require — all when their schedule permits and without the need for time-consuming calls that can upend more important tasks.
Rapid growth can be a monumental challenge at times, especially in the midst of a life-altering pandemic. ResProp was fortunate that it had the right people to rise to the challenge. Providing a reliable, hard-working team with the right tools to reduce the time spent on tasks while providing valuable data helps to solidify the success achieved with growth. By shifting its eviction process to Possession Partner, ResProp was able to turn this complicated but critical endeavor into a positive part of its progress.
To learn how to streamline your eviction management process, please visit us at residentinterface.com
To learn how ResProp is changing the face of multifamily and property management, please visit us at respropmanagement.com
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