LeaseRunner Report Reveals More 'Accidental Landlords' Than Originally Thought

By Keith Loria, Contributing Writer

Boulder, Colo.—LeaseRunner, a comprehensive digital leasing suite that allows users to manage leasing transactions from any Web-connected device, has released the results of its first-ever Rental Industry Report.

Expected to be a bi-annual report, the initial edition surveyed more than 1,000 LeaseRunner customers and revealed trends and data within the rental market from the viewpoint of brokers, landlords and property managers.

“I think we learned a lot from our customer base and what I take from it, is that landlords have a lot at risk,” LeaseRunner CEO Joe Buczkowski tells MHN. “When you look at these data points—58 percent say finding the right tenant is the greatest challenge and time constraint; many [are] concerned about past due rent—what this shows is that landlords are trying their best to get people in and pay the rent.”

Other challenges that landlords listed high were property maintenance at 17 percent, resident eviction at 8 percent and managing lease transactions at 7 percent.

When asked about which transaction consumes the most time during the leasing period, 65 percent of respondents answered listing and showing the property, followed by 14 percent saying lease execution and 9 percent choosing background checks.

“With the surge of renters entering the market, landlords and rental industry professionals, not all of whom have experience managing property, are pressed to deal with more rental applicants, screenings, lease executions and payments,” Buczkowski says. “High rents and low vacancy rates do present difficulties for renters looking for a place to live, but we should be equally concerned about the challenges faced by landlords, brokers and property managers, many of whom are also the consumer who has been forced into managing property by circumstance rather than choice.”

An interesting find from the report was that 59 percent of respondents included these “accidental landlords.”

“Given the time consuming responsibilities of managing rental properties and the large number of respondents identified as accidental landlords, the report identified a popular solution: paperless leasing,” Buczkowski says. “I was surprised by how man accidental landlords there were. It tells us a lot about the customer we are serving and this will help us improve our product.”

When respondents were asked if taking the leasing process online had strengthened their resident relationships, 73 percent said that it did.

“Another thing that customer said to answer one of our questions concerned how much time LeaseRunner saves, and a majority of people answered ‘a significant amount,’” Buczkowski says. “Only 1 percent told us it increased the amount of time.”