MHN Solutions Showcase: Q&A with TransUnion

How are your customers managing their businesses more efficiently with your products and services?

TransUnion Rental Screening Solutions entered the multifamily industry with a focus on screening solutions, but we have since continued to expand our offerings across the full resident life cycle. The strength of our solutions is enhanced on the access to consumer data on excess of 300 million records that allow for streamlined use by our customers and integrated to allow for efficient on-site operations. Our predictive analytics are helping owners and operators to make better business decisions about the properties they buy and sell, the applicants they lease to and the residents living in their communities.

What advice would you give owner/operators on how to prioritize their risk management needs in the current environment?

When business conditions are favorable, as they are now, it’s tempting for companies to deprioritize risk management. This mistake can cost owners and operators significantly, both in opportunity and real costs. Even when eviction risk is low and demand is high, risk management solutions, like TransUnion Rental Screening Solutions’, can help companies decide which properties to purchase, reposition or sell, retain the most profitable residents, develop community-specific resident retention programs, design predictive screening strategies, and much more.

Since we are anticipating a significant increase in renovation and construction activity in the coming months do you have any products geared towards streamlining this part of the multi-family business?

TransUnion Rental Screening Solutions’ ResidentVision product is a data and analytics solution that can be used exactly in this way. Access to our vast consumer databases is paired with our analytic expertise to offer insights into not only the residents at a specific property, but also at similar or goal properties. For example, TransUnion Rental Screening Solutions recently partnered with a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) on a property acquisition where the resident files had been destroyed. They were hoping to buy the property, renovate it and raise rents. We were able to profile the existing and previous residents in key demographics such as household formation, income levels, eviction/skip risk, and current debt levels. We compared this property to similar properties and properties charging rents similar to their goal rent. This enabled our customer to not only decide if they wanted to continue with the acquisition, but also to develop a repositioning and operational strategy that would maximize their revenue stream post-acquisition.

Do you have any major predictions?

Over the past few years, the multifamily industry experienced unparalleled growth and profits. Industry analysts forecast a potential supply/demand catch-up by early 2017. As a result, it’s even more important that companies proactively focus on having the right risk solutions in place well in advance and an eye on analytics so they can better forecast and react to the changing market.

What big initiatives are on the horizon for TransUnion Rental Screening Solutions?

We’ve observed a growing interest in leveraging big data and business intelligence solutions to drive more profitable operations at multifamily communities. As such, our continued focus will be to apply our insights and best practices from other industries we support, like the finance, auto and insurance industries, and introduce them to the multifamily industry. Partnering with an information company, like TransUnion Rental Screening Solutions, allows industry thought leaders to understand their applicants, residents and competition in new and exciting ways and look for beneficial products that can help drive more targeted marketing and renter segmentation models while identifying the most profitable residents, and better predicting which applicants will have a challenging payment performance.

Maitri Johnson is Vice President of Rental Screening Solutions, TransUnion

ABOUT TransUnion (NYSE: TRU): Information is a powerful thing. At TransUnion, we realize that. We are dedicated to finding innovative ways information can be used to help individuals make better and smarter decisions. We help uncover unique stories, trends and insights behind each data point, using historical information as well as alternative data sources. This allows a variety of markets and businesses to better manage risk and consumers to better manage their credit, personal information and identity. Today, TransUnion has a global presence in more than 30 countries and a leading presence in several international markets across North America, Africa, Latin America and Asia. Through the power of information, TransUnion is working to build stronger economies and families and safer communities worldwide. We call this Information for Good. http://rentalscreening.transunion.com.