Important to the successful operation of managing multifamily buildings is the ability to thoroughly scrutinize rental applications. Conducting a thorough screening greatly reduces the risks and costs associated with evictions and damages. VERO’s screening is a complete and automated process that can eliminate fraud, however some leasing agents still desire to contact an applicant’s previous landlord for final confirmation. The final check of manually verifying an applicant’s prior residency can add time to lease execution and consume staff time.
VERO’s new Verification of Residency (VoR) solution automates and accelerates gathering feedback from prior landlords. The simple survey sent to previous landlords and subsequent VoR score allows the leasing agent to distinguish more qualified applicants in a more timely manner. The questions help shed light on the behavior of the applicant in the previous tenancy. The custom questions and numeric rating provide extremely valuable information condensed down to an easily understandable VoR score.
When a new unit becomes available there are dozens of tasks to be performed. The building team needs to advertise the unit, review submitted applications, and perform several forms of personal and financial verifications. With so much to do, it can be tempting to focus on verifying income and employment while skipping verification of residency. After all, one of the most time consuming and frustrating aspects of vetting potential leasing applicants is manually verifying residency with past landlords. An endless game of phone tag often ends with a simple, unhelpful response.
Despite the effort required, it is important to verify an applicant's prior residency because the information from past landlords can be critical to making the right decision on an applicant. A past landlord can tell you if the applicant paid on time or missed payments. They can also tell you if the applicant left their last unit in good condition or was an unruly neighbor. These data points are often not illuminated on a background check, but are important to help reduce risk and headaches.
Verification of residency is important, but often forces a Manager to choose between speed and completeness. VERO developed a solution to allow for both while removing the burden from the leasing agent. VERO’s Verification of Residency (VoR) is an automated tool that allows leasing managers to quickly and easily collect information and feedback from an applicant's most recent landlord. With Verification of Residency (VoR), applicants provide their previous landlords’ information and VERO automatically emails a survey to collect valuable information about the applicant's previous tenancy.
Utilizing VERO’s VoR is very simple and the solution fits seamlessly into the application process. Potential applicants fill out contact information for their most recent landlord during the initial application process. The tool then emails the landlord with a short survey of custom questions. The survey is short and simple, and only requires the landlord to choose a numeric rating from 1-10, though they can include additional comments if desired. After the survey is completed, the information is sent back to the leasing agent along with a VoR score that helps the agent make an educated decision about accepting the applicant and moving forward with the lease. If the landlord does not reply in a timely manner, VERO provides for a reminder email to complete the survey.
The current process of verifying an applicant’s residency has many challenges. Typically, applicants provide a phone number or email of the prior manager. During their busy days, leasing agents attempt to connect with the previous landlord to manually acquire proof of residency and any other desired information such as the timeliness of rent payments. Oftentimes, it takes a few attempts to catch the prior manager’s attention, which can be a lengthy process that can significantly increase the time to execute a lease.
In contrast, automating the process with VERO’s VoR alleviates the runaround of needing to manually contact previous landlords. Not only does this increase team leasing velocity, it also frees up time for leasing agents to focus on other important tasks.
Similarly, applicants benefit from the mobile-first nature of VERO’s application and VoR solution. Applicants seamlessly enter their prior landlord’s information within the VERO application. There is no need for an offline email, call, or fax, which is an attractive feature for busy applicants who need to be able to complete the process of applying on their time schedule.
VERO’s VoR solution automates the verification process, enabling every step of the leasing process to be frictionless and speedy. Allow VERO to continue to free up agent time and accelerate time to executing leases with VoR. VERO’s VoR enables one less friction point for your leasing agents to worry about and one more delightful experience for potential applicants who are looking for an easy, convenient, and secure process. For more information, contact VERO about automating your applicants’ Verification of Residency.