Leasing & Resident Experience

Realpage and Funnel team up to let operators mix front office tools

Realpage and Funnel announced they will plug Realpage's screening, payments, pricing and availability tools directly into Funnel's leasing workflow so operators can build their own stack. Realpage says the agreement has been in the works for more than three months and that several of its top ten customers already use Funnel.

Why it matters: If your community already uses Funnel or you have wanted to swap in a different screening or payments vendor, there is now a supported path, which gives marketing teams more freedom to pick the leasing software that best fits how renters actually behave at each property.

Three amenities operators are using to stand out in heavy lease up markets

Multifamily Dive looked at how operators are drawing renters in markets stuffed with lease ups and found three features getting the most traction: flexible business centers with meeting rooms, wellness spaces like saunas and cold plunges, and hospitality style resident services. The story notes that 1.2 million units were in lease up nationwide in early August and that southern concession use hit 21.1% in July while the national rate was 15.8%.

Why it matters: If your property is grinding through a long lease up, focus marketing on amenities renters will actually use most weeks, since operators report that spaces designed for daily use convert better than photogenic ones that only live on the website.

RealPage pauses new EliseAI integrations over a safety and controls dispute

RealPage has stopped approving new activations between its property management software and EliseAI, a platform used by over 700 property management companies. CEO Dirk Wakeham said EliseAI launched a new agent called Apollo without submitting it for review and that EliseAI has been working around RealPage's controls, so existing hookups keep running but new properties cannot be added.

Why it matters: Operators using EliseAI through RealPage cannot add new properties while the two companies work this out, so any lease-up or portfolio rollout planned for budget season should confirm timing with the account team before marketing is turned on.

Rental fee transparency now a cross-team problem, NAA panel warns

An NAA panel outlined five FTC-flagged compliance risks for rental fees: hidden fees, consent gaps, inadequate disclosure, misrepresentation and restricting choice. Panelists said effective compliance now needs leasing, marketing and operations to use the same fee names and descriptions on every channel, because renters notice when the website, listing site and leasing office disagree.

Why it matters: Mismatched fee labels across your website, listing sites and leasing office are the kind of inconsistency regulators and renters now flag, so get every channel speaking the same language before a prospect catches you out.

Rentana launches revenue management tool built for apartment lease-ups

Rentana announced Lease Up Mode on October 8, a revenue management feature built for apartment communities that are still filling up. The system builds monthly lease targets, revises forecasts as leasing activity comes in and recommends pricing changes by unit type, and is available to existing customers at no extra charge.

Why it matters: Marketers on new properties could use a dedicated lease-up pricing engine to tighten the link between campaign spend and the pro forma, so flag it when operations is picking tools for pre-lease and lease-up phases.

Leasing agents account for 423 of 660 open U.S. multifamily jobs

Residential leasing dominated open multifamily jobs at the end of the third quarter, with 423 of the 660 available positions tracked in CRETI's Q3 2026 Jobs Report. Median hourly pay for the roles was $20 and median annual pay was $76,000, and almost 80% of postings included compensation details.

Why it matters: Hiring and keeping leasing agents is the step that turns marketing spend into leases, so marketers who share this pay snapshot with ops could help set realistic staffing expectations before the next campaign push.

Google adds a WhatsApp chat button to local business panels

Google is now showing a WhatsApp button in the local panel alongside call, directions, website and share. The number comes from the WhatsApp field Google has been asking businesses to add to their Google Business Profiles.

Why it matters: A leasing office that adds a WhatsApp number to its Google Business Profile could pick up a new direct messaging channel for renter questions from Search, including from international and Spanish speaking prospects who already live in that app.

HappiNest and Snappt pair up to stop AI faked rental applications

HappiNest.AI and Snappt announced an integration that makes Snappt the exclusive verification provider inside HappiNest's Application Copilot. The combined tool checks documents for fraud, confirms applicant identity, and validates income through payroll and bank data in one flow.

Why it matters: Operators using AI leasing agents get a built in fraud check at the point of application, which could cut manual review time and protect against bad debt tied to fake pay stubs.

Most online real estate inquiries get no response within a day

A Pied Piper study of 2,198 consumer inquiries across 21 major real estate brands found that only 33% of callers reached an agent on the initial call, and 68% of web inquiries went unanswered within 24 hours. Just 18% of web inquiries ever resulted in agent contact.

Why it matters: The sample is brokerages, but the lesson maps straight to apartment leasing, where every ignored web lead could become a tour booked at the community down the street.

Google Ads will auto pull promotions from your site starting October 12

Starting October 12, 2026, Google will automatically identify and extract high quality promotions, such as coupons and deals, from advertisers' websites and apply them as assets to eligible Search and Performance Max campaigns. The feature targets accounts with linked location assets that don't already have promotion assets and is on by default, with an opt out in account level automated assets settings.

Why it matters: If a property website lists concessions or move in specials, Google may surface them in ads without you touching the campaign, so marketers should audit site offers now and decide whether to let Google auto apply them or switch the setting off.

California signs law requiring pet policies in rental ads and listings

Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1296, the Pet Policy Transparency Act, which requires California housing providers to put their pet policies in writing and share them before a renter pays an application fee. Beginning April 1, 2027, the policy has to appear with rental applications, on property websites, in digital advertisements, and on rental search platforms.

Why it matters: California apartment marketers will need to update listings, community sites, and paid ads so pet rules are visible up front, or risk refunding application fees to applicants who back out.

Google Search Live gets a Gemini 3.8 upgrade for voice and camera searches

Google rolled out Gemini 3.8 Live to Search Live on September 15, 2026, bringing more natural voice conversations, mid chat language switching across 97 languages, and real time camera understanding. The update also adds web links inside answers, which gives apartment websites a new way to be cited when a renter talks or points a camera instead of typing.

Venn buys Zuma for $50M as proptech consolidates around AI leasing

Multifamily Executive rounded up a wave of proptech moves, led by Venn's $50 million acquisition of agentic AI leasing platform Zuma and Betterbot's launch of a native CRM plus a voice AI that works across chat, SMS, email, and phone. The same roundup covered brightplace's new outcome based marketing platform, EliseAI crossing $200 million in annual recurring revenue, and new investment in HappyCo and CRED iQ.

Why it matters: The deals point to fewer standalone AI leasing and marketing tools and more unified platforms, which should factor into renewal and vendor selection decisions.

EliseAI raises $350M and now powers one in six U.S. apartments

EliseAI announced it raised $350 million at a $4 billion valuation in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz and Bessemer Venture Partners, with Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Sapphire Ventures, and Navitas Capital also joining. The company said it passed $200 million in annual recurring revenue in June 2026, powers one in six U.S. apartments, and will build out San Francisco as a second engineering hub alongside its New York headquarters.

Why it matters: AI leasing is consolidating around a small number of well funded platforms, which means marketers should expect sharper vendor pitches and should pressure test how any assistant handles their fair housing and brand voice guardrails.

Grotto AI cut Hillpointe new-hire ramp from 90 days to 9 and lifted tour conversion 27%

Hillpointe cut on-site leasing agent productivity ramp from 90 days to 9 and contact center ramp from 30 days to 3 using Grotto AI. Agents using the platform converted tours to leases at 27% higher rates than non-users and saved more than 100 hours a month per property.

Why it matters: AI coaching tools can post measurable tour-to-lease lifts, so marketers should push leasing peers to pilot them and tie training spend to the same conversion metrics their marketing dollars already chase.