Innovation is in our DNA at Inman — that’s why we’re excited about August’s Technology and Innovation Month. We’ll kick it off by celebrating the companies and individuals pushing the industry forward with an expanded slate of Inman Innovator Awards at Inman Connect Las Vegas. Then, we’ll continue to celebrate the brightest minds in real estate all month long.
RentSpree’s latest reporting product is designed to help property management providers more accurately verify the income of lease applicants, Inman has learned in an exclusive press release.
The fintech feature, the result of an integration with Finicity, a Mastercard company, links to the individual’s bank account to record transactions over the last 12 to 24 months to pull data directly from the source, a practice that’s been manual, paper-based and dependent on credit agencies since its inception. Applicants often scan or provide actual copies of paystubs and rely on reference phone calls to employers.
“Finicity provides a one-time encrypted connection during which an applicant is prompted to log into their bank account, thereby generating a detailed financial report,” the release stated.
RentSpree provides automation solutions for all stakeholders of the rental industry, including residential sales agents, which it delivers largely through partnerships with multiple listing services. It processes payments, flattens tenant screening, empowers marketing and automates the application process, among other features.
RentSpree co-founder and CEO Michael Lucarelli, fresh from appearing on panels at Inman Connect Las Vegas, said his company’s reporting tools are critical time savers, and this one particular soothes a searing pain point for leasing agents.
“This feature facilitates the rapid verification of an applicant’s income based on actual transactions, providing clear evidence of their capacity to afford the monthly rent,” he said. “It’s extremely challenging to accurately assess the income of rental property applicants.”
Fraud is not uncommon in the income verification process and can lead to an inability to collect lost rent or pursue tenants for damage.
Lucarelli has been putting his company in front of multiple listing services for several years to encourage sales agents to reconsider how they view the rental community. Renters become buyer leads, he often says, and it’s not uncommon for agents to work as property managers or alongside multi-family investors.
RentSpree added tenant credit building to its repertoire earlier in 2024, allowing users to report on-time payments to credit bureau TransUnion.
The need for apartments to rent remains critical to housing Americans. CBRE, a global commercial real estate company, expects vacancy rates to remain healthy in 2024 and into 2025, and stated that “enough demand should keep the average occupancy rate above 94 percent,” the company predicted.
“Multifamily real estate is playing a more important role in alleviating a severe shortage (at least 3.1 million) of single-family homes that is contributing to homeownership challenges, particularly in a high-interest-rate environment. The premium for an average monthly mortgage payment of a newly purchased home vs. average monthly rent is expected to remain above 35 percent in 2024 versus 52 percent in 2023,” CBRE said.
