Western Wealth Communities (WWCo), a relative newcomer to the multifamily space, operates 126 properties and more than 15,000 apartment homes across Texas and the Southwest, primarily in the workforce housing sector. The company prides itself on being a people-first company, as well as improving its apartment communities through focused and systematic operational efficiency. Since its inception, WWCo has completed over $5.1 billion in real estate transactions.
Western Wealth identified an increasing trend of deposit refund checks being returned to properties under the traditional security deposit model. Incorrect forwarding addresses created repetitive tasks and increased the workload within an already lean operating structure.
“The volume of checks being returned to us was creating hours’ worth of work and really throwing a wrench in our accounting system,” said Marlana Murdock, Director of Operations and Transitions at Western Wealth Communities. “Our team members juggle multiple jobs and that, in and of itself, was such a burden for our organization.”
With everything on their plates, on-site associates struggled to stay on top of claims, allowing revenue to slip through the cracks. The accounting issue also manifested in a hit to the company’s online reputation, as disgruntled former residents took to review sites to vent their frustrations over delayed deposit returns.
“The vast majority of our negative reviews were because people were upset about their traditional deposit refunds,” Murdock said. “So, we first looked for a deposit solution to solve that internal accounting issue.”
Western Wealth recognized that a full replacement of the security deposit model was required, and LeaseLock’s AI-driven insurtech platform emerged as the clear choice. The ease of implementation and the white-glove level of support from LeaseLock was a stark contrast with other vendors.
“LeaseLock sets the standard for technology solutions,” Murdock said. “With the burden that most vendors would have put on us, we would have needed a full-time person just to manage their solution. The LeaseLock team takes care of their product and we just really oversee it. It was a very easy decision for us.”
Murdock was impressed by the fact that LeaseLock upheld all its lofty pre-deployment promises. LeaseLock not only enabled Western Wealth to realize a 154% increase in claims from August of 2021 through the end of Q1 2022, but also delivered claims returns in less than 48 business hours.
“LeaseLock executed on everything promised as part of the rollout, with no deviations from the roadmap,” Murdock said. “The ease of implementation is going to change the way we select vendor partners to do business with in the future. The partnership with LeaseLock will not only impact our bottom line but our asset value. We anticipate a massive reduction in bad debt, and look forward to realizing the potential revenue loss opportunity. It’s like new-found money—like winning the lottery.”
For a closer look at Western Wealth’s challenges, evaluation process and results since launching, download the case study digest:
