Olympus Property Class A Communities Transform Credit for Growing Gen Z Renter Demographic with RentPlus
Overview
Olympus Property lives by the standard that residents are not only their customers but also their neighbors. Making a positive impact is an integral part of the culture they strive to extend to their communities.
The Olympus leadership team saw RentPlus as a key entry to delivering socially responsible initiatives to their residents. After piloting select properties in Utah, the incredible impact RentPlus brought forth was undeniable, so they haven't looked back ever since.
"What we're seeing now is about 25% of our renters are actually Gen Z; they might not have terrible credit, but they might not have a long history of credit at all. It's so hard to build credit coming into adult life. RentPlus offers a much easier way for them to go ahead and start building that history." Sarah Gencarella
"When we looked at the income RentPlus would be able to provide Olympus as a whole, we saw how that ancillary revenue would really help us to achieve some of our financial goals. We extrapolated projections based on the number of units that we had and the estimated adoption rates. Offering this program to residents has proven to be very, very successful, even more than we originally imagined, which again has contributed to us being able to achieve the financial goals that we have as a company." Sarah Gencarella
"In this market right now, it's very critical to look at ways that you can balance expenses and generate different types of revenue in a variety of ways, ensuring that you are on an even playing field - not just spending, spending, spending. Looking at everything from the acquisitions process, to cap rates, to the evaluation of a property, RentPlus has such a huge impact on the bigger financial picture. " Sarah Gencarella
Residents opted-in and counting by Q2 2023
Residents went from unscorable to scorable
Point average credit lift after first year with RentPlus
Implementation at the flip of a switch
From the operator side, Olympus loved the fact that RentPlus enrollment automatically opted in residents. With onsite teams being so busy on a day-to-day basis, there was no time to waste having to "sell" one more thing to their renters. With auto-enrollment, residents still are granted the option to opt-out at any time with a full refund.
On top of the enrollment, the integrations with both RealPage and Conservice made it extremely easy for the program to be activated across a large percentage of their portfolio almost instantly.
Impact on newly enrolled residents
From the most recent credit bureau data concluding program efficacy in Q4 of 2022, we saw that just shy of 9% of all residents who were enrolled in the program went from unscorable to scorable credit tiers.
In the realm of credit, varying tiers represent varying levels of risk. Those with subprime credit, classified as poor to fair credit (669 or below), are considered higher-risk borrowers. On the other hand, prime credit scores, which range from 750 or higher, indicate low-risk borrowers. Near-prime scores fall between 669 and 750. When individuals contemplate significant financial endeavors such as home purchases, rewards credit cards, higher education, or financial repairs, lenders are more inclined to lend to borrowers with prime credit scores while being less willing to extend credit to subprime applicants. This highlights the importance of educating individuals about different credit categories and their implications.
Meaningful value for every credit tier and phase of the resident's lifecycle
Being that RentPlus serves Class A communities entirely with Olympus Property, we wanted to hear from an executive perspective how this amenity serves to fill a niche in a demographic that might be seemingly stigmatized as already having strong credit.
Sarah Gencarella, VP of Marketing with Olympus was quick to address the fact that a growing number of tenants they see are in the Gen Z category, and still very early in their credit building life cycle. RentPlus specifically offers an extra advantage of ID protection services and home ownership incentives, something unique that even renters of higher credit tiers can value. Sarah explains, "Things like ID protection are not specific to a certain demographic or class of communities. Everyone should have the opportunity if they want to take advantage of improving their financial well-being if they so desire."
