November 12, 2024 • 24 mins
In this episode of the Multifamily Innovation® Podcast, host Patrick Antrim sits down with Arlene Mayfield, Senior Vice President at PetScreening, to explore how PetScreening is reshaping pet policies and operations across the multifamily industry. With over 7 million units under management and partnerships with more than 24,000 property management companies, PetScreening brings innovative solutions that enhance resident experiences, boost property revenue, and streamline compliance with HUD’s guidelines for emotional support animals.
Arlene emphasizes the importance of trust, communication, and collaboration as the foundation for strong partnerships. These values are essential as PetScreening helps property management companies tackle pet-related challenges and improve overall efficiency. PetScreening’s solution alleviates the burden of HUD compliance for Emotional Support Animal (ESA) requests, removing the legal complexity from property managers and reducing potential liability. Additionally, the service is cost-effective: property management companies can implement PetScreening at no cost, as fees are only charged to residents with household pets, allowing managers to avoid “junk fee” concerns.
With PetScreening, properties gain insightful access to pet demographics, such as tracking bite histories, which help properties understand and mitigate risks associated with pet ownership in their communities. PetScreening’s software can be implemented in a week, with two-way integrations into most property management software, making setup fast and effective. Their system enables properties to capture additional revenue through pet fees while also creating a reliable process to verify ESA claims and deter false documentation.
Arlene also shared PetScreening’s plans to expand into the short-term rental space, enabling pet-friendly travel accommodations and office environments where pets can help increase employee engagement and satisfaction. As she notes, “Pets are the new kids, with more pets now in households than children.” Through its offerings, PetScreening builds peace of mind, with the ESA compliance service not only lifting a legal burden but also offering properties a streamlined approach to managing pet policies.
About the Multifamily Innovation® Council:
The Multifamily Innovation® Council is the executive level membership organization that makes a difference in your bottom line, drives a better experience for your employees, and allows you an experience that keeps demand strong for your company. The council is uniquely positioned to focus on the intersection of Leadership, Technology, AI, and Innovation.
The Multifamily Innovation® Council is for Multifamily Business leaders who want to unlock value inside their organization so they can create better experiences and drive profitability inside their company.
To learn more or to join, visit https://multifamilyinnovation.com.
For more information and to engage with leaders shaping the future of multifamily innovation, visit https://multifamilyinnovation.com/.
Connect:
Multifamily Innovation® Council: https://multifamilyinnovation.com/
Patrick Antrim: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickantrim/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right.
So today we're joined by ArleneMayfield, really excited to
share the time.
We've been following hersuccess for many, many years and
, as many of you alreadyprobably know, you're familiar
with the brand Pet Screening andthey're all across the country,
in so many great states,leading so many great people to
bring some of the most importantthings to our business that
(00:23):
impact our profitability, ourefficiency and the experiences
we create.
And so we're bringing our leanin and we're, you know, as we
lead into the MultifamilyInnovation and AI Summit.
We spend time with innovativebrands that are doing
interesting things and creatingvalue for organizations, and as
part of the Innovation Council,we get the opportunity to learn
(00:43):
about the problems that ourmultifamily owners and operators
want to solve and then also theopportunities that they want to
create, and so, with ourpartners, we get together like
who's solving those things andwho can best help and support
our industry platform.
So with that, arlene, welcomein.
Glad to have you here.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Thank you, it's great to see you, great to connect
today.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Listen, you're leading one ofprobably the largest sales
organizations in multifamily.
Tell me a little bit more aboutthat and how you guys are
approaching things differentlyin multifamily.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah.
So I've been really fortunatesince I joined Pet Screening to
be able to build what I wouldcall my dream team, having been
in the industry for about 40years, really handpicked and
selected who I thought would bebest to support the pet
screening and partner with a petscreening product and solution
that we offer.
So we have about 10 nationalreps distributed across the
(01:42):
country.
They sell on a PMC by PMC basis.
We're not based on geography,which I know a lot of sales
organizations are.
I basically said where do youhave relationships, where do you
think you can best use thoserelationships or partnerships
with multifamily propertymanagement companies?
And let's figure out how we canmake those accounts beneficial
(02:03):
to both you, to the company and,obviously, to the property
management firms that want totalk to us on a daily basis.
I think one of the best thingsabout multifamily is we all love
the partnerships that we'vedeveloped over the years.
We like to work with peoplethat we know and we trust, and
I've given the team the abilityto do that.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I want to get into the product in just a moment
here, but what do you believemakes a great partnership?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
You know, I think I would start off with trust,
trust and confidence.
Being able to trust the PMC,being able to trust the person
that they're dealing with on theother side of the desk, knowing
that they're going to followthrough.
You know the old saying underpromising and over delivering.
I think that goes a long way inthis industry.
(02:48):
And look, we have long memoriesin this industry, so doing the
right thing.
People will remember that andthey want to work with people
that have always done right bythem.
So I would start by sayingtrust and, I think,
collaboration and communication.
I think, as our industry hasgrown, and especially the
advances that we've hadpost-pandemic, I think that
(03:08):
we're moving very quickly andit's not just about a supplier
selling something to a propertymanagement company.
There's a lot of collaborationnow.
How can the products be better,how can the solutions provide
more of what the propertymanagement companies or owner
and asset managers need?
And I think that collaboration,communication and trust all
work very well together.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
That's incredibly important and underestimated in
so many ways.
We're all trying to go fast andacquire customers and serve,
but I love the under-promise,over-deliver aspect.
I think it's like reasonableexpectations of growth and
progress establishes to yourpoint the outcome, that trust I
mean.
If you can win and do the smallthings, you can do the big
things.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
That's right, that's great, very well said, I agree.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, so tell me, let's talk about the product.
What are you guys working on,what's the problem it solves and
who are you trying to spendtime with?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
So we know, based on a lot there's a lot of data out
there on pets, right we talkabout at Pet Screening pets
being the new kids there aremore pets typically in
households today than there arechildren in households today,
just kind of how things haveflip-flopped a little bit.
So, knowing that, we try tosolve the potential pet problems
(04:23):
that are on properties today.
So when I think about ourcompany, we've been around for
seven years.
We service 7 million units,about 24,000 property management
companies across the country.
Through those 7 million unitswe consider all of those
long-term rentals.
They may be rental homes, butthey may also be one of the NMHC
(04:43):
top 50.
So we service everything fromone unit to 900,000 unit
property management companiesand everything in between.
So our software has the abilityto allow the prospective
resident to define if one ofthree things they have a
household pet, they have anassistance animal, an emotional
(05:05):
support animal we call them ESAsor they don't have a pet.
And it really allows theproperty manager again, no
matter what size of the propertyit is, allows that property
manager to know the demographicof the pets that are on the site
.
They know the demographic oftheir resident because they have
(05:25):
them fill out an application asthey're moving in.
We're basically doing the samething as the resident is moving
in.
We partner with all theproperty management software
systems, so there's two-wayintegrations.
An email goes out within 15minutes of the application being
filled out that says hey,you're applying for an apartment
.
We'd love to know if you have apet and, if so, tell us a few
(05:47):
things about your pet.
So it's seamless.
It's integrated within theproperty management software
systems as well as some otherthird-party systems, and we
solve that pet problem becausepeople then know which pets are
on site and if they get lost,you know if they're charging pet
rent and things like that.
They have the ability to reallydetermine how to do that.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Let's lean into.
You mentioned some of thepotential problems.
Maybe somebody listening inisn't thinking about all the
potential problems they may bemaking assumptions about.
But how are people going aboutthis process, I guess, if
they're not a customer, whatdoes that look like?
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I think one of the main things that we solve for
and we're known for is the ESA,or the emotional support animal,
and the assistance with thedocumentation associated with
that.
Since our inception about sevenyears ago, we have processed
about 1.2 million ESA orassistant animal requests.
We have a team of people in ourCharlotte office that's where
(06:43):
our corporate office is and theyreview about 25,000 requests on
a monthly basis.
If we are not reviewing those,then it's concerned that there
(07:04):
are HUD guidelines, obviously,for the ESA requests and we do
everything in accordance withthose HUD guidelines.
So we take that burden off theon-site or even the in-house
counsel, if you will.
So there's great comfort inknowing that we're doing the
same thing every day.
We have a very tight process onhow we review those, contacting
(07:25):
the medical providers to makesure they are accurate, and so
if that's not being done by us,oftentimes you'll hear some
anxiousness or some uncertaintyfrom the person that is doing it
, because they're very unsure ifthey're doing it correctly and
they're naturally, if HUD'sinvolved, concerned of a
potential lawsuit.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Yeah, and I mean you're talking about counsel
doing this.
I mean that could be expensive.
I'm just calculating the timeand then the training and
turnover and all that plays outinto another thing to manage.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Absolutely, and when you talk about the cost
associated with that, I'll bringthat up at this point.
We don't charge the propertymanagement company and we don't
have any contracts, so there'sno cost associated with the
property management company orthe asset or the owner.
(08:13):
We charge the resident only ifthey have a household pet.
There is an annual one-time feethat we charge on an annual
basis really keeps up their petrecords, they get vaccination,
updates and some things likethat.
But if it's an ESA request orthey don't have a pet, we don't
charge anything.
So it makes it very costeffective for the property
management company or the owner.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Right and it gives them some distance to not be the
ones to assert certaincompliance right.
I mean, it gives you some spacethere as well, I would imagine.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Exactly Reviewing and giving the recommendations on
the ESA request or even on ahousehold pet.
We like to think that everyproperty is pet inclusive and
pet friendly, but we know thatsometimes there are weight or
breed restrictions, so we willunquote, sniff all of those out
for our clients as well, to makesure that you know what we are
(08:59):
processing for them and givingthem recommendations for, so
they can make an educateddecision, are within their
guidelines.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
So where are you seeing things going?
Are there any trends thatmultifamily owners and operators
should be paying attention to?
You mentioned the one aroundthe amount of pets in homes,
this type of stuff.
Are there any other insightsthat you're learning from this
type of reach?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I think that a couple of things.
I think the average speaking ofthe homes and pets, the average
property manager will say yeah,we have about 25% of our
property having pets.
We know that the averagehousehold has about 70%.
We know about 50% of those arein rentals give or take.
You know, more in single family, more in build to rent than
there may be in a high rise indowntown Chicago.
(09:41):
So that varies greatly.
We're seeing.
You know, one of the things thatwe do as well is we track bite
and bite history of pets and soyou know we try to track those
trends as if there's more petsand in some areas or you know,
as far as pet bites and thingslike that than other areas.
So we try to track some trendslike that and be able to give
(10:01):
some of that information back toour clients and our customers.
We know that pet bites seem tobe on the rise again because
there are more pets, we think ina confined space.
So we want to make sure we'rehelping our clients with the
liability and they're aware ofwhat that could look like.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
I mean being in 7 million units is a great
accomplishment.
Tell me what that process lookslike in terms of onboarding and
getting set up with yourorganization, because some
people listening may not alreadybe one of the 7 million, but
I'd be curious to see what wouldthey expect to experience when
they reach out to you and wantto become part of your program.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yes, it's very seamless and it can happen very
quickly.
I think when you talk about asoftware, when you talk about a
new software, a lot of clientsor a lot of people would say,
okay, this is going to be a verylaborious process, this is
going to take months of my timeand it's going to take time for
the onsite teams.
We really say that we can setany client up within seven days.
(11:00):
So basically, as I mentioned,if somebody signs up for pet
screening, in conjunction withthe application being filled out
, the resident is filling outthe information about their pets
.
But prior to that and signingup for pet screening, basically
a property signs up.
We have, as I mentioned,integrations with all the
property management softwarecompanies.
They take a training course inLMS that takes about 45 minutes,
(11:22):
has a few questions for theonsite team to answer, as
they're taking that automatedLMS and within a seven-day
period they can be live on theirproperty.
That means live on theirproperty, us handling all of
their ESAs.
For them, that also means liveon their property, them getting
pet revenue that they may havenot been able to get before.
One of the things that we reallypride ourselves in is providing
(11:43):
our clients with reporting toshow if someone has started
filling out one of the threeprofiles that being of the pet
owner, of the ESA or the no petand maybe they haven't finished
filling out the profile.
We know chances are theyprobably have a pet and they
just didn't finish filling itout because we asked them to
sign an affidavit at the end ofevery profile saying that it's
(12:05):
true and correct.
So the honest people out theretend to not finish filling it
out.
So we can provide some pivotreporting to where the onsite
managers can go in and get someancillary revenue.
They're not currently gettingbut within that seven-day period
they're set up, they're readyto go and again they enjoy that
additional pet revenue.
They enjoy us handling those ESArequests for them.
In addition, they know whodoesn't have a pet.
(12:26):
There's opportunities, you knowsometimes around the holidays
people are giving pets, puppiesfor Christmas.
There's an opportunity whensomebody has signed that they
haven't had a pet.
We remind them that if they doget a pet they need to let the
office know or their propertymanager know.
So there's opportunitiesthroughout the process to get
additional pet revenue and petfees, boosting that ancillary
(12:47):
revenue.
And when occupancies or rentsare going down as they currently
are and have been for the past12 to 18 months.
It's really enticing for theowners and the operators to get
that additional revenue.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Yes, exactly, and take me inside some of those
conversations.
What kind of questions are theyasking you about those
opportunities and how to executeon them?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Oftentimes we get questions regarding the $30
household pet fee.
That seems to, over the last, Iwould say, four or five months,
we've had a lot of questionsabout that.
There's a lot of noise rightnow around the junk fees, right,
and I think that we're hearingokay.
Is $30 deemed part of the junkfees?
Definitely not.
It's $30.
It's once a year.
It's a service we're providingfor the resident and knowing
(13:35):
that you know people spendbillions on their pets every
year, $30, you know, is reallynot a lot.
We get a lot of questions aboutthe ancillary revenue.
What other companies may becharging for pet fees and pet
deposits?
Do people have breedrestrictions?
Are they abiding by the weightrestrictions?
Some companies that use petscreening have actually taken
away all the breed and theweight restrictions because they
do have a good idea of theprofile or the demographic of
(13:58):
those pets and they feel like atleast they know.
And if they know who's on sitewith what pet, it helps with the
false ESA requests.
Oftentimes people might say thatthey have a restricted breed,
an emotional support animal.
So in using pet screeningsometimes it takes away some of
those barriers and theprospective resident or the
(14:19):
actual resident feels morecomfortable saying that they do
have a restricted breed but ifthe property allows that breed,
there's not as many false ESArequests.
So a lot of our conversationsare around the ESA request
process, the $30 fee associatedwith the household pet and the
integration piece.
Everyone wants to know if theyuse that property management
(14:40):
software system, how seamless isthat integration?
And when we have two-wayintegrations with the PMS
systems, it's easy for them tolook in their system that the
onsite managers are in every day, all day, to be able to see the
actual profile.
So it's very helpful.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Yeah, that's great.
Take me through a little bitabout what you're hearing from
current customers.
What are they saying?
How is this making life betterfor the business, either
financially or even from anexperience standpoint?
What are you hearing?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yeah, I think we hear three things mainly.
Number one thank you forhandling the ESA requests.
We know that dealing with HUDis sometimes tricky and they
feel that we've lifted thatburden off for them.
So they have comfort in knowingthat they appreciate that we
are helping that onsite team,the onsite teams even if the
onsite team has not handled theESA request, they are accepting
(15:28):
or denying people that arecoming in with pets on a daily
basis.
They appreciate that we'retaking that burden off of the
onsite teams or, if it'scentralized, someone potentially
at the corporate office, bygiving a recommendation.
And that's exactly what we give.
If there is a weight or breedrestriction and we dump those
into our algorithm and let theonsite team or whoever's deemed
(15:50):
the responsible party know thatresident that will be moving in
may not fit within thoseguidelines.
Based on what we call a FIDOscore, like a FICA score, we
give each pet a FIDO score.
So if there are breed andweight restrictions, we may give
someone with a German Shepherdif that is a restriction a zero
(16:11):
PAW score.
So we may make a recommendationthat the pet has a zero PAW
score.
They can still say they want toallow them to move in.
We're just giving them theinformation.
Sometimes the property's inlease up and they're just happy
to have somebody come to thedoor.
They have great credit.
They just need to know what petis actually there, so they feel
good knowing that.
The third thing is knowing thatthey don't have a pet, and we
(16:34):
actually have residents that arehappy when properties use pet
screening because they know thatthere is a process associated
on site with managing the pets.
So it's interesting that, sincewe serve 7 million units now
that the prospective residentsare even in tune to what we do
at pet screening.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yeah, Are you hearing ?
Even in the sales process forrenting is that being positioned
as a value?
You know, knowing, like evenyou're going into the bite
records and all of that stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Most definitely.
Prospects want to know andclients want to know what's
happening with these pets.
So that's absolutely correct.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Yeah, interesting.
What are the questions I shouldbe asking that maybe I'm not
asking in evaluating a companylike yours?
Speaker 2 (17:17):
I think that I always think that we're the best kept
secret, and when I joined thecompany, I heard that from our
founder and our owner that we'rethe best kept secret and people
don't know who we are.
I think that even a concept ofknowing that there is a property
management tool out there thatallows people to track pets is
(17:38):
something that most people don'tknow about.
So when you ask, you know whatquestions should I be asking?
I think you covered a lot ofwhat we talk about with
prospective clients or existingclients.
I think that you've coveredmost of those.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Are you excited about anything next?
Are you guys looking at otheradjacent opportunities?
I mean, I'm sure you're inthese conversations Sounds like
you've created some greatrelationships adding a lot of
value.
Is there anything exciting onthe agenda for what's next for
the brand?
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Yeah.
So while our founder developedthis company as a property
manager serving propertymanagers and that's really what
we're about, as you can imaginethere has been a lot of interest
from other companies.
Ceos are potentially trying toget people back into offices.
So we've had some large officecompanies say, hey, can we use
(18:27):
pet screening?
Because maybe if we allow petsto come into the office, people
will want to come to work alittle bit more.
I'm in our corporate office inCharlotte today, even though I'm
based in Atlanta, and at anygiven day there's 20 to 30 pets
in our office and so peopleusually dogs, people bring them
in.
So I think CEOs are looking atthat.
We're in the process right nowof developing a short-term
(18:48):
rental product.
So basically, people want totake their pets on vacation
Oftentimes the hotels, or evenif you're going to a condo or
you know somewhere on vacation,you can't bring your pets.
So we're looking at developinga short-term rental, vacation
rental product, very similar towhat we do with long-term
rentals, to allow people tobring their pets.
(19:09):
If you're going to an Airbnb,you know you pay a deposit, but
you can at least have your petstay with you for the next week
to a month, if you want to, andthen there's other verticals
that we will branch out into aswell.
We've had some interest frommany different companies in
different verticals, so I thinkthose will come, you know,
within the next 12 to 18 to 24months as we continue to build
(19:31):
out pet screening.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
I love that.
Thanks for sharing that.
You know, I think about likejust the whole idea of the
business that we servemultifamily, you know, there's
always been this American dreamto own a home and I think that's
all being reimagined in termsof access being the new
ownership right Like you can gointo a city and even in the way
(19:53):
that people work they're notworking 25 years for Intel, you
know, in Albuquerque and thingslike that and so if they're
moving around, it makes sense tohave an understanding of the
travel impact and even in theshort-term experience, you know,
because I think a lot of that'scoming into the industry as
well.
But I'm just curious, like inairline travel, I don't travel
with my pets on the airlines andall that.
(20:15):
What's that process look like?
I guess?
Have you guys thought throughthat?
Or is that mostly ESAgovernance versus just frequent
pet traveling?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
There is no governance.
So we have talked about it andwe have looked at it because you
know, I think we've all been onflights and people take their
dogs, usually out of theirlittle carriers, and you're
wondering is this dog going tobite me?
You know like I was on a planerecently and the dog was walking
up and down, you know the aisleand it was probably an 80 or 90
pound dog.
You think to yourself, right,or even when you get nowhere to
(20:49):
go.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Right, You're at a hotel.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Am I getting in with a dog that is vaccinated?
Do they have a bite history andthings like that.
So I think that, as we thinkabout pet screening and we think
about you know 2.0 and thenversions past that, taking the
learnings that we have inmultifamily and that we've
developed over the 7 millionunits that we have, and you can
imagine the rich data that wehave supporting and behind that,
(21:11):
I think you know thinking aboutthe airlines and you know what
we could potentially provide forthem and you know the airlines,
I think, have an interestbecause right now they just
charge a fee and I have a sisterthat works at Delta.
She's on the executive team andshe said we charge a fee but we
have no idea about that pet.
Is it vaccinated, is it spayedor neutered?
Does it have a bite history?
(21:32):
How old is it?
So all of those questions thatwe ask residents today, I think
the airlines are becoming alittle more wise as they've
experienced, unfortunately, someliability issues.
So I think it's a greatquestion and it's a great
thought and we've talked aboutit a lot here.
As you can imagine, with anycompany, even though we're in
strong growth mode, becausewe're past the startup mode how
(21:53):
do you scale?
Where do you go first and howdo you scale and that's a lot of
the conversations that we havewhen do we go next?
And that's why we pickedvacation rentals, because we
think that that is the nextnatural step.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
And then what will be next on the horizon as we move
forward.
Yeah, I mean, spaces are spacesin many different places, like
you have office right, libraries, you have restaurants, all
these different things going on,and our residents experience
all these things as much asanything else.
But I was just curious.
That's interesting.
You know how you guys approachthis stuff Very innovative, very
visionary and just reallyenjoying the partnership too,
(22:32):
because you know we aim to bringtogether top minds and
multifamily, bringing intechnology, innovation and, you
know, making the business betterfor companies but also
increasing the value of therelationship of all of our
clients when they introduceresidents to their portfolios,
(22:52):
making life and renting a betterexperience.
So thank you for coming on.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Thanks for the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
I appreciate it very much, yeah absolutely, and so
we're about ready to wrap.
I'd love to leave you with.
Are there any final thoughtsthat you want to leave our
listeners with before?
Speaker 2 (23:06):
we wrap up and offer a solution that can save them
money, provide additionalancillary revenue, reduce
(23:26):
liabilities and take care oftheir ESA requests.
So I would love to talk toanybody about that and just look
forward to continuing to learnfrom clients so we can continue
to develop.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Amazing.
I love it.
Build with them.
So I love what you're doing,love what you're working on, and
we all love pets, so at leasthere we do, so yeah pets are the
new kids, as we say.
As I said earlier, All right,well, thanks for coming on and
for that we'll put all the notesin the show notes so you can
reach out to the teams, andwe'll see you guys in the next
episode.
Thanks for coming.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Thanks so much.
Have a great day you too.
All right.
So today we're joined by ArleneMayfield, really excited to
share the time.
We've been following hersuccess for many, many years and
, as many of you alreadyprobably know, you're familiar
with the brand Pet Screening andthey're all across the country,
in so many great states,leading so many great people to
bring some of the most importantthings to our business that
(00:23):
impact our profitability, ourefficiency and the experiences
we create.
And so we're bringing our leanin and we're, you know, as we
lead into the MultifamilyInnovation and AI Summit.
We spend time with innovativebrands that are doing
interesting things and creatingvalue for organizations, and as
part of the Innovation Council,we get the opportunity to learn
(00:43):
about the problems that ourmultifamily owners and operators
want to solve and then also theopportunities that they want to
create, and so, with ourpartners, we get together like
who's solving those things andwho can best help and support
our industry platform.
So with that, arlene, welcomein.
Glad to have you here.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Thank you, it's great to see you, great to connect
today.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Listen, you're leading one ofprobably the largest sales
organizations in multifamily.
Tell me a little bit more aboutthat and how you guys are
approaching things differentlyin multifamily.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah.
So I've been really fortunatesince I joined Pet Screening to
be able to build what I wouldcall my dream team, having been
in the industry for about 40years, really handpicked and
selected who I thought would bebest to support the pet
screening and partner with a petscreening product and solution
that we offer.
So we have about 10 nationalreps distributed across the
(01:42):
country.
They sell on a PMC by PMC basis.
We're not based on geography,which I know a lot of sales
organizations are.
I basically said where do youhave relationships, where do you
think you can best use thoserelationships or partnerships
with multifamily propertymanagement companies?
And let's figure out how we canmake those accounts beneficial
(02:03):
to both you, to the company and,obviously, to the property
management firms that want totalk to us on a daily basis.
I think one of the best thingsabout multifamily is we all love
the partnerships that we'vedeveloped over the years.
We like to work with peoplethat we know and we trust, and
I've given the team the abilityto do that.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I want to get into the product in just a moment
here, but what do you believemakes a great partnership?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
You know, I think I would start off with trust,
trust and confidence.
Being able to trust the PMC,being able to trust the person
that they're dealing with on theother side of the desk, knowing
that they're going to followthrough.
You know the old saying underpromising and over delivering.
I think that goes a long way inthis industry.
(02:48):
And look, we have long memoriesin this industry, so doing the
right thing.
People will remember that andthey want to work with people
that have always done right bythem.
So I would start by sayingtrust and, I think,
collaboration and communication.
I think, as our industry hasgrown, and especially the
advances that we've hadpost-pandemic, I think that
(03:08):
we're moving very quickly andit's not just about a supplier
selling something to a propertymanagement company.
There's a lot of collaborationnow.
How can the products be better,how can the solutions provide
more of what the propertymanagement companies or owner
and asset managers need?
And I think that collaboration,communication and trust all
work very well together.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
That's incredibly important and underestimated in
so many ways.
We're all trying to go fast andacquire customers and serve,
but I love the under-promise,over-deliver aspect.
I think it's like reasonableexpectations of growth and
progress establishes to yourpoint the outcome, that trust I
mean.
If you can win and do the smallthings, you can do the big
things.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
That's right, that's great, very well said, I agree.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, so tell me, let's talk about the product.
What are you guys working on,what's the problem it solves and
who are you trying to spendtime with?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
So we know, based on a lot there's a lot of data out
there on pets, right we talkabout at Pet Screening pets
being the new kids there aremore pets typically in
households today than there arechildren in households today,
just kind of how things haveflip-flopped a little bit.
So, knowing that, we try tosolve the potential pet problems
(04:23):
that are on properties today.
So when I think about ourcompany, we've been around for
seven years.
We service 7 million units,about 24,000 property management
companies across the country.
Through those 7 million unitswe consider all of those
long-term rentals.
They may be rental homes, butthey may also be one of the NMHC
(04:43):
top 50.
So we service everything fromone unit to 900,000 unit
property management companiesand everything in between.
So our software has the abilityto allow the prospective
resident to define if one ofthree things they have a
household pet, they have anassistance animal, an emotional
(05:05):
support animal we call them ESAsor they don't have a pet.
And it really allows theproperty manager again, no
matter what size of the propertyit is, allows that property
manager to know the demographicof the pets that are on the site
.
They know the demographic oftheir resident because they have
(05:25):
them fill out an application asthey're moving in.
We're basically doing the samething as the resident is moving
in.
We partner with all theproperty management software
systems, so there's two-wayintegrations.
An email goes out within 15minutes of the application being
filled out that says hey,you're applying for an apartment
.
We'd love to know if you have apet and, if so, tell us a few
(05:47):
things about your pet.
So it's seamless.
It's integrated within theproperty management software
systems as well as some otherthird-party systems, and we
solve that pet problem becausepeople then know which pets are
on site and if they get lost,you know if they're charging pet
rent and things like that.
They have the ability to reallydetermine how to do that.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Let's lean into.
You mentioned some of thepotential problems.
Maybe somebody listening inisn't thinking about all the
potential problems they may bemaking assumptions about.
But how are people going aboutthis process, I guess, if
they're not a customer, whatdoes that look like?
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I think one of the main things that we solve for
and we're known for is the ESA,or the emotional support animal,
and the assistance with thedocumentation associated with
that.
Since our inception about sevenyears ago, we have processed
about 1.2 million ESA orassistant animal requests.
We have a team of people in ourCharlotte office that's where
(06:43):
our corporate office is and theyreview about 25,000 requests on
a monthly basis.
If we are not reviewing those,then it's concerned that there
(07:04):
are HUD guidelines, obviously,for the ESA requests and we do
everything in accordance withthose HUD guidelines.
So we take that burden off theon-site or even the in-house
counsel, if you will.
So there's great comfort inknowing that we're doing the
same thing every day.
We have a very tight process onhow we review those, contacting
(07:25):
the medical providers to makesure they are accurate, and so
if that's not being done by us,oftentimes you'll hear some
anxiousness or some uncertaintyfrom the person that is doing it
, because they're very unsure ifthey're doing it correctly and
they're naturally, if HUD'sinvolved, concerned of a
potential lawsuit.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Yeah, and I mean you're talking about counsel
doing this.
I mean that could be expensive.
I'm just calculating the timeand then the training and
turnover and all that plays outinto another thing to manage.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Absolutely, and when you talk about the cost
associated with that, I'll bringthat up at this point.
We don't charge the propertymanagement company and we don't
have any contracts, so there'sno cost associated with the
property management company orthe asset or the owner.
(08:13):
We charge the resident only ifthey have a household pet.
There is an annual one-time feethat we charge on an annual
basis really keeps up their petrecords, they get vaccination,
updates and some things likethat.
But if it's an ESA request orthey don't have a pet, we don't
charge anything.
So it makes it very costeffective for the property
management company or the owner.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Right and it gives them some distance to not be the
ones to assert certaincompliance right.
I mean, it gives you some spacethere as well, I would imagine.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Exactly Reviewing and giving the recommendations on
the ESA request or even on ahousehold pet.
We like to think that everyproperty is pet inclusive and
pet friendly, but we know thatsometimes there are weight or
breed restrictions, so we willunquote, sniff all of those out
for our clients as well, to makesure that you know what we are
(08:59):
processing for them and givingthem recommendations for, so
they can make an educateddecision, are within their
guidelines.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
So where are you seeing things going?
Are there any trends thatmultifamily owners and operators
should be paying attention to?
You mentioned the one aroundthe amount of pets in homes,
this type of stuff.
Are there any other insightsthat you're learning from this
type of reach?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I think that a couple of things.
I think the average speaking ofthe homes and pets, the average
property manager will say yeah,we have about 25% of our
property having pets.
We know that the averagehousehold has about 70%.
We know about 50% of those arein rentals give or take.
You know, more in single family, more in build to rent than
there may be in a high rise indowntown Chicago.
(09:41):
So that varies greatly.
We're seeing.
You know, one of the things thatwe do as well is we track bite
and bite history of pets and soyou know we try to track those
trends as if there's more petsand in some areas or you know,
as far as pet bites and thingslike that than other areas.
So we try to track some trendslike that and be able to give
(10:01):
some of that information back toour clients and our customers.
We know that pet bites seem tobe on the rise again because
there are more pets, we think ina confined space.
So we want to make sure we'rehelping our clients with the
liability and they're aware ofwhat that could look like.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
I mean being in 7 million units is a great
accomplishment.
Tell me what that process lookslike in terms of onboarding and
getting set up with yourorganization, because some
people listening may not alreadybe one of the 7 million, but
I'd be curious to see what wouldthey expect to experience when
they reach out to you and wantto become part of your program.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yes, it's very seamless and it can happen very
quickly.
I think when you talk about asoftware, when you talk about a
new software, a lot of clientsor a lot of people would say,
okay, this is going to be a verylaborious process, this is
going to take months of my timeand it's going to take time for
the onsite teams.
We really say that we can setany client up within seven days.
(11:00):
So basically, as I mentioned,if somebody signs up for pet
screening, in conjunction withthe application being filled out
, the resident is filling outthe information about their pets
.
But prior to that and signingup for pet screening, basically
a property signs up.
We have, as I mentioned,integrations with all the
property management softwarecompanies.
They take a training course inLMS that takes about 45 minutes,
(11:22):
has a few questions for theonsite team to answer, as
they're taking that automatedLMS and within a seven-day
period they can be live on theirproperty.
That means live on theirproperty, us handling all of
their ESAs.
For them, that also means liveon their property, them getting
pet revenue that they may havenot been able to get before.
One of the things that we reallypride ourselves in is providing
(11:43):
our clients with reporting toshow if someone has started
filling out one of the threeprofiles that being of the pet
owner, of the ESA or the no petand maybe they haven't finished
filling out the profile.
We know chances are theyprobably have a pet and they
just didn't finish filling itout because we asked them to
sign an affidavit at the end ofevery profile saying that it's
(12:05):
true and correct.
So the honest people out theretend to not finish filling it
out.
So we can provide some pivotreporting to where the onsite
managers can go in and get someancillary revenue.
They're not currently gettingbut within that seven-day period
they're set up, they're readyto go and again they enjoy that
additional pet revenue.
They enjoy us handling those ESArequests for them.
In addition, they know whodoesn't have a pet.
(12:26):
There's opportunities, you knowsometimes around the holidays
people are giving pets, puppiesfor Christmas.
There's an opportunity whensomebody has signed that they
haven't had a pet.
We remind them that if they doget a pet they need to let the
office know or their propertymanager know.
So there's opportunitiesthroughout the process to get
additional pet revenue and petfees, boosting that ancillary
(12:47):
revenue.
And when occupancies or rentsare going down as they currently
are and have been for the past12 to 18 months.
It's really enticing for theowners and the operators to get
that additional revenue.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Yes, exactly, and take me inside some of those
conversations.
What kind of questions are theyasking you about those
opportunities and how to executeon them?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Oftentimes we get questions regarding the $30
household pet fee.
That seems to, over the last, Iwould say, four or five months,
we've had a lot of questionsabout that.
There's a lot of noise rightnow around the junk fees, right,
and I think that we're hearingokay.
Is $30 deemed part of the junkfees?
Definitely not.
It's $30.
It's once a year.
It's a service we're providingfor the resident and knowing
(13:35):
that you know people spendbillions on their pets every
year, $30, you know, is reallynot a lot.
We get a lot of questions aboutthe ancillary revenue.
What other companies may becharging for pet fees and pet
deposits?
Do people have breedrestrictions?
Are they abiding by the weightrestrictions?
Some companies that use petscreening have actually taken
away all the breed and theweight restrictions because they
do have a good idea of theprofile or the demographic of
(13:58):
those pets and they feel like atleast they know.
And if they know who's on sitewith what pet, it helps with the
false ESA requests.
Oftentimes people might say thatthey have a restricted breed,
an emotional support animal.
So in using pet screeningsometimes it takes away some of
those barriers and theprospective resident or the
(14:19):
actual resident feels morecomfortable saying that they do
have a restricted breed but ifthe property allows that breed,
there's not as many false ESArequests.
So a lot of our conversationsare around the ESA request
process, the $30 fee associatedwith the household pet and the
integration piece.
Everyone wants to know if theyuse that property management
(14:40):
software system, how seamless isthat integration?
And when we have two-wayintegrations with the PMS
systems, it's easy for them tolook in their system that the
onsite managers are in every day, all day, to be able to see the
actual profile.
So it's very helpful.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Yeah, that's great.
Take me through a little bitabout what you're hearing from
current customers.
What are they saying?
How is this making life betterfor the business, either
financially or even from anexperience standpoint?
What are you hearing?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yeah, I think we hear three things mainly.
Number one thank you forhandling the ESA requests.
We know that dealing with HUDis sometimes tricky and they
feel that we've lifted thatburden off for them.
So they have comfort in knowingthat they appreciate that we
are helping that onsite team,the onsite teams even if the
onsite team has not handled theESA request, they are accepting
(15:28):
or denying people that arecoming in with pets on a daily
basis.
They appreciate that we'retaking that burden off of the
onsite teams or, if it'scentralized, someone potentially
at the corporate office, bygiving a recommendation.
And that's exactly what we give.
If there is a weight or breedrestriction and we dump those
into our algorithm and let theonsite team or whoever's deemed
(15:50):
the responsible party know thatresident that will be moving in
may not fit within thoseguidelines.
Based on what we call a FIDOscore, like a FICA score, we
give each pet a FIDO score.
So if there are breed andweight restrictions, we may give
someone with a German Shepherdif that is a restriction a zero
(16:11):
PAW score.
So we may make a recommendationthat the pet has a zero PAW
score.
They can still say they want toallow them to move in.
We're just giving them theinformation.
Sometimes the property's inlease up and they're just happy
to have somebody come to thedoor.
They have great credit.
They just need to know what petis actually there, so they feel
good knowing that.
The third thing is knowing thatthey don't have a pet, and we
(16:34):
actually have residents that arehappy when properties use pet
screening because they know thatthere is a process associated
on site with managing the pets.
So it's interesting that, sincewe serve 7 million units now
that the prospective residentsare even in tune to what we do
at pet screening.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yeah, Are you hearing ?
Even in the sales process forrenting is that being positioned
as a value?
You know, knowing, like evenyou're going into the bite
records and all of that stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Most definitely.
Prospects want to know andclients want to know what's
happening with these pets.
So that's absolutely correct.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Yeah, interesting.
What are the questions I shouldbe asking that maybe I'm not
asking in evaluating a companylike yours?
Speaker 2 (17:17):
I think that I always think that we're the best kept
secret, and when I joined thecompany, I heard that from our
founder and our owner that we'rethe best kept secret and people
don't know who we are.
I think that even a concept ofknowing that there is a property
management tool out there thatallows people to track pets is
(17:38):
something that most people don'tknow about.
So when you ask, you know whatquestions should I be asking?
I think you covered a lot ofwhat we talk about with
prospective clients or existingclients.
I think that you've coveredmost of those.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Are you excited about anything next?
Are you guys looking at otheradjacent opportunities?
I mean, I'm sure you're inthese conversations Sounds like
you've created some greatrelationships adding a lot of
value.
Is there anything exciting onthe agenda for what's next for
the brand?
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Yeah.
So while our founder developedthis company as a property
manager serving propertymanagers and that's really what
we're about, as you can imaginethere has been a lot of interest
from other companies.
Ceos are potentially trying toget people back into offices.
So we've had some large officecompanies say, hey, can we use
(18:27):
pet screening?
Because maybe if we allow petsto come into the office, people
will want to come to work alittle bit more.
I'm in our corporate office inCharlotte today, even though I'm
based in Atlanta, and at anygiven day there's 20 to 30 pets
in our office and so peopleusually dogs, people bring them
in.
So I think CEOs are looking atthat.
We're in the process right nowof developing a short-term
(18:48):
rental product.
So basically, people want totake their pets on vacation
Oftentimes the hotels, or evenif you're going to a condo or
you know somewhere on vacation,you can't bring your pets.
So we're looking at developinga short-term rental, vacation
rental product, very similar towhat we do with long-term
rentals, to allow people tobring their pets.
(19:09):
If you're going to an Airbnb,you know you pay a deposit, but
you can at least have your petstay with you for the next week
to a month, if you want to, andthen there's other verticals
that we will branch out into aswell.
We've had some interest frommany different companies in
different verticals, so I thinkthose will come, you know,
within the next 12 to 18 to 24months as we continue to build
(19:31):
out pet screening.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
I love that.
Thanks for sharing that.
You know, I think about likejust the whole idea of the
business that we servemultifamily, you know, there's
always been this American dreamto own a home and I think that's
all being reimagined in termsof access being the new
ownership right Like you can gointo a city and even in the way
(19:53):
that people work they're notworking 25 years for Intel, you
know, in Albuquerque and thingslike that and so if they're
moving around, it makes sense tohave an understanding of the
travel impact and even in theshort-term experience, you know,
because I think a lot of that'scoming into the industry as
well.
But I'm just curious, like inairline travel, I don't travel
with my pets on the airlines andall that.
(20:15):
What's that process look like?
I guess?
Have you guys thought throughthat?
Or is that mostly ESAgovernance versus just frequent
pet traveling?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
There is no governance.
So we have talked about it andwe have looked at it because you
know, I think we've all been onflights and people take their
dogs, usually out of theirlittle carriers, and you're
wondering is this dog going tobite me?
You know like I was on a planerecently and the dog was walking
up and down, you know the aisleand it was probably an 80 or 90
pound dog.
You think to yourself, right,or even when you get nowhere to
(20:49):
go.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Right, You're at a hotel.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Am I getting in with a dog that is vaccinated?
Do they have a bite history andthings like that.
So I think that, as we thinkabout pet screening and we think
about you know 2.0 and thenversions past that, taking the
learnings that we have inmultifamily and that we've
developed over the 7 millionunits that we have, and you can
imagine the rich data that wehave supporting and behind that,
(21:11):
I think you know thinking aboutthe airlines and you know what
we could potentially provide forthem and you know the airlines,
I think, have an interestbecause right now they just
charge a fee and I have a sisterthat works at Delta.
She's on the executive team andshe said we charge a fee but we
have no idea about that pet.
Is it vaccinated, is it spayedor neutered?
Does it have a bite history?
(21:32):
How old is it?
So all of those questions thatwe ask residents today, I think
the airlines are becoming alittle more wise as they've
experienced, unfortunately, someliability issues.
So I think it's a greatquestion and it's a great
thought and we've talked aboutit a lot here.
As you can imagine, with anycompany, even though we're in
strong growth mode, becausewe're past the startup mode how
(21:53):
do you scale?
Where do you go first and howdo you scale and that's a lot of
the conversations that we havewhen do we go next?
And that's why we pickedvacation rentals, because we
think that that is the nextnatural step.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
And then what will be next on the horizon as we move
forward.
Yeah, I mean, spaces are spacesin many different places, like
you have office right, libraries, you have restaurants, all
these different things going on,and our residents experience
all these things as much asanything else.
But I was just curious.
That's interesting.
You know how you guys approachthis stuff Very innovative, very
visionary and just reallyenjoying the partnership too,
(22:32):
because you know we aim to bringtogether top minds and
multifamily, bringing intechnology, innovation and, you
know, making the business betterfor companies but also
increasing the value of therelationship of all of our
clients when they introduceresidents to their portfolios,
(22:52):
making life and renting a betterexperience.
So thank you for coming on.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Thanks for the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
I appreciate it very much, yeah absolutely, and so
we're about ready to wrap.
I'd love to leave you with.
Are there any final thoughtsthat you want to leave our
listeners with before?
Speaker 2 (23:06):
we wrap up and offer a solution that can save them
money, provide additionalancillary revenue, reduce
(23:26):
liabilities and take care oftheir ESA requests.
So I would love to talk toanybody about that and just look
forward to continuing to learnfrom clients so we can continue
to develop.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Amazing.
I love it.
Build with them.
So I love what you're doing,love what you're working on, and
we all love pets, so at leasthere we do, so yeah pets are the
new kids, as we say.
As I said earlier, All right,well, thanks for coming on and
for that we'll put all the notesin the show notes so you can
reach out to the teams, andwe'll see you guys in the next
episode.
Thanks for coming.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Thanks so much.
Have a great day you too.
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