Customer Story: Rookwood Properties

Rent Manager customer Rookwood Properties has a completely mixed portfolio—they service commercial, residential, and multifamily properties, as well as some HOA communities. The company’s team manages 1.2 million square feet of industrial parks, more than 400,000 square feet of office space, and over 250,000 square feet of retail centers. With such variation in the properties they serve, Rent Manager’s customization opportunities, centralizing capabilities, and personalized support are keys to Rookwood Properties’ continued success.

We sat down with Rookwood’s Development and Project Manager, Chrissie Valdini, to learn more about how the company uses Rent Manager to streamline their daily operations. “Our mission is to innovate, invest, and improve our assets and properties for long-term growth,” said Chrissie. Rent Manager helps Rookwood Properties achieve this goal by affording them the time to work on improving their properties. “The value of being able to track all of [our] information—both as a database and as an accounting software in one central location—has been invaluable to our business.”

Customization is Key for Rookwood

According to Chrissie, the biggest impact Rent Manager has had on their business is that it allows them to be agile and customize the software for their needs. “If we did not have a software that allowed so much customization, life for our company would look very different,” said Chrissie. Rent Manager’s customization features are particularly impactful for Rookwood’s business because their portfolio includes several commercial properties.

In particular, the company “relies heavily upon User Defined Fields to customize the information we track, run scripting more easily, and filter search results effectively,” she affirmed.  Rookwood also consistently makes use of custom and report writer reports. For the former, they like “having the ability to have more complicated financial reports created for us,” while the latter allows them to “create simpler custom reports without the help of a developer.” Through both of these report-creation methods, they have regular access to valuable data for analysis and strategic planning, as well as data that “helps the whole team operate more efficiently.”

With many different types of clients renting these spaces, it’s important that Rookwood can customize each property, unit, and tenant to meet their specific needs. “It’s more important than ever that you have the option to customize just about anything. Rent Manager offers that at a level no other software company does,” said Chrissie.

Relationships are Second to None

In addition to utilizing their database to stay organized, streamline their operations, and continually improve their portfolio, the Rookwood team is similarly reliant on the level of support they receive from Rent Manager. “If you use [this] software platform, you are going to have more support than you know what to do with,” said Chrissie.

At Rent Manager, we believe in the power of connecting to our customers—something Rookwood does not take lightly, as they are a family-owned business themselves. Chrissie said it best: “It is more than just a software, it’s a relationship. Without that personal touch, everything feels a little cold, a little more impersonal. For a business like ours—which is people-driven—without [that connection], I don’t think we would be able to provide the level of service to our tenants and residents we currently do.”

Conclusion

As Rookwood Properties continues to invest in the improvement and expansion of their portfolio, they’re glad to have Rent Manager as their property management software provider. Rent Manager has empowered their entire team to focus on growing their business, rather than handling everyday tasks and has provided them with the customization necessary to keep track of a widely varied portfolio. Lastly, as a family-owned business, Rookwood appreciates the time and attention our Product Support department takes to make them feel like a member of the Rent Manager family.