How Cedar Ridge Property cut leasing response time from 14 hours to 6 minutes
A mid-market property manager replaced a scattered inbox with an AI leasing assistant, maintenance triage, and owner portal — and stopped losing weekend leads to competitors. The Nov–Jan trough in the chart is Raleigh's normal winter leasing lull — most renters don't move in the cold — and volume more than doubles once spring rental season opens in April.
Qualified tours booked per month (launched Feb)
How we modeled thisNov–Jan baseline is client-reported from their previous leasing pipeline; Feb onward is the actual booked-tour count from the CRM after go-live. The winter dip and Apr–Jun ramp reflect Raleigh's normal leasing cycle (spring is peak rental season).
The challenge
Two leasing agents were fielding 300+ inbound inquiries a week across email, Zillow, and the site form. Nights and weekends went unanswered, and 38% of prospective tenants never got a response within 24 hours. Maintenance requests came in by phone and were transcribed by hand into their PM software.
What we built
- ▸Deployed an AI leasing assistant tuned to their 27 active listings with pricing, pet policy, and tour-scheduling logic
- ▸Built a maintenance intake form with photo upload that routes to the right vendor category automatically
- ▸Added an owner portal with monthly statements pulled from their existing PM system
- ▸Wired all inbound leads into a single CRM stage with SMS follow-up drips
Results after 6 months
- ✓Average first-response time fell from 14 hours to 6 minutes
- ✓Vacancy days per turn dropped from 22 to 11
- ✓Maintenance work-order accuracy up (fewer misrouted vendor calls)
- ✓Leasing agents reclaimed ~12 hours/week each
"We stopped losing weekend leads. That alone paid for the build in the first two months."