If you’re looking to scale your property management business, whether you want to bring in more owner clients, scale your operations, or spend less time on repetitive tasks, this webinar is packed with the insight you need. Join Kaycee Miller from Rentec Direct for an interview with Nathan Miller, a real estate investor, founder of Rentec Direct, and winner of the 2025 Gold Stevie Award for Best Entrepreneur in Real Estate. This value-packed strategy session was specifically designed for property managers and rental investors who are ready to grow their businesses.
In this candid conversation, Nathan Miller, the founder and CEO of Rentec Direct, shares real-world success stories and practical advice based on nearly two decades of experience in real estate investing, software development, and supporting thousands of property managers nationwide. Watch the recorded webinar and find out the answers to burning questions that other industry professionals had in this webinar recap.
Even the most experienced property managers can struggle with the best steps to scale their business. With the right expertise and the best tech tools, property managers can attract and retain owner clients and break through growth obstacles.
Join Rentec Direct owners Kaycee Miller and Nathan Miller for this value-packed strategy session. As both industry professionals and investors themselves, they offer practical tips and expert insights into marketing, scalability, and growth, along with guidance on leveraging technology to streamline these tasks.
Did you miss the live training?
After they occur, we also put all recorded live training sessions and webinars on the Rentec Direct YouTube page for you to access and share at your convenience.
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Strategies To Maximize Property Management Growth
Over the past 18 years, Nathan has worked with thousands of property managers and has seen what sets the most successful ones apart. Nathan offers insight on where growth plateaus happen—and how to break through them. Whether you’re managing a few rentals or thousands of doors, this session provides actionable insights to help you reach your next growth milestone.
What did the webinar cover?
In this webinar, you’ll learn:
- Proven growth strategies used by top property managers
- How to attract and retain owner clients
- Operational tips to break through the 100–300 unit ceiling
- The role of tech tools like online portals, ACH, and AI-powered features
- Ways to boost tenant satisfaction and reduce vacancies
- How to use software automation to free up time and scale effectively
View the recording: https://youtu.be/N21yluNo_jk
Webinar Live Q&A:
The webinar was hosted live, which means industry professionals just like you were able to ask their burning questions. The following questions were asked during our live strategy session on property management growth tactics and were answered by Nathan Miller following the live event.
FAQ – From Live Webinar with Nathan Miller, founder and owner of Rentec Direct
Nikki Asks – Where is RentReporters on Rentec?
You can activate this feature by going to Settings, Program Defaults. Find the option labelled Tenant Portal: Allow tenants to activate credit reporting in the Tenant Portal? and toggle it to YES. Your tenants then will have the option within the tenant portal (or Resident Connect) app to sign up and connect their account.
Once they sign up for their Rent Reporters account, we communicate their payment history directly to Rent Reporters so you do not have to validate tenant financials or field calls from Rent Reporters confirming if the tenant paid rent.
Julie Asks – What do you have to pay to have someone handle your maintenance?
If you are hiring locally, that will vary based on your market wages. There are also third-party service providers that will also handle on or after-hours maintenance calls for either an hour or set price per unit. I haven’t reviewed pricing for these services recently, so you’ll need to do some digging to find out what best fits your needs and budget in your market.
Vazgen Asks – Not counting [the owner], how many staff is needed to manage say 50, 100 or 150 units?
I see many property management companies get up to 200-300 units before hiring their first employee. That doesn’t mean it’s the right way to do it, but it is what most do. I recommend looking at your workload after each of those increments, and if you are getting busy (30+hrs/week) it’s definitely time to proceduralize some processes and think about hiring your first employee, assuming of course revenues support it. If revenues do not support it, you may want to look at your processes and see which inefficiencies can be improved.
Vazgen asks – Seems appfolio is very big, how do you compare?
Appfolio has been around since 2006 and is a highly regarded company. A lot of property managers have found great success using their software. They are well-known for business automation.
Rentec Direct was founded just one year later in 2007 and took a different growth approach than Appfolio. Unlike Appfolio and many other software organizations, Rentec is entirely debt-free, and has no investors or stockholders to answer to. That is a big differentiator because we can spend all of our time and energy focused on our customer needs rather than pressure from investors or stockholders. While Rentec Direct and Appfolio share many similar features, Rentec Direct provides unlimited US-based support to every single client at no additional cost. One of our big differentiators is how well we provide support, and how well-trained our staff are.
Our 500+ 5-star Google reviews really speak to the quality of our service compared to others in the industry.
Lisa Asks – Are you planning on integrating/or partnering with a AI maintenance coordinator? Vendoroo?
Maintenance coordination might be one of those tasks that AI can help with very well and Vendoroo looks very promising. This is the first request we’ve had for that, so we haven’t yet looked into Vendoroo specifically; however, we are always looking for new industry partners like this to integrate with. I’ll add to my to-do list to look further into this and other maintenance coordination solutions.
Nikki Asks – Where do you find them? LOL!
I believe this question came in when we were talking about US-based Virtual Assistants. We’re working on a project to identify really good VA firms, or even individuals, and have them become certified on Rentec Direct software. Once they are certified, we’ll publish a list of certified VAs so you can find reliable VAs that are already pre-trained on the software you use.
This project is still in the “wish list” phase, so unless something magical happens, it probably won’t be something we approach until next year.
Jake Asks – Not include a property manager, what other roles do you see small (100-300 properties) companies hire for? (Such as, support, maintenance scheduler, etc)
The roles first filled are often the roles that the owner likes doing the least. I shared in the webinar that my first hire would be somebody to handle maintenance, then I would hire for tenant showings and placements. After that, I would hopefully be at a high enough door count to hire an additional property manager.
Richard asks – What do you feel the repercussions in the rental business if Trump gets his way and dismantles section 8. I feel there will be a backlog of evictions right away. It could take possibly years to evict someone.
We all probably remember the challenges with evictions as soon as eviction moratoriums got lifted after Covid, it sometimes took months or longer to deal with an eviction. Unfortunately, most court systems are not equipped to handle evictions at scale, and if they increase by any measurable percent, it will take longer.
In many locations, you cannot choose whether or not to accept Section 8; however, you can purchase or manage a profile which is diverse enough to have plenty of good-paying tenants even if Section 8, or any other tax-funded program, goes away or can’t pay its bills.
Also, consider encouraging tenants to use rent reporting now. Tenants who know their good payment history is being reported to the bureaus are more likely to find a solution and continue paying rent if their support is going away.
Nikki Asks – We have licensed Realtors and Insurance Brokers in our agency. How can we connect and build in multiple areas. We are licensed in multiple states.
If you are physically present in multiple states, then it makes sense to begin making those connections with others in adjacent industries. If you are not physically present, you can get the word out via online advertising (social media, Google ads, etc). Just be sure when they land on your website, it is a professional website that clearly explains your coverage area and how you are going to service that particular area. Typically, property management does require boots on the ground in the area you are servicing.
Tim Asks – Is there a way to have the RentTec PM website show all the properties that they have instead of only the ones that are available at a given time? Would make the company look larger than it is. Maybe have a status on it or leased or available.
I haven’t heard this request before; however, technically, yes, it is possible. It would, however, be a little out of the ordinary for the industry, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but hasn’t been done much in the property management space. While it could possibly attract more owners, as they see you as a larger company, it might be a deterrent to renters if they feel like they have to search through a bunch of listings which are not applicable to them. I’ll continue thinking about how this could get applied in a positive way.
Jes Asks – We have noticed that some of the rent descriptions from the AI violate fair housing laws, so be sure to review them before posting publicly.
Yes, it is vital to thoroughly review any information the AI produces before publishing it live. We have a really vibrant warning on that particular function, specifically mentioning fair housing for just this reason. AI sometimes just makes stuff up, or hallucinates new information even if it wasn’t provided to it.
Ronald Asks – Can property managers make any extra profit from renters’ insurance and/or credit reporting?
Yes, that possibility does exist. We hope to release a full API in the future which will open up a lot of possibilities including integrations with insurance or credit companies.
Matthew Asks – Are Nathan and Kaycee related? They may have mentioned that but I’m not sure if I caught it.
Yes, Nathan and Kaycee are the husband and wife duo who love making Rentec Direct an excellent resource for landlords and property managers, and a fun place to work.
Patty Asks – Commercial Insurance if getting very expensive. Do you have any tips when shopping for insurance?
Agreed, commercial insurance is sometimes 200% the cost of traditional residential insurance for the same type of property. Just by the nature of ownership being in an LLC instead of individually owned, can bump your requirement to move over to commercial insurance and pay more.
First, make sure you have a good agent. An agent can shop all the providers for you and let you know which is the best with claims and which is the best priced.
Second, if your portfolio falls under 20 properties total that you own (or an owner you work with owns), some homeowners insurance providers will extend insurance to properties under a single-member LLC. So, if your owner has 10 properties under his single-member LLC, he may be able to have his existing insurance company cover them in his name with the LLC as an additional insured. Not all insurance companies offer this option, but it is a great option for those that d,o as it can reduce insurance rates 30-50%.
Jay Asks – Do you have recommended web developers that focus on Property management companies?
Yes, we’ve worked with a company called Cevado many times in the past. They specialize in property management websites, and have already integrated with Rentec Direct. You can get a fully customizable website from them that includes up-to-date rental listings without the need to pay a web developer to integrate again as that work has already been done.
To learn more about Cevado, please see Rentec Direct Partners with Cevado.
If you already work with another web developer, we provide the option of a JSON data feed so your listing data can be added to any website. More information about our Rental Listings JSON API.
Sarah Asks – Can you pay vendors electronically rather than print a check?
Absolutely! We began offering this feature about three years ago. It’s as simple as entering the vendors’ payment information (which you can get from a voided check or deposit slip) into Rentec Direct. Then when you post a payment to that vendor, you select ACH as the payment method and the funds will be sent directly to their account and they will get an email notice of the payment and what the payment is for. Learn more at Vendor ACH Processing Made Easy.
Patty Asks – Do you have a formula to go by to set the market rent? We are 20 unit owners.
I don’t have a formula; however, it’s important to look at what the current market is doing. If you look at public sources and see 2-bedroom apartments renting at $900/month, you should probably be close to that range as well.
Be careful not to work with other property managers to set prices, as that can land both of you in legal hot water. Only source your information from public sources that are available for the entire market to see (like online listings).
Also, we feel it’s important to do small incremental raises every year rather than larger raises less often. Its far easier for a tenant to absorb a $50 increase each year, than a $150 increase every 3 years. It’s more revenue for the owner and it’s easier for the tenant to manage financially. In states like Oregon with their new rent control laws, if you do not raise rent each year and get behind, it can be impossible to ever catch up because the state will not let you increase more than X percent per year, even if you forgot the year prior.
Norbert Asks – How can we know that an owner is using the owner portal?
Right now, aside from checking in with them and asking there is no indicator that they are using it. But, we do have that data so I’ll discuss with our developers if there’s a location we can show that. I think it’s a great idea!
Dave Asks – I have a question about costs for linking accounts. I self-manage my 9 doors (5 properties). I heard there’s a $15/month fee for each account, above the $45/monthly subscription cost, but I can’t find any confirmation of that on your website. Is that accurate?
You can add as many bank accounts into the system as you want, and there’s no additional charges for those. If you are accepting online payments, we do include the first merchant account for payments. If you do want to receive renter payments into separate bank accounts that does require a second merchant account to link the second bank account. That second merchant account is what costs $15 monthly. We’re passing our fee from Forte along in this case. For anybody with 200+ units, we do provide up to 5 merchant accounts for free.
That said, it’s fairly uncommon for a property manager to need more than one merchant account. Our system helps you do trust accounting, which means you can receive all rental funds into one bank account (with one merchant account), and then disburse those funds to each owner each month. Our system does all the heavy lifting to make both the incoming electronic payment, and outgoing electronic owner disbursement smooth.
More information about this is at Multiple Deposit Accounts for ACH and Credit/Debit Card Payments
Matthew Asks – From a marketing and sales point of view what are the best ways to attract new owners/clients? Our main methods for connecting with new clients currently include a Mailchimp newsletter and our involvement at a Real Estate Investor association in our area.
I see a lot of property managers getting new owner leads from Google ads, and social ads. Since you are marketing locally, the cost is far less than a national campaign, and you might pay only pennies per lead. Factor in the lifetime value of an owner and consider spending 20-30% of that value in advertising to find them.
If you are finding them online, make sure their first impression is amazing! They should land on a professional website which instills confidence in the owner so they want to call you to set up their properties.
If you are already part of an association in the area, go in person to their meetings. Being part of those meetings and just introducing yourself as a local property manager is going to bring you clients, even if you do nothing more than say hi and show up consistently to the meetings. Also, see if there’s other meetings or events that have property owners at them, and try to attend those as well.
Tobias Asks – Is this for landlord/owners or for PMs?
This call was tailored more for property managers; however, many of the concepts related to management efficiencies, employees, and tenants also apply equally to landlords. Kaycee has already shared with me that she hopes to do a landlord-specific webinar in the near future to dive deeper into the items that matter for landlords. Stay tuned…
What’s New for 2025 in Rentec Direct’s Property Management Software
Join us for an exclusive walkthrough of Rentec Direct’s newest features and enhancements for 2025—designed to give you more control, flexibility, and efficiency in your daily operations.
In this live webinar, we’ll introduce powerful updates that are already making an impact for property managers and landlords, including:
- Certified Mailing Manager – Send and track certified mail with ease, directly from your account.
- Custom Portal Messages – Personalize communications for tenants and owners within their online portals.
- Biweekly Payment Scheduling – Offer more flexible rent payment options to meet tenant needs.
- Work Order Messaging – Improve vendor coordination and maintenance workflows with integrated messaging.
Whether you’re already using Rentec Direct or exploring the best tools for your business, this session will show you how to put these features to work right away.
Can’t make it that time? Don’t worry! Sign up and attend live or wait for the email recording! Register Now
Live Q&A included! Bring your questions and get answers directly from the Rentec Direct team.