Customer: Invitation Homes
Invitation Homes reduced lead-to-lease time by 60%
The company approves qualified applicants faster, by instantly verifying their identity and income.
Goal
Reduce fraud risk
Region
United States
Industry
Real Estate
A different home-leasing model
Invitation Homes is the premier choice for home leasing in the U.S. Offering high-quality, recently updated houses in desirable neighborhoods, the company makes it easy for residents to live in their dream home without the financial commitment of a mortgage—or the elevated up-front costs.
The company continuously enhances its leasing experience, with things like Smart Home technology, professional property management, and both proactive and emergency maintenance services.
But with demand for housing high and increasingly sophisticated rental scams on the rise, Invitation Homes knows that a seamless application experience, sound resident screening, and robust fraud prevention are just as important as the homes they provide. That’s where their partnership with Plaid comes in.
Weeding out bad actors
From the very start, Invitation Homes prioritizes making the rental process as seamless and streamlined as possible—and that begins with home viewings. Prospective residents can choose between virtual tours via the company’s website or self-guided tours of available homes at their own convenience.
For the latter, applicants must first create a profile and verify their identity using Plaid Identity Verification—a critical step with multiple considerations. On the one hand, the verification must happen quickly and easily, or the company risks losing the potential renter. On the other hand, the verification must be robust enough to weed out bad actors, particularly with increasingly advanced forms of synthetic identity fraud on the rise.
“Our focus has always been on delivering a best-in-class leasing experience for our valued customers,” said a senior leader from Invitation Homes. “Plaid’s advanced tools help us ensure applicants are who they say they are with a balance of speed and reliability, aligning with our company's commitment to innovation and excellence.”
The solution seamlessly integrates with Invitation Homes’ home touring and application experience, offering potential renters an industry-leading user interface with autofill capabilities to reduce friction and accelerate the process. On the backend, Plaid allows Invitation Homes to leverage a multitude of verification methods across documentary, liveness, regulated data sources, and hundreds of identity risk signals and attributes, ensuring fraudsters don’t slip through the cracks.
60%
With Plaid, Invitation Homes reduced the time between application and completion of income verification by 60%—from 4 days to under 2.
18%
Invitation Homes reduced application cancellations due to insufficient documentation by 18%.
Faster approvals with less risk
Once a self-tour is complete, interested applicants can easily carry their verified identity into the next step: the leasing application. At this stage, Invitation Homes leverages Plaid to directly verify an applicant’s income through their connected financial accounts. This streamlined approach accelerates the application process by minimizing the need for manual verification. In fact, within the first few weeks of implementing Plaid, Invitation Homes saw a 60% reduction in the time it took to verify an applicant’s income, shortening the process from 4 days to under 2.
Moreover, digital verification eliminates the possibility of intentionally misrepresented income. “The benefit of digital income verification with Plaid is two-fold,“ explained the Invitation Homes executive. “First, it gets qualified applicants approved faster—unlocking their new home on their schedule. Second, it virtually eliminates the risk of document fraud, particularly when coupled with Plaid IDV. This leads to customer relationships that are long and healthy—our ultimate goal for our residents.”
It also leads to more completed applications: Since implementing Plaid, the company has experienced an 18% reduction in canceled applications due to insufficient documentation.
"The benefit of digital income verification with Plaid is two-fold. First, it gets qualified applicants approved faster—unlocking their new home on their schedule. Second, it virtually eliminates the risk of document fraud, particularly when coupled with Plaid IDV. This leads to customer relationships that are long and healthy—our ultimate goal for our residents.”Senior Leader, Invitation Homes
A trusted partner
For Invitation Homes, choosing a partner with enterprise-level capabilities and a gold-standard implementation was just as critical as achieving exceptional results.
“The integration process was a big reason why we ended up choosing Plaid,” said the Invitation Homes executive. “Its robust API documentation and seamless implementation approach demonstrated its ability to operate at scale. Not only was the Plaid team there with us every step of the way, but they were also able to adapt to our pace and ensure the process was both efficient and reliable.”
Setting the standard for modern home leasing
By leveraging advanced technology and maintaining a strong commitment to their residents, Invitation Homes is leading the way in modern home leasing. The company currently has 110,000 houses under management and is continuing to scale.
“As we grow, we need solutions that can grow with us,” said the Invitation Homes executive. “We have nothing but confidence that Plaid’s systems will always meet us where we are, which means keeping the residences we manage available to those individuals and families searching to make a house a home.”
As Invitation Homes expands, so will their partnership with Plaid. The company is already exploring additional solutions to improve the customer experience—efforts that align with its vision and underscore its dedication to innovation, ensuring residents enjoy a secure, seamless, and premium leasing experience every step of the way.