About Stratton Vantage
Stratton Vantage is a property management company in Arizona, serving the greater Phoenix area. Started in 2012, the company now manages over 1,600 properties.
Chris Goodman is the designated broker at Stratton Vantage. He earned his real estate license in 2005 and his broker’s license in 2014. A long-time Second Nature and AppFolio client, he chose to implement Resident Onboarding Lift in 2026, bringing an unskippable lease signing experience to residents while streamlining onboarding for his team. The experience guides residents to better understand their lease and customize their Resident Benefits Package.
THE CHALLENGE
Residents aren’t reading their leases, and long PDFs don’t help
With over 20 years of experience in property management, Chris Goodman had streamlined plenty of processes at Stratton Vantage, and knew how to use technology to his advantage. One problem, though, remained unsolved: lease comprehension.
Stratton Vantage had long, detailed leases—necessary for everyone’s legal protection. The issue, according to Goodman, was that almost no residents actually read it.
"Chances of them going through that whole thing were slim to none. Without fail, residents would move in and then they would start reaching out with questions," he said.
As a result, the Stratton Vantage team was constantly fielding questions about things like pet policies, resident portals, and more. Many residents didn’t realize they weren’t allowed to paint the walls, or that they couldn’t add pets or roommates without notice.
Property owners were also asking questions, challenging the value of the Resident Benefits Package.
“Sometimes even owners can feel like, 'Hey, why are you forcing this upon our residents? You're making it harder to rent our homes,'" Goodman explained. Stratton Vantage needed a platform that would not only reduce resident questions, but also build trust among owners that the RBP was a smart choice.
DocuSign fails on flexibility and speed
In addition to fielding calls that should have been answered by the lease, Goodman’s team was also spending time building lease documents to send out via DocuSign, the company’s electronic signature provider.
The DocuSign workflow was rigid and didn’t integrate directly with AppFolio, meaning that members of the leasing team had to enter data multiple times, a time-consuming and error-prone process. Writing up leases became a task that leasing agents dreaded.
"We would have to have a team member manually input the numbers into AppFolio and then that left us vulnerable to typos or other mistakes from transferring data,” Goodman said.
DocuSign also didn’t allow for any changes once an agreement was uploaded. If anything changed—like a move-in date or parking space—the team would have to create an entirely new agreement and re-send it to the applicant.
"It happens often where you have a lease sent out to the tenant ready to go and something will change,” Goodman explained. “Those changes required a whole new DocuSign agreement. It was very hard to make little changes."
These DocuSign challenges, combined with the fact that most residents didn’t understand the lease in the first place, left Stratton Vantage looking for a different solution.
THE SOLUTION
In March of 2026, Stratton Vantage sent out their first lease through Resident Onboarding Lift, Second Nature’s direct integration with AppFolio’s platform. Since day one, Stratton Vantage has successfully onboarded 100% of residents through leasing and move-in without a hitch.
Switching to AppFolio lease templates for efficiency gains
The Stratton Vantage team started by moving their documents into AppFolio’s lease template tool. This allows leasing agents to automatically sync data from the rental application, the property details, and the lease ledger. It also let them make quick changes to leases without having to rebuild the entire agreement from scratch.
“Getting the lease converted over to AppFolio Lease Templates instead of DocuSign has been huge,” said Goodman. “It's a timesaver for our leasing team. We want them focused on leasing properties as quickly as possible."
With the process streamlined and data syncing automatically, Stratton Vantage’s leasing agents are finally able to focus on following up with leads and qualifying applicants. They’re spending more time on the impactful work that they enjoy, rather than administrative overhead.
Delivering a step-by-step guide to increase lease and benefit comprehension
Resident Onboarding Lift also empowered the team to deliver an unskippable, mobile-first lease signing process called Lease Guide. Rather than a traditional PDF document, Lease Guide walks residents through the key points of their lease, step by step. This allows them to see and understand policies and responsibilities at a glance.
Lease Guide also walks residents through their Resident Benefits Package—the suite of benefits included in their lease. The experience works like a checkout for the home, showing line by line costs for rent, deposits, pet fees, benefits, and more.
RESULTS
30% of residents pay to upgrade benefits when the value is made clear
Lease Guide walks residents through all of the different services included in their Resident Benefit Package and gives them the opportunity to upgrade some of those benefits. For example, residents can opt for premium air filters if they have sensitive allergies, or a higher tier of pest control if they’re concerned about specific pests.
So far, Stratton Vantage has seen 30% of residents choose to upgrade at least one benefit. Because they’re located in Arizona, pest control upgrades have been particularly common, with residents looking to protect themselves from scorpions and other regional pests.
Stratton Vantage charges investors a flat fee for their management services, making ancillary services a key part of their business model. More residents upgrading benefits means they can keep their management fee low, appeal to more investors, and acquire more doors.
Owners trust the RBP thanks to proven results
That high upgrade rate among residents has also given Stratton Vantage an opportunity to build more trust with their investors. Historically, the team has faced concerns among investors that the Resident Benefits Package was a mandatory fee that didn’t deliver meaningful value.
Now, Stratton Vantage has clear evidence that residents not only see the value in an RBP, but are even willing to pay more to upgrade certain parts of it.
"When we can show that there is true value to these things and we have residents that are opting in for additional services, owners can be assured that this is a package that actually does benefit our residents," said Goodman. “It also makes them long-term residents, which directly helps our owners.”
Faster leasing fills vacancies quickly
Goodman also estimates that the team is saving about 20 minutes per lease now that they don’t have to draft each lease individually or re-enter details into AppFolio. That adds up quickly, creating nearly 20 hours of time savings per month.
As a result, residents are receiving their leases earlier, reducing stress and delivering a better resident experience. There’s no more last-minute scramble to get documents signed before moving day.
According to Goodman, "We used to get calls from tenants who said, 'Hey, I'm supposed to move in tomorrow and I haven't seen my lease.' Now that we have Resident Onboarding Lift, we’re not causing delays. We can get that lease sent out to tenants right away."
With leases getting out the door faster, leasing agents can lease more units and fill more vacancies.
Reduced call volume from confused residents
Because Lease Guide walks residents through the main points of their lease, step-by-step, residents better understand policies and expectations. That increased comprehension means fewer calls to the Stratton Vantage office, allowing staff to focus on bigger projects.
"The amount of time that property managers were spending with residents after move-in answering those questions—that's already gone down significantly. Residents have a better understanding of what’s actually in their lease," Goodman said. “For example, we used to have some residents who thought their rent was due on their move-in date each month. Now they clearly see that it’s due on the first.”
CONCLUSION
From Triple Squeeze to Triple Win
With Resident Onboarding Lift up and running, the Stratton Vantage team is confident they can overcome the triple squeeze: rising operational costs, resident expectations, and reduced rental income. One of their next big projects brings even more value to their residents with Group Rate Internet, providing gigabit-speed internet as part of the lease at a fraction of the price residents would be able to find on their own.
At the end of the day, Stratton Vantage is focused on projects that will improve the resident experience and offer more valuable and customizable services without sacrificing accountability.
As Goodman put it, “I'm just excited about being able to offer additional services to residents and bring even more value to the benefits package. We're doing this to help the owners, help our processes, and create a better experience for the residents.”
