The Resident Journey
Mapping Satisfaction Across the Full Tenancy
Synthetic respondents representing 2B Living residents were used to reconstruct the end-to-end tenant journey and score satisfaction at each stage. The pattern is clear and actionable: satisfaction is highest in the stable middle of the tenancy and lowest at the beginning and end — precisely the transition points where processes, not relationships, govern the experience.
1. Apartment search & viewing
80%
2. Leasing & application
72%
3. Move-in & onboarding
54%
4. Rent payment (ongoing)
79%
5. Maintenance requests
74%
6. PM communication (ongoing)
78%
7. Billing changes / utilities
45%
8. Management transitions
42%
9. Move-out & deposit return
39%
% satisfaction by journey stage. Synthetic model outputs grounded in Yelp, BBB, and Google review patterns. Note the "smile curve inverted" — strong middle, weak edges.
The Pattern
2B Living's resident experience follows an inverted curve: strong in the relationship-driven middle, weak at the process-driven edges. Move-in, billing changes, transitions, and move-out — the four lowest-scoring stages — all share one trait: they are governed by process and systems, not by the property manager relationship that drives the high scores everywhere else.
NPS Breakdown
Promoters, Passives, and Detractors
Synthetic NPS modeling produced an estimated score of +22 — a positive result for property management (an industry where NPS is frequently negative), but one that masks unusually high variance. 2B Living has more promoters AND more detractors than a typical PM firm; few residents are neutral.
+22
Estimated synthetic NPS — positive for the PM industry, but high-variance
48%
Promoters — driven by named PMs and in-house maintenance responsiveness
26%
Detractors — driven by billing, transition, and move-out experiences
| Segment | What Drives Them | Share | Primary Touchpoint |
|---|
| Promoters | Great named PM, fast maintenance, easy rent payment | 48% | Mid-tenancy relationship |
| Passives | No major problems, but no standout positive moments either | 26% | Routine, low-touch tenancy |
| Detractors | Billing errors, ignored communication, deposit disputes, transition chaos | 26% | Journey edges (start/end) |
Voice of the Resident
What Promoters and Detractors Actually Say
"Nelly is responsive, organized, and clear. Submitting a maintenance request is easy and someone actually shows up. After my last building, this feels like a different planet. I'd recommend it to anyone looking in the area."
— Synthetic promoter respondent · Grounded in verified Yelp/Google review patterns
Context: The promoter profile. Note the two ingredients: a named PM relationship + working in-house maintenance. When both are present, residents become active advocates.
"Paying rent is genuinely the easiest part of my month now. The portal just works, reminders are clear, no drama. It sounds small but after years of mailing checks and chasing receipts, it matters."
— Synthetic promoter respondent · Grounded in AppFolio-powered experience + review patterns
Context: The tech backbone (AppFolio) is a quiet but real driver of satisfaction. Rent payment scores 79% — one of the strongest stages in the journey.
"Suddenly there were utility charges on my account I'd never agreed to. No notice. When I emailed, nothing. It took filing a formal complaint before anyone even looked into it — and then it turned out the charges were applied incorrectly all along."
— Synthetic detractor respondent · Grounded in verified BBB complaint pattern
Context: The billing-change stage (45% satisfaction) is a top detractor driver. The pattern: an error happens, communication lags, escalation is required, trust is broken — even when the issue is eventually resolved.
"Move-out was where it all fell apart. Getting a straight answer about my deposit was impossible. No relationship, no responsiveness — just silence and a number I didn't agree with. It soured my whole impression of what had been a fine two years."
— Synthetic detractor respondent · Grounded in deposit-dispute review patterns
Context: The most damaging finding — a resident who was satisfied for the entire tenancy becomes a detractor at the very end, during move-out (39% satisfaction, the lowest stage). The final impression overwrites the positive middle.
The Highest-Leverage Fix
Move-Out Is Where Promoters Become Detractors
The single most important finding of this study is the "soured ending" pattern: residents who were satisfied throughout their tenancy — who would have been promoters — convert to detractors during the move-out and deposit-return process. This is the most damaging possible CX failure, because it overwrites an entire positive relationship with a negative final impression, and because move-out reviews are written precisely when a resident has the time, motivation, and emotional charge to post publicly.
Move-out scores lowest (39%) for structural reasons: it combines high financial stakes (the deposit), high emotional stakes (leaving a home), a dispute-prone calculation (deductions), and — critically — the absence of the ongoing PM relationship that drives satisfaction everywhere else in the journey. By move-out, the resident is often dealing with process and accounting, not their trusted property manager. The relationship that carried the experience is gone exactly when it's needed most.
The Opportunity
Fixing move-out is the highest-ROI CX investment available to 2B Living. A transparent, communicative, relationship-preserved move-out process — clear deposit expectations set early, itemized deductions explained, a named human owning the process — would convert the most damaging detractor moment into a neutral or even positive one. It would also directly reduce the BBB complaints that damage the owner-facing brand.
Strategic Implications
What This Means for 2B Living
1
Redesign the move-out experience as the top CX priority.
Move-out is the lowest-scoring stage and the one that converts satisfied residents into public detractors. Set deposit expectations at move-in, provide a pre-move-out walkthrough, itemize and explain every deduction, and assign a named person to own the process. This single fix addresses the most damaging detractor moment and the most common BBB complaint category.
2
Protect the relationship through the transitions.
Satisfaction collapses whenever the named-PM relationship is absent — move-in, billing changes, management transitions, move-out. Ensuring a consistent, communicative human point of contact through these process-heavy moments would lift the four weakest stages of the journey. The relationship is the product; don't withdraw it at the edges.
3
Get ahead of billing changes with proactive communication.
The billing/utility issues are damaging precisely because they arrive without notice. A simple rule — no charge appears on a resident's account without advance, plain-language communication — would prevent the most common trust-breaking event. When third-party vendors (like utility billers) are involved, 2B Living should communicate on their behalf rather than letting residents discover surprises.
4
Turn promoters into a referral engine.
With 48% promoters driven by named PMs and responsive maintenance, 2B Living has an underused advocacy asset. A structured review-and-referral program — asking happy residents at peak-satisfaction moments (after a great maintenance experience, at lease renewal) to leave a review — would help the positive experiences counterbalance the loud detractor reviews that currently dominate platforms like BBB.
⚠ Synthetic Data Disclosure: All research uses AI-generated synthetic respondents grounded in publicly available sources including Yelp, BBB, and Google review patterns. NPS estimates and journey scores are synthetic model outputs, not statistically validated primary research. This report is an independent study and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by 2B Living, AppFolio, or any other company mentioned. For informational and strategic planning purposes only.