Transforming Rent Collection with AI That Actually Works

Jake Lisby, Co-Founder and CEO of Buzz, doesn’t sugarcoat it: collecting rent is one of the most frustrating, soul-sucking parts of the job for on-site teams – and he knows, because he used to be one of them.

At the Multifamily Innovation® Showcase, Jake shared how Buzz is using AI to remove the stress from collections and bring a human touch back to a process that’s usually anything but personal.

Most tech solutions promise automation. But when you tell someone they owe money, a robotic drip campaign doesn’t cut it. Residents shut down. Opt-out rates spike. Conversations stop before they start.

Buzz is different.

Jake and his team built Buzz to replicate the tone and timing of real, authentic human communication. It starts with a phone call—not from a random 1-800 number, but one that sounds real. One that residents actually answer. And when they don’t, Buzz follows up with a text message that gets responses 9 times out of 10.

It’s not just theory—Jake played a live example on stage. A simple, respectful voicemail that sounded like it came straight from the leasing office. No bots. No synthetic voices. Just a professional, human reminder. And it works.

The numbers speak louder than buzzwords: Buzz is already outperforming site teams by 4x—and operators only pay when residents pay. The system works across property types, from conventional to affordable to student housing, and even with past residents through a newly released feature.

In Jake’s words, “If they think it’s a real person, they engage. And when they engage, they pay.”

This isn’t another collections widget. This is technology that respects the resident, protects your on-site teams’ time, and most importantly—collects more money.

As Jake wrapped his session, he invited attendees to come talk in the lobby. Because like he said at the start, “We’ve done the job. We know the pain. Buzz was built to fix it.”

To learn more about Buzz and how it’s making rent collection more human—and more effective—visit https://www.buzzcrs.com/.

If you’re building or backing the next generation of innovative tools in multifamily, there’s no better place to showcase your story than the Multifamily Innovation® Council.

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