RealPage - Leasing, Renewals and eSign
Reframing a Tactical Feature into a Strategic Product System
The Challenge
Initially scoped as a small enhancement, the project exposed deeper problems. Quick audits and interviews revealed renters and agents were frustrated by duplicate, confusing flows for renewals and applications. Internally, siloed teams and outdated assumptions about in-person workflows slowed progress in a remote-first world.
Auditing the existing flows for renewal showed an unnecessarily cumbersome experience, with strange labelling, information chunking, and repetitive inputs.
Strategic Insight
I led an effort to uncover workflow gaps and asked: What if renewals felt like hitting an easy button?
Through user interviews, we exposed repeated inputs, messy handoffs, and disconnects between applications and renewals. The insights shaped new design patterns and metrics, redefining what “seamless” truly meant.
Research from auditing existing flows, legal compliance, and leasing manager interviews culminated in a matrix that exposed overlaps, redundancies and clear opportunities, not only to simplify but assisted in the generation of v1 of RealPage's lifetime renter value. (see below)
I pushed to unify applications and renewals into one adaptive flow, meaning renters could fill it out once, then just review and renew. No more starting from scratch.
This helped nudge others on the business side at RealPage from a “just get the form done” mindset to one focused on smarter, data-driven decisions.
I also introduced first-principle design filters, as tools that helped the teams make faster, clearer calls on future workflows.
“Repetition IS pain”
If we already know something, don’t ask again. This challenged whether verification was legally required or just habit—and sparked key conversations around logical defaults, autofill, and progressive disclosure.
Forms are product surfaces, not admin tasks. Treat them with care and attention, and if they ever feel like administrative overhead, that's an opportunity for a different approach.
Outcomes
Lasting Cultural Contribution
Beyond delivering a high-impact product, this work assisted with maturation for how RealPage now approaches their entire suite.
Conducted and improved on repeatable design rituals in a remote landscape that elevated design’s influence upstream
Evangelized the idea of “product as platform” or building experiences that scale horizontally across use cases
Assisted with composition of early iterations in RealPage's Lifetime value strategy.
Reflection
This project started with a budget problem, and a singularly focused workflow, but what we solved was much deeper: a fragmented product system lacking coherence and strategy. By identifying the bigger opportunity and aligning the teams around simplicity, we delivered something far greater than a remote leasing feature.
