For Property Managers

Know your tenants.
Before they sign.

An AI that calls previous landlords, employers, and personal references — and gets the answers your application form never could.

From $29 per applicant · First 10 applications free

$7,500
Avg cost of one eviction
85%
Reference response rate
< 24h
From submit to report
reffem · tenant screening On call
Reference · Previous Landlord
Cedar Glen Apartments · Unit 4B
For applicant · J. Patterson
APP-1198
ReffemDid the unit need any repairs after they moved out?
LandlordJust normal wear. They left it cleaner than they found it, honestly.
ReffemAnd rent — was there ever a month they were late?
2.4M units screened·$7,500 avg eviction cost·Fair-housing standardized·Recorded & transcribed·2.4M units screened·$7,500 avg eviction cost·Fair-housing standardized·Recorded & transcribed·2.4M units screened·$7,500 avg eviction cost·Fair-housing standardized·Recorded & transcribed·
The problem

Manual screening doesn't scale.

Forty applications a week. Phone tag on most. Guessing on the rest. One bad placement erases a year of margin.

14days · avg time to reach a previous landlord

Phone tag wins.

The good landlords are managing their own portfolios — they're not waiting for your call. By the time you reach them, your unit's been sitting empty and your applicant has signed somewhere else.

3different scripts per leasing agent

Inconsistent questions.

Every agent asks something different. One forgets pets. Another asks about marital status. A fair-housing complaint waiting to happen, and zero comparability across applicants.

$7.5Kavg cost of one eviction

One bad call, one bad year.

Lost rent, legal fees, repairs, turnover, vacancy. The math is brutal. You don't need to catch every bad applicant — you need to catch the ones who would have cost you a year of margin.

62%of references never get reached

Most checks don't happen.

Your team means well. But when it's 4pm and the unit's been vacant for three weeks, somebody approves the file with two of three references "unable to reach." That's where the bad placements come from.

Why Reffem

Three ways to screen. Only one of them runs while you sleep.

Credit and background tell you what the courts know. References tell you what their last landlord knows.

Background & Credit
Best for · A baseline filter

Tells you about evictions on file and FICO. Tells you nothing about whether they paid rent on time, took care of the unit, or got along with neighbors.

  • Fast and standardized
  • Catches court records
  • Misses everything else
Reffem
Best for · Every application, every time

A conversational AI that calls landlords, employers, and personal references — gets answers, asks follow-ups, and hands you a written report by morning.

  • Calls in 32 languages, day or night
  • Same questions, every time, every applicant
  • Recorded, transcribed, fair-housing reviewed
  • Report in < 24 hours
Phone Tag
Best for · Burning agent hours

If you can reach the previous landlord, the conversation can be useful. The conversation usually doesn't happen.

  • Real human judgment
  • Wildly inconsistent
  • 62% never connect
How it works

Three steps. Two of them run on their own.

1
Takes 30 seconds

Send the link.

Forward the application to Reffem, or paste the applicant's contact info. We collect their references directly — no chasing landlords for phone numbers.

2
Around the clock · 32 languages

Reffem makes the calls.

It calls the previous landlord, employer, and any personal references in their preferred language. It asks the same fair-housing-reviewed questions every time, and follows up when an answer is vague.

3
Ready by morning

You read the report.

A clean summary with quotes, audio links, and a flag for anything worth a second look. Approve or decline in two minutes — and keep the audit trail.

Listen in

One minute from a real screening call. No script.

A previous landlord, on a Tuesday afternoon. Reffem asked one good follow-up question, and got the answer the form would never have caught.

Disclosure: Reference call with consent. Anonymized. Played at 1.0×.
Cedar Glen → J. Patterson
Reference call · 11:42 total
04:2411:42
04:01
Reffem
On a scale of one to ten, how likely are you to rent to them again?
04:11
Landlord, Cedar Glen
Eight, I'd say. Maybe a nine.
04:24
ReffemPlaying
What would have made it a ten?
04:38
Landlord, Cedar Glen
Honestly? They had a roommate situation that got loud for a few months. Worked it out, but I had two complaints from 3B before they did. It was fine — but I want you to know.
05:09
Reffem
Was there a moment where you saw them handle it well?
The numbers

What three months of pilot data looked like.

Six mid-size operators, 18,400 applications, 56,200 reference calls. Here's what changed.

85%
References reached
vs · 38% manual
19h
Avg time to full report
vs · 11 days manual
$0
Per call surcharge
flat platform fee
2.4×
More red flags surfaced
vs · phone tag baseline
What we ask

Fair-housing reviewed. Same questions. Every applicant.

Behavioral questions only. Same script, every applicant. Customize within the rails.

Default landlord pack · 9 questions

  1. 01
    How long was the applicant your tenant?
    date_range · objective
  2. 02
    Was rent paid on time, in your judgment?
    scale · 1–5 · with follow-up
  3. 03
    Did the unit need repairs beyond normal wear at move-out?
    free_response · with follow-up
  4. 04
    Were there ever complaints from neighbors?
    free_response · with follow-up
  5. 05
    On a scale of 1–10, would you rent to them again?
    scale · with "what would make it 10" follow-up
  6. 06
    Is there anything you'd want a future landlord to know?
    free_response · open
Common questions

What property managers ask first.

More on legal review, data retention, and ATS integrations? Email apartments@reffem.com. Same-day reply.

Is this fair-housing compliant?
Yes. Every question pack is reviewed by a fair-housing attorney before deployment. Reffem never asks about race, religion, family status, disability, national origin, or any other protected class. Same questions, same order, every applicant — full audit trail included.
How is this different from RentSpree or AppFolio's reference tool?+
Will previous landlords actually pick up?+
Does this integrate with our PMS?+
What does it cost?+
Apply for the pilot

First ten applications. On us.

Tell us how many applications you take a month and where the screening pipe leaks. We'll run your next ten applicants — landlord, employer, personal references — at no cost.

PilotFirst 10 applications free
After pilotFrom $29 / applicant
SetupForward your application form

A pilot, sized to your portfolio.

Three steps. Two minutes. We get back to you the next business day.

1Volume
2Frustration
3Contact
Last word

The wrong tenant costs $7,500.

A real reference call costs less than thirty dollars. Run a free pilot on your next ten applications — keep the reports either way.