🚨 The Myth of the ORA Score
In multifamily, the ORA Score gets treated like the industry’s north star. Communities brag about their number. Vendors promote it as proof of success. Management companies highlight it in reports as if it explains performance.
But here’s the truth: an ORA Score doesn’t actually help you lease apartments.
- It doesn’t bring in a single new lead.
- It doesn’t convince a prospect to book a tour.
- It doesn’t close a lease.
A community could have a 95 ORA Score and still be struggling at 70% occupancy. Why? Because ORA was never designed to measure leasing success. It was built as a vendor marketing product — a vanity metric that looks clean on a slide deck but tells you nothing about whether a property is winning or losing in the real market.
📊 ORA is a Vanity Metric
On paper, ORA feels appealing. A single score, updated monthly, summarizing your online reputation. But once you dig deeper:
- It doesn’t connect to leads. ORA doesn’t tell you how many qualified prospects are in your pipeline this week.
- It lags reality. Reviews reflect the past. Leasing decisions are being made in real time.
- It’s not actionable. A 2-point drop doesn’t tell your team what to fix or where you’re losing leases.
At best, ORA is a brand perception signal. At worst, it distracts owners and operators into thinking they’re measuring performance while leasing teams are missing opportunities.
🔑 What Actually Drives Leasing
Prospects don’t care about a reputation score. They care about what they see, feel, and experience during their search and tour. That’s why two properties with nearly identical ORA scores can have completely different occupancy results.
What really moves the needle:
- Content that feels alive → HDR shoots, community influencer site visits, and video tours show the real experience of living there. Stock photos don’t lease apartments — authentic content does.
- Concession clarity → Two months free, waived fees, reduced deposits. Specials only work if they’re consistent across every channel: Google Business Profile, ILS listings, social posts, and the on-site team’s pitch.
- Speed of response → Leasing isn’t won on CTR or impressions — it’s won on follow-up. A fast, consistent reply to a lead can close the deal before a competitor even answers.
- Cross-channel consistency → Google listings, review responses, social feeds, and ads must align. If one channel feels dead or outdated, prospects hesitate.
- On-site alignment → The story online has to match the story on the tour. Nothing kills a lease faster than a disconnect between what was promised digitally and what’s experienced in person.
These are the signals that matter — the ones that actually drive traffic, tours, and leases. And they’re exactly what ResidentOS is built to capture.
🧠 The ResidentOS Solution
At ResidentOS, we replace vanity scores with Resident Intelligence — a connected system that ties reputation, marketing, and leasing outcomes into one framework.
The centerpiece is Resident Memo:
- A monthly intelligence report that shows owners and operators why communities are winning or losing leases.
- Insights that go beyond reviews — tying content, concessions, and responsiveness directly to leasing outcomes.
- Portfolio-wide comparisons that reveal which markets, managers, or states are driving occupancy and which are falling behind.
Instead of being told “your ORA dropped 2 points,” you get clarity on exactly what to fix — and what’s already working — to move occupancy forward.
That’s the difference between a vanity metric and a true intelligence system.
✅ What to Do Next
If you’re still reporting ORA as a core metric, you’re looking backward. Leasing teams don’t need another score — they need intelligence that explains results and points the way forward.
👉 Step away from ORA and step into Resident Intelligence:
- 📖 Learn more about ResidentOS
- 📊 Understand Resident Intelligence
- 🤝 Contact us — let’s talk about replacing vanity scores with intelligence that drives real leases.
