The Top 7 Mistakes Multifamily Developers Make During Lease-Ups
And What to Do Instead to Lease Faster, Smarter, and With Less Stress
In multifamily real estate, the lease-up phase is more than just a launch—it’s a high-stakes sprint to stabilize quickly, generate cash flow, and validate your investment.
And yet, even experienced developers can unknowingly sabotage their success by making a few common, but critical, mistakes during this window. These aren’t just minor slip-ups—they’re avoidable missteps that can delay revenue, drive up costs, and leave units sitting empty far longer than they should.
If you’re preparing to lease a new development—or struggling mid-lease-up—this post is your blueprint for what not to do. More importantly, it shows how to fix these problems before they drag your project down.
Let’s dive into the seven most costly mistakes multifamily developers make during lease-ups—and what smart teams are doing instead.
1. Launching Without a Pre-Lease Strategy
Waiting until the doors open is already too late.
This is by far the most common mistake—and often the most damaging.
Many developers begin marketing only once they receive a TCO (Temporary Certificate of Occupancy), believing that leads and tours will start rolling in naturally. But the reality? That delay often results in a cold, empty start.
Every day your units sit vacant, you’re losing income, missing momentum, and playing catch-up. A successful lease-up begins before the first hard hat comes off.
What To Do Instead:
- Start building your online presence 60–90 days before opening.
- Launch digital ads to generate interest and waitlist signups.
- Create a pre-leasing landing page with floorplans, pricing ranges, and a simple tour scheduler.
- Set up email capture and automated follow-ups.
- Use “Coming Soon” campaigns to build urgency.
Momentum doesn’t start at opening day. It starts with anticipation.
2. Hiring a Generalist Marketing Agency
Not all marketers understand multifamily—and it shows.
You wouldn’t hire a residential architect to design a Class A mixed-use project, right? So why hire a marketing team that doesn’t specialize in multifamily?
Generalist agencies often lack the nuance, data, and property experience required to effectively market apartment communities. They might create pretty ads, but they miss the metrics that matter most: Cost per Lead (CPL), tour-to-lease ratio, and qualified traffic.
They also misunderstand renter behavior, overlook local competition, and build campaigns that look good but convert poorly.
What To Do Instead:
- Partner with a multifamily marketing specialist who speaks your language.
- Look for experience with lease-ups, digital advertising for properties, SEO in real estate, and lease funnel optimization.
- Demand a clear strategy tied to your lease-up timeline and revenue targets.
An experienced agency isn’t just a vendor—they’re your marketing operations partner.
3. Ignoring SEO Early in the Process
SEO isn’t a luxury—it’s a long-term channel that takes time to mature.
Search engine optimization is often left on the back burner during lease-ups. Developers (understandably) prioritize paid ads and urgent traffic, but this creates a massive blind spot.
SEO takes time—typically 60 to 90 days to show measurable results. If you delay investing in it, you’re extending the period before organic leads start showing up.
And when the ad budget eventually shrinks post-stabilization, you’ll wish you had organic traffic flowing in already.
What To Do Instead:
- Begin SEO work alongside your initial branding and website setup.
- Build pages around key search terms: “Apartments in [Neighborhood],” “New [City] Apartments,” “Pet-friendly rentals in [Zip].”
- Write helpful content (neighborhood guides, moving tips, unit comparisons) to boost local relevance.
- Optimize your Google Business Profile and local directory listings.
Long-term, SEO becomes your most cost-efficient channel. But it needs time to grow.
4. Underestimating Email Marketing
Think emails are just for residents? Think again.
Multifamily email campaigns are often limited to resident updates or renewal notices. But during lease-ups, email is a powerful lead-nurturing tool.
Here’s the truth: Most renters don’t convert on their first visit. They browse, compare, leave, and forget. If you don’t follow up, you lose them.
Email lets you keep those leads warm, reminding them of open units, move-in specials, or upcoming tour slots.
What To Do Instead:
- Build email drip campaigns tied to website inquiries and ad leads.
- Send updates with unit availability, photo galleries, and pricing changes.
- Include testimonials or stories from new tenants as proof of social value.
- Automate reminders for tour confirmations and post-tour follow-ups.
Even a 3-part email sequence can dramatically increase conversion rates over time.
5. Skipping Conversion Tracking and Dashboards
You can’t optimize what you don’t measure.
If you don’t know your CPL, your cost per tour, or your lease conversion rate, how can you confidently adjust your strategy?
Many lease-ups rely on spreadsheets, disconnected ad platforms, or worse, gut feeling. That’s a dangerous way to burn through marketing dollars.
What To Do Instead:
- Set up a live dashboard that tracks:
- Ad spend by channel
- Leads generated (daily/weekly)
- Cost per lead
- Tour bookings
- Tour-to-lease ratio
- Integrate website analytics, ad pixels, and your CRM (like Entrata, Yardi, Knock, etc.).
A good dashboard turns guesses into decisions—and tells you what’s working in real time.
6. Not Optimizing the Website for Conversions
A beautiful website that doesn’t convert is still a broken funnel.
Too many developers think a good-looking website will “do the job.” But without a conversion strategy, your site just becomes a static brochure.
If your site isn’t actively generating tours, inquiries, and applications, it’s costing you leases.
What To Do Instead:
- Use prominent, repeated CTAs like “Schedule a Tour” or “Apply Now.”
- Optimize your lead form—reduce unnecessary fields, improve mobile functionality.
- Add trust builders: resident reviews, photos of real people, and local community stats.
- Implement live chat or chatbot tools to answer common questions instantly.
And always test mobile performance—over 70% of renters are browsing from their phones.
7. Inconsistent Branding and Messaging
Every part of your leasing funnel should feel like it’s coming from the same place.
It might sound small, but inconsistency in brand visuals, tone, or messaging across ads, landing pages, and emails can seriously hurt trust.
Imagine this: someone clicks a modern, minimal ad—only to land on a website with outdated design, clunky navigation, and unclear pricing. Confusion leads to drop-off.
What To Do Instead:
- Develop a simple brand style guide: fonts, color palette, voice, CTA language.
- Apply it across every touchpoint: social ads, website, emails, and property signage.
- Keep messages focused on your core value propositions (pet-friendly, walkable, luxury, etc.).
When everything aligns, your property feels professional, trustworthy, and intentional.
The Fix: A Lease-Up Game Plan That Works
If you’ve made one or more of the mistakes above, you’re not alone. Nearly every multifamily team has hit at least one of these roadblocks. What matters is how you respond.
Here’s the short list of how to avoid them altogether:
- Start marketing early—ideally 60 to 90 days before opening.
- Work with specialists who understand multifamily lease-ups.
- Invest in SEO from day one—it pays off in month three and beyond.
- Use email to nurture leads, not just communicate with tenants.
- Set up dashboards that track every dollar, lead, and tour.
- Make sure your website doesn’t just look good—make sure it converts.
- Stay consistent in your brand, tone, and experience across every channel.
A successful lease-up doesn’t just happen—it’s built with intention.
Developers who win this phase don’t rely on luck or dated tactics. They treat their lease-up like a launch campaign. They plan ahead, choose the right partners, and optimize relentlessly.
Your community deserves to lease fast. Your team deserves clarity. And your website, ads, and messaging deserve to do the heavy lifting, so you can focus on what’s next.
If you’re gearing up for a lease-up, struggling with your current one, or just want a second opinion, we’d be happy to help.