Stellar Housing Solutions Finds the Perfect Partner in Innago

James Hwang Co-Founder, Stellar Housing Solutions | Oncology Pharmacist

Property Types:

Residential, Mid-term Rentals

0

Innago Customer Since
20+

Units Managed

A Unique Market

James Hwang always wanted to help other people. Originally, he thought he would become a solid organ transplant surgeon, but the full realization of that dream was a longer educational road than he preferred. So, he picked a similar career path that he loved just as much.

Today, he lives in New Jersey and works as an Oncology Pharmacist in New York. This work is something that’s always resonated with James. He gets to help people in difficult situations. He gets to give back to the community. He gets to make a difference.

James is also in the real estate business. He manages over twenty units and most of those he manages with his friends and business partners, Frank and Dennis. The three of them are quite active in the local property management space in the region. The name of their company is Stellar Housing Solutions. They help people find and stay in high-quality lodging. James brings the same level of care from his medical work to his rental work: “We always go above and beyond. I truly care about my patients and my renters.”

Most of the units they manage are mid-term rentals. This market is unique and not one that gets talked about as often as other types of rentals. James loves talking about it, though. And it’s a pleasure to hear his passion for this oft-overlooked space.

How would he describe the mid-term rental space in a couple sentences? “It’s this perfect medium between short-term like Airbnb and also long-term that everyone kind of knows and understands. For us, it’s a minimum of one month… We have a lot of people that are relocating travel medical professionals here for 3 months, 5 months, 8 months…”

Finding Innago

As you can imagine, James is extremely busy all the time. Innago is what allows him to “do what I really love as my full-time job but also manage all of our rental properties.” He always wanted property management software that matched his attention to detail. Innago is his “perfect partner for property management.”

However, James didn’t land on Innago right away. As a research-oriented person, finding the right software to support his business was something he took very seriously. He had a long checklist, and many people told him he would never find the perfect software.

After watching videos, reading articles, checking out testimonials, and getting a demo of Innago, he realized it checked off “so many off my boxes and even some of these things that a lot of other, more expensive software, doesn’t even provide. It was a no-brainer.”

A Full Suite of Tools

The implementation process with Innago was a game-changer for Stellar Housing Solutions. The onboarding was seamless, thanks to the dedicated support from Innago’s team. They worked closely with James and his partners to ensure a smooth transition to the new property management system. James appreciates how the property management software addresses all of their pain points and even many things that “more expensive software doesn’t.”

Innago helped the property management company streamline operations, reduce costs, and significantly improve overall efficiency. With Innago’s expertise and support, Stellar Housing Solutions could devote more time to growing their business and delivering exceptional service to clients.

Today, Stellar Housing Solutions uses almost all of Innago’s features. The software is fully integrated into the business. He and his partners use Innago every single day.

James smiles when he talks about custom leases, applications, and running background checks through Innago (the digital lease-signing is especially useful for his team) to onboard new tenants. He and his partners also collect their rent payments online through the software. James raves about the late fees feature, which makes all of their lives easier. The maintenance feature is another useful piece of the puzzle for Stellar Housing Solutions. Communicating with tenants to ensure timely fixes has never been simpler. Tracking those requests is also simple because they’re all in one place. James even uses notification customizations to keep track of expiring leases and other key details. Innago is his “all-in-one” software.

Even though he “loves all the features,” James’ favorite is the security deposit return feature. This tool is vital to Stellar Housing Solutions because mid-term rentals lead to quicker turnover than many other kinds of rental businesses. In the past, James and his partners had to use local banks to return deposits. This approach was time-consuming. It would always involve checks or snail mail. These methods caused issues because checks would sometimes get lost or sent to old addresses.

Furthermore, James said tenants would often follow up asking where their deposits were. He also said some returns came down to the wire (New Jersey requires security deposits to be returned in 30 days or less). Those problems are gone now because of Innago.

“With this feature, [tenants] just insert their bank account information, and we set up an ACH transfer of the security deposit [on Innago]. It’s a game-changer.”

At the end of the day, Innago is what allows James to work his full-time job at the hospital and run a successful real estate business: “All these time-saving features are super important because you don’t want to be working [all the time]. Managing real estate properties could easily be a 24-hour job. There has to be some work-life balance… So, I highly recommend Innago.”

The Tenant Experience

As much as Innago helps James, it helps his tenants just as much. Stellar Housing Solutions stands out in the mid-term rental landscape by embracing technology and simplifying processes. James believes Innago is a critical part of that difference.

Whether it’s the application process, paying rent, or receiving security deposits on time, tenants love the user-friendliness of the software. James notes the time saving benefits aren’t just for him and his partners. For example, he’s had multiple tenants mention that “the application is right there on Innago, and I can sign it wherever I’m at.”

At the end of the day, Innago streamlines every part of Stellar Housing Solutions’ business. James grins and summarizes the importance of the tenant side of the software thusly:

“Innago is a direct reflection of us and our business… So, I love hearing people compliment the mobile app, ease of use, or anything else Innago-related.”

James Hwang

The Mission

James is a strong believer in Innago’s mission, and he knows the human touch makes a real difference. The main customer support rep he works with is Kelly. The fact that he knows her name and says “she’s truly great” is a testament to Innago’s above and beyond approach. And that approach extends to the entire support team:

“Having Kelly and other customer support team members has been really crucial for us because they’re always on top of it… Mid-term rentals can present unique challenges, so it’s important to have everything go efficiently and smoothly.”

Built for You

James and his partners have built a real estate community in New Jersey. And Innago is something James always brings up in his real estate conversations. He says he’s known in these circles as “the research guy.” So why wouldn’t he try to make fellow investors’ lives easier?

People trust his expertise, and Innago is something he recommends without hesitation. Choosing this property management software has proven to be a smart move, saving valuable time and making their property management company more efficient. Stellar Housing Solutions wouldn’t be where they are today without Innago.

““…Whether it’s long term, mid-term, whatever [rental business] it is, it’s hard to cash flow in the beginning. Every penny counts. And so being able to start off using free software and then have it have all of these other features that automatically already make it better than a lot of these paid software… It’s a no-brainer… I don’t know where we would be without Innago.”

James Hwang

About Innago

Innago is a free, easy-to-use property management software solution, designed to save you time and money. Our mission is to make managing communities simple, accessible, & affordable for managers of any size.