The Report: Apartmentalize + AI orchestration

In this episode of The Report, Alex Howe, SVP Marketing + Growth at Funnel, and Tyler Christiansen, CEO, Funnel, recap the biggest conversations coming out of Apartmentalize in New Orleans — from AI orchestration and centralization to housing policy, REIT consolidation, and interest rates.

They also cover several major industry stories shaping multifamily right now, including:

• AI accountability: Why AI adoption is shifting from excitement about automation to accountability, governance, clean data, human oversight, and real resident experience outcomes.

• Property management software expansion: Why some AI-first companies are moving toward accounting and PMS software

• Housing legislation: What the latest bipartisan housing bill could mean for operators, renters, and the broader affordability conversation.

• Constrained investment volume: Why multifamily transaction activity remains cautious, even as operating fundamentals show signs of stabilization.

• Centralization’s comeback: Why operators are revisiting centralization with more pragmatism, clearer goals, and a sharper focus on measurable efficiency.

• AvalonBay and Equity Residential merger: What the $69 billion REIT merger signals about scale, shared services, centralized operating models, and the future of mega managers.

• Interest rates and development: How the Fed’s latest decision to hold rates steady could continue to pressure new apartment development — and why that may set up future rent growth volatility.

For more on Funnel’s Apartmentalize announcements: Workflow Studio, Funnel’s custom renter workflow builder. Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5cFdtOyhQI

For the results of a third-party blind user test where 169 real renters compared Funnel’s chat and voice AI against three major competitors. Read the press release, or listen to this episode of the report.

To learn more about Funnel visit: https://funnelleasing.com/

Connect with Tyler on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/funnel/

In this episode of The Report, Alex Howe, SVP Marketing + Growth, Funnel and Tyler Christiansen, CEO, Funnel share the results of a study they commissioned to answer a simple question: how does Funnel's AI stack up against the biggest names in the industry?

In the spirit of the world's best teams competing at the highest level, they put Funnel's voice and chat AI to the test — independently, blindly, and against competitors' best examples.

Funnel won every single matchup. The more interesting story is why — and what it signals about where multifamily AI is headed.

The setup:

• An independent research firm ran six blind, head-to-head studies in April and May

• 169 real American renters tested Funnel’s chat and voice AI against three major competitors: two legacy property management platforms and a self-described "AI leader" in multifamily

• Renters had 30 minutes and a broad mandate: schedule a tour, ask about pet policies, and interrupt the voice AI mid-sentence to see how it responded

By the numbers:

• Funnel won all six head-to-head matchups

• Nearly 3 in 4 renters preferred Funnel's chat AI; 2 in 3 preferred Funnel's voice AI

• 81% said Funnel felt more knowledgeable in chat; 67% said the same in voice

• In chat AI, Funnel outperformed the competition by 6-27% in renter satisfaction and 7-52% in human-likeness.

• In voice AI, Funnel outperformed the competition by 5-10% in renter satisfaction and 4-27% in human-likeness.

Four themes renters mentioned often

• Warmth. Competitors were described as "abrupt," "formal," and — my personal favorite — "the audio version of a brochure."

• Transparency. Funnel answered questions about fees, breed restrictions, and community specifics directly in the conversation. Competitors sent renters to links. Renters noticed, and they didn't like it.

• The ability to actually listen. In voice, renters could interrupt Funnel, pause, change direction — and Funnel kept up. Competitors talked over them. That was the single biggest complaint in the voice study.

• Anticipation. Funnel volunteered relevant details before renters had to ask. It felt like the AI was thinking ahead, not just responding.

Fresh off Forum 2026, Alex Howe, SVP of Marketing and Growth and Tyler Christiansen, CEO of Funnel, break down the biggest ideas, conversations, and moments from this year’s event. They cover what stood out from sessions with Clay Bavor, Jay Parsons, Kristy Simonett, Mia Hamm, and others, along with what operators should be paying attention to right now around AI, market conditions, leadership, and change.

To stay up-to-date follow Funnel on Linkedin and connect with Tyler there, too.

In this episode, Alex Howe, SVP Marketing + Growth, at Funnel talks with Tyler Christiansen, CEO, Funnel about what RETTC Tech Executive Summit revealed, and why execution beats hype. They break down the first rent payment inside ChatGPT with BH Management, what “agentic AI” really requires (guardrails, auditability, trust), and why operators can’t automate their way out of a broken operating model. They close on the workforce and policy realities shaping the year ahead and the playbook that’s emerging: standardize the work, then automate what’s repeatable, and keep humans focused on the moments that actually need judgment and care.

If you enjoyed this conversation, you’ll love Forum. Register today.

To stay up-to-date follow Funnel on Linkedin and connect with Tyler there, too.

In this episode of Multifamily Unpacked, Nikki Hand, Chief Product Officer and Chief Customer Officer at Funnel, shares how specialization, centralization, and human-centered AI are reshaping multifamily operations. Nikki reflects on Funnel’s evolution since 2020, the industry’s shift to the new operating model, and why AI works best as a teammate, not a replacement.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• Why generalist roles are burning out top performers, and how the new operating model solves it
• How Funnel’s platform evolved through deep co-development with early partners
• What the next phase of centralization and AI-driven marketing looks like
• How centralized models improve personalization and renter experience
• Why “partnership first” is core to customer success at Funnel
• The origin story of Camden’s Birdie and Funnel’s early bet on AI

If you enjoyed learning about centralization, AI, and what the new operating model means for the future of multifamily, you'd love Forum. Register today. https://meet.funnelleasing.com/forum-2026-registration

To stay up-to-date follow Funnel on Linkedin and connect with Tyler there, too.

In this episode, Tesho Akindele — former MLS forward turned developer and community-builder at Camp North End in Charlotte, NC — joins us to share how reading Walkable City inspired his mission to design neighborhoods where people can truly live, work, and connect on foot. That vision led him to help transform a fenced-off industrial site into a thriving, mixed-use community. Along the way, he unpacks zoning, NIMBY challenges, and how technology helps deliver hospitality at Camp North End. Let’s kick it off.

What you’ll learn:

• How a professional athlete became an urbanist: Tesho’s journey from the soccer field to shaping the built environment — and what travel taught him about great cities.
• Why zoning is the unglamorous hero: How flexible zoning unlocks mixed-use communities and missing-middle housing.
• How to turn an industrial site into a neighborhood: The playbook behind Camp North End’s transformation and its 1,000+ annual events.
• Where technology meets hospitality: From Wi-Fi that covers the campus to multilingual AI and follow-ups that feel personal.
• What renters really value: Why natural light, balconies, and proximity to life’s best moments beat flashy amenities.

If you enjoyed this episode, you'd love Forum. Register today. https://meet.funnelleasing.com/forum-2026-registration

To stay up-to-date follow Funnel on Linkedin and connect with Tyler there, too.

Recorded right after NMHC Annual, this episode looks past the noise to what’s actually shaping multifamily right now. Alex Howe, SVP Marketing + Growth at Funnel, and Tyler Christiansen, CEO of Funnel, unpack how sustained cost pressure is driving real operating decisions, why early AI hype cooled, and where AI is finally delivering value inside centralized workflows. They break down what the recent coverage reveals about competing visions for AI, explore how capital consolidation and policy signals are influencing operator behavior, and close with why ZRS Management’s decision to standardize on Funnel across 110,000+ units is a signal worth paying attention to.

Forum registration is filling up, register today. https://meet.funnelleasing.com/forum-2026-registration

To stay up-to-date follow Funnel on Linkedin and connect with Tyler there, too.

Rather than chasing novelty, Mallory Sheibley, Lead Product Manager - AI at Funnel, is focused on building something more difficult and more durable; AI that improves outcomes in a people-first, highly regulated industry without stripping away judgment, trust, or accountability.

In this episode we cover:

What AI is actually for: Reducing repetitive work so teams can focus on judgment, empathy, and relationships.

Building AI for high-trust, regulated work: Clear guardrails and human review are what make AI usable at scale.

Why “self-learning” AI is mostly a myth: Autonomous learning sounds efficient but introduces risk without oversight.

Perfecting the handoff, the hardest design problem in AI: Knowing when the system should act and when it should step aside.

To stay up-to-date follow Funnel on Linkedin and connect with Tyler there, too.