How Kristen Mattison took control of her operations and unified her tools, on her terms

Five separate tools, 
none of them talking

At first, there was no single place to see every part of her business. Accounting in QuickBooks. Property management in Rentroom. Tenant communication on a phone and iPad. Applications printed, picked up, or sent through DocuSign. Listings on Facebook Marketplace. 

Kristen Mattison runs Kimble Realty and Benko Investments in Williamsport, PA with about 80 units across residential and student housing.

A lot of her time went into stitching things together. Checking one tool against another. Making sure nothing slipped through. And as the portfolio grew, that only got harder to manage. 

“I did not have a lot of communication with my former solutions. It was nothing like it is with DoorLoop and the processes were more manual.”

Simple tasks turned into multi-step processes. Follow-ups lived in texts. Documents lived in inboxes. Information had to be tracked down. 

“Before DoorLoop, I used Facebook Marketplace, which was a nightmare because you’re just getting all sorts of people. And then I would have to email them through DocuSign for applications.”

Then she saw DoorLoop in person at a local event. “I saw the ease, and I was like, okay, we need to do something different here.”

One platform to retire the patchwork

The switch didn’t drag out. DoorLoop’s team had her start with a single spreadsheet. 

“It was pretty seamless. We communicated by email, phone calls, and online messaging. The ‘Loopers’ were amazing. I thought it was a very easy process, and I would recommend it to anybody.”

Once everything was in, things started to click.

The tools she used to juggle were no longer separate. Applications, leases, payments, listings, and communication were all in one place.

“Now I feel like it’s a one-stop shop. Everything is right in DoorLoop. I have all those options. So when I saw that, that’s the thing that caught my eye.”

The tenant portal became a big part of how she runs things. 

“I just love all the different aspects of the portal.”

Tenants pay online. Students use their phones. And for student housing, parents can stay in the loop too.

“Most of my tenants use the portal. They like it a lot and often use it on their phones. I do have some that use it online. They like the fact that they get a notification when their rent is due, especially for the students and parents. ”

She also moved her listings into DoorLoop and stopped relying on Facebook Marketplace.

“I use the marketing and listings feature. I put my rentals out there when things come available and have gotten quite a bit of use out of that.”

Communication changed too. Instead of managing group texts, she can send updates to everyone at once.

“For my student, I can send mass communications out to everybody about move-in, or ‘Hey, I’m going to be coming around to turn your heat up or down.’ I love that I can get everything out in one message. Before, I would send group messages, but now I can do it all at once. Everything in the system is so handy that way.”

From juggling tools to running 
the business

“Moneywise, I was able to offboard two QuickBooks subscriptions, so I’m saving about $400 there alone. Time-wise, I’m probably saving myself a few hours or more every week, just having everything in one spot.”

Less time switching tools. Less manual follow-up. Less second-guessing where things live. More time actually running the business.

Her tenants picked it up quickly too. Today, more than 70% use the portal. Students adopt it right away. Parents stay informed. And the back-and-forth keeps dropping.

When she talks to other property managers, she keeps it simple.

“It’s a no-brainer. If you need something to help you manage your properties, to me, DoorLoop is the one. Above everything, it’s the communication and the help. Sometimes you feel like you get thrown into things and you don’t have the help you need. With DoorLoop, the communication and the help has always been 100%. I can’t say it enough, and I’m thankful for that.”