Inside Imagine Homes: Why We’d Love You to Rent with Us

At Imagine Homes Management, our growth with single family rentals has always been driven by excellence, passion, technology—and the amazing people who make up our team. In this post, we have Cincinnati’s Director of Resident Services, Victoria “Vita” Podolsky sharing her experience working with and for residents.

My name is Vita and it’s been two and a half years since I joined Imagine Homes in October of 2018.

I came to the US with my family when I was 13. I was born in Ukraine and I know what it’s like not to have water and heat in the middle of winter. Back in the USSR, we sometimes didn’t have either for days and, because of that, it’s important for me to make sure that the residents under my care get all the services that we provide.

Before coming to work for Imagine Homes Management, I worked for another property management company and their module was a little different than ours. There, we managed properties on behalf of homeowners and some investors, but mostly homeowners who were trying to save money and did not want to provide some of the services to their residents. At Imagine Homes, we provide all the essential services plus much more. We want our residents to be happy and rent from us for many years to come.

When I first came to work with Imagine Homes, I had to wear a lot of hats. My official title is Director of Resident Services, but in the beginning, there were 2-3 of us and we did everything. And then we expanded our team in Cincinnati and now we have six full-time employees in the market. Our resident base is growing fast too and we are still constantly buying more houses, and I’m still wearing a few hats. We are still hiring to keep up with our resident growth!

We saw so much demand for a nice, fixed-up single family rental in that neighborhood. It really piqued our interest on whether that would work in additional neighborhoods and what the market demand really was like for a renovated single family house in the suburbs.

I love helping people find the home of their dreams.

A lot of times I’ll talk with prospective residents or people who are not sure what they want. We try to figure out together what works for them and their families.

If a house is not available for showing, I always encourage prospective applicants to either wait or view a 3D Virtual Tour. It’s important that they love the house before they move in. That way, these residents stay with us for a very long time, instead of just renting the home for one year before they move on.

In the Cincinnati market, we have a lot of people moving from different states for work, family, or other reasons. We are proud to roll out and offer a “dollhouse” feature in Cincinnati. This feature is amazing and is basically 3D Virtual Tours using powerful Matterport Technology.

The one thing I have found that our residents have in common is that they love our properties and they love the services that we provide. Part of these services is me filling in the role as a kind of “middle woman” ensuring that residents enjoy their new home.

I work with both applicants and with current residents to make sure that everybody’s happy. We are able to provide self-guided showings and a keyless system thanks to our tech partner, Rently.

There are many aspects of my job that I thoroughly enjoy, but my favorite part is a virtual Welcome Home Orientation, where I meet with our new residents and explain all the aspects of living at the property that is managed by Imagine Homes: what to do when there is an issue, how to reach us, our keyless system, etc.

Prior to COVID, we met face-to-face at the house that was rented. I would go down to the property to connect with new residents before their lease starts. The orientation includes walking them through the different aspects of living in an Imagine Home, which includes Rently and our resident portal and how they can access and use these options for requests and concerns.

If the incoming residents were dog owners leasing a home with a fenced-in yard, I would actually ask them to bring their pets over. I’d be there with my own dog, Sammy, as a sort of welcoming committee.

Given social distancing measures implemented because of COVID, these face-to-face meetings have moved to Google Meet. While the interactions are virtual, it’s still wonderful. Sammy sometimes joins me on these calls. People love it when he does. I’ve even told some residents that once it’s safe to meet up in person again, if I’m in the area, I’ll drop by to say hello and Sammy can meet their pets for a play date.

In conversations with residents during their welcome home orientation, I often hear how they love the quality of the home and how they love the finished product.

If something does come up as an issue, we try to address all the maintenance requests within a reasonable period of time, which is about a week. If we can see to it sooner, the better.

Another aspect of my job is speaking with interested applicants about any questions they might have about Imagine Homes and the kind of service we’re offering. We have a lot of information listed on our website, especially the FAQs, but I think it helps when they can talk to someone. From there, I can direct them to the respective resident services representative in their specific market.

I think a lot of the policies and procedures that we have in place are thanks to me. I’m very proud of that.

When I started, we did not have much in place, but now we do and I can say that we’re not done refining things yet. We’re growing, and we also see how fast the markets are growing. Naturally, policies and procedures will need to be updated and integrated to keep up with that.

When I started, we only had properties in the Cleveland market, and then we opened in Cincinnati. Now, we also have offices and manage properties in Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Kansas City. We’re also expanding to more markets this year, which is exciting.

Imagine Homes is really all about growth. We’re always trying to come up with better ways to improve our jobs, and also how to improve the lives of our residents at our properties and build better relationships with our vendors and our community.

This year, our CEO Jon Frank said that the number one priority for a company should be health and wellness. Since we put in a lot of hours into our work, it’s nice to know that company management cares a lot about the health of the team.

That sense of care and concern extends, of course, to vendors and the community we’re building among our residents. We have a lot of flexibility, which is great. I always tell residents, I know you have a lease and it’s a legally binding document, but if there is something that you want, and you have to have, please approach me. The worst that can happen is I say no.

It’s the same thing with the sellers. If the people who are selling the house haven’t found a place where they can move, we always work with them to make sure that they do have a home until they’re ready to move out.

Those are just some of the things that are really special about Imagine Homes.

Overall, I’m looking to grow with Imagine Homes, whether in this role or any other role, just as long as I can contribute to the growth and expansion of the company that truly cares about people.

We have an amazing group of people that we work with across all the markets. We love our job, and we’re here to build great relationships with our residents, the sellers who choose us as an option, as well as the vendors we work with in every aspect of our homes.

Experience all of the benefits and advantages of homeownership—in a rental.

Our residents deserve to feel truly at home. Beyond fully-renovated homes, our locations are also second to none. We make it so easy, all you have to do is come home. Talk to our team—we’d love to know how we can help.

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