How Terra helped Bella Vista build an operating system to easily scale their busines
*company name has been changed to protect client privacy
About the company
Beginning as a property-management company in 2011, Bella Vista soon shifted to buying, owning, and operating their own properties nation-wide.
4000
10
3
40%
The Background
They wanted to grow but felt like they were just treading water.
Bella Vista had a hacked-together system to manage their properties using (an incredible amount of) spreadsheets and small-scale accounting software.
While it worked with the small number of units they started out with, things quickly spiraled out-of-control as they began taking-on additional properties.
The Challenge
Messy operations were handcuffing their growth.
They were so busy running the day-to-day operations and trying to stay afloat, they had no time and energy left to even think about taking on new properties.
They weren’t meeting their expected NOI for their properties, but they didn’t have access to the necessary metrics and data to see where the money was bleeding.
Their investors were losing confidence, as they were barely getting their financials out in time and they couldn’t provide specific data or metrics breaking down their spending.
And aside from all the that, the never-ending stress was taking a toll on their personal life, health, and families.
The Terra Solution
An efficient and scalable platform that would move them forward.
When Bella Vista heard about Terra from an industry friend, they were immediately intrigued.
Using Terra would allow them to:
a) break through the paperwork-and-accounting-swamp to focus on acquisitions and growth
b) gain access to money-saving metrics and data that were impossible before
The Switch
A process for everything.
While excited at the concept of outsourcing their backoffice while still retaining managerial control, Bella Vista was understandably apprehensive that they would lose control over key operational tasks.
Terra dispelled their concern by detailing the process for every possible case scenario upfront.
Emergency check? We have a process for that.
Specific reporting for a fund? We have a process for that.
Need a move-in done yesterday? We have a process for that.
Once Bella Vista saw exactly how potential scenarios are covered under Terra, they were ready to go forward.
The Onboarding Experience
Webinars + in-house training smoothed their transition.
While the onboarding of data and properties began 8 weeks before their go-live date, Terra began training their staff 1 week before launch. They led 2 company-wide webinars to introduce new processes and softwares, and conducted hands-on training on-site to complete the training and be available to answer any questions.
Training their staff was easier than the admin at Bella Vista had expected. Firstly, Terra taught them new things in a natural need-to-know basis to avoid overwhelm. In addition, Terra provided checklists and twice-weekly calls for the first few weeks to ensure a smooth transition.
The Result
Goodbye google sheets. And goodbye stress.
The first result Bella Vista recalls after switching to Terra was immediate release of the stress and pressure of trying to stay on top of their operations. Information was uploaded to the platform automatically, Terra readily met all their reporting deadlines, and detailed data was accessible on-demand.
But it was a lot more than that: they finally felt they had a grasp on what was actually happening with their properties. [Their investors were impressed by the through reports], and they were able to pinpoint and cut excess spending.
The best part? Partnering with Terra dramatically accelerated their growth. What took them 8 years to accomplish pre-Terra, they did in just over 2 years with Terra–doubling their size.
