The Leasing Responsiveness Index (LRI):
Definitions, Measurement Protocol and Publication Rules

1.Purpose, Scope and Distinctions

1.1Purpose

The LRI provides a consistent, dated and verifiable measure of how a Community responds to a prospective renter during the pre-lease stage. It is intended for use by renters and the software agents acting for them, by Communities and their owners and managers, and by researchers.

1.2Scope

The LRI measures the period from the moment a prospective renter first contacts a Community to the point at which the renter has the information needed to decide whether to apply. The LRI does not measure resident satisfaction after move-in, the physical condition of a property, the quality of its location, or the merits of its rents.

1.3What the LRI Is Not

1. (a)The LRI measures how quickly and how fully a Community replies to a prospective renter’s inquiry (Dimension R1). It does not measure how quickly a Community responds to public online reviews, which some existing ratings include; a Community cannot raise its LRI by answering reviews.
2. (b)It is not a record of prices a Community publishes about itself. The LRI compares what a Community advertises with what it states in reply to an Inquiry.
3. (c)It is not a resident survey or a review score.
4. (d)It is not a substitute for existing industry ratings and awards, which measure different stages of the rental relationship and can be used alongside it. Appendix B describes how the LRI relates to several of them.

1.4Why Written Channels

Measurement uses written online Channels because every exchange can be archived with timestamps, re-examined by a reviewer and disclosed to the Community concerned, and because the same Inquiry can be sent to every Community on the same terms.

1.5Nature of a Result

A Result describes observed behavior during a stated Measurement Period. It is not a prediction of future performance and is not a judgment of a Community, its staff or its homes.

2.Definitions

In this Statement, the following capitalized terms have the meanings set out below.

“Community”

means a professionally managed multifamily rental property, operated under a single name, that advertises available units to the public.

“Inquiry”

means a standardized written question sent by VALIS to a Community through a Channel, under a Test Identity, in accordance with Section 5.

“Channel”

means a website contact form, an email address or an online chat function that a Community makes available to the public for leasing questions.

“Valid Inquiry”

means an Inquiry that was delivered and was not excluded under Section 9.2.

“Substantive Reply”

means the first response that answers the specific question asked, such as the availability and rent of the unit type requested, whether written by a person or by software operated for the Community. Automatic acknowledgments, generic greetings, links to a website without the requested information, and requests for contact details are not Substantive Replies.

“Measurement Period”

means the calendar month in which Inquiries are sent. “Tier Window” means the two consecutive calendar quarters, and “Score Window” the four consecutive calendar quarters, ending with the most recent Measurement Period.

“Standard”

means, for each Indicator, the performance level fixed under Section 6.1 before the Measurement Period begins.

“Indicator,” “Dimension” and “Weight”

have the meanings given in Section 4 and Table 1.

“Result”

means the measured facts, and where applicable the Tier or score, reported for a Community under Section 7, with the sample size and interval on which it rests.

“Test Identity”

means a fictitious prospective-renter persona used for a single Inquiry under Section 5.4.

3.Eligibility and Sampling Frame

3.1Eligible Communities

A Community is eligible if it (a) has 50 or more units, (b) is located in the study market, (c) advertises available units online, and (d) offers at least one Channel. The following are not eligible: student housing; age-restricted housing; and housing in which income-restricted units comprise 90 percent or more of all units.

3.2Census, Not Sample

VALIS measures every eligible Community in a study market. No Community may opt in, opt out, or pay to be included or excluded. The list of included Communities, the date each was added and the sources used to compile the list are published with each study.

3.3First Study

The 2026–27 Triangle Leasing Experience Study covers eligible Communities with 200 or more units in Wake, Durham and Orange Counties, North Carolina. Eligible Communities with 50 to 199 units will be added in later studies.

3.4Remote Measurement

All measurement is conducted remotely through the Channels described in Section 5. VALIS does not rely on site visits or in-person shoppers.

4.Measurement Framework

The LRI comprises four Dimensions and twelve Indicators. Table 1 sets out each Indicator, its definition and its Weight, expressed in points out of 100.

5.Data Collection Protocol

5.1Channels

Inquiries are sent only through Channels that the Community makes available to the public. Inquiries are distributed across all of a Community’s available online Channels. Where a Community offers a single Channel, such as online chat only, all Inquiries are sent through that Channel.

5.2Frequency and Burden

Inquiries are distributed across days of the week and times of day according to a schedule fixed before each Measurement Period and not disclosed in advance. To limit the burden on leasing staff, the number of Inquiries any Community receives in a Measurement Period is capped. The cap is set in the internal Measurement Protocol and applies equally to every Community, whether or not it or its owner purchases VALIS services.

5.3Content

Inquiries are standardized written questions of the kind a prospective renter would ask about a unit type the Community advertises. The same set of templates is used for every Community in a study. The templates are maintained in the internal Measurement Protocol and are not published.

5.4Test Identities

1. (a)Each Inquiry uses its own Test Identity, so that every reply can be attributed to the Inquiry and Channel that produced it.
2. (b)Names are drawn at random from a pool of first and last names that published validation studies have found to carry no strong racial or ethnic signal (Gaddis, 2017; Crabtree et al., 2023).
3. (c)No Inquiry refers to familial status, age, religion, disability or any other characteristic protected under federal, state or local fair housing law.

5.5Disclosure

Inquiries are written as ordinary questions from a prospective renter and do not identify VALIS when sent, so that every Community is measured as renters experience it. After each Measurement Period, every measured Community is notified that it was measured and receives the records of its Inquiries in accordance with Section 8.

5.6Prohibited Conduct

VALIS does not submit rental applications, authorize credit or background checks, provide payment information, or negotiate terms. If a Community schedules a tour in response to an Inquiry, VALIS cancels it promptly.

6.Scoring and Estimation

6.1Indicator Scores

Each Indicator k is converted to a score s_k on a scale of 0 to 100 using a scoring function fixed before the Measurement Period. Scoring functions are absolute: they are not curved to the market, and one Community’s score does not depend on another’s. Scoring functions, including all indicator-level thresholds, are recorded in an internal Scoring Specification, deposited with a timestamp before each study, and made available to independent academic reviewers under confidentiality.1

6.2Composite Score

The composite score of Community c is the weighted sum of its Indicator scores:

where w_k is the Weight of Indicator k in Table 1. The construction follows standard practice for composite indicators (OECD and European Commission Joint Research Centre, 2008).

6.3Minimum Evidence and Update Cycle

1. (a)Results are updated monthly, each time on the most recent rolling window.
2. (b)A Tier is assigned only to a Community with at least 12 Valid Inquiries in the Tier Window.
3. (c)A point score from 0 to 100 is reported only for a Community with at least 24 Valid Inquiries in the Score Window.
4. (d)A Community below these thresholds is reported as “insufficient data,” which is not a low score.

6.4Shrinkage and Intervals

To prevent a small number of observations from determining a Result, each Community’s estimate is shrunk toward the market mean in proportion to the information available (Efron and Morris, 1975):

where n_c is the number of Valid Inquiries in the applicable window, μ_m is the market mean, and κ is a constant estimated from the variance of Results across the market. A 90 percent interval is computed for each estimate by resampling Inquiries; for proportions, Wilson (1927) intervals are used.

6.5Validation of Weights

The Version 1.0 Weights reflect expert judgment. VALIS will (a) calibrate them against a study of renter priorities, (b) publish a sensitivity analysis showing how rankings change when each Weight varies by ten points, and (c) test the relationship between LRI Results and operating outcomes such as occupancy and renewals. Any change in Weights is made under Section 13.

7.Classification and Publication

7.1Tiers

Each Result is published as one of five Tiers, determined by the shrunk estimate under equation (2).

7.2What Is Published

1. (a)For every eligible Community: a public fact page stating the dated facts observed, such as reply times and the fees disclosed, and the number of Valid Inquiries on which they rest. Fact pages do not state a Tier or score.
2. (b)Tiers are published only for Communities in the top quartile of the market, together with the market median. Communities whose intervals overlap are not ranked apart.
3. (c)Point scores and Tiers for all other Communities appear only in reports provided to that Community or its owner or manager.
4. (d)Results are published in human-readable and machine-readable form, each with its Measurement Period and the date of each underlying observation.

7.3Required Statement

Every published Result carries the following statement:

8.Notice, Response and Correction

8.1Post-Period Notice

After each Measurement Period, VALIS notifies every measured Community, at its published leasing address, that it was measured, and provides the records of its Inquiries.

8.2Notice Before First Naming

Before a Community is named in a published Result for the first time, it receives its records and not less than ten business days in which to respond. A Community may not approve or block publication. A written response received within that period is published beside the Community’s Result.

8.3Corrections

Within 30 days after publication, a Community may submit evidence that a published fact is inaccurate, including evidence that an Inquiry was not delivered. VALIS responds within 15 business days. A confirmed error is corrected, and the correction is recorded in a public correction log. Results are corrected for factual error; they are not negotiated.

8.4Review Before Publication

Notices are sent, and responses collected and attached, by automated process. Each report is reviewed in its entirety by a person before publication.

9.Quality Assurance and Records

9.1Records

Every observation is timestamped and retained for 24 months as evidence. Replies are coded automatically under written coding rules; ambiguous cases are reviewed by a person.

9.2Exclusions

1. (a)An Inquiry affected by a documented delivery failure or website outage is excluded and replaced.
2. (b)Non-response is scored only when it is repeated: at least two Inquiries, sent on different days within the Tier Window, must go unanswered. An isolated unanswered Inquiry is treated as a possible delivery failure and excluded.
3. (c)Sending domains use standard email authentication (SPF, DKIM and DMARC).

10.Independence and Conflicts of Interest

1. (a)No Community may pay for a Result, pay to change a Result, or pay to be included or excluded.
2. (b)Results are computed by software from archived records under rules fixed in advance. No person may adjust an individual Result except to correct a confirmed factual error under Section 8.3.
3. (c)Purchasers of VALIS services receive Results only when they are published to all, may not preview their own Results, and have no role in setting this Statement.
4. (d)Purchasers of any VALIS service, including the AI Presentation Audit, are measured, scored and published on the LRI and the AI Visibility Index on exactly the same terms as every other Community.
5. (e)VALIS does not broker leases and does not receive leasing commissions.
6. (f)VALIS is funded by its founder. Its revenue comes from Benchmark subscriptions and related services sold to operators and owners, and from data licensing.

11.Fair Housing and Legal Compliance

VALIS measures responsiveness and price disclosure. It does not conduct fair housing testing, which is a distinct activity subject to its own legal framework. Every Test Identity characteristic other than the name is held constant, and names are drawn from a neutral pool under Section 5.4. The Measurement Protocol will be reviewed by counsel before the first Measurement Period and before each new study.

12.Limitations

1. (a)Results reflect written online Channels only. They do not measure telephone or in-person interactions.
2. (b)Automated leasing assistants can reply instantly at any hour. Speed alone therefore distinguishes Communities less than it once did; the Reality and Rent Dimensions measure whether those replies are accurate and complete.
3. (c)Results are based on a limited number of Inquiries per Community. Intervals are published so that users can judge precision.
4. (d)The Weights are expert priors pending validation under Section 6.5.
5. (e)A Result describes a stated period and may not reflect subsequent changes in staffing, systems or policies.

13.Governance and Amendment

This Statement is maintained by Valis Residential, Inc. Each amendment is assigned a version number, recorded in Appendix A, and published before the Measurement Period it affects; no amendment applies retroactively to a published Result. VALIS invites independent academic review of this Statement and of the Scoring Specification. Questions about this Statement may be addressed to jinbo.chen@valisleasing.com.

A.Appendix A: Amendment Record

B.Appendix B: Relationship to Other Published Measures

Table B1 describes what several established multifamily ratings and awards measure, on the basis of each organization’s public materials. It is provided so that readers can see which question each measure answers. It does not rank these measures or the organizations that publish them, and it makes no claim about their quality.

References