IPME Expo Guide + Vendor Checklist | Cosign

Income Property Management Expo (IPME): What to Expect + PM Vendor Checklist

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IPME brings together property management leaders, operators, and solution providers focused on leasing performance, resident experience, and operational efficiency. Use this page to plan your visit—and to benchmark vendors with a practical, PM-first checklist.

Who IPME is best for

Primary attendees

If you’re trying to improve…

What you’ll typically see at IPME

Expect practical sessions and floor conversations around:

• Leasing performance and demand capture
• Resident experience + communication workflows
• Operational efficiency (turns, maintenance, reporting)
• Qualification, screening, and risk controls
• Fraud prevention and compliance-minded processes

Cosign perspective: what “good” looks like in tenant qualification

When evaluating qualification and risk solutions, focus on three outcomes:

1. Speed: approvals that match leasing tempo (avoid bottlenecks)
2. Experience: low-friction renter journey that doesn’t increase drop-off
3. Control: underwriting and policies that are clear, defensible, and operationally manageable

Vendor questions to ask at IPME (use these on the expo floor)

Underwriting & decisions

• What signals drive approvals/declines (high-level, not proprietary)?
• What’s the typical approval time (median + worst-case)?
• How do you handle edge cases (thin file, inconsistent income, new movers)?

Operations

• Who owns disputes and escalations—PM team or vendor?
• What’s the claim/issue workflow, step-by-step?
• What documentation does the PM team need to manage?

Renter experience

• How many steps does the renter complete end-to-end?
• What’s the drop-off rate and how do you reduce it?
• What support exists for renters during the process?

Integration & reporting

• What tools do you integrate with (CRM/PM platforms)?
• What reporting do you provide (approval rate, time-to-lease, defaults, move-in completion)?

A simple scoring rubric (so you compare vendors consistently)

Rate each vendor 1–5:

• Time-to-decision
• Renter friction (steps + doc burden)
• Approval rate quality (not “more approvals”, but “right approvals”)
• Operational workload on PM team
• Transparency & policy clarity

Best-fit vendors usually score high in speed + experience without creating hidden ops work.

Networking plan (30–60 minutes that actually pays off)

3 targets

1. PM operators (regional/property managers)
2. Owners/asset managers
3. Vendor reps who can speak to ops + outcomes (not only sales)

5 icebreakers

• “What’s the biggest bottleneck between lead and move-in right now?”
• “Which workflow creates the most resident complaints?”
• “What’s your current approval time and where does it break?”
• “What’s been your best win this year in leasing performance?”
• “Which integrations matter most for your team?”

FAQs

s IPME better for operators or owners?
It’s useful for both, but operators get the most immediate value from workflow and vendor benchmarking.

What should I prep before attending?
Bring 3 benchmarks: current approval time, lead-to-lease conversion, and top operational pain points.

How do I avoid “shiny tool syndrome”?
Score vendors on speed, renter friction, and operational workload—not on feature lists.

What outcome should I aim for after the event?
A short list of 2–3 vendors worth deeper evaluation plus a clearer workflow plan for your team.

What questions should I ask about qualification/screening tools?
Ask about decision time, edge-case handling, disputes, renter drop-off, and PM workload.

Do integrations matter for PM teams?
Yes—lack of integration often increases manual work and slows leasing execution.

What’s the fastest way to compare multiple vendors?

What should I measure after implementing a new solution?
Time-to-lease, approval time, move-in completion rate, and downstream issues/disputes.