Exclusive Interview with the CEO of TFLiving, Devin Wirt, and Senior Marketing Manager, Emily Smith.

All stakeholders in the multifamily landscape have adapted, pivoted, or witnessed dramatic changes to their businesses within the past few months; TFLiving is no different. However, their mission to provide affordable, meaningful, and thoughtfully-curated experiences stays the same.

TFLiving is an app-based amenities platform that offers a range of services to residents including fitness classes and events customizable to fit the needs of every community and add unique values to all its residents. They are currently in 29 states, more than 100,000 units, working with over 300 active properties including those managed by nationally-renowned property management companies like Bozzuto and Greystar.

Since the outbreak, the company shifted its focus completely from being a marketplace for on-site and in-person amenities into a virtual community where residents can still connect and interact with their neighbors while safely social-distancing. All TFLiving employees are also all working from home.

Devin Wirt, CEO of TFLiving, is also working from home and has been experiencing the full effect of being in isolation.

“We want to bring the social aspect back to people’s lives,” said Wirt.

TFLiving decided to use their proprietary app technology as a means to deliver social experiences directly to their residents who were staying at home. Instead of having to search for quality content on the internet themselves, residents can now simply log into the TFLiving app and tune into their latest events or fitness classes that had been designed to suit the needs of their community.

Emily Smith, Senior Marketing Manager at TFLiving, told us that their team had only two weeks to build an intuitive platform from scratch with technological capabilities to host live virtual activities.

“It truly took every single person on the team involved to make it happen,” said Smith. They have since hosted colorful live events such as piano concerts, fitness lessons, and cooking classes; the possibilities are endless.

Virtual Yoga Class at Home. Photo Courtesy of TFLiving.

The live events hosted by TFLiving resemble the essence of in-person events where human interactions and connections are formed within the apartment community. For example, residents can have realtime conversations using built-in chatrooms, strengthening the bond with familiar faces of their neighbors, instructors, and event hosts. These are qualities that residents simply can’t experience if they are merely attending a public Facebook live event or a regular online workout class.

Their new approach has been very well-received by both residents and the property managers. Additionally, with reopening strategies pending, TFLiving is confident that in-person events won’t be going away. They do foresee themselves expanding into a hybrid service accommodating the evolving demands of the residents.

TFLiving is also working closely with every client along the way on varying protocols, in addition to, developing their own operational standards and abiding CDC guidelines.

“The collaboration with our clients has just been wonderful,” said Wirt.

While the reality we now live in is sometimes unnerving, TFLiving makes sure that they keep the team spirit high through wall sit challenges, lunchtime gatherings, and trivia nights.

“I feel so much more connected to my coworkers than I normally would because of the circumstances we all have that requires we communicate much more often now,” said Smith.

Wirt gave credit to the entire team for their efforts to stay connected and have fun at work.

“At the end of the day, we are still people,” said Wirt.