An estimated 90% of all renters find apartments online, and over 60% are using mobile devices to search for their next place to live. Craigslist, rent.com, apartmentguide.com and similar apartment search sites dominate the front page of Google for “apartment” related keywords. Those online marketing platforms are popular with property owners, and take up most of their marketing budget.

Following a series of corporate accounting scandals in the early 2000’s, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). Section 401(c) of SOX required the Securities and Exchange Commission to study and report on the extent of off-balance transactions. This prompted the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to undertake a project on lease accounting.