Gecko Homes is bringing its shared ownership sales, market rent and leasehold operations onto a single property management platform as it looks to operate more efficiently across its growing portfolio.
The commercial sales and management arm of Manchester-based Southway Housing Trust has selected Alto to replace separate systems used across parts of the business.
Gecko Homes sells shared ownership properties and manages market rent and leasehold homes, as well as providing ongoing support to shared owners.
The organisation says expanding beyond its original shared ownership sales operation created a need for one system capable of providing teams with a complete record of customer and property activity.
SINGLE PLATFORM
Christina Tattersall (main picture, inset), Head of Sales, Home Ownership & Rental Properties at Gecko Homes, says: “We’ve had a CRM for shared ownership sales for a long time, but as our remit expanded we needed something that worked for the whole business.
“We wanted everything brought together in one place, so the team can always find the latest notes and history, whatever a customer is asking about.”
The platform will also enable Gecko Homes to track where sales leads originate, communicate with customers across entire developments and manage compliance within its market rent portfolio.
Tattersall says housing association-backed shared ownership providers are increasingly competing with larger commercial operators.
“A lot of housing associations and local authorities will have similar setups to us, but we’re competing with big players who are also selling shared ownership,” she adds. “They’re geared up commercially, and we want to stand up to that.”
COMPLIANCE FOCUS
Gecko Homes is also introducing Alto’s automated compliance tools and plans to use AI features to support customer communications.
Tattersall says: “Being able to track compliance properly on our market rent portfolio is going to be huge for us.
“Once everything’s live, the whole team will start their day in Alto. Sales will be following up leads, home ownership will be responding to enquiries, and market rent will be chasing leads, and it’s all from one system.”
Nick Shaw, Chief Revenue Officer at Alto, says: “Gecko Homes is a great example of a housing association-backed sales and management team taking on the commercial demands of shared ownership head-on.
“They’re competing against larger, well-resourced players, and wanted a platform that would let them operate as commercially as any independent agency.
“We’re delighted to be supporting Christina and the team as they bring their sales, lettings and leasehold operations together in one place and set Gecko Homes up for its next stage of growth.”
