Real estate has consistently proven itself as a clear pathway to creating and growing wealth. The property management industry is valued at over $139 billion. The potential is clear. But as investors scale to capture more market share, there’s a natural ceiling. One person can only manage so many rentals on their own, and it doesn’t take long before growth plateaus. Keyrenter Property Management, the 100-plus unit franchise, gives those investors stronger infrastructure for managing their properties while creating an avenue to turn property management overhead into an equity-building asset.
“We were hitting the ceiling on managing our own properties at six to eight,” said Art Coley, owner of Keyrenter Property Management Central Texas. “Keyrenter has been like an engine for us. We’ll buy new properties as it makes sense without thinking, ‘Well, if we buy one more, how are we going to manage it?’ That has changed everything for our family and wealth building for the future.”
Keyrenter was born out of necessity. During the 2008 housing crash, co-founders Nate Tew and Aaron Marshall found that flipping homes was becoming increasingly difficult. So, instead of selling them, they started managing them.
Over time, Tew and Marshall grew the portfolio by taking on management for other owners who did not want to deal with the day-to-day headaches of rental ownership — things like tenant complaints and overflowing toilets.
Tew and Marshall understood that, as real estate portfolios grew, they became increasingly difficult for independent owners to manage, so they built the solution. In 2011, Keyrenter was launched, and its proprietary software and automation systems made the entire management process more efficient. By 2013, the Salt Lake City-based office was managing properties for around 350 owners with just seven team members, supported by Keyrenter’s technology and what the brand describes as its “anti-chaos model.” From there, the pair began considering growth through franchising.
“We began as a local property management company in Salt Lake City with national ambitions,” Tew said. “Initially, we planned to open corporate offices in neighboring states, but I was inspired by an episode of ‘Undercover Boss’ featuring the CEO of Menchie's. I saw how he interacted with his team and realized franchising would allow us to bring in strategic partners who were truly vested in their local operations, solving our challenge of managing ‘boots on the ground’ from afar.”
In the early days of franchising, Tew and Marshall learned a lot about what it meant to develop a brand in new markets. While the model had proven itself in the Salt Lake City market, they placed a lot of weight on the trust franchisees were putting in them and in Keyrenter as a brand. They worked diligently to understand exactly what worked and how to tweak the model to drive success nationwide.
“When you get the right people who maintain flow that are aligned in where we're going and how we're getting there, it becomes a question of: How are we going to fix this? How are we all collectively going to overcome this challenge? That's been pretty amazing,” Tew said.
Now, over a decade later, Keyrenter has grown to over 100 offices and a network of over 14,000 homes under management. It has helped countless real estate investors take control of and scale their portfolios, and it now has a distinct position in the market as both an investment opportunity and an operational resource for investors.
For real estate investors who have a well-established portfolio of single-family rentals, Keyrenter removes the headaches associated with management at scale on the rental side and turns unavoidable property management expenses into an owned profit center on the franchise side.
“The maintenance piece was a very specific point for us,” Coley said. “As a property owner, you have to hire maintenance teams. Keyrenter just gave me the system for managing those maintenance people. There’s an online system that allows it to be automated and systematized. Having those systems in place is the only thing that’s allowed us to scale our real estate portfolio.”
Using Keyrenter for ongoing property management allows investors to direct an expense they already have into a business they own. The revenue from that business can then be used to help fund future real estate purchases.
“Building wealth isn’t necessarily about blindly buying more properties,” said Nate Tew, CEO. “Owning the infrastructure that manages those properties allows investors to join a system that gives them better visibility into motivated sellers, distressed portfolios and off-market deals than the average investor and fund their next real estate purchase without worrying about whether they’ll be able to manage it or not.”
Keyrenter does property management differently. The carefully developed processes allow management teams to stand behind their placements, and because the model is hyper-focused on single-family, long-term rentals, owners don’t have to worry about the instability and turnover costs associated with short-term rentals like Airbnbs. Keyrenter also strongly emphasizes treating tenants well once they move in. The goal is to encourage longer stays while giving tenants a place they feel comfortable calling home, which can also lead them to take better care of the property.
For Keyrenter teams, putting the work in on the front end to ensure proper vetting and placement decreases hiccups later on, making the lifetime of the rental relationship much smoother. For property owners, this represents another layer of protection for their investments.
This supports a mutually beneficial connection between the Keyrenter business and the investor’s existing portfolio, but there are other growth opportunities for investors to take on additional properties, either through their own investments or through relationships with other real estate investors.
“This is a great pathway to growing your own portfolio because you’re working with clients, and you understand when people are looking to sell before anyone else does,” Tew said. “And even when the real estate market is down, our business remains strong because more people are looking to rent out their houses.”
Keyrenter has built an impressive presence already. Tenants who have previously rented through Keyrenter often seek out Keyrenter-managed properties when they move to new cities. Property owners are becoming increasingly aware of what Keyrenter offers and the true value that it can deliver to a portfolio.
As the brand grows, it is focused on partnering with investors who already have an established real estate portfolio and will therefore be generating revenue on day one. Keyrenter is also looking for entrepreneurs who are financially positioned for growth in the real estate space and want guidance to ensure they’re doing it the right way.
“The long-term vision is to have 300-plus franchise owners throughout the Keyrenter system managing a total of 250,000 homes,” Tew said. “There is widespread territory availability in key markets for entrepreneurs looking to grow with us in the coming years. Our mission is ‘Changing lives, one property at a time,’ and that informs how we approach our partnerships, residents and clients. Good properties and good property owners are two key pillars in Keyrenter’s success, and we’re excited to find the right partners for our next stage of growth.”
The company is targeting growth in Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, Tennessee, Alabama, Nevada, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Minnesota, Nebraska, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and California, among other states.
According to Keyrenter’s 2026 FDD, the initial investment required to begin the operation of a single Keyrenter business is $118,750 to $244,400, while converting an existing property management business into a Keyrenter franchise requires an investment of $97,250 to $174,800.
To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit https://1851franchise.com/keyrenter.
Keyrenter Property Management
SPONSORED
For investors with multiple single-family rentals, the 100-plus-unit property management franchise provides a platform and team, early market insights and a revenue stream to fund the next property.
Real estate has consistently proven itself as a clear pathway to creating and growing wealth. The property management industry is valued at over $139 billion. The potential is clear. But as investors scale to capture more market share, there’s a natural ceiling. One person can only manage so many rentals on their own, and it doesn’t take long before growth plateaus. Keyrenter Property Management, the 100-plus unit franchise, gives those investors stronger infrastructure for managing their properties while creating an avenue to turn property management overhead into an equity-building asset.
“We were hitting the ceiling on managing our own properties at six to eight,” said Art Coley, owner of Keyrenter Property Management Central Texas. “Keyrenter has been like an engine for us. We’ll buy new properties as it makes sense without thinking, ‘Well, if we buy one more, how are we going to manage it?’ That has changed everything for our family and wealth building for the future.”
Keyrenter was born out of necessity. During the 2008 housing crash, co-founders Nate Tew and Aaron Marshall found that flipping homes was becoming increasingly difficult. So, instead of selling them, they started managing them.
Over time, Tew and Marshall grew the portfolio by taking on management for other owners who did not want to deal with the day-to-day headaches of rental ownership — things like tenant complaints and overflowing toilets.
Tew and Marshall understood that, as real estate portfolios grew, they became increasingly difficult for independent owners to manage, so they built the solution. In 2011, Keyrenter was launched, and its proprietary software and automation systems made the entire management process more efficient. By 2013, the Salt Lake City-based office was managing properties for around 350 owners with just seven team members, supported by Keyrenter’s technology and what the brand describes as its “anti-chaos model.” From there, the pair began considering growth through franchising.
“We began as a local property management company in Salt Lake City with national ambitions,” Tew said. “Initially, we planned to open corporate offices in neighboring states, but I was inspired by an episode of ‘Undercover Boss’ featuring the CEO of Menchie's. I saw how he interacted with his team and realized franchising would allow us to bring in strategic partners who were truly vested in their local operations, solving our challenge of managing ‘boots on the ground’ from afar.”
In the early days of franchising, Tew and Marshall learned a lot about what it meant to develop a brand in new markets. While the model had proven itself in the Salt Lake City market, they placed a lot of weight on the trust franchisees were putting in them and in Keyrenter as a brand. They worked diligently to understand exactly what worked and how to tweak the model to drive success nationwide.
“When you get the right people who maintain flow that are aligned in where we're going and how we're getting there, it becomes a question of: How are we going to fix this? How are we all collectively going to overcome this challenge? That's been pretty amazing,” Tew said.
Now, over a decade later, Keyrenter has grown to over 100 offices and a network of over 14,000 homes under management. It has helped countless real estate investors take control of and scale their portfolios, and it now has a distinct position in the market as both an investment opportunity and an operational resource for investors.
For real estate investors who have a well-established portfolio of single-family rentals, Keyrenter removes the headaches associated with management at scale on the rental side and turns unavoidable property management expenses into an owned profit center on the franchise side.
“The maintenance piece was a very specific point for us,” Coley said. “As a property owner, you have to hire maintenance teams. Keyrenter just gave me the system for managing those maintenance people. There’s an online system that allows it to be automated and systematized. Having those systems in place is the only thing that’s allowed us to scale our real estate portfolio.”
Using Keyrenter for ongoing property management allows investors to direct an expense they already have into a business they own. The revenue from that business can then be used to help fund future real estate purchases.
“Building wealth isn’t necessarily about blindly buying more properties,” said Nate Tew, CEO. “Owning the infrastructure that manages those properties allows investors to join a system that gives them better visibility into motivated sellers, distressed portfolios and off-market deals than the average investor and fund their next real estate purchase without worrying about whether they’ll be able to manage it or not.”
Keyrenter does property management differently. The carefully developed processes allow management teams to stand behind their placements, and because the model is hyper-focused on single-family, long-term rentals, owners don’t have to worry about the instability and turnover costs associated with short-term rentals like Airbnbs. Keyrenter also strongly emphasizes treating tenants well once they move in. The goal is to encourage longer stays while giving tenants a place they feel comfortable calling home, which can also lead them to take better care of the property.
For Keyrenter teams, putting the work in on the front end to ensure proper vetting and placement decreases hiccups later on, making the lifetime of the rental relationship much smoother. For property owners, this represents another layer of protection for their investments.
This supports a mutually beneficial connection between the Keyrenter business and the investor’s existing portfolio, but there are other growth opportunities for investors to take on additional properties, either through their own investments or through relationships with other real estate investors.
“This is a great pathway to growing your own portfolio because you’re working with clients, and you understand when people are looking to sell before anyone else does,” Tew said. “And even when the real estate market is down, our business remains strong because more people are looking to rent out their houses.”
Keyrenter has built an impressive presence already. Tenants who have previously rented through Keyrenter often seek out Keyrenter-managed properties when they move to new cities. Property owners are becoming increasingly aware of what Keyrenter offers and the true value that it can deliver to a portfolio.
As the brand grows, it is focused on partnering with investors who already have an established real estate portfolio and will therefore be generating revenue on day one. Keyrenter is also looking for entrepreneurs who are financially positioned for growth in the real estate space and want guidance to ensure they’re doing it the right way.
“The long-term vision is to have 300-plus franchise owners throughout the Keyrenter system managing a total of 250,000 homes,” Tew said. “There is widespread territory availability in key markets for entrepreneurs looking to grow with us in the coming years. Our mission is ‘Changing lives, one property at a time,’ and that informs how we approach our partnerships, residents and clients. Good properties and good property owners are two key pillars in Keyrenter’s success, and we’re excited to find the right partners for our next stage of growth.”
The company is targeting growth in Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, Tennessee, Alabama, Nevada, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Minnesota, Nebraska, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and California, among other states.
According to Keyrenter’s 2026 FDD, the initial investment required to begin the operation of a single Keyrenter business is $118,750 to $244,400, while converting an existing property management business into a Keyrenter franchise requires an investment of $97,250 to $174,800.
To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit https://1851franchise.com/keyrenter.
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