The Cheney Companies

What The Cheney Companies does

The Cheney Companies is a privately held, family-owned residential property management firm headquartered in Newmarket, New Hampshire. Founded in 1961 by Walter Cheney with the purchase of a single duplex, the company has grown over more than six decades to manage over 500 rental units across the Seacoast NH region, including Newmarket, Portsmouth, Newington, Stratham, Exeter, Durham, Dover NH, and Kittery, ME. The portfolio spans studio apartments through luxury townhomes and serves individual residential tenants; the company also operates Cheney Realty, LLC, a wholly-owned licensed brokerage subsidiary that provides buyer agency services exclusively to current residents transitioning from renting to homeownership.

The company's core product is residential apartment rentals, supported operationally by the AppFolio Property Manager cloud platform, which powers an online tenant portal for rent payment, maintenance requests, communication, and renters insurance tracking. A complementary offering is the Cheney Realty Buyer Program, which gives current residents access to licensed buyer's agents and flexible lease end dates tied to their home purchase closing. The technology stack is standard third-party SaaS rather than proprietary; the company's primary differentiation rests on tenure, local density, and the integrated rent-to-own pathway.

The Cheney Companies employs 12-15 staff managing over 500 units and is led by a second-generation management team: Lisa Nicholson (Leasing and Marketing Manager; Principal Broker), Shanne Roach (Maintenance Manager), and Heather Andrews (Accounting and General Manager). Revenue is generated primarily through recurring monthly rental income, supplemented by real estate transaction fees from Cheney Realty. There is no external institutional ownership, no public listing, and no disclosed funding activity. The company is Fair Housing compliant and licensed to operate in New Hampshire.

Name

The Cheney Companies

Legal name

The Cheney Companies

Website

https://cheneyco.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1961

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Residential Property Management

NAICS

Lessors of Residential Buildings and Dwellings (531110), Residential Property Managers (531311)

SIC

Real Estate Operators (No Developers) & Lessors (6510), Operators Of Apartment Buildings (6513)

akta.pro primary industry

Residential Lease Administration & Tenant Services (BPAJAFAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Single-Family Rental (SFR) Property Management (BPAJAFAB)

Keywords

• Residential property management
• Apartment rental services
• Rental housing portfolio
• Buyer agency services
• Tenant portal platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Newmarket

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Residential Rental Income: Monthly rental payments from tenants across 500+ residential units spanning studio apartments to luxury townhomes in the Seacoast NH region
2. Real Estate Sales/Buyer Agency Services: Cheney Realty, LLC provides buyer agency services to current residents wanting to purchase homes, licensed in New Hampshire

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The Cheney Companies leases and manages more than 500 residential rental units — ranging from studio apartments to luxury townhomes — across the Seacoast NH region, with an AppFolio-powered online tenant portal for rent payment, maintenance requests, communication, and renters insurance. Through its wholly owned subsidiary Cheney Realty, LLC, the company also offers licensed buyer agency real estate services exclusively to current residents transitioning to homeownership, including flexible lease end dates tied to home closing.

Product overview

The Cheney Companies operates as a residential property management company offering a unified portfolio of rental housing and real estate services. The core offering consists of apartment rental services (studio to luxury townhomes, 500+ units), supported by an online tenant portal powered by AppFolio for rent payments, maintenance requests, and communications. A complementary add-on is the Cheney Realty Buyer's Program, which provides buyer agency services to transitioning residents.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Apartment Rental Services

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• AppFolio Property ManagercoreTechnology or IntegrationAppFolio provides the cloud-based property management platform powering Cheney Companies' tenant portal. Enables online rent collection, maintenance request submission, tenant communication, and renters insurance tracking. Visible in website footer and tenant login links.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Greystar Real Estate Partners: World's largest multifamily property manager and operator with ~80K units under management and significant owned portfolio. Compares to Cheney as a multifamily owner-operator, though at vastly larger scale and broader geographic reach.
• Camden Property Trust: Multifamily REIT owning ~58K apartment units in sunbelt markets. Directly comparable owner-operator model focused on garden-style and suburban apartments, similar to Cheney's apartment/townhome mix.
• Veris Residential: Northeast-focused multifamily REIT and property manager operating ~8K apartment units, primarily in New Jersey. Closer in regional and scale profile to Cheney than the larger national REITs, with comparable coastal multifamily operations.
• Equity Residential: Large publicly-traded apartment REIT owning ~80K units in urban and high-density suburban markets. Directly comparable business model (own-and-operate multifamily rentals) but operates at national scale versus Cheney's regional Seacoast focus.
• UDR, Inc. Diversified multifamily REIT operating ~60K apartment units across coastal and select urban markets. Closely comparable business model to Cheney's residential apartment ownership and operations, scaled nationally.
• Mid-America Apartment Communities: Multifamily REIT with ~102K apartment units concentrated in the Southeast. Comparable as a residential apartment owner-operator with similar operating philosophy, but at much larger geographic and unit scale.
• Invitation Homes: Largest U.S. single-family rental REIT with ~80K homes. Compares to Cheney's townhome/SFR-style units within its portfolio and applies a similar own-and-operate residential rental model, but at national SFR scale.
• AvalonBay Communities: Multifamily REIT with ~90K apartment units across coastal U.S. markets. Overlaps with Cheney's coastal Seacoast positioning and apartment-rental focus, but at institutional scale.
• American Homes 4 Rent: Public SFR REIT with ~60K single-family rental homes across the U.S. Comparable to the townhome/SFR portion of Cheney's portfolio as a residential rental owner-operator, though at much greater scale.
• Bozzuto Group: Privately-held residential real estate firm specializing in multifamily property management, development, and homebuilding across the East Coast. Comparable as a multifamily owner/operator with property management capabilities, though at much larger East Coast scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cheneycompanies
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-cheney-companies

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Cheney Companies