MultifamilyPro

Your Competition Costs Less

admin — Wed, 16 May 2012 02:00:56 +0000

"YOUR COMPETITION COSTS LESS" This is the objection most likely to strike fear into the hearts of an unprepared leasing consultant. First, be certain that the future resident is really considering value, rather than just comparing price. Guide them through a fair "apples to apples" comparison of features and benefits that shows where you have more to offer and why. Summarize your comparison by proving that your community's overall value is much greater than the price difference they may perceive. That small difference represents a far greater commitment to quality and resident satisfaction than they'll find anywhere else. You're the best, and you're well worth your rental value!

Raise Rents…Use Odd Dollar Amounts

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:55:02 +0000

We have found that communities across the country have the idea that rent increases in $ 50 and $70 increments are effective because they are easily to remember, and the accounting team will have an easier time with those numbers. Unfortunately, rent increases like our rental rates, cause an adverse reaction when they are in even amounts. Residents interpret a $45.00 rent increase as example of the community making money. At the same time, an increase of $46 is often perceived as an amount to answer a specific need, to cover increased operating costs of the same amount. Round ($50.00, $60.00, $70.00) are associated with the community wanting more money at the resident's expense. Odd numbers, both in the amount of the increase and the actual rental rate amount, will suggest a closely calculated operating budget. So use $27 instead of $25.00, $41 instead of $40.00, and so on.

The Four R’s: Rentals, Renewals, Retention and Results

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 00:56:15 +0000

The last time you played "let's pretend," chances are you were only concerned with the three R's (reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic). This time, we're going to play a grown-up game of let's pretend, where you get to be the Resident or Future Resident -and we've got four R's to contend with (Rentals, Renewals, Retention, and Results).

Several months ago ona consulting assignment, we had half of the employees at a community pretend to be Residents, and the other half pretend to be Future Residents. They were instructed to leave the community, then return as residents or future residents in order to gain some fresh insight. Their observations might teach you a thing or two about your own community. Here's what they found:

There were no clear signs in the parking lot telling future residents where they could or couldn't park.
Trees and bushes had grown over the main entrance sign so that both future residents and visitors to current residents had trouble identifying the community.
As a child visiting the community, our pretenders had a pretty boring view in the leasing center clubhouse. They suggested hanging photographs of the leasing and service staff along with a brief statement that tells something interesting about them, like their favorite hobbies.
The signs throughout the community sounded like someone had a bad attitude.
When the leasing center was closed for a few minutes, there was no place for the visitor to sit and wait, and no system for leaving a message.
The staff wasn't prepared for rainy weather with raincoats or over-sized umbrellas to share with Future Residents; and there were no mats to prevent water and mud from being tracked in when showing an apartment.
The main entry door to the office was difficult to open.

And the list went on! This very simple exercise identified plenty of areas that needed attention; and focused the employees on what was needed in order to more effectively serve their current and future residents.

Try it with your own staff. If you think your staff will have trouble viewing your community objectively as a Resident or Future Resident, invite the staff from another community to come in and pick it apart. Picking your community apart is a good thing. Imagine how much better it will be when you put it all back together-the right way!

Go ahead...Give it a try...play a grown-up game of let's pretend and increase your Four R's

UPGRADE YOUR RESIDENTS

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 21:56:48 +0000

Contributed by Ronnie Marshall, Tarragon Management

You can order magnets. Laminated cards – small magnets that go on your residents fridge at move-in. Laminated pages of the promotion in the office to use during the leasing process. This idea does not work if your staff doesn't pump it up at move-ins/parties/flyers.

We wanted to create a way to get our current residents to renew for longer lease terms. We took our digital camera to Home Depot and took pictures of four upgrades that we wanted to do in our apartment homes. Any design company can take the pictures and put them on a nice magnet that then goes on the resident’s fridge. You sell it in your office at move in. If the resident renews for 12-14 months they get a fan/15-18 fan+new kitchen faucet/19-21 fan+faucet+dining room light/22-24 fan+faucet+light+crown molding in living room.

Fan $129 Faucet $139 Light $149 & crown molding $171. The cost for all for upgrades $588

Results: This is a brand new apartment community we just started this idea. Here is some food for thought. We also use this same program for resident referrals. 1 resident 1 upgrade/ 2 referrals equals the next upgrade. $588 is not a big investment for a 24-month lease.

This program keeps your apartment homes looking new and modern on the inside. If the resident ever does move out you have a nice upgraded apartment that will lease quick.

It also allows you to save the old fans/faucets/lights you take down to replace others that may break (lower expenses).

RENEWAL REWARDS

admin — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:51:07 +0000

Contributed by Christopher Dembitz, Clark Whitehill Enterprises, Inc.

Reward the entire staff, especially maintenance personnel, when someone renews.

A key part of our compensation program is the lease renewal bonus. Everyone at a site gets a monetary bonus (based on their position) when a lease is renewed. This works very well for maintenance personnel, as they are often the deciding factor in whether or not someone renews. It gives them an extra incentive to do the job right the first time, as well as to do the extras...helping someone carry in groceries, hanging a picture or just stopping to chat for a moment. Often times, after someone moves in, they will visit the office very infrequently. This makes the maintenance team the face of the property. By rewarding everyone at the site for renewals, it truly becomes a team effort. Sites create bulletin boards to track renewal performance.

Renewals have increased 5%-10% since we shifted more of the compensation package to renewal performance. The only time it costs us more for this program is when renewals are higher than average...thus everyone wins.