Marketing

Industry marketing expert Mark Juleen shares some tidbits and results from some recent internet marketing campaigns.

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Fair Housing compliance is something all property management companies and their clients are concerned about, even as on site leasing staffs are wonder how they can make their prospective renters feel at home, and still comply with the law. Sometimes it does not seem possible for a leasing consultant to make every prospective resident feel like he or she will fit in, without bringing up issues of race, family status, possible disabilities, etc. After all, in order to fully meet the needs of your renters, you must determine what those needs are. It may very well be that what is most important to them is closely connected to their race, family status, disability, etc.

Here’s a question that keeps coming up on this subject:

Q: How can I give helpful information on schools if I can’t even ask my prospective renters if they have children?

Each apartment community has certain features and benefits, which are the selling points of that particular community. It could be its location, friendly staff, spacious floor plans, beautiful landscaping or affordable price; just to name a few. Yet even with the most fabulous features, there will be times when the apartments you have available won’t seem to meet the needs of your prospective renters. The following question from a leasing consultant addresses this issue:
Q: We have several vacant apartments right now and I know I’m supposed to try and rent all of them, but how can I rent to someone when it doesn’t seem like the apartment will really meet their needs?

Each apartment community has certain features and benefits, which are the selling points of that particular community. It could be its location, friendly staff, spacious floor plans, beautiful landscaping or affordable price; just to name a few. Yet even with the most fabulous features, there will be times when the apartments you have available won’t seem to meet the needs of your prospective renters. The following question from a leasing consultant addresses this issue:
Q: We have several vacant apartments right now and I know I’m supposed to try and rent all of them, but how can I rent to someone when it doesn’t seem like the apartment will really meet their needs?

In a competitive leasing market, it's important to stay on top of your game if you want to minimize vacancy rates. Regardless of whether you are new to leasing or have been doing it for years, try these proven strategies to gain better results from your leasing efforts on multi-family properties:

Many people believe that property management is an old-line business that moves slowly. If you believe that then your team is already half a mile behind in a one mile race. In other words; you are toast because the competition is using all the best practices at their disposal to make sure they close every new prospect that steps on their property.

If your on-site team is “under-trained” consider revising your procedures to get quality marketing in motion in real-time. In other words, implement best practices with the end goal in mind; closing more (lease) sales. Following are three areas to implement improvements.

Ouch! $230,400 in annualized leasing revenue is being lost by apartment communities around the nation! This is happening because 20 percent of the calls coming from future residents are being missed, which is silently draining the performance of the properties you own/manage. Using the call tracking system of an industry vendor as a resource, this article will summarize our research from 863 apartment communities in 33 states and the statistics below on missed calls are startling! Plus, we have provided a tool for you to calculate the lost leasing revenue for your specific properties and to share the results with your leasing teams.

Tyrone Poole stood in line, waiting for admittance to a Portland, Oregon homeless shelter. He looked around and wondered, “What in the world am I doing here?”

How he got there was a series of odd events. How he got out, and rebuilt his career, is a great American success story.

From Constructing to Firefighting

From his earliest days, Tyrone says, he was an energetic worker. His mom – an artist who created blueprints for a large building firm – helped him get a good construction job right out of high school.

“Soon I was making $17 an hour, much more than some of my friends who made minimum wage,” Tyrone says. “My next step was to train to be a mechanic, who made $20 an hour." 

“One of my friends had a relative who worked as a firefighter, and really loved it. He encouraged me to take the entrance tests. I got admitted to the fire academy. But, something terrible happened during my training.”

What is your customer acquisition costs? What does it costs the property to obtain a new lease? There is advertising, overhead and staff time- all part of the expense for obtaining a new resident. Then there is the customer retention costs.

This article is about retention costs and the use of concessions. I am not suggesting auto-offering concessions as a standard business practice. They are just another tool in our tool box for use when appropriate. Before getting to concessions an assessment of “why” is appropriate. Why is there vacancy of X? Is your advertising and web presence in order? What is your showing-to-lease ratio? Is staff trained and up to date on tactics?

Concessions for a multifamily assets are not a given. Concessions are often a function of competitive factors from competitive properties in the same submarket as the subject asset.

Available for a limited time! Only one of its kind! Offer expires at midnight! These and similar phrases are used to make people “spring boldly into action.” They conjure up images of people rushing into department stores and retail outlets to take advantage of incredible offers on quality merchandise, especially during the holiday season. The advertisers and merchandisers are trying to create a sense of urgency in the minds of their customers; which will motivate them to take immediate action. They are in the “sales” business and want the customer to immediately purchase a product and part with some of their money!