Topic: Leasing Advice for high income resident profile - Lease-up

I'm one month into leasing up a new construction in an affluent Dallas suburb. I've leased up Class A properties and worked with plenty of high income residents before. But I'm noticing some new trends with my prospects that are presenting me with some new challenges.

We are getting lots of business and medical professionals earning upwards of $120,000 per year. I've come to expect more attention to be needed for this subset of the population during their leases concerning maintenance and customer service. However I've never had to deal with the following problems on such a regular basis:

1 - Biggest pain in my neck is that my prospects are surprisingly fickle. I have had just a couple cancels. But the most frustrating thing has been trying to close them. My other leasing counterpart and I both have tons of experience and are very professional. Very few have been ready to start the app right away; which I can expect from people who have enough purchasing power to explore other options. What is new to me, is getting prospects who don't have time to start the app now, but promise to do it online that night, only to change their mind or give me total radio silence. We are leasing well but not at the level we we want to. For every lease I have secured I have had at least two people do this to me in some form; they present themselves as being 99% sold only to back out for some crazy reason. It's almost like they are going home and talking themselves out of it after I have done everything I can to successfully sell them on the community. This is to be expected in general, but it is happening to me four times as often here.

2 - I have never had as many casual prospects. Easily 2-3 times as bad as the last lease up I did. I'm talking about people who haven't even put their house on the market, but come in 1 minute before close and expect you to spend 30 minutes to an hour with them. I never hear "oh I'm sorry, are you about to close?", "do you have just a few minutes?"... it's literally always, "HEY! I just made it in time huh! Tell me about your apartments buddy!" Of course there are ways to avoid staying late, but when you are in the first few months of a lease up, you don't have the luxury of preaching business hour policy.

Anyone ever had to deal with a similar obstacle that can offer advice on dealing with hard to close high income folks???

Thanks

Really create the urgency. Have a plan in place like an incentive if they apply by 6pm they get <said concession>. I tell them it only takes 5 minutes to apply and then they can put a deposit down and I can take it off the market. I even ask if they want to apply on their phone in the office and offer a drink. If it is Friday I tell them that with their app and deposit now I can take it off the website because TONS of out of state people usually apply on weekends and could rent it quickly.

In regard to closing time. Have a cut off time. If you close at six cut off tours at 5 or 5:30. But do it the same daily.

Hope that helps? :)

Really not sure that income level truly affects people's ability to commit. However, "Buyers Remorse" happens, in some cases, when people feel "sold to." I know for me when I am making any buying decision, I want to really understand the value of the product. In addition, helping to create the impression that this is an In Demand community and they might miss out of the very place they can: live, relax, entertain their friends, feel proud of, create memories and be taken care of - every day before they move in, while they transition and after they move in - well, that really works for me when working with clients. Maybe the one factor missing is building trust in the relationship.

As far as those who drop in before closing, this is extremely rude and happens all the time. You need to have a posted policy stating TOUR HOURS and stick with it. You can also post you will accept APPOINTMENTS so people understand you are in demand and time is valuable. (I had this happen all the time in a new home community I was working in and this worked beautifully for me.)I always tell clients I want to be able to give them the time they deserve while they are making such an important decision (lease equals an awful big investment, doesn't it?)

With the traffic you are losing.... have you done a comprehensive market survey and shopped your neighboring communities? Where do you stack up against your competition? Not only will you get some idea of what you can tweak and changes you can make, a good closer is well-informed and can use that knowledge to help support the sale. In addition, are you asking people WHY they decided to go somewhere else? It used to drive me nuts when my leasing team would get that "we decided to go elsewhere" call and wouldn't ask where they went and why. I'd start with your last couple weeks' worth of traffic and make those phone calls. You might be surprised by the information you get.

Is your follow-up policy being adhered to? Are your follow-up calls and emails warm and personal, or scripted? In my experience, nine times out of ten, people don't make their decision based on the floorplan or amenities as much as they do their interaction with the office and maintenance staff. Think about it.. I'm sure you can get a two bedroom apartment at relatively the same price with similar amenities at at least half a dozen places reasonably close to you. Set yourself apart with SERVICE. Your prospect will barely remember your beige carpet/laminate/tile/paint scheme.. but they will remember YOU. Make sure that impression is the best one you can make. Don't just walk through the apartment pointing out features and benefits... connect. Find something in common on a personal level.

Victor, lots of good ideas already...
I would shop the comps (or have a friend do it if they know you) and see if there is a last second deal going down that comps aren't telling you.
I would also send the prospects who don't lease an e-survey (free on SurveyMonkey.com, SurveyPlanet.com, SurveyGizmo, etc.) and as incentive for them to answer give a free Starbucks card or drawing for something each week. But get their feedback! They may say anonymously something they won't tell you directly.
Then be prepared to FIX whatever it is that's costing your leases.
On the late shoppers, maybe your hours are too short for a lease-up? Maybe staff up a little? I'd even offer appointments. Sounds like any way you can get leases is needed right now!
Hope you lease up FAST!