Topic: What are things we hear/believe in multifamily that are not necessarily true?

What are things we hear/believe in multifamily that are not necessarily true?

Such as …
- No one wants to work. 
- Our website is the lead source. 
- Residents destroy everything. 
- We don’t have the right amenities to lease. 
- Amazon Prime Day is the enemy. 

What would you add?

I'm going to add one that will not be popular to hear...

- "We won't downsize our on-site teams once we centralize. We'll keep them to provide a better resident experience"

Brent Williams I am sure I hear a few saying “ouch!” ?

I think they will definitely try at first, but over time...

Maintenance should be staffed at 1/100. An antiquated model that does not factor in the variety of circumstances (property age, chronic issues, past maintenance, etc), service levels, expectations, amenities, etc.

New properties shouldn't require so much maintenance (and staff) because everything's under warranty. New build quality is getting worse over time and managing the many relationships with contractors over warranty issues involves heavy documentation, setup, time, and dissatisfaction.

HVAC "certified" means HVAC expert. Just because you have a EPA 608 certification does not mean you know how to work on HVAC.

-"Reviews are no longer relevant."
We survey thousands of renters throughout the year and the numbers always go up in terms of ACTUAL renters saying they value reviews over almost everything else. We all know we ourselves look at reviews on Amazon before we purchase, reviews on Google before we eat at a restaurant, so to suggest that renters aren't looking at reviews for their apartments is absurd. Anyone saying that to benefit their their own product/opportunity doesn't have the best interest of multifamily communities or their renters in mind.

"Our in-house team will be taking care of the maintenance from now on"

Until upper management "thins the herd" on maintenance staff, and they fall behind, then have to vend out certain tasks.... Good for vendors, I guess?

Here's one that may come as a surprise to many . . . "Our apartment community is pet-friendly."

Not so much, actually. There's a BIG difference between how the industry defines pet-friendly, and how a prospective renter defines pet-friendly. Yes, we have the amenities and we take some pets, but weight and breed restrictions actually rule out a large number of pets - and therefore renters. Think about it: about 70% of U.S. households have a pet, and most apartment communities have far fewer units with pets (the average I've seen is between 25% - 40% of units with a pet) - largely because only 8% of units are free from restrictions. So, the industry may be "pet-friendly" because some pets are accepted, but it is far from being "pet-inclusive" - meaning companion animals are not restricted. Then throw in the fact that we now not only have pet deposits, pet owners are also greeted with non-refundable pet fees as well as pet rent. Pet rent???? This can add hundreds of dollars a year to the cost of an apartment. Again, not very pet-inclusive.

Let's be more pet-inclusive! Which, by the way, is pretty good for the bottom line since pet-owners tend to stay longer (21% longer), which means lower turn costs and better NOI.