For the bulk of my childhood (from 1980-2001, in fact), the slogan of the United States Army was, “Be All You Can Be!” It was a tremendously successful marketing campaign created by E. N. J. Carter while at the advertising firm N. W. Ayer & Son. I remember seeing posters in malls and on college campuses. There were television commercials—tons of them— radio spots, t-shirts, and even action figures of unnaturally endowed men proudly sporting the sexy slogan. What contributed to its success was that the phrase mirrored a greater societal trend emerging in the late 80s: one that affected every child born in that era and still continues to resonate today. It’s what I like to call “The American Idol Syndrome,” or basically the idea that for whatever reason, our society has gotten it in its head that simply by trying, you too can “be all you can be:” get famous, find happiness, and die rich…just because you want to.

            But something happened in 2001 that challenged this idea that had shaped an entire generation; the Towers fell, and people changed. For a while, people were colder, darker, and more nervous about what the future had in store for them.

            Suddenly “being all you can be” wasn’t good enough. After all, what if all I can be falls drastically short of ending the war on terror or bringing the nation out of a recession, let alone running two consecutive miles or doing fifty push-ups? And so the slogan changed to “An Army of One,” and the catchy but cliché jingles of the Cosby Show era banished into the obscurities of YouTube, along with the theme song to Thundercats and “Crossfire.”

If there is one thing that property managers know, it’s that we are exposed to risk in all that we do. This “risk” comes in all shapes and forms; some are more evident than others. I am constantly reminding my employees to be careful of their actions as to not expose the property and our owners to possible litigation. Some of the greatest potential risks, as I have found, are in the very small details. Here’s a few that I wanted to point out.

First, consider the “golden rule” of leasing—treat everyone consistently. Consistently being the key word.  I have often instructed my leasing agents to use caution when asking where people are from. Generally, in life this is a great conversation starter, but in the realm of fair housing when we open that door and are inquisitive on a prospects nationality this could be construed as discriminatory (if an allegation were to ever occur). The curiosity of national origin presents a very strong basis for a suit if one were ever made against the defendant (i.e. leasing agent). Think about it: why does it matter where they are from? You are trying to lease them an apartment—its best to stick to questions that qualify the prospect. As an alternative, the leasing agent might inquire about the prospects interests, hobbies, etc. While it may seem like a harmless, amiable way to personally get to know a prospect, its best to leave this question alone.  

Secondly, the guest card. The guest card is an all-important leasing tool whose purpose is to gather bona fide, relevant data pertaining to the apartment preferences of a prospect. Not only does this tool aid in the selling process of the leasing agent, but its auxiliary purpose is to ward-off fair housing claims by providing a record of the tour—time and place, apartment shown, follow up, etc. Consider if the prospect has children. I have been to a few properties where the leasing agent will report the familial status of all occupants (i.e. if they are a child, minor, etc.)—this is a bad idea. It’s best to stay neutral and simply state the number of occupants that will be living in the apartment. Remember that familial status is a protected class.

Hola! Aquí estamos. Are you ready, or not?

As property owners, managers or leasing agents, you understand the need to conserve energy at your apartment community.  By installing energy-efficient appliances and windows and using eco-friendly alternatives for floors, countertops and paint, you are not only significantly reducing your carbon footprint, but also banking significant savings on energy costs.  If 10,000 owners of large apartment communities change to Energy-Star appliances, the energy saved could power each of your TVs for 1,640,625 years!  While the people on the property level are doing their part to protect the environment, we want to provide you with four sustainable tips you can share with your environmentally-friendly residents—leading up to Earth Day on April 22^nd—that they can put into practice today.

1. Be a Savvy Shopper

By Jo-Anne Oliveri, ireviloution intelligence, Brisbane, Australia

Currently, there are many challenges facing the property management industry. I believe the property management industry is unknowingly creating many of these challenges because they are not identifying and addressing the real problem. I consider the real problem to be how principals operate their property management business.

Problem number one comes when principals need to find a new team member, the “Property Manager”.

"Ohhhh…what’s love got to do, got to do with it?"

You’re probably singing that iconic Tina Turner song in your head right now, aren’t you?  I am!  I just love that song!  And what exactly does love “got to do, got to do, with it”?  If you’re talking about great apartment leasing…just about everything, ’bout everything, to do with it!

As a professional leasing agent, we do so much more than ‘just’ leasing.  Resident services, market surveys, marketing, walking apartments, traffic reports, and so much more.  But it’s all related to leasing – and you either love it or leave it. 

By Colin McCarthy, J.D., Robinson & Wood, San Jose, CA

As everyone knows, Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the greatest movie ever made. Especially for the scene involving the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog. In it, several of the Knights of the Round Table are cut down in a blood bath by a particularly vicious, cute, cuddly white bunny rabbit. Why? They were not aware of its dangerous propensities! Their Scottish guide tried to warn them before the unlucky Knights marched into certain death. He tried, but they wouldn't listen.*

Ask Rent.com, Callsource, Lead Tracking Solutions, Vaultware, RentWiki, and MyNewPlace what the past year has been like. Mergers, acquisitions, and rebranding have been the theme. The top of the sales funnel has never seen such turmoil before.

Change.

It's a sign of evolution within the industry. RentWiki represents a good case study. Back in 2009, their mission was to try to get residents to engage with each other and share their experiences. It's a good concept. The problem? Residents and prospects aren't passionate about apartments. Apartments are boring. RentWiki has noticed the shift to ratings and reviews and are rebranding themselves as RentAdvisor soon.

So what do people want then?

When shopping around, they want to read comments from other people who have lived at a community. They want to hear their experiences, and get crucial decision making feedback. The evidence for this is compelling. According to the "Getting Inside the Head of the Online Renter" survey from 30 lines and Satisfacts conducted late in 2011, the #2 source used during an apartment search isn't Rent.com, your website, Craigslist, Apartments.com, MyNewPlace, or BSitko.com but word of mouth. Where does Facebook rank for sourcing? It's used only 1% of the time - that's down by the way from 2010. Even in that sweet 18-24 age bracket, Facebook is not a place people go to find an apartment. 79% of all respondents in the survey used an ILS to find information about an apartment, 13% used a social media networking site. The key then is not to get people to find you on Facebook but to utilize the power and reach of Facebook to help them find you.

By Colin McCarthy, J.D., Robinson & Wood, San Jose, CA

I once lived in house in downtown San Jose that was next to an abandoned "historic" house. The house was abandoned because it was "historic." The city had an ordinance that prevented the owner from demolishing the building and rebuilding it, or selling it. Because the house was built before a certain time, the city ordinance prohibited him from doing anything with the property other than fixing it up. Rather than doing that, in protest, he did nothing with the property. And I mean nothing, other than board it up.

Mistake! You see it was downtown San Jose. It was right in the middle of urban, night time activities. The abandoned home soon became a sort of an attractive spot for the seedier and less fortunate souls. We frequently had to call the police. There were the typical late night guests, drinking, broken glass, and other non-printable activities going on in there. After enough of these visits, the neighbors reported the landlord to the city, and hearings were held. Fines were levied. Landlords got mad. Fences were put up.

Small shifts in data tend to quickly make headlines and dominate conversations. Most recently, it’s the uptick in single-family home sales creating some news about apartment renters leaving to buy homes. But it’s not a big spike – and even if it was, that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing for the U.S. apartment industry. Greg Willett and Jay Parsons from MPF Research explain why in this video edition of Apartment Market Dynamics.