Managing any property requires a true commitment from the on-site team. There are so many responsibilities involved that many Managers simply burn out and try to ride it out with their heads buried in so-called busy work each day without any regard for tackling the tough management issues.

One of these tough issues is also somewhat controversial, considering what is going on with the Martin case in Florida and the Price case in Ohio. However, it is an important issue to discuss and understand. Many crime-ridden properties face the issue of trespass every day and Managers should be well versed in this subject. I feel issuing Civil and Criminal Trespass Notices can work very well for addressing unwelcome people who enter your property.

Last week, I discussed what it would be like to be an exceptional apartment community, and how that would affect our view of our community, our confidence in our product, and our entire operational process.  I would like to expand upon one of the bigger elements:

Creating a community that truly provides a memorable experience shifts
work from a sales-oriented model to an experience-oriented model.

What does that truly mean, and why is it so difficult?  As I mentioned, if you have a scarce product, and you have high demand, sales happens easily on its own.  The problem is somewhat of a “chicken and the egg” scenario, however, because how do you allocate labor to creating an experience, when you need that labor to plug the holes from residents walking out the door? 

With so many online ad sources to choose from, how can you be sure which is best for you? Below I offer 5 tips for choosing a great ILS. Enjoy!

Does their traffic measure up?

Most Internet Listing Services (ILS) will happily provide you with their web statistics. Take the time to thoroughly review any report offered to you before you sign on the dotted line. Some smaller sites will even provide you with a copy of their Google Analytics, if you ask. Keep in mind, while most sales reps are honest, no one in their right mind will give you unfavorable traffic statistics. Alexa.com is a great, free website that allows you to get a general overview of any website’s traffic as far back as 2 years. Benchmark against other popular ILS sites for perspective. 

Unfortunately, it’s sort-of a part of my job description to monitor Twitter activity surrounding industry conferences in far away, sunny places and look with envy upon attendees’ waterfront-hotel-“look at my awesome view!” instagram portraits. But last month, as I watched the pictures, tweets, and facebook updates roll in from the Texas Apartment Association Education Conference, I became increasingly convinced: these guys got game. I’ve seen industry conferences of national audiences that struggle to get this sort of online buzz. And here this conference in San Antonio was the talk of the town — because you see, if hashtags were municipalities, #TAA2012 was booming like Skagway during the Klondike great gold rush.

Well, curiosity got the better of me. Using online stalking skills innate to all people under 30 — with maybe the exception of those associated with amish communities — I got in contact with Joel Nihlean, TAA’s Marketing & Communications Manager, who generously agreed to an interview. As I anticipated, Joel’s a social media rock star. With a strong background in event management, web writing, public relations, and graphic design, he has successfully planned, managed, and implemented the association’s marketing programs and e-communications since he started working with them in 2010. Also, he’s an unabashed, self-professed nerd; so we were fast friends and he taught me the secrets to becoming a pinball wizard (step 1: kicka%^  Alf tattoo)

It takes one to know one… a community manager that is! The task of community and Facebook humanitarian is sure to keep one on his or her toes. It’s always good to know what others in a peer group have to say. Mashable recently shared great insight from community managers of notable brands. Take it from these guys, they know how you feel!

 
1. Don’t be a one-hit wonder: Teresa Wu, community manager at Google Docs, says rather than sporadically connecting with users, establish a humanistic connection to create a long lasting relationship. Invite them to a community event and take the time to get to know your residents. Valuing them as individuals rather than renters makes a huge difference.
 
2. Set up meet and greets: Etsy Community Strategist, Morgan Evans, has found success by encouraging members of a community to meet with one another and form groups that draw out commonalities that would otherwise remain dormant. Promoting peer networks is a great way to jumpstart engagement and makes your residents feel supported. Setting up Facebook events for your residents is a great way to get the ball rolling.
 
3. Seeing is believing: Use photos to connect to your residents. McKee Floyd, director of brand development at Sweetgreen, uses photos to do a lot of the work for him. Knowing the power of image association, he says his Facebook fans see the image and make the connection to head to Sweetgreen’s Instagram page. Instagram photos can be shared on Facebook. By pairing the creativity of Instagram with the viral quality of Facebook, you double the power of your campaign and engage multiple users. McKee also shared a cross-pollination tip: “Photos or content featuring your product or branding are priceless. Use a tool like statigr.am to share these photos easily on your Pinterest page or Facebook Page. Always give a shout out to the creator — they’ll appreciate the kudos and keep spreading your brand love.”
 
4. Identify your power residents: Morgan of Etsy touches on some good points. Knowing those in your community who are vocal online is vital to your business. Word of mouse is just as, and maybe more, powerful than word of mouth. Support these people as much as possible. They are some of your most valuable assets. Ask them to use the Recommendations App to post a referral to attract new potential residents.
 
5. Helps us help you: Jonathan Goldman of Jetsetter says to get to know your customer service team. You may not always know the answer but a social media specialist with the For Rent Marketplace Team can help!

In the early days of my leasing career, I was fortunate enough to work for a company that realized the benefits of offering a ‘hefty’ reward for perfect leasing of the property. The goal – 100% leased.  The reward – dinner.  Not just any dinner, but dinner for the entire leasing team, anywhere in St. Louis we selected and we could order anything we wanted.  Shazaam!!  This was a big deal.  Such a big deal that we pushed daily to achieve this goal.  Often the 100% leased status only last a day or two, due to applicants being denied or the inevitable cancellation, but we were still maintaining incredible leasing percentages and occupancy; all on a property with harvest gold appliances and chocolate brown carpet!  The entire team would be talking about where we would go, what we would wear and what we would order and cheering each other on to reach that goal on a daily basis. 

The cost to the owners of this extravaganza?  For a staff of 5-6 team members, at most $1,000.00 and that’s probably on the high end.  Heck, we were dining at places without prices on the menus!

The payoff for owners?  Thousands and thousands of dollars, for years to come.  At an average rent of $500.00 per month on a 400 unit property maintaining an average of 97% occupancy, tip to 100% leased, that’s a lot of revenue. But just for old times’ sake, let’s do the math.  400 units leased/390 units occupied x $500 rent per month x 12 months lease term = $2,340,000.00 annually.  More when they renewed.

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

"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. 

What are you supposed to do to “turn around a troubled Section 8 property?” Some people may not like my answer; however, since this is my forte, I will give you a succinct, straight forward answer – you can’t – UNLESS you are committed to doing what it takes. I feel strongly that just because you work on an income based property, there is no reason not to manage with pride and provide the best living experience for your residents. But it takes more than someone coming to work at eight o’clock each morning and running out the door at five o’clock each evening. I can tell you almost every project based Section 8 property struggles with discouraged management at one time or another. Until you can walk on that property at 8 AM ready to face whatever comes your way, then you aren’t approaching that property ready to do it justice.

My first Section 8 property (when I was hired it was because the manager  did not even know how to turn on her computer, much less master the newly installed property management accounting software program. She was an acquaintance of mine and recruited me) was rough with more than 300 police calls each month. The Manager’s office contained stacks and stacks of files in varying stages of recertification. Rent checks had not been input into Yardi for 3 months. I asked if the money had at least been taken to the bank? Some had, but not all of it had, evidenced by a stack of checks I found inside the bank bag.

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.