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Jun 05
2009
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So much time has been invested in trying to attract renters to communities. So much time has been spent enticing renters to move and to stay. It's almost as if this industry works against itself!
The year 2009 is all about resident retention and trying to capture a diminished customer base. People are moving, but it seems people are not moving by choice, but because either there is no choice, or because of a perception that there is opportunity. Renting is either the new American dream, or it's the replacement for those whose dreams were crushed.
What has marketing accomplished during this time...is it opportunism, or is it innovation?
We have a property in our portfolio that tracked sixty showings in the month of May and only two approved applications. I have never witnessed anything like it. Either there is something terribly wrong with product and price, or we have a staff issue, but in this extreme case I see a pattern. I remember a time when all one had to do was put a key in a lock, open the door and close the deal. Today, there seems to be a lot more than promotion and price motivating the consumer. Strange days indeed...most peculiar mamma.
I am right there with you Matt. Here in Los Angeles, we are seeing a higher response rate to our online ads but our number of signed leases has definitely declined from a year ago. The feeling I get from many new prospects is that there is A LOT of inventory out there and they have many options to choose from. It used to be that a prospect was fighting with 2 other applicants to get into an apartment - now we are the ones doing the negotiating. Funny how the tables have turned
. And consistency and time-saving efficiencies seem to be the name of the game this year. Good luck out there.
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Your post, specifically the line "I remember a time when all one had to do was put a key in a lock, open the door and close the deal" really resonated with me this morning.
Living in Detroit and watching what was the Big Three fall and transform right before our eyes seems unfathomable. I know folks not living in Detroit are watching the same thing, but living here in the midst of it you experience the strange energy that is ever so present.
While there are so many reasons that it all happened, one really big one was that Detroit just didn't build cars that the consumer wanted to buy, and their expenses were wildly out of control. Perhaps our expenses are not wildly out of control in the apartment business, but there definitely is a plethora of product, both the product it self and the process in which we lease and manage that Residents are fed up with.
This industry may well no longer be able to rely on the adage that "We are slow to adapt" So was GM and Chrysler,