It seems that most companies are still buying URLs that promote themselves. Even though many of us have read "the cluetrain manifesto" and are working hard to use our "human voice" in business. Many of the best resident oriented URLs are still ripe for the picking. If we are going to be "found" in the new marketing world, the content must attracts renters when they are looking (Googling) for answers and information that mattes to them. While in Canada I searched for the availability of the follow URLs and found everything I could think of AVAILABLE! 

I just heard that $200,000.00 was paid for Multifamily.com. How valuable will the best resident oriented  site names be once everyone begins moving in this direction? If I had a ton of cash laying around, I think I would pick up a few of these and see what happens. 

What??? That can't be right. And yet, that's the perception residents often have. If a service request has not been completed as quickly as the resident expects, or if something wasn't done quite right, residents will often blame the office staff rather than the maintenance team. Why?

The headlines are filled with mixed messages of optimism tempered by the recognition that a difficult path lies ahead. Is the commercial real estate market bottoming out? Should Congress be concerned by commercial real estate? What about financing for commercial real estate investments? And the implications of Stuyvesant Town fiasco in New York?

NREI Online recently posted an article by Dr. Victor Calanog entitled "Profiting from Record-Breaking Distress in Multifamily Properties." There are few apartment developers increasing the supply of rental housing in the market, so as demand for rental housing is expected to rise, landlords can benefit from charging higher rents and filling vacant units. Low pricing provides incentive for buyers to search for "good deals" as the market begins to recover and turn up. Calanog reinforces the idea that "with pricing at attractive levels and financing still somewhat available via government-sponsored enterprises, today might be the time to invest in multifamily properties."

Calanog closes with the sentiment that "multifamily buildings have endured much distress in 2009, but Reis as well as other data providers generally expect apartments to be one of the first sectors to rebound in commercial real estate." Indeed, though the market appears bleak and slow to recover, there are still advantages to be found and a sense of tempered optimism for 2010.

Today a prospective client asked to be contacted to discuss working with us. He has a partnership with a service provider who he had reached out to. This was a way for him to share in the investment and provide them with an online presence in the website they have.

He asked if I would call that partner to discuss how an agreement could be set up. Since I had spoken with that person about this potential partnership before I felt this not be an issue.  We actually had a joint webinar with both these people on the phone as this was always part of the plan. 

The call started of fine and all of a sudden Mr. Hyde showed up... The questions shifted to how can we make it work to a need for guaranteed results. As with anything, guarantees are a slippery slope especially for what we do since many factors are out of our control. I calmly explained these factors and the answer has to be a first;

For my previous blog regarding negotiating apartment lease renewal rates, Johnny shared his strategy for the renewal letter, which included listing out the previous rental rate, the current market rate, and the new renewal rate, which was in between the first two.  His letter listed them out clearly to the reader (rather than mixed into a paragraph), and is a great example of anchoring the new rate relative to the higher market rate.

So what is price anchoring?  You see price anchoring every day through sales - the price of a product or service is initially listed at, let's say, $30 and then discounted to $20.  That $30 serves as the "anchor" to show the customer exactly how much they are saving.  If they just showed $20 as the price immediately, it may or may not be perceived as a good price to the customer.  A good example is how the iPhone was price anchored to an extremely high price tag initially, so that when discounts were applied it had much more of an impact on sales.

The problem with renewal rates, as Johnny pointed out, is that the "anchor" is what the resident is currently paying for their apartment.  If they are paying $900 for their apartment and you raise them $20 per month, it is a worse deal relative to their anchor price.  In other words, all they see is that they are having to pay more for the same apartment.

Good day folks.  This is my first attempt at a video blog but I think it went well.  Optimization Summits taught me that sometimes you just need to make the jump and see what happens.  You will never learn anything without trying.  There are some great posts out there recapping highlights from the conference.  I am sure I missed some so please feel free to post any additional links in the comments section below.

Some Optimization Summits recap blogs

Hopefully you made it to the Optimization Summits last week, as it got strong reviews across the board!  I was asked by Mark Juleen to join his presentation on "Beyond Facebook" along with Charity Hisle, and we covered Twitter, LinkedIn, micro-blogs, localization apps, and a host of other non-Facebook tools.  So for those who didn't make it to our session or the event overall, here are our slides!

Prospect - "I have read some negative reviews of Bayshore for things such as high electrical costs due to poor insulation, bad parking at night, and crime. I was wondering if you could address some of these in a reply email, and if anything has been done to take care of some of these issues."

Me - "Thank you so much for your questions and concerns. Our purpose is to provide an enjoyable experience for our residents, and like with almost anything we too sometimes experience criticism based on individual's perspectives. We really appreciate you taking the time to ask us about our community and some of the reviews you have found. While we can't deny that sometimes open lot parking can be tight in certain areas of the community, we do have carports and garages available to rent so you can always have a reserved space if that is important to you. In regards to crime, you'll find that any community can have potential crime regardless of the perceived quality of the apartments or management. For example, if you search http://greenwoodpolice.familywatchdog.us/GreenwoodCrimeMap.asp you'll find that similar communities also have noise complaints or other minor disturbances that are recorded. With your concerns for insulation we can tell you that when there is any concern with bills our maintenance teams immediately evaluate and provide any necessary fixes or remedies. These seem to be isolated issues as we have numerous residents that have lived with us for many years that have not had concerns. We hope this helps answer your questions, and again, we appreciate you asking. We'd love for you to come out to visit the community. Please let me know when you would like to do so and we'll schedule a time that works best for you. Thank you and enjoy your day!"

Prospect - "Thank you so much for your quick response! That does clear up most of my questions quite nicely infact :) . My boyfriend and I actually came in on Tuesday and looked at an apartment. You had mentioned that one would be opening up at the beginning of June. I re-looked at our lease, and it actually ends June 29 (much to my surprise hah). I was wondering if there would be anytime I could meet with you Tuesday to possible turn in our applications and maybe reserve that apartment? We would be moving in the last week- week and half of June, so probably Sunday, the 20th. Thank you so much for your quick response again!

We are all looking for ways to squeeze more into each day. I can’t think of an easier or more helpful tip than getting into the habit of using to do lists. Here's how to do it.

Each day, write a brand new list of what you need to accomplish on that particular day. You can be low tech and simply write the list out by hand, type it into Word, use your CRM's task manager, or use a simple online tool like done.io, which is what I use. I have other systems to manage my tasks, but they often include long-term projects and ideas. While one might argue that making a list is inefficient and duplicates systems you already have in place, I find that it's worth the extra 60 seconds, as it helps me to focus and prioritize.

Next, go through the list and do everything you can get done in 2 minutes or less. This will help you feel like you are getting things done quickly, gives you a psychological lift, and creates the momentum you’ll need when tackling longer tasks. This technique comes straight from Getting Things Done by David Allen, which I highly recommend.

When it comes to tiny property repairs, a molehill can very easily become a mountain if it’s not resolved quickly. Whether you’re a DIY kind of person or would prefer to have a contractor or handyman take care of your property’s repairs, time is of the essence. Not only is it important to take care of repairs and maintenance quickly for your tenants’ sakes, but also for your bank account’s. In so many cases, a little problem that goes unaddressed can turn into a big, expensive problem not so far down the line.

Budget for the unexpected.
As we’ve discussed before, setting money aside for those unexpected repairs that always come up sooner or later is one of the smartest moves you can make as a landlord. No matter how good your intentions are, it’s almost impossible to move on any repair quickly if the funding simply isn’t there.

Move quickly, no matter how innocent an issue appears.
Cracked plaster? Leaking roof? Chipped window? All of these are examples of “little” issues that are easy to set aside, but will only grow with time. Cracked plaster can easily begin to crumble, resulting in a much bigger mess. A leak can expand and run rampant, causing significant water damage. A tiny window chip can quickly spread, leaving no other option than a complete window replacement.