For 2 months, I have been haunted.   It's not the ghost of a past unhappy resident, or a tricky poltergiest of some sort.  No, this menace is a demon who entered my body by my nose.   How did I cross paths with a demon, you might ask?  Well, it lives in the bathroom at the building where I work in the form of a distinct smell.  Not the "ewwww" kind of smell, but the "pleasant cover up the ewww" kind of smell.

Last week, I was able to exorcise my olfactory demon and, boy, was it ever awesome.

It took me 2 months to place the scent and it drove me nuts until I figured it out.  Discovering the root of the familiar smell began to consume my life.  Every day, when I would go to work, I would wake up and think about that bathroom smell.  If I was out in public and I smelled something that I thought was close, I had to find out what it was.  I asked the people who ran my building what the smell in the bathroom was.  I tried everything.  My obsession with the bathroom smell drove me to the brink of insanity, until, on a Saturday in the grocery store, a mother with a toddler in her cart, picked up a box of Post Fruity Pebbles.  It hit me like a ton of bricks in that one sugar laden moment!

The bathroom at the building where I work smells like Fruity Pebbles.  Yes, the cereal Fruity Pebbles.  In the bathroom. 

How invitingly disturbing.

I'm sure that the smell is tropical something-or-other and it's courtesy of the Pacific Breeze company, but if I had to smell a bowl of scent oil and a bowl of fruity pebbles, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Smell is one of the most powerful triggers to memory and one of the most wonderful allies in a sales process.  We bake cookies every morning in the model unit or the office for a reason.  We make sure that we don't wear perfume or cologne, but that we just smell clean when we're at work.  Chamomile and lavender are pretty popular office scents right now, but I'm also noticing a lot of "Fresh Clean Linen" smells out there in the offices I've been visiting and I also smelled, courtesy or Yankee Candles, pecan pie all over one of the offices I was in.  I love pecan pie, and I stayed longer than I intended to because it smelled so good.

Smell reels people in.  A 2006 article from the News Observer  is quoted as saying,
   
"Some use the smell of fresh flowers, a spring shower or baby powder to reel customers in. Others hope the scent works subliminally. Smell a cookie, buy a cookie." 

It's a bit harder for us to apply the "smell an apartment, buy an apartment," mentality in our field, but just the same as the folks in the retail world, we can use smells to elevate the moods of our staff, reduce stress in the environment (hello subliminal conflict resolution!) and to entice renting just the same.  The better it smells, the longer they will stay there.  The longer they stay there, the more time you have to get that deposit.

If you want people to linger in your model or office think about the smells that make you linger.  Here are a few good starts:

• Vanilla
• Chamomile
• Lavender
• Coffee
• Tea and Lemon grass
• Fresh Linen
• Cinnamon Rolls

Coming in to the holiday season, you could try one of these:

• Chocolate
• Sugar Cookies
• Gingerbread
• Pine
• Peppermint

One last word of advice on smells - Don't skimp on the price.  We serve cookies and coffee that leaves a good taste in the future resident's mouth and we want the same effect from our office scent.  Would you serve burned coffee?  Then don't have your air smell like it either.  The cheap sprays and candles are okay for once and a while, but for putting a hook in the nose of your potential resident, invest in some Yankee Candles or ScentAir on the East Coast, Pacific Breeze on the West Coast.  Glade Plug ins with the fan are also a great cost sensitive option.

Have you already experienced great success with aroma sales in your office?  What did you use?  What worked and what didn't?

 

 

Recently, I have seen more and more similarities with our industry and industries around us. Last time, I discussed our contracts in relation to the cell phone industry. This time, I want to highlight some similarities with neighborhood gyms, which makes a lot of sense considering we have a gym in many of our properties!

When we lease an apartment, we aren't just leasing them an apartment, but rather a view of their life in that apartment. We show them what it will be like honing their skills on the putting green, grilling burgers and hotdogs while sunbathing at the pool, and keeping their car looking flawless at the car care center. We present a lifestyle to them, designed to show them a better view of themselves.

So it occurred to me that neighborhood gyms do the exact same thing. They show a vision to their customers of someone who is 20, 30, 50 pounds lighter, fit and tone, and bursting with energy. They sell a vibrant version of their customer's life, full of achievement and satisfaction. And just like our industry, they have very poor customer utilization of their great amenities. I don't have hard figures, but how many people do you imagine, inspired by a New Years resolution, boldly sign up with a new gym only to use it twice and then forget about it?

The problem is that what we are selling is their potential future self, which may not turn into reality. If the resident chooses to sit lazily in front of the TV instead of swimming laps in the Olympic-sized pool, the amenity potentially no longer has value. It still has a slight value as they still have the opportunity to use it, but for the most part, the amenity is lost on them. So now you have a situation where all your great selling points have suddenly lost their charm and influence over your current residents. They are swayed by a new community who can again show them an inspired view of themselves.

Did You Know: Facebook Prefers Businesses to Create Fan Pages?

How to get started:

Go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

1. Begin building your page by clicking the "edit page" link.
2. Upload a profile picture. This will be the thumbnail picture that appears in the user's fan box and on other pages, such as search results.
3. Edit the Information fields. Text in these boxes will surface the page when users search for keywords.
4. Upload videos or photos to get the conversation started. This will also bring color and life to the page.
5. Create a few wall posts or discussion topics to help users get warmed up and feel comfortable posting.

Check out Benson Media, Inc.'s Fan Page  on Facebook!

"Cats and Dogs Welcome!  2 pets per apartment home.  No dogs over 40 pounds, restrictions on aggressive breeds, and a pet interview may be required."

I took this line from an apartment listing website.  I think it's a great example of your general pet policy for most communities that are "Pet Friendly."  It's pretty black and white, not a lot of zaz, but it gets the job done.

So what about those people who have non traditional pets?  Many communities don't charge a pet deposit for anything that lives in a cage or that isn't a dog or cat.  Lots of leasing consultants don't even ask about animals of a smaller nature, because frankly, it's one of the last things that we would think about.  Small animals in apartments are becoming more and more popular in the last 10 years because it's a way to give your kids a pet, or have a pet yourself, without worrying about it having enough room to run around and play, like you would with a dog. 

When I was in college, one of the programs that I put together for my dorm was a partnership with a local pet shop called Scaly Dave's where they came in and did a presentation on pets for college students.  Not only was it a rousing success with the students in my dorm, but it gave people a chance to really think over the life they could give to that pet and what it's real needs were before impulse buying that adorable chinchilla, who happens to have a life span of up to 20 YEARS and shoots pee as a defense mechanism.  It was a great presentation and you could easily replicate it to be an event on your property during April, which is national Animal Cruelty Awareness Month.

Here's a list of some of the "Fur-residents" I bet you have somewhere on your property:

	Rabbits - Hoppy, floppy-eared and cute as can be, but they chew on stuff and pee, pee, pee!  If you think cat urine is a carpet ruiner, you haven't seen anything until you've seen the damage a rabbit can do.  A popular trend with rabbits is to let them roam free in the house, much the same way you would with a cat.  Rabbits as pets can live up to 12 years so people get pretty attached to them.  They also have huge claws and are not known for being the best tempered animal on the planet.
	Chinchillas - a 20 year lifespan and, as stated earlier, they do shoot pee as a defense mechanism.  They also bathe in dust (which is pretty cool to watch, actually) and are avid chewers.  They are also spastic and highly adorable almost like a bunny squirrel hybrid.  They're extremely smart, and though they do not have a foul odor, a cage that is not cleaned every two to three days certainly will have one.  They're very fast and can jump super distances, and will run if startled.  They also have a loud "bark" that they use at night from time to time.
	Ferrets - They are known to smell REALLY bad.  They're very smart, so once they escape from their cage, if they're not trained/well domesticated, they're going to be pretty darned hard to catch.  They have been known to chew on electrical wiring after getting in to drywall in people's houses, so the same risk would apply to apartments.
	Sugar Gliders- The latest bad boy in the exotic pets craze, these little guys are a nocturnal animal that pretty much dies if you look at it cross eyed.  Despite the high mortality rate, they are still becoming a very popular pet among college students for their "coolness factor."  Like other exotic rodent type pets, smell can be a huge issue with these little guys.
	Hamsters/Gerbils/Rats - My mother only allowed me to have a hamster as a child because they didn't have "creepy tails" like other rodents.  I think that all parents should get their kids a rodent as a pet, mostly because it's a cheap and effective way to teach your child about death.  Rodents in apartments are an overlooked pet often, until they escape and go through the little nooks and crannies in to the neighboring apartment and freak out the people next door.  Smell again is an issue, but as with any pet, it can easily be overcome by taking good care of the pet and it's environment.  Some hamsters, like the Roborowski variety from Mongolia, are carnivorous, so your resident is bringing home bugs for those little guys to munch on.
	Guinea Pigs- These guys are not on my list of favorite animals, mostly because they pee all over everything.  They're originally a water based animal from Peru that we have domesticated in America as a pet. They were water based for a reason!  They also make constant little grunting oinky noises.  Smell is more of a factor with these guys because of how often they discharge bodily waste.
	Hedgehogs- Another favorite of college students, hedgehogs have gained in popularity over the last 10 years.  They are carnivorous, which means that your resident will either bring home crickets for the thing to eat or keeps a container of potato bugs in the fridge.
	Snakes and Lizards- Snakes and Lizards get a bad rap because they're inherently "creepy" but overall they can be good pets.  They have an odor to them, but not as prominent as that of a rodent.  They have really long life spans, sometimes up to 30 years or more, and of course, they are an animal that you've got to bring live food home to.  If they escape in to a home, snakes can actually do more damage than a lizard, because they are able to wind themselves in to the backs of fridges, bottoms of couch hydabeds, and other places where it can be incredibly difficult to remove them from, not to mention the obvious escape route of the average toilet.
	Frogs (Poison Dart) - Once again, these are super popular with the college aged resident set.  They're beautiful animals with a fascinating biochemistry, so it makes sense that people would try to domesticate them over time.  The downside to having frogs is that they require a super humid environment to thrive, and that can lead to mold growth in any home that has one as a pet.
	Fish - Fish aren't usually a huge problem until the aquarium starts leaking.  Then it's hello to water damage.  Despite that, they're by far the easiest animal to deal with in an apartment setting.
	Birds- VERY NOISY as a general rule.  Also, most birdcages are insufficient to catch all the droppings that birds produce, so the carpeting/flooring around that area is destined for replacement at some point.  According to an associate at my local PetSmart, people have also, in the last 5 years or so, taken to just leaving birds to fly about the house, citing that it's more "humane" for the animal.  She says this is nonsense and definitely not hygienic.

With the popular emergence of so many non traditional pets in the market place, is there something that we need to do to adapt our apartment pet policies and take these little guys in to notice?  I think that it's a good idea to at least acknowledge that these pets can potentially do as much damage as a dog or cat to a unit, even if we aren't charging a deposit for them.  What are some of the things you have done at your communities to deal with non traditional pets?  Do you encourage them in lieu of traditional dogs or cats?  Do you have a non traditional office pet?  Tell me about it.

 

 

RentalScams.org is a must!

In 2007, the total cost of internet fraud was around $240 million in the U.S. There are many types of rental scams. HotPads.com and Craigslist warn against trusting "to good to be true" ads.

Some of the warning signs of possible fraud are very obvious, some are not. A few of the warning signs mentioned by ForRentByOwner.com are:

1. Emails are overly polite, very poorly written or express excessive eagerness to rent without having inspected the property.

2. Tenant does not send funds as promised or delays providing requested information.

3. Email is sent from another country or the tenant claims to live in one country but email is sent from another with inadequate explanation.

As a property manager listing your properties on various MLS(s) you should read the examples and postings on RentalScams.org in order to avoid making mistakes that could get your property accidentally placed on warning lists.