Apartment Amenities

I came across a blog post (shared by Mark Juleen) where the author detailed out her apartment search and reasoning for her move in the first place.  From what I can tell, it doesn’t appear that she is in the industry, so I think this is an incredibly interesting view into a person’s buying decision!

The Decision To Move

Kelly seemed to really enjoy her current apartment, and she noted all the things that she appreciated: 

A few weeks ago I discussed that our industry needed to learn how to be “exceptional”, and that we are so mired in small-scale struggles that we have no vision as to what apartment living could or should be like.  But for a moment, I want to assume that a given community has that vision.  They have created a community that is more than simple amenities, but rather a true home for their residents.  Their residents are rabidly loyal, and not only do they consistently renew their lease, but would actually be upset if they were forced to leave!  Consider the community to be the Apple equivalent of the multifamily world.  What would that type of community be like from a management point of view?

Perspective is an interesting thing in life.  If we were talking about a new lease-up, saying that we had 25 units left would start to sound inspiring - like the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.  Suddenly, there is a sense of urgency in the leasing process.  With every unit leased, suddenly there is one less available, so prospects better start applying now!  

On the flip side, if you have an older community and you have 25 units available, suddenly things don't look so rosy, and you start thinking about if you don't renew everybody AND lease some during the weekend, things are going to get a bit scary!  Two situations with the same numbers have markedly different reactions, don't they?  

I toured an apartment complex the other day and was asking tons of questions of my leasing agent (who knew that I was a developer and was just shopping their product). I am always struck by the wall that goes up when you ask demographic questions (I do get that that these young folks are taught to not even address these questions for fear of being hunted down by the crazy Fair Housing police). Unfortunately, as a developer, these are about the only questions that really concern me.

When choosing whether or not to undertake a $50M investment, understanding who the prospective renter is- is actually a critical part of my job. Of course there is always the basic demographic info that we get from our consultants:

In the spirit of March Madness and, of course, all things data, I thought it would be nifty to craft a visualization of actual Apartments.com data in tournament bracket style.  With the help of our very talented Senior Graphic Designer, Laurie Genzlinger, we put together a data driven visualization that illustrates the top 16 user searched amenities on Apartments.com. 

To make this happen, we seeded each amenity, one through four, based on total searches and broke them into four conferences.  We then took this search data and let it solely dictate the outcome of the matchup, advancing the amenity with the higher relative search volume.  In short, our final four top searched amenities consisted of: Washer/Dryer in Unit, Parking, Dishwasher and Air Conditioning.  After a grueling round of matchups, Washer/Dryer in Unit and Air Conditioning moved to the finals, with Washer/Dryer taking the title.

I like this visualization because it illustrates the importance of each of these amenities, relative to another, in the eyes of the renter.  For example, hardwood floors may be important to renters, but next to high speed internet it falls short.  Taking that a step further, the same included high speed internet is a really nice feature, but relative to parking, parking takes the cake.

A guest post by Samantha Harvey, General Waste Collection, Lancashire, United Kingdom

With sustainability becoming more important to the general population, there is an ever-increasing necessity to provide eco-friendly properties. The rise in popularity of green technologies has led an industry that was once seen as expensive and niche-based into one that has competitive prices for many aspects of the building process. With the decreasing initial price disadvantage combined with the always present efficiency positives, the green movement presents a good deal of incentive to implement more eco-friendly resources. With the majority of greenhouse gas emissions coming from buildings, incorporating sustainable processes in homes is vital for curbing the impact of global warming.

No matter what our role is within the multi-family industry, there is always one word which is used more than any other; “community.” Some of us own communities, some of us develop communities, some of us design communities and others of us lease or operate them. And chances are that many of us live in an apartment, condominium or townhome community as well. So then why is it that there is so little ‘community’ in our communities?

When it comes down to this failure’s root cause, it can really only be one of two choices;

a.       Either the management team does not expend their energies in a manner that creates a welcoming and vibrant atmosphere that encourages interaction, or

Years ago when I had the task of putting together my first leasing guide, I relied heavily on the advice of a good friend, a supervisor with years of experience and obvious selling chops. One terrific tip she shared with me was that a leasing agent needs to become adept at finding the things in each room of an apartment home that the prospect was not likely to see. She suggested that we require each leasing agent to go into all rooms of an apartment, even the baths and closets, and find at least two things that were not obvious and explain what those features meant and how they could benefit the prospect.

In the years since, I have used that great idea as a cornerstone in my training. Think about it. When a somewhat less engaged leasing agent does a property tour, they usually spend a lot of time on pointing out the obvious, if they are even interacting at all. I cannot count the number of times I have walked into a furnished model with a leasing agent I was “shopping” and been lead to a room with an oval table and six chairs while the leasing agent offered “this is the dining room.” What a master of the obvious! Why do we even waste the time and energy if we are only pointing out things that are clear to just about everyone. I have had leasing agents fall this up by steering me into the kitchen and pointing to an appliance with the comment “this is the microwave.” As a sarcastic person by nature, I usually cannot let this go. I usually respond with something snarky like, “Oh yeah! I have heard about those. Can you show me how to work it.” The deer-in-the-headlights look I typically receive is well worth it. But seriously, if your prospect doesn’t know what a dining room or a microwave is, do you really think they are going to qualify?

So many property tours lean more towards “follow the leader” than a real plan to lease an apartment. We become better leasing consultants, property managers and salespeople when we get past the obvious and uncover the little things people aren’t likely to see. I explain this in my seminars as similar to the concept of “whiteout”. Just as when driving in a blinding snow storm it can become impossible to see your path forward, a somewhat similar thing happens to a prospect looking at apartments. All the more when in a vacant, they see white walls, white ceiling, light colored carpet and often lighter cabinetry and appliances. It can be easy to get lost in the sea of white, so that little things don’t stand out against the vast white backdrop. Especially if a client has toured multiple communities and a half dozen or more units, it can be very hard to see the differences. That is where we come in. Finding those two things in each room is crucial, pointing them out and explaining why they may be useful is salesmanship. They can be simple or complex, ranging from two cable outlets in the living room to make furniture placement more flexible to something elaborate like the fact that the drawers in the bathroom and kitchen cabinetry go full depth, providing more storage space than the typical ¾ drawers found in most apartments.   

As much as we talk about the importance of recycling, the United States is the number one trash-producing country in the world.  This means that 5% of the world’s population generates 40% of the world’s waste! With last week being National Recycling Week, I thought it would be fun to show you some ways to conserve waste and save money by repairing, versus replacing, your appliances.  The below infograph, from Part Select, shows the cost to replace some common appliances.  If you click on the buttons, possible symptoms and their fixes are shown.  Have fun playing around with this and maybe next time one of your resident’s dishwasher leaks, you can save some money by repairing it.

For more visit Apartments.com/blog

Learn how to use descriptive language to spice up your marketing!

I’m all about saying something in a unique way when marketing apartments, but sometimes I find myself  with a brain cramp and it takes me a while to get those creative juices flowing.  How many times have you found yourself in the same situation while in a time crunch to get your copy out a.s.a.p. and all you can come up with to describe your community pool is “Sparkling”? 

My Community is located in a city that has seen an increase in job growth and demand for apartment living.  In response to this growth we were able to increase our rents by $100 for new move-ins.  We have been able to maintain an occupancy of 95% since August of 2010 and a turnover just over 65%(our normal).  Since January we have been increasing renewals 2-11% based on their lease term selected.

In August we introduced the Valet Waste door-to-door trash collection service to our residents. While some where excited about the front door trash pick-up, others are upset that we would bring in a service they did not request or seek their approval. Beginning with October renewals we are increasing their rents $18 for Valet Waste and 3-11% in rent, which is about $40-$100 total depending on the renewal lease term.  

We recently sent out renewal offer letters for November expirations with increases proposed as stated above.  I have just received a petition signed by 40 residents, several of which are not up for renewal at this time.  Why I can appreciate the community coming together on something, I am overwhelemed by their reasoning for no increases: 1) They did not have a say in the Valet Waste service. 2) Request for benches to be installed at playground has not been granted. 3) Our promise to provide proper house, safety and service has not been fulfilled entirely. Too many outsiders coming into the community anytime they want because there is no gate. 
4) Not enough laundry machines in laundry room and too many cob webs and dead bugs on front doors. 

I have had the opportunity to speak with a few of the residents who brought the petition to my attention before receiving it. In doing so, I have been able to state my case for the need to increase the rents. I feel that my company has been more than fair during the tanking of the economy beginning in 2009 when we did not increase rents the entire year. In 2010, we increased rents by $8, because the unemployment rate in our city was the highest in the state.  

In 2011 a new plant brought in thousands of construction crews with contracts for 6mths-1yr. The big manufacturers here also began production and hiring again.  Our community is in a good position right now with all the job growth happening, therefore we are taking advantage of it. 

I know increases are not always easy to explain to residents who are on fixed incomes or those who have become accustomed to no increases. They do not want to hear that we need to increase the rent to continue to maintain the community.  But the reality is that is what we have to do to do so. 

I would love your feedback on dealing with rent increases happening at your community or company. Have you had a situation like this?