A few months ago, Facebook announced the release of Timeline, a new interface made to boost engagement and user connectivity for all pages, especially for brands and businesses. Come March 30th, all Facebook Pages will have made the transition to the Timeline format. Today, let’s focus on the aspects in Timeline that are different from your current Business Page. Mashable did a great job explaining the major changes, and we’ve added our insights to relate this to your community. 1. Updated Look and Feel: The format of Timeline for brands is quite similar to Timeline for personal profiles. A cover photo lives at the top of the Page, and the Page is separated into two main columns with a dividing line representing the passage of time. This format provides you with new options for story telling: You can outline your history with milestones (such as grand openings, resident events, etc.) to construct a narrative for your audience. 2. Reduced Tab/App Visibility: The new Timeline format does not have the left-side panel of links, which could include hundreds of different tabs. While applications still exist, they’ll display differently, in rectangular panels underneath the cover photo. The width of the Timeline and the space allocated for native apps like Photos means that only four tab panels are viewable at any given time. To see more, users must expand the tab panel by clicking a drop-down box. You have the ability to assign which tabs you want to display in the top four panels. 3. Pins: One major new feature that you as a property manager...

For those of you who know me or have read my blog, you know that I am a huge proponent of professional development and industry education. However, there are just certain things that you are not going to learn in a classroom about the multifamily management business. The following are meant to be lighthearted so I hope no one takes offense. 1) You will need to set a limit as to how many times a disgruntled person can drop the "f" bomb on you before its time to end the conversation2) If you have a property with 1 or more lakes you could end up knowing more about swans and geese and their feces than you ever thought appropriate3) You no longer will have a "normal scope of vision" you will find yourself looking at buildings and properties in which you have no affiliation and find yourself making "punch lists" in your head4) You will at some point have a conversation with someone about dog poo that may or may not end in a threat to DNA test said poo. 5) Someone will call you and tell you that there is a ghost living with them and actually expect you to "resolve" the issue........ I recommend calling an exterminator. 6) You will hear every excuse in the book as to where the rent check got lost...."the dog ate it" may be one of the most believable7) You will start to annoy yourself after the two hundredth time you have quoted the...

I recently posted about a clause in Pinterest's Terms of Use that allowed the service to sell your content. Last week Pinterest announced that the clause has been removed, saying that 'selling content was never our intention.' However, the updated Terms of Use, which take effect on April 6 and can be viewed here, still grants Pinterest the right to reproduce or adapt your content however they wish, creating a potential copyright liability issue. I'm following this story and will keep reporting changes as they occur....

If you have chatted with any marketing professionals regarding your property you’ll hear them say something like, “you must properly analyze your property to determine your target market and demographics for effective marketing”. But what does that mean and how do I do it, some of you may be asking (truly the ones that are asking are probably not reading MI, but I digress)? Here are some tips to quickly get you thinking about your “market to target”: Calculate the right income earners. Take the average rent of your apartment homes and multiply it by your qualifying income level. For ease of math, let us say my average rent is $500. I require that my residents make three times the rental amount to qualify. I can quickly calculate $500 X 3 = $1500 per month or around $10.00/per hour is what my typical resident needs to make to qualify for my apartments. Use this amount to base your marketing efforts. Target those clients that are about 10% higher and 10% lower (roommate possibilities) than this amount. You’ll want to look for businesses or jobs that pay about $10.00 per hour, as this is the average income of your typical client. Does this mean that people making less or more will not lease with you? Of course not, but this gives you a good base to start so you are not just randomly flyer marketing. Think about this, if your average income is $10.00 per hour than you probably will not target...

When’s the last time you Googled your property? What did you see? Harmful reviews that you didn’t know existed? Outdated property photos? Incorrect information? Oftentimes we get so caught up in the day-to-day operations and running our apartment business that we fail to put ourselves in the perspective of the consumer (or apartment prospect), the true reason we exist and ultimately the factor that will contribute to our successes or demise. I want to offer a suggestion—er, or rather a challenge—to all on-site professional property managers and staff: Google your property. What do you see? What might be more fascinating is what you don’t see. Generally, when a potential renter finds us from a traditional ILS (i.e. apartments.com, apartmentguide.com, etc.) and expresses interest, he or she will most likely Google that property, look for reviews and other insightful information that will guide their decision. On the flipside, prospects already aware of a community’s name might bypass an ILS, and Google a property’s name to gain knowledge. This is where savvy on-site staff can truly shine by utilizing all outlets available to flood a search engine with pictures, amenities, and language that can sway a prospect to rent. So, what will you find when you do a Google search? The other day I Googled my own property for the first time and I was introduced to a plethora of advertising outlets that I didn’t even know existed. And the best part, they were all free! Here’s a few that will likely pop...

Do you work better alone or in a group setting?   Well, do I have a choice????   You may find yourself in this position of choosing, especially if your company has decided to take advantage of the new surge in the rental market, thereby decreasing the number of staff and eliminating any excess expenses.   During the downturn of the market when concessions were given out right and left, several management companies laid off their “extraneous employees” and insisted everyone else take up the slack. This happened from the top tier of the company down to the office, maintenance and housekeeping staffs. And forget about hiring any contractors to help with the turnover completions. Perhaps it happened to you and you are faced with perhaps working alone or semi-solo, or you are at a smaller management company that handles fewer than 500 units.   Should you decide to become a Team of One, here are a few pointers to consider. It is vital that you understand and KNOW how you work. If you work alone, day after day, you may become prone to experiencing loneliness and suffer from feelings of severe isolation. When you work alone, you are the sole decision-maker for planning your day; therefore you must be committed to becoming organized. You will need to anticipate the needs of the property and the business and act accordingly. You will need office coverage for 6-7 days a week. How will you handle this? One strategy is to work Saturday, take...

By Jo-Anne Oliveri, ireviloution intelligence, Brisbane, Australia Sadly, when carrying out due diligences many agents buying a rent roll are not sure what they are looking for. This lack of understanding means most pay a hasty glance over files and computer reports. On the surface they all look fine, but it’s a bit like an iceberg, we need to understand what looms below. We are all in the industry because we are good sales people. Ultimately, isn't this industry all about our ability to sell? Yes, we promote the best features and benefits of our products and services, but as selling specialists we also need to understand that whilst it looks good on the surface, there may be landmines below. I’m not saying don’t buy rent rolls, just be aware of what it is you are purchasing. So, the first thing is to understand due diligence. There are two kinds of due diligence – financial and operational. When purchasing rent rolls, financial due diligence is undertaken by a valuer. In many instances, the valuer is engaged by the bank to conduct an evaluation of the business prior to lending. If you are not borrowing for the business, I recommend a financial due diligence be conducted nonetheless. Operational due diligence is the second type. This is just as critical as the financial due diligence. Not having an operational due diligence prepared would be like buying shares in a company that is on the verge of bankruptcy and hoping a healthy bottom line...

Wow, one would think that a promotion from Property Supervisor to Regional Manager on a partnership track would be the epitome of property management ladder climbing. Honestly, for the fifteen years that I have been in this profession, I have only dreamed of such a moment. All I can say is…be careful what you ambition for. I was an excellent leasing consultant because I was great with residents and prospects. I had (and still have) a talent for smooth resident relations, and I could literally anticipate the needs of the potential residents that came to my community. I can relate to people and I have been told that I have a genuine style that is seen as sincere and honest. Leasing came easy to me because that is who I am. I did not have to alter who I was in order to do my job.  Stay with me… Because I excelled at leasing, I was promoted to Assistant Manager then Property Manager and finally Property Supervisor. I enjoyed being a Property Manager and Supervisor because it was like my leasing position, less the paperwork the manager would have me do.  I had all of my previous responsibilities, but now I had decision making power! Again, I was an excellent manager and supervisor because it felt natural to me. I loved speaking with the residents and solving problems, I also loved working with and training my team, so the added management responsibility was just icing on the cake of upward...

Remember that line from "A Few Good Men"? ~ I can almost hear you thinking it...You Can't Handle the Truth! That movie line constantly echoes in my mind as I debate telling the truth when the power's that be ask why my team is/is not renting. While I am a marketing expert, even I cannot market properly if I do not follow due diligence and find out the truth about my property and the area. Mostly, I have to know my product ~ who needs my product and who wants my product. Oh yes, there is a difference, but we will revisit this later. The truth. Oh yes, what your bosses can't handle. Here is why: The truth is sometimes seen by upper management as an excuse. The act of renting directly relates to revenue; which is the bottom line in an Owner's mind. So, to tell the owner that you are not renting because you are marketing to the wrong demographic base is seen as an objection that you can overcome. And you can. No owner ever wants to hear that you are not renting because the product is crappy. If sub-standard product is your reason for not renting, you are basically telling the owner that he/she has made an investment in crap and you are not likely to get any sympathy. The truth is, our job is to take crap and make it appeal to someone- but keep in mind, the someone must qualify, and we are always ambassadors...

We recently discussed how Pinterest might enable copyright infringement, and how to ensure your business is protected from liability. Before getting a Pinterest page, however, you should also read the site’s Terms of Use. Read this passage twice: ‘By making available any Member Content through the Site, Application or Services, you hereby grant to Cold Brew Labs a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, view, and otherwise exploit such Member Content only on, through or by means of the Site, Application or Services.’ What’s it mean? Every image you upload to Pinterest becomes their property. They can sell, alter or display it however they like. You forfeit your rights to the image at the moment you upload it, and you can’t get them back. We’re not lawyers, and these terms haven’t faced a legal test yet. But we think they will. Pinterest’s policy is a sharp contrast to how you expect your ILS and social media partners to treat your images. Pinterest may never sell or re-use your property, but for now, they can. Since many images aren’t uploaded by their owners, there may be consequences to this. Before joining Pinterest, businesses should consider the possible ramifications....