Topic: Leasing Commissions

Hi,

At the property I manage, I was told by staff that the person who has "first contact" with the future tenant will get the bonus. However, I see that sometimes, 1 person shows the model and another person gets stuck doing the lease/move-in paperwork, etc.

I was wondering what other bonus plans I could implement. It just seems like on many occasions, 1 person may get the bonus because they happened to answer the phone or be working and someone else will get stuck with the actual work.

I would love any ideas or how you do it.
Thank you

Our company bases commissions off of the first tour given. Then Leasing Consultants are more inclined to schedule the tour when they can be there and take care of their lease.

I worked for a company who split the commission in thirds. A third went to the person who showed the unit to the prospect, a third went to the person who took the application and entered it, and the last third went to the person who moved the person in and did the leasing paperwork with them. Most of the time all three went to the same person, but in case that person wasn't in the office when the other had to do the rest of the work, then it helped ease the pain of that. It seemed the most fair way to me.

We actually decided to just split all leasing commissions between our 2 leasing agents. One is actually a leasing manager though so she does more paperwork, while the other does more tours. But for us it works really well and there is less competition between them. I think it helps them work together and become more willing to help anyone that comes in. I also think it eliminates the "they are your lease, so you help them" kind of attitude.

It takes a village to lease an apartment home! Or at least a whole team! If I tour a hot prospect today but have a couple of days off, how likely is my co-worker Leasing Professional to follow up if I get a bonus for his/her work and he/she gets zero/zip/nada? So my hot lead is likely to grow cold! But if we all get compensated we are all more likely to share leads, follow up, and CLOSE! Oh, and do the lease paperwork happily too!

I recommend reviewing the whole leasing bonus structure.

Rather than per lease, pay the whole team for reaching leasing or occupancy goals. And when I say whole team, I mean Service/Maintenance too! It takes the whole team to secure the lease, including the service team that turns the home and makes the property look good!

Another one of the fallacies of the leasing bonus system is that in "high season" (spring/summer for a lot of us) there are lots of leases and commissions run high! Then in the winter, our pay decreases...and possibly morale.

Back to the original question: Whatever bonus plan you implement, reward everyone who helps get the lease!

We split the new leases equally between the office staff. We include the maintenance, office, housekeeper and porter in the renewal bonus. We also have a maintenance, housekeeper & porter property incentive for keeping the grounds, pool, etc clean and looking great. It seems to keep them happy.

I have an asst. My split is 60% and my asst receives 40%. It takes a team & certainly she may answer the phones more often, but I am the one filling in the gaps w/ phones, showings, etc if she is busy, plus I'm scheduling the make-readies, walking them for quality control, etc so it works out. If the asst did all the leasing but if the apt was dirty, grounds trashy, etc then we wouldn't lease anything. The mgmt co feels that my mgmt skills contribute greatly to leasing (& retaining residents) whether I'm as directly involved in that application process, or not, and I would have to agree :)