Topic: Yesterday my VP informed me that our luxury property needs to be at 95% occupancy. Currently we’re at 90% and trending to 84%.

Good morning family! I just need to vent. Our community is located in North KC. Yesterday my VP informed me that our luxury property needs to be at 95%occupancy. Currently we’re at 90% and trending to 84%. Notices are due to Covid, rent increases, buying homes and employment issues. Traffic has been horribly low. Most prospects are looking for specifics that we don’t currently have available or move in dates for next Fall. I pleaded last Summer for leasing specials prior to decrease of traffic. I could predict the trend for Winter months. Denied. My team has done everything possible to market, advertise, etc. Yesterday I was told that we had to meet 95% occupancy by the end of February or I will be terminated. That’s 20 move ins. The units are ready, no traffic. I have received minimal support from our corporate office. They increased all new move in rent by $100! This company will walk in and terminate everyone. Any suggestions or employment leads are greatly appreciated.

You got this!!! Do not allow them to defeat you!!!
Definitely walk in tomorrow with the attitude that you will meet those goals and succeed. Continue looking for employment, no one deserves to be threatened in the workplace.
So many amazing ideas above! I looked at tour FB and you have a gorgeous property.
Try not using your Facebook page for move in specials. That just irritates your current residents, and then they want specials. Offer the referral fees. Do video your vacant homes and post them.
Get your social media engaged. Post everyday. Check out your comps social media. How do the compare? Find local socially distanced events and activities to post. Have your residents use your property hashtag or tag the property in their posts.

I say find a new Job! Not that you can’t do it but what kind of motivation is that?? How about we need to hit this goal what can we do to help?? Or income is suffering and we will have to let someone go? Maybe I am too nice but this is not a good situation for anyone to work under this pressure!
Heard about weeks Fargo A few years ago? They started making up account numbers and opening up accounts for people when this kind of threat was used.
I am sorry - you can surely hit it but I would question my future there.
So..Here are my other suggestions
Marketplace
Free tv raffle with move in
Hit up resident referrals
Bump up on line listings
Craigslist and all other free sites
Open houses!!
21 days of deals - start now a different deal a dAy? Push on social and outreach
Good luck my friend!!

There's many comments here, so some of this may be already listed. List ANYWHERE that you can for free! FB marketplace, CraigsList, etc! Distribute flyers to local areas of that's possible/practical. And Work on RETENTION! (You may do that already - I don't know.) ... Ultimately, leaving COULD be the best thing to do. I once had a boss who said, "I have a stack of resumes 3 ft. high who want this job if you don't!" ... I didn't quit on the spot, but I did as soon as it was good for ME! ... It's a boss/owner's job to push, but if they're being idiots, maybe they need to learn to appreciate people more. ... Or maybe they never will!

In person marketing with large companies in the area, look to offer corporate housing, reach out to your schools in the area, ask your vendors for referrals, virtual open housing, banners, balloons, resident referrals, promotions, concessions, FB Market Place, Craigslist, Zumper.com, Apartments.com, make it happen. Hustle. Lead by example. You can do this!!

Find a new company to work for. Revamp your Resume & get it out there. No one should have to work with a threat hanging over their heads. How in the world can you concentrate or make accurate decisions? You still gotta put in the work while you’re there. Market your butt off & call your comps for help! If they don’t fire you first. Put in a two weeks notice. Always do the right thing but don’t ever let your job be threatened especially if you are working hard to succeed. Now, if you’re in there, not trying at all, then -
what else would you expect.

I had a very similar thing happen to me, I documented everything and once I was terminated, I worked with a temp staffing company and was back out in a few days, offered a permanent job in the temporary position with a better company two weeks later.
The couple of days I was unemployed, I filed for unemployment and the former company fought me on it twice.

This is not my management style, and I don’t work well under this type of leadership. But if you want to stay, I’d recommend that you sit your RPM and ask why? Sometimes that conversation will help you understand. Then, develop a plan that takes all the obstacles you list into account. Need the rents dropped? Ask. Need more traffic? Figure out how much you need to advertise and where. Their response to the initial
Conversation and your plan will tell you everything you need to know. Good luck!

Have you provided ownership with a market survey of comps and suggestions to grab some market share based on that data?

Hi hate to say this but it might be time to find a new job! We are in the Seattle market which was hit really hard especially with the eviction moratorium .We too have struggled with occupancy the last year but while my company has set goals and expectations, they have never threatened termination. They understand that the struggles we are enduring are not our faults. We send daily recaps and are in constant communication. They know everything we are doing to turn it around. They are are also okay with just ripping off the bandaid. Drop rents substantially and or add in some significant concessions. Do it now and be aggressive. Otherwise you are just going to continue to drop prices more and more as the weeks go and never get where you are needing.You can always bring rents back up and remove concessions once stabilized. Good Luck!

The same thing happened to me several years ago. If at all possible...leave! A company that does not support you is an unsuccessful company...i learned that the hard way. So many communities are hurting right now. You are not alone. There are companies out there looking for honest, hard working managers who they will appreciate. I would not want to work for a company that told me move in 20 people during this pandemic...i would gladly walk away and allow God to direct me to another Property Management company......

You might try apartment list also - you only pay for move ins & we do this in conjunction with other marketing online. We have gotten several leases from them.

I don’t know about your ILS that you guys use but some things I have learned, that boosted my traffic, was that if you literally sign in every morning and change something.. adding a period or an extra space between two words ETC. it boosts your views.
Also, I would go back to your leads a year and 60 days from today and call your leads (from 14-15 months ago) a lot of them are looking for a place again (especially due to Covid) post a virtual and 360 tour to each site.
Contact local hospitals and partner for a essential personnel discount. Your local fire and police departments have weekly news letters you can advertise for free in those (at least here you can for multi family housing) open your search to all demographics.
Obviously, you are a very well, very capable manner. They would challenge you in this way if they didn’t believe you could do it.
You got this.

-Do a very thorough market survey, include ils post, and shopping reports detailing what's going on at your competitors. See if they are all in the same boat.
- solicit new projects going on in your community, like construction and large industries like oil, metal etc.
- look into the temporary housing companies and also teaching hospitals. They lease several units for residents. Oh and don't forget about travel nurses agencies.
- get with your vendors to make nice donations for a resident referral program since they won't let you have specials.
- pull your demographic report to find what type of jobs most of your residents have and target them.
-get a free tax prep to meet at your office a couple times a month. Advertise to prospects about how they can get a quick refund and move in even faster.
Rise to the challenge then after 3 months have a sit down to renegotiate your salary.

It would be best to concentrate on the bonus for getting there - fear of loss is definitely a motivator but glory of gain and visioning the dream achieved will serve you better. When you do that you’ll have the inspiration and creative ideas you need to take masssive action - like call every lead you’ve had for the past year. Comb thru classified and see who is hiring reach out to HR for new employees relocating

Send a detailed email to your regional with a plan to make it happen and show them why it makes sense. Market surveys, links or screenshots of comp ads, etc. To do it, you’ll have to beat prices and promotions for all comps. And when discussing concessions, you can present it as an up front promotion or spread out over the duration of the lease. Also - advertise with Zillow. Omg the leads are overwhelming from Zillow. You can advertise a single unit (like a model unit) for $9.99/week.

Facebook boosts really do help and there fairly inexpensive but I would also make a move as soon as you can. I haven't know a company in a very long time to lead in that manner.

Terrible!
Can you make flyers “Refer a friend” to hand out to all your residents so they can help! You can offer the $50.00 or enter them in a drawing if they refer...
How’s your signage? Can you use free sights like market place or Craig’s list to generate traffic? How do your units look? You can make Bee Back cards to give to all your tours that if they return they will get maybe $50.00 off their rent?

Facebook is the best way to market that I have found!! Talk to current tenants and ask them to join and comment on your page! Have them post pictures of their favorite space in their apartment! Do a contest to get them involved. Word of mouth is the best advertisement!!

Put all your requests for assistance in writing. Develop a mini business plan and closely track the results. . Could come in handy later.

It's time to have the leasing team walk each Ready Unit and make a punch list. Maybe there is something they don't like and now is the time to fine tune it.
And run your own race. Yes you must be knowledgeable to the market but comparing and beating yourself up for not being at that occupancy is going to kill the momentum.
HAVE FUN! Get everyone involved and stay positive. It's tax season too so hit the tax offices and take little gifts (candy bars, candles,pizza, donuts) include your business card.

Have you seen any trends of where people are coming to your area from? Like I’ve been getting quite a few people from Colorado suddenly moving to Alabama for jobs. So if you can branch out your online marketing to other cities, it might help funnel more to you. Also have you gone to your comps with goodie baskets to see if you can them to refer traffic to you that they won’t be able to help? I send people for studios across the street from me all the time bc they are awesome and I don’t have any left. Any colleges around? Maybe run a special for faculty and students for waived Admin fee or something a a preferred employer program. And see if you can figure how to do a local event that can put your name out there to the general public. Maybe something like ‘if you have a local zip code already and looking to move, get some kind of special or entered into a drawing’.

You need to have a serious talk with owners. I was at a luxury A Class building and soon as occupancy hit our occupancy tanked! This was in March. Occupancy is still in the 80’s! In April I transferred to a B Class property and we have been very aggressive with move in specials, renewals and keeping our rates reasonable.
Our property has stayed leased and occupied at 94% to 100%! Your renewals, send out renewals early and offer to stay at the current rates. This will help immensely with resident retention. If you have a unit it has been vacant ready for two weeks, offer $500 off. If you have someone interested in a unit but the price is too high, speak with management to see if you have any wiggle room for negotiation. If we have a 30 day stale unit, we’ll increase the move in special. Another way to get current residents to renew is do minimal increases like $20.
In my experience over this last year, luxury buildings tanked. Those in luxury buildings moved to normal apartment communities to save money.
I also think that right now for those who have been able to stay afloat for this long during Covid, they’ve gone through savings. They’ve gone through unemployment and now Covid is starting creep up and hurt those who’ve made it this far.
During this time, we don’t have the luxury to pass on leases because “if you’re not willing to pay, someone else will” that’s not the case right now. So your management company needs to realize that collecting the same rent is better than having those notices come in and having no rent.
At the end of the day, this isn’t a you or your team issue. If your management company does not head these warnings, look else where.

Unfortunately, owners and executives who make the commitment to lenders and investors about what results their projects will achieve and by when are too often out of touch with the realities onsite staff have to deal with. At some level they know the market is against them, but rather than admitting there is a hole in their boat and breaking out the lifeboats they start throwing people overboard. Don't work for such people.
Savvy lenders and investors in today's market know what's going on. They know it's likely not you. If you think the folks in between are going to sacrifice you in a desperate attempt to save their own butts, consider going around them and giving you opinion directly. It sounds like you have little to lose. Just be sure you come armed with new suggestions and a realistic timeline.
Stay strong.

I’m sorry to read that you’re struggling. I’d consider ramping up marketing as much as possible. RentPath has great ILS value right now, plus social advertising (my favorite) and a live chat feature. I’d reach out to your local rep and see what you can do. You want to be able to say you did everything you could. If they’re refinancing, I bet they’d approve the additional marketing spend

When we had a few that remaimed vacant , I researched the ones vacant the longest , and the Manager was able to offer rent specials on say 5. It was a great selling tool , show models and other vacant units .If your community is desirable and offers ammenities people are looking to save money right now. Your management has to be part of the solution however. We were able to get them rented quickly . You could also offer a lease early renewal incentive for a month. We offered like 3 prizes .made it fun ..decorated the office. Early renewals are just a way for you to be pro-active. I was lucky to work for a great Manager . Im not in the Industry at the moment , and was layed off recently ..employment is not that easy to come by ..do your best to meet your goals ..Good luck

First- I’m blown away by the company. If your jobs are being threatened, find a new one. (I have a 60 day temp leasing position available downtown). I’d love to know what company you work for so I don’t ever go work for them.
If the other properties are performing at 95%, check your P’s.
Price, product, promotion, people.
What’s your closing ratio?
Are you marketing? Are you contacting your PE’s? What’s your marketing budget? Are you running ads on Facebook? Are you updating your ISL’s? LeasingKC is a cheap marketing platform..$95 monthly and if you update every day, it pushes you to the first spot when prospects search.
Are you using your residents for marketing with Resident referrals?
Do you have mini models set up in your vacant? Are they being sparkled every day?
If your comps are hitting their numbers and your property is not, I see why they’re concerned. (They went about this the wrong way though, for sure).
If you can’t run specials, no biggie. If your comps are at 95% they’re probably no longer running specials.
Think outside the box. Run a campaign on Facebook with a resident raffle that requires the residents to share your content. The most shares wins something.

It sounds like you're doing everything you can. If you can't be appreciated for that, let them fire you then so you can get the unemployment. If you resign you WILL NOT get it. Just keep doing the best you can. A good employer knows that employees come first, customers come second, investors are third. Treat your employees right and your residents will stay. I hope you find peace in whatever happens in the situation, you sound like a great manager to work for.

I would go all in and focus on your goal to do whatever it takes to achieve it. Don’t be afraid to say what you need to get to 95%. Make sure you and your team are going above and beyond for the leads and prospects you do have.

I would write your Regional and advise her that although she has imposed what seems to be an impossible goal you will try your Best! You and your team may surprise yourselves! Start marketing everywhere you can! Luxury Communities have suffered the worst during this Pandemic. She may be concerned about your exposure. If you are trending 84% that is what she is looking at - it sounds difficult but, working on it is all you can do! I have to say, I have been a Regional for 20 years and I have never said anything like this! It is not the way to motivate your team! Good Luck!

I would just keep pushing! Focus on the positives!!! You got three weeks. Remember fear of loosing a job is a great motivator to become savage - get those leases. You can do it! I believe in you. Put out job apps anywhere you for a back up. Sometimes you gotta just be a Viking and go into war! You got this ... Don’t give up. Everyone is increasing rents, everyone is in a hard market, everyone’s back is up against the wall! You will be different and survive because you won’t take your eye off the prize. Corporate rarely supports until it’s them on the chop block ... specials come after you have turned it around and there’s ???? in the tunnel. I will give you the key to success the struggle you are facing is being on the fence. Get off the fence be a leasing Queen Dont listen to the hype! Rarely does the devoted all in person get canned. I think you can do this and greater. I believe in you and your success!!!

Just a thought. Try FB market place. A lot of our leads are generated there. Just a thought.

How about providing comps to your supervisor to show why a $100 increase is not feasible and what price they would rent?

I love a challenge! lots of stay positive advice. I suggest a team meeting, pull up guest cards and do some cold calling. Next ask your favorite residents to market for you by checking with all their friends to see if anyone is thinking about moving. get on all social media...drop by businesses near you that are open and drop off a sealed box of cookies!
This is your chance to prove that your team can create magic.

Hello I would love to speak to you about how to increase Revenue IF there a number where I can call you Alternatively feel free to email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. We have been working in the real estate industry for 24 years

Regards
Raju

Hopefully you submitted the the original budget in writing and have a copy.
Resubmit the budget with a memo stating you recognized the need for the revised budget (dated) months ago as a drop in residency was coming.
, distribute at restaurants, beauty salons, coffee shops, Chamber of commerce, BBB, etc.
Submit a revised emergency budget, explaining that you will continue to utilize Craig's List and the other things you are doing but with a % vacancy with a $oo,ooo.oo monthly short fall you need massive public awareness and all this sites combined will, repeatedly, put your apartments front of X amount of people.
Do not give anything away. No TV's, no free rent, nothing. I told prospects that, unlike most apartments complexes we didn't need to give anything away to acquire tenants. I also raised the rent 100 per month and offered a $50.00 per month discount to those 55 and older. $50.00 to active or retired military. $50 discount to those who signed 2 year lease.
Never complain to the company that it is their fault because they did not listen to you earlier. Keep every thing up beat. If they fire you, SUE for lost wages and harm to your professional reputation. Lay your ground work to succeed either way.