Topic: Has anyone else hit a dry leasing season?? Rents have gone up almost $600-700!

Has anyone else hit a dry leasing season??  In the Nashville area... any suggestions? The heat is on us... after an occupied renovations... rents have gone up almost $600-700! Prior residents are leaving... we have 38 vacantes to fill. Help!  

It’s so dry right now

We leased 30 units in last 45 days California isn’t dry

Celeste Norena same. I'm 100% occupied in San Jose with only one NTV.

Brandon Payton we are almost 100%

Brandon Payton what part of San Jose and what are your general rates? I have a prop on N Capitol and hardly any action

Nicole Schiestel actually in Campbell. $2300-$2700

Celeste Norena I'm surprised with so many people leaving California

Kathy Brown nope we have many coming in

Celeste Norena Very surprising!

Seems like things are slowing down and this business over the last few months any marketing ideas are certainly welcome to be sent my way lol

Invest in perq we do got 30 rentals last month, these peeps show up for appt becuz perq texted and emailed them after appt and prior to arrival best investment ever plus we have a look and lease too

Shane Spencer do you have a link? I am interested.

Irene Trejo I will look up our rep tmw at work and send it

Irene Trejo www.perq.com

Thank you.

Shane Spencer would love this info!

Kali Van Wagenen www.perq.com

I’m south of Nashville, I feel like most places aren’t renting like they used to, especially with rental increases. I feel like we’re going into a market where apartments are not as high of a demand as they used too be.

Alyssa Lucas I'm in Murfreesboro. We are excited to be at 92%. We used to stay at 100%

Alyssa Lucas I agree!

Time to revisit those rent hikes!

Hell. I’m in a suburb of Charlotte, NC. For the past year I’ve been 97-98% occupied and 97-98% preleased. I’m now occupied at 95% and trending out 92% over 60 days. No leases or traffic in sight even after doing tons of outreach marketing and specials.

A quick reduction of price on stale units (or a loss leader) and offering an incentive for urgency. Lease and move in by February 15 for $500 gift card, for example. Don’t hit your rent numbers if you can offer an incentive rather than making large decreases in rates.

I’m a regional in the Nashville area and it’s been a slow January. But you can’t increase like you could a year ago. Reset your renewal prices. You can regenerate the next few month 3-5% and call back notices for these new rates.

Houston, yes!

Hi! In property management for last 10 years. Renting season is around the corner. We are in IL but are slower every year around this time. At the end of March we start to see more quality and quantity of renters come around! We say “March 27th magic”. Renting season May-Sept is best time to rent. We try to plan our lease expirations to mostly those months. I would special promo a few of the units to get them off the books and wait for the season to come. Hope this helps!

My property now has new owners-they have given non-renewals and steep increases and are now seeing a huge increase in upcoming vacancies. They shake their heads and wonder why. Why? People's incomes haven't gone up and if they have it is minimal. There are not many people who can afford $500-$700 increases. You do not need a masters degree to figure that out. Hell I can't even afford to live where I work.

Donna Henrickson this!!!!!! Sad when your managers cannot even afford it!

It’s not dry, you’re just fishing in the wrong area. You’re current marketing isn’t reaching people.If you’re not getting traffic, go find it. Universities, major employers, large employment centers.

Your rents probably went too high

Several: 1. Look at your ad words try and focus on one floor plan at a time so if you’re 1 bedroom heavy put marketing money into creating more direction towards ad words. 2. Increase resident referrals 3. Do fun concessions 4. Social media—-> do TikTok’s 5. Walk your comps, do a market survey figure out what’s going on in the area and what everyone is doing to combat it. 6. Find fun events and do giveaways (we have spring training etc so we used to give away tickets if they moved in by a certain day as an example). 7. Maybe do some before and after videos and post those so people can see the value and upgrades that were done. 8. Get local…. Go to your nearby shops and cute walkable area and video those and post them as a perk to living at your community. 9. Sometimes it’s not always about cost it’s about being customer service driven, fun, and most of all accommodating to the prospects. See the value and show them why living there makes the most sense!

Oh and on #8 maybe do a perk program with those businesses exclusive with your residents only. That’s always fun!

Ashley Heffner preferred employer type programs got weird for us with fair housing and source of income recently becoming a protected class in Colorado. It has always been a great traffic source for me though.

Ashley Heffner can you give me an example?

Carletta Richardson-Cheeseboro sure. I went around to the local areas and if it was a gym they offered our residents 10% off. If it was a car wash they got one free car wash a month. The sushi place did 5% off total bill on Mondays. nail place did 10% off services. So in return we would do shout outs on social media for them and put on their our resident exclusive deals. So it was a PERK program for being our resident.

Ashley Heffner yes love it!!!!

Effortless Ads can help. Affordable, flexible, no contracts. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

What I have seen , the " newly renovation "price increase is not backed by real renovations , it's more paint and appliances. People are not willing to give have their monthly income for a gallon of paint and a slapped in fridge. Really update ! Or put the prices to match the unit . You wouldn't have vacancies.

Central Indiana...just trying to find decent tenants that actually pay their bills. Have apartments at a decent price, but the quality of the applicants is really poor.

Same situation at my property in Arkansas.

Yeah, going through it in Palm Springs CA. Have you tried increasing referral bonus? We're doing email blasts, offering transfers with waived deposits- Anything we can think of.... I don't know if your company has this or will be open to it or not but we also work with a bond company called 'RHINO' which will basically cover deposits for people so they don't have to pay the deposit up front. Check it out! It's helped a lot of people move who wouldn't be able to afford it due to higher deposits

What kind of renovation? New counters? Recessed lighting? Something other than paint and a stainless steel fridge? What justifies raising rents that much when incomes haven’t raised by the same percentage?

Brian Moore we have granite countertops, new white modern cabinets, wood flooring, new marble showers and rainfall shower head….. stainless steel appliances…. We have literally done a complete overhaul.

Carletta Richardson-Cheeseboro sounds like too much Reno for your market. More people who get increased rates of this magnitude rent houses and don’t have to worry about their prior neighbors being a wall away.

Bob Miller yes!!!

Happens every year around this time… people overspend for the holidays, are filing taxes, and making their plans. Let those tax returns start rolling in and the dam will break. Also, if you’re concerned about the rate increases, check your market. If you’re not overpriced, don’t worry about it.

G5 AI driven marketing technology can automatically reallocate spend to the highest converting channels. No wasted time on unqualified leads and more leases at a lower cost.

It’s super slow right now for sure

Start watching Matt Eastons closing videos on YouTube. Your ownership will blame leasing for being unable to close. Practice practice practice

Customer services and your people are both equal and the key to a properties success. Walk your property and vacant units daily/weekly and make sure it’s immaculate. This is the one thing I notice as a regional that so many managers seem to overlook and I just don’t get it. You can renovate and expect people to want to live there but if your property isn’t immaculate, it’s not going to happen or it will happen eventually but at a very slow pace and with less desirable residents. Make sure your maintenance team is covering all areas of the property… they too need guidance so get out and walk with them if you aren’t. ALWAYS check the checker. These 3 pieces are the absolute most important. Chances are your client already vetted out the market to make sure they could get the increased rents so don’t panic about higher rents… sell the dream to your prospects. Make sure you’ve combed through your ILS’s and see they all reflect the correct pricing, phone numbers are all ringing to your property. Make sure website is functioning properly. Dig into your lead tracking system, are follow ups happening? Have you listened to your team members calls to make sure there aren’t learning opportunities here? These are ALL things I look at when leasing has slowed and of the time it’s one of the above; or multiple that is being missed and that is why there isn’t leasing. It’s SO easy for people to say we just aren’t getting the traffic. Thousands of dollars are spent on marketing to bring in the leads but more times than not it’s the basics we have to get back to in this business in order for a property to be successful. Customer Service, the upkeep of your property and your people are the 3 key components to a properties success. Good luck!

Christine Heffran girl! I am moving to a smaller property….. found that out today! Have not had stable staff since employed. 6 people have quit due to the complicated dynamics we have been dealing with. Occupied renovations are a beast. I am going to a smaller property…… but all is well. When removed, they will clearly see it was never me. I am managing a property….. l was never allowed to “manage”. I am dusting myself off….. the tears are dried…… and l am okay with understanding the things l have no control over.

Carletta Richardson-Cheeseboro there is always a reason and purpose for the things that happen in life - right?! Stay positive and keep the basics of property management in play. Staffing is so tough nowadays. Sorry to hear how hard it’s been but happy you will be in a better place

It's no longer fun to be in our business

Make sure you have a good online reputation! When you Google search “best apartments in….(fill in your city” pay attention those communities that are listed towards the top, and are not paid ads. Those are your higher Google scored communities. Be them! If you’re not, get yourself on a tool that will help!

Usually winter months in Colorado are typically pretty slow, picking up March through September. We're exceptionally busy right now, but primarily due to a price reduction. Have you considered where you're advertising? Maybe bump your ILS package to the next level?

Crosby,

Any rough estimate of how much they cost? Thank you!