Student Housing

In multifamily real estate when an investor has built momentum, they are extremely hard to compete against. Every broker and seller wants to do business with them. In this video we discuss The Law of The Big Mo as author John C Maxwell calls it in his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.    Below are THE 7 KEY FACTS ABOUT MOMENTUM from John Maxwell's book: 1. MOMENTUM IS THE GREAT EXAGGERATOR When deals are being brought to you, and you’re closing, and more investors continue to give you money, and management is managing well, momentum makes it look even better. In contrast when you can’t find deals, and nobody is bringing you any, and you’re in a dry spell for closing, and you can’t find equity, momentum makes you look even worse. 2. MOMENTUM MAKES LEADERS LOOK BETTER THAN THEY ARE The more deals you’re closing on, the more brokers and sellers are wanting to bring you deals. The world forgets about how long it took you to get there, all the bids you lost, a moment or two you had to retrade, etc. 3. MOMENTUM HELPS FOLLOWERS PERFORM BETTER THAN THEY ARE When you’re acquiring more deals, and they are being managed well, and rents are increasing, and your value add program is working, your staff becomes inspired to perform at their highest levels. It becomes contagious. 4. MOMENTUM IS EASIER TO STEER THAN TO START Momentum is hard to get started but all elite investors found out that once a......

"How much to charge for a parking space" is a common concern we hear on a frequent basis. A lot of communities, specifically in the multifamily industry, struggle with knowing how much and when to charge for parking due to the concern of negative response or backlash from residents. It is an unfortunate reality, that offering free parking at a community such as an apartment complex or shared condo parking lot can lead to numerous issues and even place a higher long-term cost on the local community itself. Overcrowded lots result in unhappy residents that spend additional time searching for parking; which is just one issue that can arise when there is no cost tied to parking a vehicle onsite. Parking Lot Supply and Demand Considering if a multifamily community or apartment complex has fewer spaces than it has units or is above the average of 1.88 vehicles owned per household (according to the U.S. Department of Transportation), the demand outweighs the supply causing a parking deficit. This results in parking problems such as residents wanting to park their vehicle close to their own home only to find out the space has been taken by a neighbor's guest who has been occupying the space for far too long. This can be managed effectively by pricing out permits based on the deficit. Every city has building codes which allocate a specific number of parking spaces per unit, however depending on the data that was used at the time of construction, this may......

More and more companies every day are switching to paperless parking solutions, whether it be a condo or HOA, multifamily complex, or a business center. Not surprising either, considering the many advantages. Here are just five ways you can benefit with paperless parking permits. Environmentally Friendly Everyone is concerned about the environment nowadays, and rightfully so. Reducing paper waste, reducing deforestation and pollution, etcetera. The worries and struggles of endlessly printing out paper and stickers for residents and their guests will be totally negated, contributing to the elimination of the paper waste. This change will make a substantial difference for every leasing and management office. Ease of Access & Use Not only can going paperless can earn you points for being more environmentally conscious, it will save you time from having to issue and re-issue parking permits over the span of a day. You won't have to keep your binder full of hang tags anymore. And, just think of the never-ending task to record and keep track of vehicles associated with those hang tags. The burdens associated with distributing physical parking permits are phased out once you switch to a paperless parking system. Especially when it comes to guest parking; residents and guests will now have 24/7 access to purchase their parking permits, allowing communities to maximize on ancillary revenue even when the office is closed. Resident Satisfaction Our quality of life can be greatly improved upon in the digital world. This no doubt includes paperless parking permits, where residents or......

During my years in the business, I have seen and weathered multiple downturns in our economy; though nothing has been quite like what we’ve all seen the last few weeks. The past downturns that I went through were financial related for the most part and took time to come together, this however, is a health crisis that is creating financial hardships, many of which are yet to be seen that may in turn be difficult to recover from.  If this is your first experience with an economic downturn, I believe you are about to witness an incredible comeback. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying this will happen overnight or even the next few months, this will take time and a maximum of effort. I have seen people sacrifice a lot over the last few weeks, strangers helping strangers do things they probably would have been less likely to have done before.  Times of crisis really show you who people are, and, in this crisis, I have seen a lot of support, creativity, generosity and kindness. If we maintain this mentality, we can all continue to work together and get most everyone back on track, building our businesses and our economy once again. I do believe that we as a country are realizing how important we are to one another. The people that we see daily on TV, social apps or movies are not the ones saving our country from devastation, it’s the people that normally run behind the scenes and j......

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with stay-at-home orders in 31 states and counting, an increased number of families are confined to their homes. During such times, the on-site property teams and resources are likely to be tested. Reviewers are complaining about the property teams not doing enough to combat Coronavirus or lack of accommodations by the management when it comes to rent payment. On the bright side, residents are quick to point out positive actions such as the “manager handing out pizza and sanitizers.”  As you work frenetically to manage this crisis and the effect it may have on your online reputation, how can you effectively respond to some of the criticism stemming from your property’s handling of Coronavirus in online reviews?  Here are some tips to respond to reviews around this fluid situation. Be empathetic: The situation today is an anomaly, and many people are extremely anxious. Be empathetic while reading and responding to reviews, and reassure residents that the management is making every effort to follow guidelines from trusted sources like the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionand the local, state and federal government to ensure the well-being of everyone connected to the community. It is critical to reflect sympathy and understanding particularly with complaints related to rent collection during this time of “economic vulnerability.” Monitor your reviews: Get your teams to diligently monitor reviews for any conversation related to this crisis. Nip any apprehensions and further gossip in the bud by reaching out to the resident directly ......

As you know the coronavirus (COVID 19) emergency has led to many companies and organizations mandating that their people work remotely, instead of coming into the office. In this post I'll detail several things that leaders can do to make sure that their remote teams: Are Competent (to do the jobs they need to) Are Consistent (in what they do) Are Connected (so they feel like they're part of the team) First Things First-Take Inventory The first thing to do if you have people working remotely is to take an inventory of your team. What I mean by this is you need to think about your individual's strengths and weaknesses relative to working remotely-then armed with this inventory you'll want to create an "action plan" for how you interact with each team member.  For example:  Some of your people are really social, and derive their energy from being around people. So, you may need to connect more with these folks (text, email, phone etc.) Some of your people work better when left alone. If you keep "connecting" with these folks, you may interrupt their work flow, and cause them to be be less efficient....and quite frankly bug the heck out of them. (=  Some people need lots of data, information, and details. You may have to, what I like to say, "Break things down to the ridiculous" up front for them, so you don't get endless text messages, phone calls, and emails with question after question after question.  Get the picture?......

 

Being a responsible pet owner is undoubtedly a yearlong objective. But that doesn’t mean pet owners can’t occasionally take inventory of just how well they’re doing on the accountability scale. February is Responsible Pet Owners Month, which creates a prime opportunity for community managers to encourage their residents to take part. Odds are your community is largely full of responsible pet owners, but even the most stellar of the bunch sometimes aren’t 100% compliant with your pet policies. One idea for property managers during Responsible Pet Owners Month is to pass along a quick checklist for residents that outlines and refreshes the necessary steps to be an ideal pet owner. Items on the list can include: Vaccinations  Sometimes animals are so healthy and vibrant that it’s easy to forget that their vaccinations are overdue. Many indoor cat owners opt not to vaccinate their cats because the rationale is, after all, they’re indoor cats. However, many states require core vaccines by law—such as rabies and distemper for dogs and calicivirus for cats—and all pet owners should be acutely aware when they are due. While regular veterinarians will offer reminders, it’s possible that many of your residents are transplants from a different part of the country and haven’t yet acquired a local vet. A simple vaccination reminder could make the difference in meeting the deadline and lead to healthier and safer pets. Proper registration Many communities have recently added a platform for residents to register their pets at the property. This ensures that all pets at the com......

Many apartment owners and operators may be leery of offering self-guided tours, but the data indicates prospects want and use them.  Intuitively, this makes sense. Self-service has become more and more a part of the consumer experience. Go into a fast-food restaurant and you can order and pay for your meal at a kiosk, and an employee will bring your food to you in a matter of minutes. You can order something on Amazon and it’s on your doorstep the next day. Increasingly, prospects want to experience an apartment community on their terms. Properties that don’t give prospects the option to self-tour risk alienating prospective renters and may find it difficult to convert leads into new residents. So, what’s the specific appeal of self-guided tours? Statistics point to a number of possibilities. Digging into the Numbers First off, data convincingly demonstrates the popularity of self-guided tours. According to an Anyone Home analysis of the 2018 leasing activity of all of its single-family-rental clients, 24.4 percent of all prospects booked a tour. Of those that booked a tour, 61.3 percent chose only a self-guided one, while 30.1 percent chose only a tour with an associate. The other 8.6 percent of prospects booked both tour types. Secondly, the numbers also show that prospects like to take self-guided tours during normal business hours. Another Anyone Home study of its single-family-rental clients shows that, during the latter portion of 2018, only 21.2 percent of prospects requested a self-guided tour outside of office hours, while the other......

In the past couple years, overall interest rates have risen several times in the United States. According to many experts, they are likely to finally stabilize in 2020. However, they have already risen sufficiently enough in 2018 and 2019, and we cannot be sure that the same won’t happen by the end of 2020, or especially the year after. With that in mind, the commercial real estate market needs to start preparing for a possible rise that can have significant effects.  But what are those effects? How does a rising interest rate affect the commercial real estate market? If you want to know the answers, you've come to the right place, as this article aims to give you all the information you need. Let's take a look. How Interest Rates Affect Real Estate Values For those who are unaware, interest rates, like the ones on Treasury bills and interbank exchanges, have a massive effect on the value of commercial real estate and all property, for that matter.  That’s because they influence the ability of people to buy property by increasing or decreasing mortgage capital costs. However, that’s only one part. Interest rates also affect capital flows, supply and demand, and much more. When all of that is considered, we can conclude that interest rates have a profound effect on the commercial real estate market in a wide variety of ways.  However, we are only interested in the higher interest rates and how they affect the commercial real estate market. And that is a ......