Community Re-Brand

 For B or lower Communities, being brought up to A Communities.  This will only include full rehabilitation of the interiors, exteriors, and amenities (as needed). The entire process is a combined effort of a strong market strategist and operations staff.

Plan:

The very first step that must be taken for the re-branding of a community is the market research and understanding of the existing and extended market.  Figure out your market, so that you can figure out what your product needs to look like to capture them.

This is done through the understanding of the size capacity of your existing homes, 20 mile demographic (schools, businesses), and existing residents.  Your market research must be done before your plan can even be executed, as every step, every dollar spent, should be formulated around this research.  You need to know WHO the existing market is in the area that your community is, and WHO of that market do you wish to capture most (aka your Extended Market).  You must know their average income levels, household income levels, the jobs held, crime rates, etc.  This information (and much more) will give you a realistic expectation of your customer, while also helping you to understand how to create the perfect product for the Extended Market.  You must know your current residents to know those which will work for your community as well.  As there will be plenty of valuable information right outside your door.

As soon as you have decided on your set market, designate your amenities around the market that you wish to capture. Understand the lifestyle that which they live, or desire to live, and create it.  When an apartment community is focusing on Seniors, they base their community and amenities on a Senior Lifestyle, same as Students.  Each market has a lifestyle, those aren't the other two.  An excellent Market Strategist knows this, and will deliver the information and plan to you.  You then can create your financials for your Cap dollars around it.

Establish the exact style of home that will work for the same market.  Understanding your pricing limits is necessary as well.  Do not create a beautiful product that will force you to mark the monthly rent up outside of your markets reach in order to cover the cost of your rehab.  If need be, do multiple tiers of rehabs, full and partial to have multiple prices. That way is there is a small portion of your Extended Market that can afford a more expensive style, you don't lose them to the community down the road. 

Establish your staff, and have a trustworthy Project Manager onsite.  Ensure that the community staff is best fit for this task.  Incredible customer service is needed every step of the way, as no project runs perfectly, something always gets delivered late, and you need to be confident that the people in place and handle each situation beautifully.  A community manager with previous rehab experience is the best option, as they can see some things coming before anyone else, and know what to expect.

Take a look at your marketing collateral, most likely if you purchased this community, it was all the intellectual property of the previous management co. and therefore must be rehabbed as well.  This will include brochures, website, and most likely the logo and signage.  Base the new designs off of the information received from your market research and ensure that it is geared towards your market in all ways, i.e. color scheme, stock photos, copy write descriptions, etc.

Execution:

Once you have your plan established, and in place, its time to execute it. 

Hire a graphic designer if you don’t have one on staff to begin the work on your collateral, your prospects will not halt while you re-brand your product, so at least have something in the works that will represent what you are working on to give them (once complete).

ORDER YOUR PARTS IN ADVANCE.  This means if your are rehabbing your homes at the time of each move out, and your residents are required a 30 or 60 day notice to vacate, you should be handing them a letter at the time the notice is received that very kindly explains that there will be a pre-move out inspection scheduled for them, now that they have given notice.  Inform them that they will be given 24 hour advance notice before entry.  At that time your staff can take the necessary vendors into each apartment, measurements can be made, and the order can be placed in advance.  This makes it possible for the rehab to begin as soon as the keys are turned into the office, meaning less vacancy days, and less money lost due to the turn.

“Clean House” as needed.  Re-qualify every resident at the time of renewal based on your new guidelines.  If your diamond in the rough is in a high crime area, you need to eliminate the possibility of neighbor against neighbor crime as much as possible.

Begin your easy amenities first.  The fastest and easiest to build begin right away.  The sooner you can begin letting your leasing staff sell your amenities the better.  Remember that in our business, whats on the outside DOES count.  You are here to create an image, you have to pepper as much of that image into that sales path as possible until the full project is complete.  Planning to repaint your exteriors?  Do it right away.  Very few people will rent a gorgeous apartment if they have to drive through a hideous community to get to it.  Get your grounds clean. Planning a full clubhouse remodel?  Make sure while you are waiting that it is clean, clutter free, and has some inexpensive upgrades in the process.  Add a coffee station before the remodel if you plan to add one later.  If there are printed signs of the Fair Housing Laws, have a better looking one made in a better frame.  Freshen the place up while you wait.  That is one of the first impressions your prospect will have.

Get your model done.  Make it come to life.  Your model should be a full expression of the lifestyle that which your new market wishes to live. A few pieces of rented furniture does not make the cut.  That just looks like a hotel room. I'll stress it again, MAKE IT COME TO LIFE.  You are selling a lifestyle.  

Understand that until your product is complete, you will not be able to pull in the rent that you want.  But you will quickly enough.  This is why you do as much as possible all at once and have a plan.  Look at it as if you were the renter.  Even if the interior of a house if everything that you could possibly have ever dreamed of, if the outside is bad, the neighbors are bad, and there is someone down the road offering the same house, but with the two latter already are great, you are aren’t going to pay the same price for the former.  Just because you remodeled your apartment interior doesn’t mean that you product is the same as the A+ community down the road with everything complete.  But, you will be soon if you plan and execute correctly.  And you can get more than that community once you are complete, because you now have a newer product than they do.  Plan your pricing accordingly.  Plan your occupancy realistically.  If executed properly your first year can be stable, and your second can be bliss.

Upon the completion of your marketing collateral, a couple of amenities, your model, and when your clubhouse is presentable, send your people out to market to your extended market.  Market to their lifestyle.  (See Extending to your Extended Market)  This completes the process, as now your new brand is bring put out there, being spread by word of mouth, and proper marketing/advertising.  Ensure that your Ads are perfect, they utilize key word optimization, paint a picture in the minds eye, and show photos of all of the new and exciting lifestyle amenity options your amazing new community is now offering.  

You are now a stones throw away from completion.  The new Brand is in place, word will spread, and by the time the full product is complete, no one will remember the old one.