I was visiting a property a couple of days ago and once again I was confronted with a particular bugaboo for me- Entry doors.  You have all seen this: dented up doors, smudged and dull; finish flat with that ugly stipple left behind by lazy painters who painted the doors with a roller; numbers partially covered with various old door colors; the door trim painted the same color as the door; the siding around the door scuffed and dirty with wear;  and the ceiling painted in the tan color of the body because it’s easy for a painter just to run his sprayer up the wall and overhead.  It drives me absolutely crazy.

Your resident’s front door is the single most important item in your whole community.  It is where he shakes hands with you every time he grasps the doorknob and comes home.

Let’s face it, he rarely sees you, he drops off his check, calls.  When he has a problem he comes to see you- and you show real concern for him because you know how important it is to keep him happy.  But when you don’t see him, what is the message he is getting?

If his front door is like the one above, it tells him that this community is just like every lousy one he ever lived in- it says you don’t really care about him.  This is his home.  Would you have the front door of your home look like that?  Then why inflict it on your residents? 

If everything about his experience coming home tells him that you have really gone out of your way to make sure his home is beautiful, it will very quietly underline that message; you care about him.   This is the kind of subtle, subconscious messaging that will pay off for you when it time to renew his lease.  If he finds his life here pleasant, he

Will more than likely stay.  It is the same reason you fix his mechanical problems post haste.  It is the little things that make you money.

I regularly tell clients to at minimum wash the door, trim and surrounding siding after someone moves out.  If that doesn’t make it look fresh and clean, repaint it.  Here are some other tips for great presentation.

-                Paint the trim around the doors like the trim around the windows. Nice homes never have the door time painted the same color as the door.  Why should an apartment home be any different?

-                Always paint the front door in a high gloss finish.  The finish is tougher, cleans up better, and the color is richer and more dramatic.  Flat and satin finishes are lifeless and get dirty easier.  There are now latex high gloss paints  so the problem of slow drying is not a consideration any more.

-                Paint the front door a wonderful color.  Black is depressing, Beige even more so.  Happy, bright, convivial colors are tenant pleasers.

-                Paint the ceiling in a light color so that they reflect as much light as possible.  Light colors rise up and make people feel better.  Dark colors loom overhead and close down on you.  Also dark hallways particularly ones open to the outside feel scary, something you definitely don’t want your women residents to have to feel.

-                Replace the numerals if they are all gooped up with paint or throw them in some solvent and clean them if you can’t afford new numbers all around.

-                The same goes for the light fixtures.  Light fixtures don’t have to be fancy to look nice they just have to be clean.

-                Consider inexpensive brass plated kick plates on the door bottoms for a touch of class.

It doesn’t take much to reinforce the message to your residents that your staff is there to make their living experience a great one.  Coming home at your community can make them feel like living here is better than anywhere they have lived before.