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The multifamily industry is at a crossroads. As legal, technological, and market pressures converge, the future of revenue management demands new ways of thinking. This was the focus of a recent episode of Multifamily Matters, where Paul Marks hosted Donald Davidoff, REBA CEO and Brad Schell, REBA Head of Pricing & Services. Together, they unpacked how the industry’s revenue strategies have evolved and what lies ahead for operators na ...

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Gone are the days when leasing an apartment felt like running a marathon—one that could leave even the most dedicated teams gasping for air! With a ton of tasks from fielding inquiries to juggling tours and wrangling applications, leasing pros often find themselves in a whirlwind. But fear not! AI workflow automation is here to sprinkle some magic on the leasing game, turning chaos into calm.Zooming Through the Lead-to-Lease AdventureAI tools are ...

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The multifamily industry continues to evolve, driven by exciting technological advancements that are, in part, a response to shifting resident expectations. As we look ahead to 2025, several key trends are set to shape the landscape, offering property managers valuable opportunities to enhance efficiency further, strengthen security, and improve resident satisfaction.Here, we round up the top five technology trends we expect to see this year in t ...

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Color theory plays a significant role in your apartment brand's overall identity. It impacts how your prospects, residents, and anyone else who interacts with your brand perceive it. By leveraging accent colors, you can extend your branding guidelines and create a lasting impression.If you've already established a color palette, adding new colors might feel challenging or risky. But don't worry—we're here to guide you through choosing complementa ...

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What's everyone getting for swag this year? There is so much out there.

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Guest Insider What do you mean swag?

Guest Insider Julie Miller give aways with your company branding.

Debra Cooper Stepp Trending 2nd:
Custom Shaped Mints
www.cooperstepp.com/product-page/custom-shaped-min…

Guest Insider Liquor might be a choice. Gonna be a long year! 😏

Debra Cooper Stepp #1 Can Cooler
Fits cans, Bottle’s & Pint Glasses
Double walled : Notice the finished top edge, not raw exposed foam?
www.cooperstepp.com/produ.../double-wall-can-coole…

Guest Insider Koozies, cups, stickers, shirts, Keychain, pens, and bags

Mya Estrada My favorite swag from anywhere is a tote bag! You'd be surprised how many things I've subscribed to or bought just to get the tote that comes with it...

Jennifer Carter Love to know what people like

Guest Insider I personally like journals and nicer pens.

Amanda Hill I honestly like a good pen.

Chrissie Rivers If you have a great pool, a beach towel and sunglasses are an awesome move in gift and they look fantastic in pictures

Liz Clement I did koozies, lotto scratchers and tumblers

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Good morning wonderful professionals, I hope everyone is well. The recent US existing home data is out.

U.S. existing home sales fell to 4.06 million in 2024, the lowest level since 1995.

For context, the U.S. population was about 70 million smaller in 1995; 266 people million then and 335 people million now.

This marks the third consecutive year of declining home sales, a trend last seen during the 2006 housing market crash and the recessions... Show more

Chelsea Kneeland Good info to have Duriel Taylor!

Duriel Taylor Chelsea Kneeland thank you for the feedback.

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How are you tracking washer and dryer rentals? We have some tenants who bring their own in and we are constantly moving machines around. Currently, we have numbered each machine and have it on a spreadsheet and also numbered as a Rentable Item in Rent Cafe. Just wondering if there are better options .

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Guest Insider Leave them and don't make it optional

Josh McKibben I understand the ease for the tenant with that policy, but we offer a different approach to our tenants. Basically, we are full service. We’ll paint to your specs, change out fixtures, appliances etc. it all comes with a cost of course, but it’s what we are doing.

Leah Love Inside your PM system’s inventory.

Guest Insider Besides the spreadsheet for the ones owned by the company, make one for the ones residents are bringing in. Have the resident bringing in a machine sign a form that they have their own and maintenance will not service those machines/issues related to the maintenance and operations of those machines etc.

Chelsea Kneeland This used to be such a headache for me! Looking forward to seeing the responses here.

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When a prospective renter visits your leasing office, it's common practice to check their identification. This typically involves visually inspecting their driver's license or government-issued ID to ensure it looks real. But is this enough?The answer is no. Simply checking an ID might catch obvious forgeries, but it won't confirm the ID's authenticity or whether it belongs to the person presenting it. That's where ID screening comes in—a more re ...

Dave Holland

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Best advice or tips for transitioning from Assistant Property Manager to Property Manager? Class A property, 5 years old, 316 units, garden style.

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Megan Goodmundson Take in and seek out as much training and education in people management. Being successful will depend on people leadership and mgmt skills and not necessarily your knowledge and skill of actual property mgmt.
Learn finance and accounting. Go to YouTube and search for property management financial courses. Grace hill used to have a good basic webinar called property mgmt financials or something like that.
Learn excel.
Learn to delegate. Make sure each person knows their role and expectations and timeframes/ deadlines. Help them come up with a routine schedule that works.
Always be looking ahead. What is due at end of week, later in month, how does today affect next month and two months out etc
Get out of the office every day. Walk property, buildings, halls, closed mgmt spaces (elec rooms storage etc)
Ask your regional/portfolio mgr what are the top goals and objectives you and your staff can strive for. ( its not always about highest income) also ask that person how/ what is best... Show more

Take in and seek out as much training and education in people management. Being successful will depend on people leadership and mgmt skills and not necessarily your knowledge and skill of actual property mgmt.
Learn finance and accounting. Go to YouTube and search for property management financial courses. Grace hill used to have a good basic webinar called property mgmt financials or something like that.
Learn excel.
Learn to delegate. Make sure each person knows their role and expectations and timeframes/ deadlines. Help them come up with a routine schedule that works.
Always be looking ahead. What is due at end of week, later in month, how does today affect next month and two months out etc
Get out of the office every day. Walk property, buildings, halls, closed mgmt spaces (elec rooms storage etc)
Ask your regional/portfolio mgr what are the top goals and objectives you and your staff can strive for. ( its not always about highest income) also ask that person how/ what is best way to communicate. Find the line where they want you to make decisions yourself and where/ when They want you to loop them in for decision making.

Rhonda Bryant Agree with so many things that Megan Goodmundson said. In addition:
When the manager is off, take care of resident issues as they arise to ensure the property continues to run smoothly so the ball isn't dropped and they don't have to come back to a desk full of problems. Make notes to let the manager know.
Take on a project or look for problems within your community and come up with a plan to resolve. Volunteer to get bids, send letters, put in maintenance requests etc. Offer to update the SDS book, help maintenance organize the shop, walk riser rooms.
Look for ways to increase Occupancy, save NTVs, walk make-readies and spiff show units, set leasing goals for the team (follow up, renewals, leases) and help keep the team motivated during the week with emails, small celebrations, team meetings.
In TX we have the Redbook, read it.

Suan Tinsley Respect and listen to your staff and lead by example. Best of luck and congratulations!

Donje Putnam www.multifamilyinsiders.com/multifamily-blogs/5-ti…

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Hey everyone! I have a general question about organic traffic from social media. How is social media handled by your company? If the on-site team is in charge, which team member does it? Is there an approval process? Do you have a designated marketing team for it? Let me know!
I'm a new marketing assistant with zero background in marketing and everyone I've talked to says it's the on-site team's job to create and post content regularly, but... Show more

Brent Williams

Brooke Frederickson "it's the on-site team's job to create and post content regularly, but marketing teams post the lead generating posts." This is generally how we do it also. Your website isn't where you'll post things like resident events, but those are great for social media. If I'm searching for a place to live, social media is one of the things that I'm checking out as part of that process. You want to show the things that might be unique about living in your community. You want to show things like happy smiling residents at events. That's what we need the on-site team to be posting for - to be posting about the things that make their community unique. If your post only gets a small number of views, but those views are all current or prospective residents, then you've hit your audience. I don't worry too much about views, my question is always 'what are they seeing if they go to your page? How are your posts promoting your community?' We don't have an approval process for posts, but I do check... Show more

"it's the on-site team's job to create and post content regularly, but marketing teams post the lead generating posts." This is generally how we do it also. Your website isn't where you'll post things like resident events, but those are great for social media. If I'm searching for a place to live, social media is one of the things that I'm checking out as part of that process. You want to show the things that might be unique about living in your community. You want to show things like happy smiling residents at events. That's what we need the on-site team to be posting for - to be posting about the things that make their community unique. If your post only gets a small number of views, but those views are all current or prospective residents, then you've hit your audience. I don't worry too much about views, my question is always 'what are they seeing if they go to your page? How are your posts promoting your community?' We don't have an approval process for posts, but I do check posts for spelling errors and also give coaching on areas where posts could be improved for next time.

Brent Williams Brooke Frederickson Really like this. And to add, I think providing a series of example posts to the on-site teams is probably helpful. Not everybody has an "eye" for what makes a good picture/post, but they can often mimic and example.

Brooke Frederickson Brent Williams completely agree about examples - I send out a weekly 'ideas' email to my own site teams and use screenshots trying to demonstrate 'do this and not that.'

Anonymous member Thank you everyone for your comments!!! For those who request content from on-site teams but edit and post, what process do you do for this? Do you send prompts, specific requests, or do they just send you pictures and videos regularly? Or do you travel on site to make the content yourself?

Guest Insider It’s a lot to ask on site staff to also be digital marketing experts.
We have a lot of management companies that hire us to do this for them & typically the PM or RM approve our posts.
My primary advice is to focus on FB & IG but also see what is big in your market. FB/IG are standards that everyone expects you to be present on but if TikTok is HUGE in your market, then you may want to focus there first. Create content for one platform & repost across platforms.
On site made content is the most important. But having a marketing expert take that content & utilize it properly is the most important part of it.
Would love to chat more if you want to book a call! No sales, just brainstorming!
www.theimpactagency.ai

Brooke Nuber-Soldate On site has the content access so they do organic. Marketing does paid.

Karen Kossow We take a 2-pronged approach. Our properties are responsible for 5 posts per week with 2 monthly deadlines (the 25th for content for the first half of the next month and the 5th for the remaining content) for content to be entered into SOCi. We will take "place holders" for things like resident event recap posts. These posts are supposed to be local/relevant posts with half being property-centric in some way. Marketing then reviews/approves, etc. these posts.
Marketing then also does 1 post per day per property. These are more curated- outside of Testimonial Tuesday posts which are property specific, most of these are the same post for all properties and tend to be more DC Metro centric rotating around the areas where we have properties. Things like Restaurants We Love or Happy Hour Highlights. The Metro region is small enough that, even if people normally stay in their neighborhood, they will check out restaurants (etc.) in other locations.

Leah Love I’ve used programs like Hey Orka that lets multiple people approve and collaborate. I do believe Canva now offers this as well.
I was THE marketing department for many years so feel free to ask me any questions. Grab some ideas from my IG too: www.Instagram.com/LeasingLeah (I don’t sell anything.)

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Give it to me….the good, the bad, the ugly with valet trash. My community is signing up with Valet Living and I’m curious of everyone’s experience and opinions on the added amenity. Thanks!

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Guest Insider I don’t personally like it… it’s an additional admin burden to enforce and a common resident complaint is they’d rather take out their own trash, but it’s a mandatory fee for everyone so they have to use it. Depending on a residents schedule some may not even benefit if they can’t put trash out during the pick up times.
I’m happier without it from an on site perspective

Jessica Romero I live in a building that runs the program really well. It’s multiple 4 story buildings with two staircases and 1 elevator per building.
I get monthly emails reminding us of rules. We get text alerts on holiday schedule changes reminding us not to set out trash can.
The program runs well. I don’t see cans out during non service hours. My hallway is clean.
The trash compactor isn’t super close to my apartment so I don’t mind the service fee.

Guest Insider Residents don’t follow the rules, but Valet Living actually hosts an open house with light food for the residents and the “complainers” attended. They were feeling better about the service after that.

Anita Alberger I loved having Valet Trash as a resident. As a manager you have to manage it like anything else. If someone left trash out they got a fine in my building
Set the rules and execute them
Valet also has the best of the best people! They are a very good company
SOLID 💚

Guest Insider Check and see if you can have the valet living app included in your agreement. It doesn’t solve everything but it does help you hold the resident accountable with them signing up for the app and reporting service issues through it directly to Valet Living. I live onsite personally and I have the all push notifications on so it lets me know when to put trash out, when trash has started, and when its last call which they can report if there were missed at that time.

Guest Insider Cool concept if they actually had a trash buggie to roll around that climbed stairs or whatever to eliminate trash juice. But they dont. Trash juice all up in the breezeways/hallways. Bugs. Odor from trash. Trash violations that SHOULDNT be violations OR someone should be violated but isnt. We had one lady come in saying she got a violation for her trash being too light. TOO LIGHT?!?! EXCUUUSE ME?!

Gerry Hunt My experience with them as a resident has been good.

Guest Insider Hate Valet Living and their team! I used them for 4 years and ended up having to get out of the contract and now using a new company that I love. VL would do what’s called “staging” which means one guy would gather the trash and leave it on the ground in a pile in front of the buildings. Another guy is supposed to ride by and pick it up BUT they forgot every single night which left huge piles of trash all around my community. Then a lot of residents would complain that their trash was missed. Upper management would sound concerned but never followed up and fixed the problem. They attempted to have one last meeting with me and I was then able to vent and tell them how I felt about their service. It was HORRIBLE!!!! Don’t use Valet Living.

Guest Insider Both properties I’ve dealt with it on has been a nightmare. Made our breezeways trashy, more work for us with violations, horrible. Don’t get me started on the animals, no matter the little time the trash is out. But… properties with indoor breezeways and elevators… much better experiences.

Jason Mallette I'd like to hear the good and bad of this too, as my property is also considering this service

Allie Gartside Yes as a resident and pm professional, I don’t like it.
You can’t opt out. Residents miss trash pick up. Trash sits in halls and stinks and stains.
Issues with the valet saying they came but didn’t.
I don’t have the time to be Amazon, to be trash valet etc. It just adds to my already busy list.
Again for me as a resident, I’d rather take my trash out myself and save $25 a month.

Harold West Valet trash by any company, you’re going to have issues, not one is perfect. You have to manage your resident and the vendor about the same amount of time. The vendor issues I’ve dealt with are lack of reliable staff, therefore creating thorough pick up issues and weather issues, when they should not be issues.

Vicki Johnston Let me say I wish the admins of the group wouldn't let anonymous posters speak badly about companies. If you've had a bad experience or you're really just wanting feedback, then as professionals we should all be able to speak freely and show our faces. With valet trash, I've had a bad experience with a company I won't name here and Valet Living fortunately got me out of a very bad situation. Valet Living has been a good partner not only with the trash but helping me with events, they have an app that communicates directly with my residents, and I have local people to reach out to. It's also the PM's responsibility to ensure the residents follow the times, etc. This is a nice amenity to offer and a great income. If it's ran correctly with a good partner, should not be a headache or additional work for the community team.

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Valentine's Day?Snooze. It's been done to death. How many chalky conversation hearts does one actually need? (Zero. The answer is zero.)Galentine's Day, though? Sign me up!The holiday, which takes place the day before Valentine's Day, celebrates friendships, and female friends in particular. It was created on the show Parks and Recreation, and has taken the real world by storm. Not since Festivus has a TV show-created celebration captured the pub ...

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Why are leasing agents incentivized to acquire new renters but not to keep existing ones? I’ve never really understood this strategy from an operator perspective.
Also, why are existing residents not offered similar concessions to renew leases as new residents are to move in?
Would love insight here.

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Kelli Lea I have an owner that actually increased the renewal bonus higher than the new lease bonus because of exactly this discussion ($300 per renewal split amongst the entire team). You save on vacancy as well as turn cost so it’s a no-brainer.
For those of us that have been in the industry for years, you’d never think concessions on a renewal however, if you have someone paying above any market rate that you’ve been able to achieve recently, then it makes complete sense to offer a concession to stay and also make them feel valued.

Robert Tinning If we’re being honest, leasing success is due in large part to the sales team, renewals in large part to the maintenance team

Guest Insider You are not crazy and this is exactly how I drive the bus on our props after we stabilize on our assets. Pay more in renewals than leases as the commission is easier on financials than vacancy, turn cost, etc. We also offer concessions to renewals so that it drives down the concessions on the new leases or review lease trade outs vs concessions if we adjust the resident to stay.

Guest Insider You keep current residents with great maintenance and customer service. Retention is key.

Megan Goodmundson All staff members should be part of a renewal bonus incentive.
Much or the time new move in lease rents are often much higher than renewal rents . So guving a concession for someone to renew may not make much sense to an owner who can spend a little money to turn and release at a higher rate. However there is more to this complex equation as sometimes it takes several thousand to flip or even have vacancy.
Renewals are complex and should not be handled nonchalantly. There should be a lot of training and sales skill put into the art kf the renewal strategy. Which js why many large companies are centralizing this function in an effort to retain as best as possible for the maximum amount that works.

Beth Stolts As a regional, I did this years ago. No concession for new move ins and renewal bonuses for renewals. Took them to market rent but gave them a set amount as renewal bonus upfront to use as they wanted throughout their new lease term. It rewards your current resident in good standing…they will likely renew and you are saving the cost to turn the unit. Never made sense to me to give a concession to a new resident who you don’t have an established relationship with and you really don’t know if they will be a good resident or not. As a result of making thus change, we had consistently higher occupancy rates than our competition and we saved on expenses. Win/win!

Suan Tinsley Do you all split renewal commissions? We have always carefully evaluated renewal rates because residents go on line to see current market rates.

Jessica Rushton Some companies do offer renewal incentives, it’s may not be as much as a new resident will receive, but it’s something. In my experience though, it’s typically because they already received a special when they first moved in. Usually.
And retention rates are usually budgeted at about 50%.
Our company offers renewal commissions that are then split between the staff, so there is some incentive for the leasing staff.

Guest Insider Some companies offer LR bonuses which are more than new lease bonuses as it should be.

Kelsey Ball We have a renewal incentive bonus structure that we implemented. The bonus is split with the team and the higher the renewal percentage each month, the higher the bonus is.
We also will offer renewal incentives to tenants on a property need or case by case basis. The incentive depends on how well the property is doing and how bad renewals are needed. We do anything from a Costco membership with a shopping gift card or a carpet clean and apartment clean, sometimes even $300-$500 off rent if they sign a renewal by a certain time!

Charity Zierten If I lived in an apartment community, I would have to move every single year. I would have to move in order to keep up with the rent increases. Of course, this applies to rental houses as well. The increase in rent every year is just too much for someone on a fixed income.

Guest Insider concessions to everyone. Average renewal rate will be 50 percent. You can increase that and lower turnover by providing excellent service, a convenient experience, and a well maintained product. Owners need to raise market rents continuously to make the numbers look good for the mortgage company and their investors. They also need to show that they can sell the property for a profit if needed. If they give concessions to everyone, they just can’t make the numbers. It’s all a numbers game. All staff should be giving excellent service and should have a role in maintaining customer satisfaction- so it would make sense that renewal bonuses get split among the entire staff.

Chris Finetto Because that’s the way they’ve always done it. But you’re right. Renewals should be rewarded! But only if you get a decent rent increase.
General rule, shave off your bottom 10% every year. Your lowest rents by unit type, etc. Some folks just gotta go, or pay up.
It’s not an easy job.

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🌟 A Heartfelt Shoutout to All Vendors 🌟
I want to take a moment to express my deep appreciation for each and every one of you. Your hard work truly makes a difference, and I want you to know that you matter—immensely. Together, we ensure that properties run smoothly, and it’s thanks to the dedication of landscaping teams, gate system specialists, painters, cleaners, staffing professionals, electricians, plumbers, fire protection experts,... Show more

Brent Williams, Laura Bruyere and 1 other

Guest Insider Love this. And can we please start calling them 'partners'? Because that is what they are and what they do.

Fernando Ramos Lisa Trosien that’s only used in the multifamily industry. We do business with other trades and we are called vendors anywhere but MF.

Leah Love And hazmat cleaners. 😌

Mya Estrada Love this post! Such a kind message.

Brent Williams Pinned!

Laura Bruyere Such a wonderful post and as a vendor, very much appreciated!!

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