The other day—a Friday night, to be exact—my roommate said she didn’t understand why we never met single guys.

“I really don’t get it,” I said to her, sitting on the couch in an oversized t-shirt, scrolling through the TV’s On Demand menu so I could watch Maria Menounos and Derek Hough’s rumba (for the third time) on “Dancing With the Stars.” “Hey, do you mind if I open a can of tuna?”

Our program was inspired by “The Five” on the Fox News Channel.  That show features a roundtable ensemble of five personalities who “discuss, debate and at times debunk the hot news stories, controversies and issues of the day”.  And that is plan of the Fair Housing 5 – to discuss, debate and debunk what you may have heard about as relates to fair housing.

You’re about to start hearing a lot about this year’s winners of our PARAGON, Apartment Career and Education (ACE) and Anthony Pusateri Career Promotion awards. We’ll honor all of them at our NAA Education Conference and Exposition in June. In the meantime, I’d like to let you know about an innovative program being done by the Arizona Multihousing Association (AMA) to introduce job seekers to our industry. AMA is being recognized with a Pusateri Award for its October job fair.

Craigslist is certainly not a new marketing tool for rental property managers; it's been around for quite some time, though with a growing popularity in its presence as a host for local properties, more and more property managers are utilizing this free tool (aside from brokered apartment listings in NYC).

As property management professionals, it can be easy to forget that our leaseholders come from a variety of backgrounds and nationalities. Our typical demographic has changed greatly over the course of the last generation. In North Carolina the state population has increased by 18.5% since 2000, far greater than the equivalent national rise of 9.7%.

We’ve all seen the headlines about the strength of the rental market and how more people are choosing to live in an apartment than buying a home. It seems that every week a developer announces construction of a new apartment community or investment in multifamily housing. Some experts estimate that our industry will grow by 20 to 25 percent in the coming years. The impact on apartment industry careers is undeniable.

A few weeks before my 12th birthday, my Uncle Mark called me.

 

“If you could go anywhere in the world for your birthday, where would it be?” he asked.

 

“Hawaii!”

 

“Uhh…pick another place.”

 

I thought for a second before the obvious came to mind—Disney World!

I don’t shop often, but when I do, I buy in bulk. The 23 pudding cups and seven tubes of Aquafresh still in my closet—compliments of a shopping spree at Costco—are a testament to this.

So when a guy came into the office last year to talk about self-defense—and, of course, to peddle safety-related products—I thought ‘why not add some pepper spray to the mix?!’

I was looking through someone’s Facebook album the other day and came across 17 identical pictures of a flower.

Enraged by picture six, I wanted to contact this acquaintance and politely explain that I have absolutely no interest in seeing a daisy they found on the side of the road one time, let alone 17.

Current demand for apartment buildings in the U.S. is booming, in contrast to the homeownership rate, which is stagnating at its lowest level since 1998. Linked to this, government-sponsored mortgage companies are providing record levels of financing for apartment properties.

You’re probably already familiar with our CAM, CAMT, NALP, CAS, IROP and CAPS designations. Each provides a great way to build on your industry knowledge and to demonstrate your expertise to others in the profession. What you may not realize is that NAAEI also offers more than 40 online courses and webinars.

In every office there’s one person who doesn’t have a clue when it comes to technology. If you’re sitting there with your typewriter correction fluid thinking “not so, Lauren,” that probably means that person is you.

While most of us thrive in a world of gadgets and gizmos, there are some who are intimidated by technology, clinging to card catalogues and typewriters and simpler times.

You know the type…

Earlier this week we wrapped up our 2012 Apartment Careers Month. We saw tremendous participation in this year’s event as more and more of our affiliates and corporate partners took advantage of the opportunity to let others know about the many careers available in our industry. As part of Apartment Careers Month, NAAEI hosted two webinars. The second of these was held on Feb. 29. While the complete webinar will soon be posted on our Learning Management System for viewing by anyone, I wanted to share with you some of the insights offered by our speakers on “How to Find That Apartment Job and Ace Your Interview.”

Disclaimer: If you are a potential love interest, please stop reading.

My name is Lauren and I own 36 porcelain dolls. I have a problem.

I began collecting them as a young girl and continued to do so until the age of 20, when my mom stopped enabling me. The dolls were taking up too much space and, more important, creeping people out. Friends would walk into my childhood bedroom for the first time and see 72 glass eyes staring back at them—something most people apparently find “unsettling.”

I am a proud member of the Freshmen Class of Facebook.

In those early days, back in 2004 and 2005, the site was new and exclusive (it required a .edu address to sign up) and cool. And the first day I stalked an on-campus crush using the “people search,” I knew it was going to change my life forever.

When your batteries, compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), or computer equipment stop working, do you toss them in the garbage? Your first inclination might be to throw items like this away, but doing so has some serious consequences.

I’ve had some pretty cool jobs and I’ve had some pretty bad jobs. All of them have been memorable. Take, for example, the day I sunk to a new low while selling sandwiches in Ireland.

The wound is still fresh, the pain still very real. I put on a brave face at work but I often find myself in bed at night, staring up at the ceiling and thinking, “What if?”

Such is the life of a Baltimore Ravens football fan.

I saw a discussion group regarding the Net Promoter Score (NPS).  Like many in the CRM field, I question the value of Fred Reichheld’s highly disputed NPS Harvard Business Review article “The Only Number You Need to Know.”

Growing up, I loved two things: eating obscene amounts of Gushers and reading books. In addition to my love for literature (and processed food), I had an English teacher for a father who corrected me every time I said “me” instead of “I” and an uncle who used words that haven’t been around since the 17th century.

I was listening to The Fray this morning and one of my favorite songs of theirs (though I really do like them all) is You Found Me. It got me thinking about "who I am, who I'm not and who I want to be" and how easy it is to not really know; especially in a business that wants you to be many things. It’s easy to lose yourself. Sounds ominous, right? It really isn’t—it’s about self discovery and your true professional passion.

It’s that time of year again.

Time to gather the family around the proverbial Yule log before mocking that 14-page holiday letter you get every year from those family “friends” you can’t stand. Time to watch your mother have a meltdown when she realizes the mashed potatoes she made for the Christmas party are the consistency of paste. Time to repeatedly tell your family members that you would rather they not blow noisemakers in your ear for a full five minutes before the ball drops on New Years Eve.

The summer before my junior year of college, my family went on a cruise to the Virgin Islands. Each day on the boat, while the other passengers my age were flirting by the pool or trying to sneak into the casino, I was playing Bingo with the senior crowd.

Many companies would like to be more environmentally responsible, but lack the motivation, time, or expertise to implement changes on their own. Whether you work in a large organization with thousands of employees or in a two-person office, you can persuade your managers to “buy in” to a green program with the right positioning.

I believed in Santa Claus until I was 12. When my mom told me the truth I began crying and considered self-medicating with a mix of pills and candy canes before remembering that the Easter Bunny, thank God, was alive and well.

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on the things in our life for which we are truly grateful. For me, that’s family, friends and pants with an elastic waistband. And the sweet potato.

But the list doesn’t end there.

I once interned at a publishing company in Bath, England—and by interned, I mean sat at a desk in a basement that felt only slightly warmer than a meat locker and politely declined approximately 39 cups of the Brits’ beloved tea each day. There, I learned an important lesson about creativity.

There are certain childhood memories that you take and exaggerate with each re-telling, until one day you genuinely believe that blown-up version you have created is the way it really was. Some—namely, my mother—would argue that is the case with each of my blogs. I assure you it is not.

I came downstairs last Friday to find three diapers and a note waiting for me on the living room chair.

I was at my parents’ house in Maryland for the weekend and my brother, 13-year-old cousin and I had decided to make the two-hour trip to Pennhurst Asylum, an old mental institution turned haunted house. My mom knew the Huggies would be necessary for when we inevitably lost control of our bowels.

I used to have a strange fascination with the car wash. It seems weird, but so does my childhood dream of owning a balloon, bike and gun shop, so it’s easier to not ask questions. I just know I really enjoyed going to that car wash next to the snowball stand.

I hadn’t worked in multifamily housing in a few years. Instead I left and worked with the Dale Carnegie Training Organization, honing my craft and providing training solutions and direction to businesses across the globe. I was, however, eager to get back to my first love… the apartment industry!

The week I spent studying at Oxford was pure heaven.

But it wasn’t because I was re-tracing the steps of John Locke, sitting in the same classroom where T.S. Eliot once penned poetic masterpieces or visiting the pub where Bill Clinton smoked “but didn’t inhale.”

No, I couldn’t be bothered with such nonsense. I was too preoccupied with the likes of Mischa Barton.

In San Francisco I was approached by a gentleman with a rat tail who was distraught after releasing his 16 exotic birds due to an impending eviction. He proceeded to flip through a tattered folder full of stained-glass sketches, the prettiest one being that of a lion. When I boarded the bus, he began drinking from a coffee cup he found on one of the seats.

I’d like to think I have a few talents. Writing, playing the theme song to “Titanic” on my light-up Casio keyboard, investing inordinate amounts of energy in reality TV couples—these are all things I’m good at. But do-it-yourself (DIY) projects don’t make that list.

I once pulled out a baby tooth, despite the fact that it wasn’t ready to come out, just to get a dollar. I had run out of birthday money and really wanted the latest Polly Pocket.

A few years later, I found myself $300 in the red after losing many, many games of darts to my younger brother. I should have quit after the third game but I couldn’t stomach the thought of losing and felt double-or-nothing was the best approach. Naturally, this ended with me sobbing and nursing an over-worked right arm.

I hate the color pink.
Aside from a few exceptions—Kimberley, the Pink Power Ranger, a pair of hot pink L.A. Gear high-top shoes I owned as a child and pink Starbursts—I’m just not a fan.

The future is all about Wi-Fi. For some, this trend has already started. Wi-Fi is a wireless local area network for Internet access. It will soon be everywhere as cable providers expand their networks to include Wi-Fi, but for a price. Over the next few years, you may be forced to offer this service in almost all of your community access areas, such as your lobby, washroom, swimming pool, etc. That is, if you are not already offering it. What’s scary is that your residents will expect you to do this! But don’t worry – it’s not that expensive and is rather easy to set up!

Here are some more tools and tips on how you can use Facebook to benefit your community - be unique, be proactive and be apps friendly.

With its 600 million users and average daily session time of 25 minutes, Facebook provides an exceptional opportunity for visibility, Google indexing, live search ability, and fan engagement.

When I was in pre-school, my grandma came in for Grandparents Day.

That afternoon, our teacher asked us to draw a picture for our guests. While all of the other students excitedly drew elaborate houses, families and animals—which I find hard to believe since we were 4 years old, but so says my grandma—I plucked a purple crayon out of the box, drew a single line on the paper and announced that I was finished. It’s a happy coincidence my favorite book was “Harold and the Purple Crayon.”

Is it me, or does it seem that profanity and expletives have become more common in regular business interactions? And there are a few residents who take those choice words to a whole new level when they are not happy with the service or the answers you provide.

When I’m working out in my community gym, I don’t want residents in the clubhouse and pool watching me through floor-to-ceiling windows as I sweat like a pig in a bacon factory. There’s a reason I’m on a treadmill and not laying out in a bikini by the water. Nothin’ to see here, folks!

Get your front row seat and have unfettered access to Military and Department of Defense Leaders who can answer questions that have been ruminating with your staff!  Join DoD Leadership from the Pentagon, CNIC, Marine Corps Headquarters and the Air Force Center for Engineering and Environment to ask all your burning questions for the future initiatives of the Armed Services and Housing Privatization.

According to the Myers-Briggs personality assessment—or, to be more accurate, a free version I found on a questionable website—I am an INFP, or Idealist.

Among other things, INFP’s are laid-back, non-confrontational, highly intuitive, focused on making the world a better place and talented writers. Hey, I didn’t make this up—it’s science. They may also have problems working in a group setting due to “control issues,” but let’s focus on the positive.

Don’t you wish you had a crystal ball that showed you the future of the Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI)? A simple wave over the crystal ball, the mutter of a magic word, and the entire future would be revealed to you.

I’m so excited to be presenting at the National Apartment Association Conference this year, especially because of the topic! Combine my military experience with my social media experience and then add my love for the multifamily industry and we’ll have a perfect recipe for a session! Marketing Boot Camp: Marketing to Today’s Military Families will have four parts. The portion I am presenting will be Social Marketing for Military Housing.

Do you think you know how to communicate with today's student? Can you text speak,  relate to slang, understand all the technology and make sense of the pop culture references? Keeping up with this population is a constant challenge.

It was Halloween freshman year of college. Most of my dormmates were stripping down to bits of string and cloth—items that, put together, would only pass for a “costume” at a nudist colony (or college)—and going to a party off-campus.
I, on the other hand, was adjusting my bonnet—the final touch of my Martha Washington ensemble—and doing a few calisthenics in preparation for two grueling hours of neighborhood trick-or-treating.

At the age of six or seven, I watched the movie “The Electric Grandmother.” It was a film that would shake me to my core.

The 1982 horror movie masquerading as a “touching” made-for-TV special is about a family of children who learn to cope with the death of their mother in the most heartwarming and logical of ways: they go to a factory and order an electric (read: android freak) grandmother to serve as a new mother figure.

SatisFacts is excited to announce the 2010 national resident satisfaction award winners.  Achieving a Superior or Exceptional award says that the company’s leadership and team members are focused on the actionable best practices that impact satisfaction and retention…and their residents are validating that point!  Congrats to the award winners!