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New social media stats from SatisFacts...Resident Retention: Dare I Say It - Don't Believe the Hype.

Do review Web sites give business owners enough say? The subject popped up again on my radar screen when I saw a story about a California veterinary center suing review site Yelp “for allegedly promising to bury bad reviews in exchange for purchasing $3,600 worth of advertising on the site.”

One of the most common mistakes made by maintenance technicians while working with electrical components is not following proper safety procedures and guidelines.

Got empty apartment units in your building that face north?

It can be tough to justify costly apartment renovations at a time when most renters are looking to save money, not splurge on new amenities. But that doesn't mean apartment providers must abandon renovations entirely. Multifamily REIT UDR, for instance, has been outfitting some of its apartments with new kitchen appliance packages, which start as low as $1,100.

Just read a posting "What Makes Residents Renew"; this included discussing resident events to help with retention. I am actually going to share my reply here.

Retaining residents is a top priority for apartment operators, no matter the time of year or state of the economy. But with falling rent rates, rising concessions and even the extended homebuyers’ tax credit tempting residents to pack their bags for a better deal at the end of their leases, savvy apartment management firms are honing their retention strategies.

How difficult is it to get your child, your pet, your best friend or family member to smile and say “cheese” for the camera. The person blinks, a hair is out of place, their smile looks weird or their shirt has a spot on it. Even when the setting is right, there’s still the chance the camera is out of focus.

Times, as they say, they are a changing… and in our world in the multifamily industry, we are definitely not immune to the changes around us. Apartment industry professionals are expected to stay on top of federal, state and local laws and regulations.

U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced this week that nearly 200 apartment units in New York City will become more energy efficient as the result of $3.6 million in funding being awarded to Jonathan Rose Companies, a New York-based property owner and developer. It is the first award to be announced under HUD's new Green Retrofit Program for Multifamily Housing, created through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Wyndchase Apartments Service Manager Julie Lehman, CAMT, credits her commitment to education for her advancement through the ranks of maintenance positions in the apartment industry.

Brent Sobol is no stranger to crime. He fights it on a daily basis at the 1,100 apartment units he owns and operates in the Atlanta area.

The consistently incredible service and attitude I experience when I visit my local Lowe’s hardware store has earned my loyalty. What do they do that is so special? What is the impact? Does your staff have a world class attitude and deliver award winning service? Given today’s challenging market, can you afford to not be providing the greatest level of service ever? No, not given the huge impact turnover has on NOI and asset value...great service protects your revenue!

Even though Meredith Ginter lives on the sixth floor of a high-rise, she’s only steps from her parking space. Ginter’s unique situation is the result of an uncommon parking arrangement at her Charlotte apartment community, the 310-unit Ashton South End. The building’s parking garage extends six and a half stories high from the basement level and includes secured-access, double-glass-door entrances on each of the first six floors.

Unfortunately, the H1N1 epidemic is here and everyone needs to be prepared. For apartment owner/operators this means implementing risk mitigation strategies and contingency plans centered on outbreak prevention and sustaining operations. These simple steps can help mitigate the financial risk associated with an H1N1 occurrence at your property.

Do you ever get the feeling that the financial news is coming to you in a different language? Alex Blumberg and Adam Davidson of NPR’s Planet Money recently had a clever take on 2009’s financial news. As Blumberg points out in the story, when a big bank or real estate company borrows millions or billions of dollars, we don’t call it borrowing money. We call it accessing credit or liquidity. But no matter what terms they used, REIT executives and real estate investors this year were really saying one simple thing: No one will lend us money.

I seem to get asked to forecast one thing or another every day by clients, employees, lenders, appraisers and prospective clients. Sometimes it feels like I need a crystal ball to find an answer. Everyone wants a forecast that fits into his or her particular real estate project: builders want to build, bankers want to lend, condo converters want the market to improve yesterday and onsite staff wants to know when they can expect to get a break from the proverbial hot seat...When I look at our overall multifamily housing portfolio and review the past 12 months, it looks to me as if we are definitely in a recovery phase today.

There’s no argument that maintenance technicians are important players in the game of apartment community management. And when vital regulations are handed down from federal agencies, it is often the staff in the maintenance shop who are the most affected.

Screening companies have tried to deal with the underbanked by injecting non-traditional credit information such as cell phone bills, utility bills and yes, rental payments, into the screening process...But now there’s a new twist. I came across an article recently about a company that is now assessing a person’s credit risk by analyzing their Facebook friends!

On Monday the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took steps to issue regulations on greenhouse gases. This would enable the administration to limit emissions across the economy even if Congress does not pass so called “cap and trade” legislation.

We know pet friendly communities can attract more prospects considering 63 percent of American households own a pet. Once those pet-loving prospects become residents, a great retention tool is to offer an amenity for their animal. And for an extra layer of risk management for the community, why not offer residents a pet insurance policy?

For most of us, winter has already arrived. These low temperatures of the season can affect us all, not to mention the living conditions for our residents. It is a must that maintenance employees have a proactive approach in getting ready for the winter.

Federal bank regulators announced late last month new guidelines designed to provide flexibility for banks to extend or refinance commercial real estate loans rather than foreclose on them. The guidelines are “very positive” for apartment borrowers, including those with construction loans, making it easier for borrowers to refinance or secure extensions on maturing loans even if the value of the property has fallen below the loan amount, says Marc Ross, President, San Antonio, Texas-based Bob Ross Realty.

A property manager speaks out against an apartment ratings site, saying the fee model encourages nasty comments that can damage managers’ reputations.

A recent Pew Research Center study released last week and based on newly released U.S. Census Bureau data shows that college enrollment among 18- to 24-year-olds hit an all-time high one year ago--and is expected to have continued growing. Good news for student-housing providers, right? Not necessarily. A growing number of these students are opting to attend community colleges instead because they are less expensive and closer to home, which means no student housing for them.

Although it’s already nearly November, I learned this week that October is National Crime Prevention Month. After reading an article that we are publishing in the November issue of UNITS magazine that brings crime prevention to the forefront, I realized it’s a subject apartment managers may need to think about year-round.

The Tennessee Attorney General, Bob Cooper, recently authored an opinion holding that property owners in the Volunteer State may ban firearms from the premises through the lease or by posting signs. Owners should consider limitations on firearms when drafting rules for the community.

In July’s Dipping a Toe in the Securitization Pool, I covered a new program from Freddie Mac designed to bring liquidity and more affordable credit to apartment borrowers. Real estate attorney Timothy L. Gustin discussed the legal issues involved in securing the two types of Freddie Mac financing in an article entitled “The Return of Securitized Lending: Freddie Mac Launches CMBS Loan Product” in the Minnesota Real Estate Journal.

I have seen a number of discussion group postings lately about ideas for the Halloween season – things to do for residents. Being the contrarian that I am, please take a look at the scary idea I have for property teams during the season (actually year-round).

Distressed assets are a hot topic among real estate investors, with many funds pooling their capital to snap up value-priced properties from reluctant bank owners or borrowers unable to refinance their loans. But while investors may find a couple of deals on the market, they will most likely be frustrated if they’re expecting a flood of assets for sale at cut-rate prices.

The idea of using revenue-management programs to streamline business functions and generate funds is not a new one. But hiring someone to act as a liaison between software and staff--and incorporate feedback from Laramar’s property managers into the program--makes the Laramar Group uniquely successful.

Retention Question: Is the industry's focus on leasing/marketing versus retention in proper balance? I propose that if one really wants to boost performance, even in today's uber-challenging markets, one must adjust focus!

The Dallas Morning News is reporting that two residents filed suit against a management company in Texas, claiming that smoke from an adjoining townhouse caused them damage. Despite the fact that the management company offered the residents the chance to move, replaced air filters in the unit, and used an industrial grade roofing sealant to caulk pipes under the kitchen cabinet, the residents decided a money award from a court was the only way to make them whole.

I had the opportunity to attend the Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington (AOBA)’s 2009 Green Conference this week, and the event reinforced a belief I’ve held for quite a while. The buzz and fashionable allure of “Green” is fading. But what remains are pragmatic solutions to environmental problems that can benefit any company’s bottom line—including those in the apartment industry.

The United States District Court for the District of Columbia granted Post Properties Inc.’s Motion for Summary Judgment dismissing a claim brought by the Equal Rights Center.

You might recall a previous post about my friend whose apartment showed signs of mouse/mice presence, but whose management company didn't consider the issue a maintenance priority until my friend e-mailed the management firm's corporate president and copied both of her onsite community managers.

If you’re a frequent consumer of apartment-related news, you may remember reading an MSNBC story earlier this year about the Bethany Group, a real estate management and investment firm. In a high-profile meltdown, the company went into receivership amidst renter complaints of neglect at more than a dozen apartment communities in the Phoenix area and across the country.

Speaking of augmented reality (AR) in a previous post, I'm now excited to report that apartment REIT UDR went live Sept. 14 with a AR layer specifically geared toward renters.

Litigation associated with bed bugs is increasing throughout the United States. Often, one of the causes of action cited in a law suit based on a resident’s exposure is negligence – the owner did not perform reasonably in light of a foreseeable risk. Here are some guidelines for owners to follow to defend against such a claim.

Pablo Paz gives his Top 10 tips for preparing for winter time at your communities.

What's one better than a prospect viewing apartment listings via a smartphone mobile application while walking down the street? How about pointing a phone down a street, scanning its camera viewfinder past buildings and receiving information about available apartments within blocks of where the prospect is?

How does your apartment community deal with work orders and service requests? Here's the real-life horror story, told by one of my renter friends, and how she finally got management to take her apartment’s mouse issue seriously.

“NIMBYISM” (not-in-my-back-yard-ism) is something developers of apartment communities battle from time to time. Despite the low-cost, affordable choices rental housing provides, local governments sometimes make development difficult through exclusionary zoning practices and other red tape measures. The most recent example appears to be in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana – a suburb of New Orleans.

Craigslist, a mass of classified ads for everything from jobs to dates to furniture, has a love/hate relationship with apartment seekers and apartment providers alike.

A couple of new programs created through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are providing sorely needed federal stimulus funding to jump-start stalled affordable apartment communities.

On Aug. 31 NAA filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in an Arizona state appellate court. The brief sets forth legal and public policy arguments that address litigation arising out of a resident’s exposure to mold at an apartment community – specifically, the dearth of scientific evidence supporting a causal link between mold exposure and adverse health effects.

Apartment Guide released a list of the highest ranking apartment features and community amenities that consumers searched for on ApartmentGuide.com from February 2009 to August 2009.

Many forward-thinking decision-makers in the apartment industry are paying closer attention to mobile apps, believing such technology is what their customers want and need in their search for apartments.

The first day of classes at many schools is only a week or two away, but the outcome of the 2009-2010 leasing season is still in question as many students put off their decision until the last minute, leaving some student housing owners and managers waiting until September to see if they will match last year’s performance.

Like most industries today the Apartment industry is facing some real economic challenges. Small and large operations alike are working to tackle the difficult job of doing more with less. Sourcing parts of an operation up to and including select management functions is a great management option. Sourcing the analysis and assessment of what to do and how to do it (management advisory services) is perhaps a better management option.

Discriminatory apartment advertisements are prolific on Internet classified ad sites such as Craigslist because those sites are not held to the same legal standard as newspapers, according to an August 11 report from the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA).

The California Green Building Code officially went into effect at the beginning of this month. Though now in effect, the CalGreen Code does not become mandatory until 2010, giving developers a one year transition period to ensure compliance. Does this represent the future for Building Codes across the country?

Exceptional, out of the box service by a bellman last week reminded me of the keys to improving service and reducing controllable turnover - hiring right and maintaining a proper focus. By having the right people focus on what matters most to your residents…the impact on NOI and asset value is clear as you will see costly, controllable turnover drop.

Good signage for your community often results in more traffic and lease agreements. Signs should clearly identify, direct and inform customers, visitors and guests. If the signs don't achieve their intended function, people may become disoriented and frustrated – a bad thing for your community.

UDR’s second quarter earning conference call Tuesday provided an enlightening look at the company’s use of technology to boost occupancy and reduce expenses.

Are any of you maintaining Twitter accounts for individual apartment communities as a means of marketing? If so, there is something you should know: Teens (and young people up through age 24) don't tweet, according to an Aug. 5 Mashable article.

When Amanda Bonnen posted the following tweet to her 20 followers on her Twitter account: "Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it's okay," it was not the “Tweet heard ‘round the world” as it has now become. When Horizon Realty responded with a $50,000 libel suit, it quickly became a Twitter trending topic and a now infamous media fiasco. Guest bloggers Lisa Trosien and Eric Wu examine the fallout from the Horizon story and share three important reasons the apartment industry should pay close attention.

Smartphone applications are lifesavers for apartment residents and owners alike — they can locate the nearest Chinese restaurant when you don't want to cook, help you pass the time with Tetris, find out what's happening in local entertainment over the weekend... and tell you if there are any sex offenders in your neighborhood?

While apartment owners trying to dispose of properties purchased at the peak of the market may be feeling indigestion from all the red ink, investors with cash are licking their chops at the number of apartment communities available for purchase at sizable discounts.

A Pennsylvania District Judge's extemporaneous endorsement of the PAA Landlord/Tenant Lease and Law Handbook, and AAGP's standing to sue on behalf of its members underscores the value of Associations to their members.

Recently, a bill in the Texas Legislature that would have prohibited apartment owners from requiring residents to purchase liability insurance was defeated. Had the law passed, it would have been the first of its kind in the country. Prohibiting owners from requiring renters’ insurance is bad policy for a number of reasons...There isn’t a bank or mortgage company in the world that would loan money to a home buyer without requiring some sort of hazard insurance. Why should apartment owners and residents be treated any differently?

Every day your residents drive by signs offering FREE RENT. In addition, there is a loud well-organized voice speaking through television, blogs, websites and print promoting free rent. We all know that this is has a negative long-term financial impact on our business. How can we respond effectively to this growing market trend?

While staying in a brand new Courtyard by Marriott last week in Omaha, Nebraska, my husband and I enjoyed a little coffee-klatch in a comfortable little pod that came complete with its own television. We could people watch and enjoy intimate conversation in the privacy of our own little nook. An added bonus - we could choose which morning news show to watch.

My most challenging management issues have generally centered on Property Managers that were either neglecting or poorly performing their job duties, protecting poorly performing employees and/or had a poor attitude. Similar to a Regional Property Manager or Regional Vice President, I am not consistently at a community day in and day out to witness the work and attitude of others. If a problem is suspected, it is like putting pieces of a puzzle together to fully understand the big picture. While there are telltale signs such as declining occupancy, poor leasing performance, low renewal retention, employee turnover, or survey results; problems with the manager are often not obvious.

Twitter users like to tell everyone what they are doing and some of them are looking for apartments. I typed "apartment Chicago" into the search box and a slew of Tweets came up. As I read through them there was one that really caught my attention: "Still apartment hunting. Can't wait to fly to Chicago and just GET THIS DONE! Goodness gracious." ...Twitter may be an excellent prospect list and Twitter users may be open to a sales Tweet (especially if they are announcing their frustration in finding a place to live)...Here are some examples of Tweets from the last 24 hours I found with a search for "Chicago apartment" and the approach or Tweet I would send them

Chicago-based multifamily real estate company AMLI Residential closed a deal this month to sell the 592-unit AMLI at Chevy Chase apartment community for $60 million, one of the largest deals in the country so far this year. What’s your take on this transaction? Is it a sign of bigger deals to come, or just an outlier?

You've heard of people with magnetic personalities. For whatever reason, others gravitate toward these types of people. But have you heard of magnetic states -- namely, states in which a high share of the adults who live there now moved there from another state? More importantly, do you have an apartment-community presence in these popular states?

As the NAA Conference nears, I've been thinking about questions the industry would want to ask Tony Hsieh, Jeremiah Owyang, and Pete Flint. What would you want to ask Tony Hsieh, Jeremiah Owyang, and Pete Flint? Put your questions in the comments below or email me at eric@rentwiki.com and I'll try to ask them during the Thought Leadership panel Saturday morning.

The benefits of energy efficiency sound great. But when I think about how such improvements apply to the apartment industry, I keep returning to the same problem. It’s the owner who pays to make an apartment more efficient, but it’s the resident who gets all the financial benefits. One Sustainability Coordinator is experimenting with a new lease structure that could address that problem.

Those who know me are aware that I am passionate about trying to help shift the industry into making residents the top priority - more important than prospects. While some view me as a “contrarian” (I can’t disagree), there is a reason behind my passion and points - because there is a clear need for the industry to adjust its focus so as to improve performance for who is really #1 - the owner of the asset. Be prepared to be blown away by the performance of a long term client - and how they are growing asset value by tens of millions of dollars during the economic downturn.

While the economic downturn is forcing owners of distressed or underperforming apartment communities to make difficult decisions about whether to hold onto the keys or cut and run, the down market also is creating opportunities for aggressive investors to make attractive deals with motivated sellers and reluctant owners. Nashville-based Freeman Webb Investments and Bill Freeman, co-Founder of Freeman Webb Companies, found just such a deal in June.

Recently, as I strolled down a residential street on my way to a lunch appointment, I stopped cold in my tracks and just had to take a photo of one apartment community’s attempt at curb appeal. The silk flowers had obviously been there awhile – (I think that at one time the leaves had been green), and words can’t accurately describe the overall impact the ensemble had at declaring the community dead, cheap and lifeless. Lesson of the day: The consumer can spot a fake.

In 1997, I can recall my older sisters saying how cumbersome e-mail was. In 1999, I can recall high school classmates saying that Napster will never replace music CDs. In 2005, I remember friends saying how stupid Facebook is. Today, I have my own friends and peers asking me the value of social media as a distribution, marketing, and communication tool.

In 2004, the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a study that found that no scientific evidence exists to support the belief that the accumulation of mold causes any significant health risks for persons with normally functioning immune systems. The lack of a scientific link between mold infestation and health problems coupled with favorable court rulings on the issue have lead to a decrease in successful mold lawsuits against apartment communities. Nevertheless, some residents continue to bring actions against owners based on the presence of mold in the dwelling unit.

One of my favorite books right now is by Marshall Goldsmith titled ‘What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There’. It’s a book for our changing times with powerful ideas to overcome whatever you are doing to hold yourself back. Most noteworthy is a concept all leaders need today. It’s appropriate sharing or withholding of information and emotion. This alone has the ability to amp your team’s performance through establishing greater connection and trust in relationships.

One thing's for sure: it's not your new-to-the-job-market Generation Y residents. Thirty-five percent of the under-30 crowd has trouble paying rent or mortgage or have faced job losses in their households, according to a recent Pew Research Center study.

Enrollment numbers this fall should reveal whether student housing is truly recession-resistant. What's your prediction? How will student housing fare this fall? After the jump, Kevin Larimer, Director of Student Housing for multifamily housing advisory and research firm Hendricks & Partners, provides his take.

For those of you that are curious about how many people have downloaded the apartment industry’s first iPhone app, (you have probably seen the app in Apple’s latest iPhone commercials or as part of their nationwide print campaign), Apartment Guide released figures today. Brace yourselves, the numbers are staggering.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself… and budgets! Ok, so maybe FDR said it a little differently. As property managers we wear many hats with one of them being "budgeting expert", or so we are supposed to be. Sleepless nights and long hours with visions of numbers are spent, only to have our hard work changed or questioned. Of all the courses we take and are offered they tell us how to be leaders, how to write and understand financial reports, how to manage risks, how to market our communities, and a host of other areas. One gap in the management fence seems to be in providing the tools in not only how to write a budget, but how to sell one.

When treating bed bugs, pest management companies typically offer a standardized, multi-step treatment protocol. But even if the pest company currently being used is independently owned, don’t assume they can’t do the job, says Paul Bello, entomologist and consultant to the pest management and other industries. Bello share nine questions to ask your pest management contractor about their bed bug treatment.

Just because your buildings aren’t built green doesn’t mean you can’t go green. I stumbled across a resource recently that could be utilized by almost any community across the country to promote green initiatives - www.localharvest.org provides a zip code search to find nearby farmers’ markets, family farms and others sources of sustainably grown food where your residents can buy produce, grass-fed meats, honey products and many other goodies, including gift baskets.

Reports stating that the United States' growing Hispanic population cannot be ignored are not new. But did you know that one out of every 10 people born in Mexico is currently living in the United States? How have you altered marketing efforts to appeal to this particular immigrant population -- and immigrants in general?

A Community Meth Summit in Tulsa, Okla., earlier this year drew attention to a dangerous new method of creating methamphetamine or “crystal meth” and the need for education and awareness among property owners and managers.

You don’t need me to tell you that times are tough in our industry, with apartments hard to rent and residents hard to retain. And I don’t need you to tell me that, either, as I am hearing a recurring question these days that makes it abundantly clear the challenges that landlords are facing. What is that recurring question? How can I treat prospects/ applicants/ residents differently without getting into fair housing trouble? There are many variations on that theme: Can I offer a different deal to two different prospects? Do all rental renewal rates have to be the same? Don’t I have to be consistent in order to be in compliance with fair housing law?

Apartment ratings Web sites are the tabloids of the apartment industry. They provide an anonymous voice to the general public to speak out against their apartment management and expose their “dirty little secrets”. Unless you are paying close attention to the information posted about your apartment communities, a great deal of misleading and inaccurate information may be posted about your community and, unfortunately, in some cases, about your staff.

Are your online marketing efforts age- or demographic-specific? Are your text messages and mobile alerts lost on a prospective resident base that only accesses the Internet from a work or home stationary computer -- if at all? The Pew Research Center recently released a survey that finds that although Americans sure love surfing the World Wide Web, a surprising 61 percent of them have not made the leap to mobile communication and information technology.

Referencing his recent white paper “The Future of Apartment Living: A Shifting Housing Model,” Christopher E. Lee, President, CEL & Associates Inc. and Special Advisor the National Apartment Association (NAA), discusses the future of the U.S. housing mix and previews information to be shared at the 2009 NAA Education Conference and Exposition panel “Knowledge is Power – How to Survive These Times."

After the jump, Archstone’s Group Vice President of Strategic Systems, Donald Davidoff, and Search Engine Optimization’s Vice President of Business Development, Krish Coughran, provide some general principles for marketers hoping to improve a Web site’s rank in search engine results. What are some of the strategies your company is using?

In today’s difficult economy leadership can make the difference between outrageous success and failure. When you visit a community or corporate office you can feel how the leader of the organization drives the team. You can instantly identify the leader’s style by the way the team responds and reacts to the stimulus in the environment.

The lengthy and passionate comments to my blog on print advertising certainly speak to the energy behind this topic. I originally posted the blog in response to a small group of messages, resonating across cyberspace, from a small number of bloggers who are advocating pulling print. Interestingly enough, the first comments posted show the passion of these online marketing leaders who continue to believe that print is dying, if not dead. It’s important that a dialogue with this much passion behind it continues, but it’s also important to me to find out what other people are thinking on the topic.

Treating everyone the same when truly no one resident is the same can cost your community dollars and makes no good sense as a renewal strategy. There are two common problems that occur most often with renewal strategies...To avoid these typical mistakes talk to your residents in person in advance of making any offers. It is important to understand what each resident’s personal circumstances are in any particular month so that a successful renewal offering plan can be developed.

How often does someone walk into a leasing office and rent everything you have available? This rarely happens if ever at all. The leasing business is a one-on-one business. You're leasing one apartment at a time and yet the most widely used practice is to put every floor plan on sale at the same time.

Whether accessed by PDA or cell phone, laptop or desktop, Laramar Group's Red Road Commons' Web site is interactive to every prospect that views it, thanks to a messaging platform that integrates mobile Web with short messaging service (SMS) technology.

More than ever, over the next two years, apartment companies need to focus on what they can control. Winning and retaining the right residents will make the difference...The final frontier of online leasing is signing the lease contract and move-in forms.

Some apartment marketers say Craigslist has grown to one of their top sources of traffic, especially in urban areas. At Archstone, Craigslist has grown in recent years from being the source of 2 percent of its leads to 10 percent, according to Don Davidoff, the company’s Group Vice President, Strategic Systems. But he urges companies to exercise caution when using Craigslist.

Around every corner I hear the gloom and doom. Whether it’s properties claiming they can’t compete with the concessions being offered down the street, or crazy surveys claiming that 96% of all residents will be moving this year...Despite challenging market conditions and economic times, a focus on what matters to residents can lead to increased retention - it starts with managing "perceived value."

Apartment sales in April were the highest of the year, but the $900 million in volume is still low by any measure, according to a report from research firm Real Capital Analytics [www.rcanalytics.com]. Year-to-date, apartment volume totals $2.8 billion for a monthly average of $700 million.

Does your community website say “Apply now!” but then link unhelpfully to a static form to be downloaded, filled out and faxed? If so, you’re not alone, but you’re also lying to your customer. Worse, you’re missing out on the majority of renters who prefer to do business online.

Let’s face it. The economy is more than just a buzz word that we hear on the news every night; it’s affecting us all. In fact, the role of the maintenance professional has been impacted as a result. The daily onsite activities, processes and procedures must be reevaluated to become more effective and efficient, especially in this economy.

In its April 29, 2009 Washington Update the National Multi Housing Council provided a brief summary of recently proposed New York City legislation that would address building energy consumption. As NYC is often looked to by other localities as a model when creating their own legislation on a particular issue I wanted to reproduce NMHC’s brief here just in case anyone missed it in the Washington Update. Any questions regarding this legislation can be direct either to myself or NMHC directly.

Great design is powerful. It gives the consumer an attractive first impression that will help facilitate an interaction, at which point they begin developing a perception and emotional connection with your brand. If they have good experiences, they will stay, and ultimately return when future need arises. Great design conveys quality, freshness and durability.

When the apartment business thinks of going green, it often means recycling programs, sustainable construction or eco-friendly gimmicks. Green leasing however, is the simplest shift you can make, and it offers two benefits that having nothing to do with saving the environment… winning residents and saving money. Tip #1: Find new residents on the cheap.

I was recently in the room when a person from a major management firm in the Midwest made an extraordinary statement, saying, "We are considering pulling all of our print advertising.” YIKKES!! I cannot imagine anyone making such a broad and radical statement today, let alone following through. Cutting off your print advertising would be like purposefully blocking the major artery of your heart. Leasing is the lifeblood of our business, and traffic is the oxygen. The print medium is vital to the flow of traffic to your property!

There’s a story about Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, the author of Cat N the Hat. Seuss crafted his famous cat tale with just 250 separate words, an ideal number for the book’s intended audience of first graders. In 1960 publisher Bennett Cerf of Random House made a $50 bet with Seuss, challenging the champion of prudent prose to write a book with no more than 50 words. And Green Eggs n Ham was born. A lawyer Seuss wasn’t, although Cerf might have been one at heart- he kept finding excuses and never did pay the bet. But the Seuss succinct style was clearly a sign of things to come.

I have been competitive bass fishing almost as long as I have been in the apartment industry. I started both shortly after college and I have become very passionate about both.  Typically if I'm not marketing apartments, I'm fishing (at least in the summer). When I began both I didn't know much about either, but over the years I have picked up on a lot of different skills, read and educated myself on both and practiced, practiced, practiced. I have even attended trade shows for both. I will tell you that NAA and Brainstorming are WAY more fun than a fishing show.

This entry to my blog addresses maximizing the rate of return from community Utility Management Programs. In the early days of submetering and RUBS billing, most of our clients chose to have us responsible for the collection of their utility charges versus having payments tendered at the clubhouse. In discussing this with others in our industry, this remains the most widespread practice of their clients as well. “First Party Collections” is the legal term given to those of us who attempt to collect debts owed us on behalf of Owners and Management Companies.

Raise your hand if you’ve searched the internet for registered sex offenders living in your neighborhood. Over the past decade, registered sex offender information has become so readily available that you must literally bury your head in the sand to not know about them. In my small town in Texas, the town’s website has a section devoted to telling you more than you ever really wanted to know about them. Their names, their pictures, where they live and their convicted offenses are all right there at the ready.

The question was posed to a group of Gen Y’ers – 20 somethings that had agreed to sit live and unplugged for an audience late last year. In addition to community mixers, the group showed enthusiastic support for charitable events. When pressed further with, “If the community signed up for an area run/walk or other charitable activity you would participate?” they not only said they would, but also indicated they would help plan it.

Recently, I have received several questions from members inquiring about the legality of requiring residents to obtain renter’s insurance at the apartment community. Currently, there are no prohibitions on the ability of owners to require renters to purchase insurance. Owners should strongly consider requiring insurance as a way to limit their overall risk. Owners may require residents to purchase renter’s insurance. At the time of the writing of this blog there were no court opinions or statutes precluding apartment owners from requiring a resident to purchase renter’s insurance via the lease or any otherbinding contract.

It’s time to re-program the way your staffs think about spring and what the priorities are. With turnover costs at an all-time high of $4500 per move-out and a continually declining applicant pool because of shifts to roommate and condo/home/shadow market rentals, the status quo of focusing on new leases is not a sound business decision. No one can afford to stand still in regards to existing residents. They are the ones who will enable the property to maintain net operating income and asset value. That said, we are not entering the “Spring Leasing Season.” We are entering the “Spring Lease Expiration Season,” which begs the question, what matters most to your residents?

 I’ve decided this time to wax more philosophical than educational (assuming my former articles or postings can be said to have been educational!) because I have been hanging out with royalty. In recent weeks I found myself in the company of six princesses, all four and five years old and as darling as can be. The occasion was the celebration of the 4th birthday of my favorite little girl, Kelsey. There was face painting, the designing of sparkly pink foam crowns, and manicures complete with flower and heart decals. How precious! And there were lots of snapshots taken, as you can well imagine. It was one of those photos that not only caught my eye and captured my heart, but which amazed me from a fair housing standpoint as well.

Too many people I know are scared. In these unstable times, doubt and fear of uncertainty are still running rampant. Unfortunately, fear prompts retreat. And this is just the opposite of what will assist you and your team members to thrive. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Gregory Berns a neuro-economist, told of his brain-imaging experiment. In his study he observed that our fears are being transferred to the workplace…and everything associated with work and money. When fear takes over the brain, it makes it impossible to concentrate on anything but self-preservation.

On April 1 I spoke at the Apartment Finance Today Conference regarding the future of green in the multifamily housing industry. At this roundtable panel session the question of what potential legal issues owners/managers may face due to green practices peaked attendees interest so I will address it here today. Green real estate methods are still fairly new in the U.S.; therefore little formal legal analysis exists regarding the subject. Nonetheless, a handful of civil suits have been filed in a few states, and most attorneys expect to see more in the coming years. With this in mind, below are a few (but certainly not all) of the legal issues multifamily developers and managers may want to consider when “going green.” In the future I will post more entries on other areas of this topic.

Science Daily recently published an informative article regarding the power touch has in influencing a consumer to buy an item, as well as its impact on enhanced perceived value. Turns out, the study, conducted by researchers from Ohio State University and Illinois State University revealed the longer an item is held, the more likely it will be purchased. Even more interesting, the longer held, the greater the perceived value. Essentially, the longer the test subject held an item, the more emotionally attached they became to it. We marketers often reference the power of smell, sight and sound in enhancing the buyer experience. What we don’t reference as often, is the importance of touch in influencing consumer behavior.

Sustainability and ‘Going Green’ have become a focal issue within our social, business and government entities over the past couple years. The heightened awareness and recognition of environmental concerns and the need for systemic global change buzzes across every form of media these days. Not to downplay the importance of systemic global awareness and change as it relates to improving the way we treat our planet, but this blog will focus on the real, tangible ways that companies in the multifamily housing industry can identify and address opportunities to improve the management and maintenance of their properties.

Like many of you out there who have spent an adult lifetime in this trade of Property Management, we all view our activities as very diverse and pride ourselves on this occupational personality trait. Running a property and all its facets can produce a daily challenge and surprises. At the risk of diminishing this time-honored bragging right of all property professionals, from a management standpoint, is that still as effective as a way to manage as it used to be? While the “basics” of every job description in the craft will never change, the renting public, the means and vehicles to attract and the industry itself are changing rapidly. Is your organization seeing that and changing with it?

YOU HAVE RESOURCES YOU AREN’T TAPPING INTO Harness the horsepower behind what you have, YOUR BRAND. I am perplexed as to why the apartment industry has taken the marketing path of individually branding every community differently with a different name, as opposed to Branding, at a minimum Regionally the properties that they own and manage. There is an immense power in numbers, just ask Google.

Spring is the best time to get your property’s air conditioning systems ready for the summer season. Here are some of the best preventive maintenance tips to maintain A/C equipment in excellent shape, save energy and prevent costly repairs.

Be Visually Organized - The New Resident Packet Every successful property in 2009 will have a New Resident Packet. This two-pocket folder organizes all the tools needed to lease an apartment, and integrates the new selling strategies into an easily usable packet. In advance, the leasing team builds the right-side pocket of the folder to include an application, pen, guest card, business card, sample floor plans, site maps and other vital leasing materials. This right-side pocket is a portable leasing station that allows a leasing consultant to be completely prepared when the customer arrives, giving them the ability to lease whenever, and wherever, the customer is ready to sign.

And so it begins… Please read this article before you go any further. “Corporate Meltdown Leaves Renters in Limbo.” My argument to compete against homes for rent written at the end of 2008 is out the window. Now owners of apartment communities are losing their investments and the fallout is impacting their former residents and will begin to impact all of us in one way or another. For management companies looking to grow, if you’re on top of things, you should be able to pick up some management deals out of this and there will be business out there for everybody. You just need to decide if this type of business is a fit or a distraction for your current business model.

During a recent sales program, I asked the group to identify a time when they were surprised and delighted with someone’s follow through. I assumed they would share customer service stories where they were made to feel special, or where a wrong had been made right. As usual with my audiences, they surprised me. The majority of people who shared, told stories in which their supervisors followed through with them, by either thanking them for service rendered, or publicly recognizing them throughout their region or company. The power of a thank you is profound, valued and remembered, particularly when given by a senior team member. Commit this year to doubling your thank you efforts. The impact to your team will be significant.

Knowing what number represents a good recovery rate is important for any business forced to tackle the problem of managing bad debt. So what’s a good recovery number? The [real] answer: it depends. To understand dependencies that drive a recovery number, let’s look at some account level attributes that might influence or skew bad debt recovery rates.

We are all reminded daily that customer service "ain't rocket science." I want to share something that happened when one of my sons was trying to get his new cell phone set up. I purchased my sons and me new Blackberry’s. The AT&T store took wonderful care of me. They overnighted my older son's phone to his college dorm in downtown Philly, and he was instructed to go to the AT&T store four blocks away to have the data from his old phone transferred and get all set up...

Utility management programs vary widely, but providers who have kept pace with advances in technology offer notable time and money saving components designed for both Residents and Management. This entry of my blog will explain the use of integration and data transfers between a utility management firm and the owner/management company's “rent roll” package.

Washington’s current best example of the dubious discourse known as doublespeak is a seemingly innocuous bill about to be re-introduced from last term that would drastically change the way unions are organized in America’s workplaces. The bill’s title conjures up visions of all that we value as a nation, as though it preserves our highest democratic ideals. It is known by the inspirational title, The Employee Free Choice Act, or The EFCA. But it actually does away with free choice and creates endless possibilities for coercion.

I’m on a mission and I want to invite you to join me. It’s all about creating value and making money. It’s time to start living with your new budget for the year. While I can’t think of any specific leaders, managers or owners who actually like the annual budget creation process, it’s truly an essential business tool.

During the course of the year, we, as managers, spend much of our time completing and delegating team tasks, communicating with staff and developing ideas for the improvement of our community. Before we know it, we get that dreaded communiqué from our Management Company that says it’s time to GRADE YOUR TEAM. What? Give our Groundskeeper a rating from 1-5? Huh? Can I give them a 2 when I never told them I expected better?

It's no secret the number of “green” regulation is exploding across the nation. In fact, experts predict that the number of localities with green mandates will at least double within the next four years. Many green regulations focus on new construction, for example requiring new buildings to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification; however, there is one green regulatory initiative that will certainly affect the finances of all multifamily properties, both new and established...Cap and Trade.

The power of simple changes has been understood for centuries. Just by adding something “extra” to the ordinary, you can become extraordinary! I love the “little things”! This philosophy can be translated into exciting new selling strategies for multifamily housing that go beyond a special marketing poster, a carefully-placed fresh flower, a photograph, or a note on the refrigerator.

As Multifamily Professionals we are always looking for ways to improve the way we do business. From marketing and advertising to customer service and resident retention, we are constantly fine tuning. Every now and then a new tool comes along that helps us shape our companies and changes the way our industry operates. Sometimes it reinforces what we are doing is correct, which is often worth the price, especially if the price is free. I have found Twitter.com to be such a tool. If you are not yet familiar with Twitter, here is a great explanation. I look at Twitter as a sample of thoughts and opinions of the universe. If you narrow those thoughts and opinions through their keyword search you can find thoughts and opinions from a vast sample population.

The saying goes, “There are only two sure things in life: Death & Taxes.” For the multifamily industry, the two sure things might be: “Resident complaints and rising energy costs.” Resident complaints will never go away. And there’s no getting around it: in order to create and maintain a successful living environment at your property, energy will need to be consumed, both in the common areas of the property and by the residents. This translates into high utility bills.

Remember the 1980s, the decade that gave us leg warmers and shoulder pads, Cabbage Patch dolls and Valley Girls, and Captain and Tennille singing “Do It to Me One More Time”? While a watchword of this era may have been “You Can Have It All”, the reality in the apartment industry was that many landlords opted to “Just Say No” if you wanted to rent an apartment and you just happened to have children. Ah, yes, the era of swinging single, all adult apartment communities. It was not unlawful in most areas to have this business model, and landlords embraced it wholeheartedly if not with short-sightedness. At the time, landlords could have made sections of their communities open to families and possibly diverted the government from interceding on behalf of so many people being denied housing. But “Not!”. Landlords were convinced “That there is no way that the government will ever make us have to rent to people with children.” And then in 1988 familial status became a protected class everywhere.

It’s official! Dr. Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman, finally admits we’re in a recession. Not that we didn’t see this coming when every day we’re inundated with dire economic news and proclamations from the financial sections of newspapers where practically every sentence ends with “…worst since the Great Depression!” Yet, considering the difficult economic news, most major applicant screening companies report that consumer credit scores have held firm or, at worst, have degraded only slightly.

It is fascinating to chat with multifamily housing executives across the nation about their brand. Every business is a brand, even if a bad one. Every property and apartment community has a brand. Your brand is not what you think it is, it is what your resident thinks it is, it is what your employees think it is and it is what your vendors think it is. Lots of companies clamor that their employees are their number one asset, yet are you ready to hand over your brand, what you tout in your marketing material, to your employees? Are you ready to hand your brand over to your vendors? But the group with the most influence are your residents. If they were designing your brochure, would it have the same or similar message as the one in your clubhouse?

Technology is consuming our business and redefining it. Being a private pilot, a craft that has become very advanced and is very structured, I often use my experience as a metaphor and comparison to the evolution of our industry. I believe a lot can be learned from the advances other fields and crafts have conquered. Even in such an advanced endeavor though pilots of the most advanced aircraft in the world, such as the F-18 Eagle suffer a malady they refer to as a “helmet fire”. This condition is when the best trained in the world have to multi task on several advanced technologies at the same time while flying a supersonic aircraft and even the best trained “overload” and freeze up.

Political action knows no season. Despite election year cycles, attention on national campaigns, who’s in power, who’s out, an Association’s efforts to influence government policy is ongoing, year after year. But 2008 was something else. Apartment Associations are navigating rough waters in the wake of last fall’s recurrent societal storms. By all accounts our economy will be listing for some time to come and there’s no telling what impact our most historic presidential election will have on the national ship of state.

I manage operations for a collection agency. Lately, every article of information within my industry shows the same universal analysis: delinquencies are on the rise but collection rates are down. This means that my peers and I will see more of the same accounts we’ve seen in the past, but not realize the same rates of collection success. As a logical countermeasure to this news, credit granters and collection agencies are tooling and retooling backend collection strategies to stave off pending losses and better recover realized losses.

The recession has begun and we are facing uncertain times. Most agree this recession is unique due to the severity, derivation and the significant impact it has already had. Job losses are mounting, with most losses being in the renter demographic. Multifamily is feeling the effects already not only due to job loss, but also the severe drop in confidence due to the uncertainty many feel. Looking at the results from the nearly half a million units we have conducted research for this year, it is clear residents are evaluating value and this is impacting their renewal plans. Due to the uncertainty about jobs, income and raises, more residents are pondering “moving down” to lower expenses.

In a recent panel discussion with four members of Generation Y, otherwise referred to as “twenty-somethings”, I asked the following question – “Older generations perceive yours as lacking a strong work ethic. What do you say to this?” Boy, did I get some feedback. The panelists argued that they had a very strong work ethic, but that they would not lie about enjoying a job when it wasn’t what they really wanted to do. They would do it to the best of their ability, but would not pretend that they were happy about it. When asked to expand, they indicated that they found it offensive and silly to state anything other than the truth. For example, one panelist said, “When you come in and try to make happy talk like 'How was your weekend?’, I know you really don’t care. It’s fake. So why do you do it?” It was like a brick hitting me in the head. It’s no wonder Boomers don’t understand this generation.

Last Monday, Punxsutawney Phil emerged to find a long shadow and forecast more cold weather. Sound familiar? This season, it doesn’t take a groundhog to tell a landlord that the housing market is in for a long winter. Don’t get me wrong, the last months of the year through January are always an off-season for landlords. The resident-screening company where I work processes a high volume of applications to rent, and traditionally we see a decline in traffic of over 15 percent during this season. But this year the seasonal slump is far more pronounced. In fact, it’s unprecedented.

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