Brian Owen 

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

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.

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.

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.

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.