Kim Cory, University Village, Columbus, Ohio
1. Cleaning crews always quit. Most of your students haven’t cleaned the bathroom in a year and the kitchen floor is caked with enough grease to turn it into a skating rink. We hire five to seven cleaning companies every year because we know a few will quit in the first week once they see what they are up against.
2. Pictures don’t lie. We had a couple of really nice, seemingly responsible female residents and expected the final walk-through to be a piece of cake. Instead, the apartment was trashed from a party they had the night before. The girls also left behind boxes of clothes, trash and pictures of themselves doing inappropriate things. Their parents didn’t believe their “perfect” daughters could do such a thing—until they saw the pictures.
3. Students aren’t the only ones who procrastinate. Meet with vendors months in advance to discuss the scope of work needed and get a commitment from them to join your team. If you don’t, your competitor down the street will.
4. It’s no summer vacation. We all wish we were the ones having mixers at the pool, competing in beer pong tournaments and catching up on the latest season of Jersey Shore, but we’ve got our work cut out for us. Students may want to live like Animal House for the rest of the year, but they have a completely different set of expectations on move-in day.
5. You need to RUSH. Recruit maintenance techs to do pre-move-out inspections, Up your game, Strategize and Hire the right team.
6. Focus on inspections. Start pre-move-out inspections at least three months prior to lease expiration. In addition to checking for damages, these inspections also create a one-on-one connection with each resident. You can uncover any underlying issues at the community, reasons for leaving and areas of improvement—and even convince residents to renew. This process has increased our renewal rate by 5 percent.
7. Do some ‘wooing.’ Just because a resident puts down a security deposit for the following year doesn’t mean the work is over. Imagine going out on a date with someone and then not contacting them for three months—they’re going to start looking elsewhere. Students will do the same thing. If you don’t keep in touch through the entire process, you’re going to lose residents at the last minute.
8. Don’t sell out. There are always cancellations and no shows, so it’s important to keep taking reservations even if all of your beds are full. We put students on a wait list and ask for a deposit, which we don’t cash unless a room opens up. You can expect about 10 percent of students to back out of their lease and you don’t want to be scrambling at the last minute.
9. Parents will pounce. We send quarterly newsletters to parents, one of which is all about move-out day and move-in day. They’re going to call with questions, so beat them to the punch.
10.Don’t be a buzzkill. Moving into your first apartment is like getting your driver’s license or turning 21: it’s a monumental experience. You don’t want to ruin that experience for your residents by being unorganized. What you do after students sign the dotted line means more than what you did to get them in the door.
If you would like to be considered for a future End Points column, please contact Lauren Boston at 703/797-0678.