Drones: A Controversial Eye in the Sky for Property Managers

An act was passed in February that’s ultimately going to open new doors of opportunity for real estate and property management officials. The FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act requires that the FAA “accept and support” drones–or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)–in United States airways.

While awaiting the new stipulations to be defined and take effect (by September 2015), many industries are taking a look at how UAVs can support their

business ventures.

And professionals in both property management and real estate businesses have determined several ways drones could be of use. For example:

• Satellite imagery and data collection
• Aerial photography, without the expense of manned aircraft
• Property surveillance and maintenance oversight

There are, however, also concerns surrounding laws allowing UAVs in our airspace. Property owners and tenants, for instance, have expressed concerns about privacy violation.

There are slews of opinions on both sides of the drone controversy. And, until the new laws are defined and released, the future of UAVs is still a bit blurry. What’s your opinion as a real estate professional?

To read the original article and see what interviewed experts suggest for the future of drones, visit the Software Advice blog and read Drones: A Controversial Eye in the Sky for Property Managers by analyst Ashley Halligan.

I hear it all the time. “I would never put my critical data in the cloud.” It’s a prevailing point of view. The idea being that putting your personal data, documents, or music on a computer other than your own means that you are somehow more vulnerable to privacy invasions, hacking, and other problems.

There can be no argument that you are taking a risk by trusting someone else with your data. However, I think it’s worth pausing for a moment and asking yourself a question that few ever think about: Is your data really safer if you manage it yourself? Here are a few things you may want to consider.

1) YOU PROBABLY DON’T HAVE A GOOD, ALWAYS-CURRENT BACKUP OF YOUR DATA.

Sure, you run your backup program every so often (maybe even nightly). Perhaps it backs everything up directly to your trusty external hard drive that’s constantly plugged into your computer. Maybe the IT guy comes into the office every so often to swap backup tapes on the server.

Now consider – what happens if your house burns down, your office floods, or someone breaks in and steals your laptop and backup drive? What happens if your computer gets a virus which decides to delete all of the files on your local hard drive as well as any external drives it happens to be connected to? What happens if there’s a nearby lightning strike that results in a power surge destroying your laptop and your backup drive? Taking it a step further, how often do you actually test your ability to restore from the backups you create? Are you sure the tapes created by your IT guy actually contain your critical data?

The reality is that there’s no cost-effective backup strategy the typical home-user or SMB can implement that provides a truly secure, always-accessible solution to protecting against all of the scenarios mentioned above unless you leverage the cloud in some way to create off-site backups.

Cloud-based backup solutions give you a simple, cheap way to keep your important data backed up in a location other than your home or office (the key here being that your backups must reside in a location separate from your computer, so that if one is stolen, damaged, or lost, the other remains intact).

Plenty of online backup solutions today offer fully encrypted backups (the kind that can’t even be decrypted by employees of the company) – so you should obviously do your homework before choosing one. Any (minimal) risk associated with your backups possibly being stolen and decrypted by a (very ambitious) hacker should be mitigated by the fact that your data is actually backed up properly, and not vulnerable to every-day threats.

2) YOUR MOST SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION IS PROBABLY ALREADY IN THE CLOUD.

Most people don’t understand that their personal data exists in the cloud today, even if you didn’t put it there. Your bank account details exist on the bank’s website. Your credit scores are on the servers of the 3 credit bureaus (regardless of whether you’ve ever logged in to pull up the data, it’s sitting there). Your travel reservations are on the airline’s web-site, and hundreds of other pieces of important information about you are out there, waiting for you to view it.

Obviously, these companies go to great lengths to keep your data private. Remember, in many cases, this is data you didn’t even put there, but it’s sensitive information about you, nonetheless.

The point is – you’re not going to avoid this risk by not participating. In many cases, you may be making yourself –more- vulnerable to particular forms of identity theft. You’re likely safer taking an active role in knowing who has your personal information, and managing those accounts carefully.

3) YOUR COMPUTER IS PROBABLY FULL OF SPYWARE, VIRUSES, AND OTHER FORMS OF MALWARE.

Unless we’re talking about the true computer-geeks of the world, statistically speaking, nearly every Windows home and SMB computer out there has some sort of spyware, virus, adware, or other form of malware installed and running. I’m sure you faithfully run your favorite anti-virus software in the background, but remember, virus creators test their stuff against the latest and greatest as well (to make sure it’s not detectable).

This stuff poses a massive risk to the typical home and SMB user. Typical spyware will take screen-shots of your activities, scan your hard drive for personal information, or even use your computer as the middle-man in hacking attacks. If you’ve got spyware on your computer, nothing you do or store on that computer can be considered safe or secure.

The typical business computer user is really not professionally qualified to be the system-administrator of their own computer, and yet that’s precisely the role they’re asked to assume. This leaves the door wide open for hackers.

In a cloud scenario, you mitigate this risk by trusting your data to people who are security experts and make their living by providing clean, secure, and hacker-resistant solutions. Do they always get it right? Definitely not. Is your data safer with them, than in your spyware, virus-infected laptop? Absolutely.

4) YOUR LAPTOP IS AT RISK OF BEING LOST OR STOLEN

One of the most common arguments people make for not storing their data in the cloud is that they don’t want their documents and data to be stolen. I can certainly respect this, and I understand why someone might feel safer if they keep their data in a place where they see and touch it.

Why, then, does the typical laptop owner leave their computer sitting on the front-seat of their car while they stop in for their morning cup of coffee?

If you don’t want your data to be stolen, you’re far better off keeping it in a location where it’s not vulnerable to being lost, damaged, or stolen with one of your devices. Keep it in the cloud where it’s being stored in a military-grade data-center, behind bullet-proof glass, biometrically secured, and watched 24×7. This way, at least you’ll have the peace of mind knowing that, even if someone steals your laptop, they’ve gained access to nothing.

CONCLUSION

The cloud isn’t perfect, but it provides an opportunity for the average SMB employee to step up their game in terms of providing better security, backups, and overall protection in what is otherwise a very dangerous technical landscape. Unless you plan to become an expert in computer systems administration and data security, your best option to keep yourself as safe as possible is to put your trust in someone with expertise in these areas. It’s the same reason you use a bank to store your cash instead of handling it yourself– the bank is simply better equipped to keep your money safe than you are.

The reality may be a little closer to the current standard practices of renting an apartment—with a couple of notable exceptions.

Industry insiders tell us that while things are going to change a lot for some high-end apartment communities and their tenants, many of us will still be filling out paper applications. But we may get to pay our rent and submit maintenance requests, online. And while searching for that great new place, expect to be courted with apps and mobile-friendly websites.

Here’s a step-by-step look at the apartment rental process and what’s changing—or, perhaps, staying the same.

Marketing a Vacancy

The transition to online listings from newspaper ads is one of the biggest changes in residential marketing in the last decade. Unless a property is renting to a distinctly senior, non-tech-savvy crowd, there’s no reason to place a print ad ever again. Instead, navigating the wide variety of online listing sites and choosing the best option for your property is the new challenge. Selection of a community apartment listing site should be based in part on user friendliness of the site’s mobile component.

Property management firms now need to invest in things that might not have mattered before—like professional photography that showcases their properties from the best possible angle, website development that displays well across browsers and mobile platforms, and mobile-specific apps that showcase property amenities and allow users to submit requests for more info or to be notified of a newly-vacant unit.

Property managers have no choice but to invest in all forms of mobile marketing, or risk missing out on prospective residents who have a distinct preference for seeing properties on their smartphones or for searching exclusively for listings online, or can’t travel to view an apartment in person. Additional expenditure on social media marketing and targeted online advertising replaces newspaper display ads and will be increasingly important to drive attention to an individual property in a crowded marketplace.

On-site Leasing

The often-evoked visual of a leasing agent conducting an apartment walk-through with an iPad and wrapping up the transaction by handing the prospect the tablet so they can fill out their application is happening in some high-end apartment communities in markets like New York City, but don’t expect such an experience in suburban Topeka anytime soon. There are markets that cannot justify the cost.

The less-flashy alternative is the increasing popularity of the online leasing portal, a place to submit application and credit information. These options are becoming widely available as a way to weed out serious prospects from looky-loos, and automated input is a huge time saver for property managers. Expect such submission of details to become common and widespread within the next two years.

And the idea that an apartment could be rented without an in-person visit? The demand for such a service is still growing, and is particularly popular among college students, foreign relocation prospects, and professionals moving for work assignments. Online video tours, detailed and updated photography, and extensive descriptions are three ways to capture this market.

After Move-in

Perhaps the greatest change in how property management and residents interact with the aid of technology comes after the boxes are emptied and the first month’s rent check is cashed.

Site managers are observing that tenants don’t want to talk to their management staff after move-in, preferring to handle rent pay, maintenance requests, and information sharing in a manner similar to online banking transactions.

Both apps and secure Web portals are vital tools for the property that wishes to offer such features for residents, though a majority of properties in the U.S. are still handling rental payments via checks or direct deposit. The financial crisis led to more renters wanting to pay rent via credit card, which influenced some movement toward online remittance options. But future-focused property firms will need all of their resident information, maintenance forms and bill pay in one highly mobile platform to satisfy tenant demands.

The change to a mobile request and follow-up adds a new dynamic to maintenance, allowing for easier tracking and scheduling. It also opens up the opportunity for customer satisfaction input. After an apartment problem has been cleared up, properties can ping the tenant via email and ask for feedback, creating customer loyalty and a record that closes the loop on the complaint.

What are the biggest changes you see coming to the property management market as the world goes mobile for its technology needs?

Photo courtesy of John Snape.

Maximizing the value of your property’s ad can attract more potential tenants, and save over time in advertising costs (vacancy equals loss of income). Surprisingly though, there’s still quite a few rather ineffective and spammy ads lingering in the Craigslist space.

I’ve gathered insights from a few industry experts to define exactly what it is that makes a winning or losing Craigslist ad. Sounds simple enough, but what do the experts say?

Winning: Write Effective Titles

Andrew Schrage, co-owner of Money Crashers Personal Finance, suggests a “creative and descriptive header” is the most important element of an effective ad. He says, “If you write ‘great amenities,’ that’s unclear. Instead, include one or two specific amenities the property offers. This will grab attention and resonate with people who are attracted to those amenities.”

It’s also frowned upon to title a listing in ALL CAPS, or with lots of explanation points!!! Don’t YELL at your prospective tenant. Instead, write a clear and concise description that draws them into the ad. Once they’re there, the following elements will encourage them to take the next step and inquire.

Winning: Write Good Copy

A Craigslist ad is essentially copywriting, right? Writing an organized, precise ad will boost your credibility as a property owner, and will be more intriguing. Be detailed so most of the prospect’s questions are answered before inquiring. This stirs interest, and ensures your property meets the prospect’s needs before contacting you–saving you both time and energy.

List the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, square footage, in-house amenities (a washer and dryer, for instance), and anything unique the property may boast–including aesthetic details. Also list on-site luxuries. Is there a pool? A vegetable garden? Tell ‘em about it. Be sure financial details are clear, and if you’re willing to negotiate rent, that’s a huge selling point.

Another detail often left unmentioned in rental ads are community or neighborhood benefits. Schrage elaborates, “Sell the street and the neighborhood. Tell them about nearby parks, shopping centers, and freeway access.”

Winning: Include Images or Multimedia

Enough cannot be said for the value of images, particularly because Craigslist offers a query including only listings with photos. Why risk not showing up in results? Provide the prospect with actual images of the property–not of a sample unit. Show them what the bathroom, bedroom, and living areas look like. If there’s a balcony, terrace, or yard, provide an image. Jacob Young, Online Reputation Specialist and founder of Hidden Sky goes on,

“Put yourself in their shoes. The renter is looking for a place to call home. What does it look like in spring and winter? What will their images look like when they send them home for the holidays?”

Some property managers go the extra yard and add additional multimedia, including links to external photo albums, while others include video tours, or even microsites dedicated to a specific rental home. Providing a photo or video tour may seal the deal before even seeing the property in person.

Losing: Post Spam Listings

There’s an unfortunate trend in the Craigslist world often used by leasing agents and big apartment communities posting repetitive ads with ALL CAPS titles, shouting promotions (ONE MONTH FREE or FREE FLATSCREEN!!), and including the same graphic or image–none of which are of available rentals. Instead, these spam ads serve as a broad advertisement, and though they may entice some people to inquire, often turn others away.

These ads are regularly infiltrated with keywords and phrases that renters may search for–many of which do not actually apply to the available properties. Words like “historic,” “charming,” and “antique” are often used in ads for new properties, which are not generally applicable.

Losing: Write Vague Listings or Fail to Include Images

Writing vague, incomplete, inconcise, and generic ads is a waste of time. People searching for a new place to live are seeking enough detail to coerce them to contact the rental owner. Without detail, there’s no incentive. Being vague with adjectives can leave lingering questions that may paint an unattractive picture for your potential tenant.

Furthermore, without the inclusion of photos, viewers have no real idea what the property is like. Milo Shapiro, President of IMPROVentures, who also happens to be a rental property manager, shares an example, “I’ve seen ‘photo upon request,’ which makes one seem like a lazy landlord.”

Shapiro points out another avoidable mistake that listers sometimes make. “I’ve seen spelling and grammar errors galore that make it look like the person may not know enough to contract properly either.”

Losing: Include Unreasonable, Strict Rules

Because prospective tenants will be making your rental their home if they agree to your terms and sign a lease, it’s important to allow reasonable freedom within the property. Having too many rules is a major turn-off for renters.

Schrage provides one example that I actually remember reading a couple years back when its absurdity leaked into the Web.

“One had a list of additional rules and conditions so long it would make your head spin. Among others, your bed had to be made each morning, and this was after mandatory “wake-up” at 5:30 a.m., when all the lights would automatically be turned on since the building would be operated by someone else. No alcohol or tobacco allowed, and unannounced inspections could occur at any time. And as far I know, the ad was legit.”

The bottom line when using Craigslist as a marketing tool is to actually capitalize on its platform and the subsequent exposure. Free tools are highly valuable to property owners, and can alleviate the need for formal advertising. Create a real ad based on a real property. And, within that ad, keep it clean, concise, informative, and appealing. Moreso, take the time to edit your ad and sound like the credible property owner you are.

As Schrage suggests, sell the space from a holistic perspective. Beyond the actual property, what else is appealing about the area? If you have braggin’ rights, use them! Include photos that truly display a property’s character. And, if possible, create additional multimedia that viewers will find encouraging and meaningful. After all, the difference between a winning and losing ad is occupancy versus vacancy.

Photo courtesy of dougww.

Furthermore, a little green TLC can be beneficial to the environment by reducing contaminants in water runoff and providing a toxin-free environment for humans and animals. And it doesn’t require a hefty investment.

The Environmental Protection Agency says that, “Maintaining a wide variety of healthy plants, soil organisms, beneficial insects and animals can keep most pests and diseases in check.” The EPA refers to this as “putting nature to work.” When you restore the natural biological environment, the ecosystem returns to a natural functioning place, where organisms and microorganisms ward off pests, and help maintain nutritious soil. But, how do you restore an ecosystem?

I’ve compiled five inexpensive ways to make your landscape more environmentally friendly, lower maintenance, and safer for both family and pets.

1) Test your soil.

Standard soil tests measure pH levels and the levels of elements like phosphorous, potassium, calcium and magnesium, among other things. Testing lets you know what your soil needs. Otherwise, the fertilizers and mulch you’re using–some of which are quite expensive–may not be meeting the needs of your yard. There are a variety of soil tests that can be performed at home; otherwise, universities are a great place to seek testing.

According to Ohio State University’s Research Area, “Soil testing can boost garden yield and quality. It is a very inexpensive way of maintaining good plant health and maximum plant productivity.” OSU’s Research Area charges $20 for a soil test that can tell a homeowner quite a bit about their ecosystem–and how to create an optimal environment based on their findings.

2) Use grass clippings as mulch.

One of the EPA’s four GreenScapes suggestions is to reuse. One way to apply this is by repurposing your grass clippings as mulch.

Proper grass cutting suggests you keep grass blades at three inches, and leave the grass clippings on your lawn. This limits the ability for weeds to grow. Additionally, grass clippings provide 58 percent of the nutrients your lawn needs.

3) Collect rainwater–and use it.

In a recent article, Times Daily mentions that, “A 55-gallon barrel connected to a 1,000-square-foot roof will fill up during a 1-inch rain. The barrels can be purchased for $50 to $120 each, or constructed out of food-grade drums.”

Going back to the EPA’s principles of reusing, rainwater provides healthier hydration for your lawn and foliage, without the contaminants often found in tap water. The Times Daily article further states, “Many municipalities experience a 30 percent to 40 percent increase in residential water usage in the summer. Rain barrels can help reduce that.”

4) Skip the pesticide.

Each year, American homeowners apply 70 million pounds of pesticides to maintain their lawns. According to the National Audubon Society, much of this usage is solely for aesthetic purposes.

Insecticides, herbicides and fungicides have been linked to a range of illnesses, diseases and birth defects. Furthermore, chemicals can be quite costly. Why not eliminate the use of unnecessary chemicals, allow your yard to nurture itself, and protect communities and wildlife while doing so?

5) Consider xeriscaping.

Xeriscaping involves creating a landscape that’s in alignment with your local climate and indigenous species. For instance, create a desert environment if you are, in fact, in a natural desert climate like Phoenix. Plant cacti, not a lush grass lawn.

Non-indigenous plants, grasses, trees, etc. require far more maintenance and resources, particularly water. It’s far less expensive to maintain natural foliage than non-indigenous species.

Overall, the initial investment of going green and restoring a natural environment may be slightly more than synthetic lawn care. But, over time, property managers can save money by eliminating unnecessary water and chemical use.

Additionally, a natural lawn is somewhat self-caring, meaning you’ll spend fewer hours maintaining it once it’s been restored. The added knowledge of having a yard that’s better for your community, and safer for pets, wildlife, and your family brings the effort full circle. And best of all, it’ll help attract tenants.

Have you undertaken a green initiative in landscaping? What was your experience like? Did you find that the initial investment proved valuable in the end? Has upkeep become easier? Feel free to share your experiences below, or email me at ashley@softwareadvice.com.

Photo credit of Rob Friesel.

The key to a lead-generating apartment website isn’t a fancy design or cool layout. First and foremost, you need a real estate website targeted at helping renters find housing. Here are six tips on how you can turn your website into a lead-generating machine.

1. Know your audience.

The purpose of your website is to help renters find housing. Whether you specialize in apartment rentals or selling single-family homes, your website should be able to personalize each search. Put yourself in the renter’s shoes and offer search functions that will make it easy to narrow down available listings.

2. Post up-to-date listings.

Lots of them. In a RentJuice study of rental websites, 10 percent of them did not have listings available. Remember that the goal of your website is to help renters find housing. Facilitate their search by providing lots of vacant listings, and keep your database updated by removing properties as soon as they’re rented out.

If renters will be spending large chunks of their paycheck on rent each month, they’ll be doing their research. They want to see everything that’s available in the area and to know the average prices, square footage and features before they make a decision. Your website–not someone else’s–should be the place where renters can get up-to-date information on housing.

3. Make your website easy to navigate.

Now that you have cool search functions and lots of up-to-date listings, make sure your site provides direct access to each section of your website. A lead-generating website will increase lead flow through its easy navigation. Add a toolbar at the top of each page that provides quick access to listing, neighborhood, search and conversion sections. Your visitors shouldn’t have to dig to find what they want–if they do, they’ll probably leave and go somewhere else.

4. Provide photos and videos.

High-quality apartment photos and videos will help your listing resonate with prospective renters. Visual aids allow visitors to see what your property looks like without having to attend hundreds of open houses. Give renters the ability to familiarize themselves with the layout, get an idea of the space and see themselves making the property their home. Pictures and video tours will help renters narrow down their decision, giving you the most qualified leads.

5. Make it easy for renters to contact you.

In order for visitors to convert to leads, they have to connect with you first. By placing your contact information, lead forms or “About” page in a visible place on each page, interested clients can reach out to you right away if they see something they like.

6. Optimize your site for better search results.

The higher your website ranks in search engine results, the more visitors your pages will receive. In fact, research done by the Georgia Institute of Technology showed that 75 percent of searchers never click past page one of Google search results. Move up in rankings by being SEO-friendly. In order to be found in search, your website needs to contain popular search terms. A helpful resource for keyword research is Google’s “Keyword Tool.” Find out what your renters are looking for and the common search terms they use, and include them in your website.

Photo courtesy of Kristen Stubbs.

Landscaping is important. In the property management business spring is when we set up for the summer pool season. Winter is the time to think about the spring growing season and how to best address grounds maintenance. Addressing landscaping, ground cover, plantings and soils seems like such a simple question. At the very least it takes pre-planning to assure fixed price contracts in advance of service.

If a plant scientist were to survey the grounds of your income property assets their report would say some like: there are 55 “species” of plants and three invasive varietals that are negatively impacting sustainability. And your comment would be; “I only want my property to look good- neat and clean with green grass and pretty flowers. What’s all this talkabout invasivespecies!”.

Like farmers, property management requires having a well rounded skill set. Alas, we must rely on our subject matter experts to get us through the necessary gory details. For example, using the wrong seed in shady areas can be a flat out waste of money. The use of plants that require high maintenance should be avoided when a suitable substitute with lower carry costs is appropriate. Factor in water conservation. Some plants truly drink like elephants.

The importance of ground cover in landscaping really comes into play when the conversation includes any word similar to soils erosion or basement leaks. When it comes to soil conservation, preservation and removing or re-directing run off we want ground cover to be our friend. This requires planning.

My point is that too many people think of grounds as exclusively a cost center versus an asset to preserve. For grounds work the two options available to most income property owners are self-service or contract. For commercial assets there is nothing wrong with having dedicated staff for grounds if this fits within the larger budget.

I caution you to make sure the landscaping line item never becomes a jobs program whereas staff is mowing three times a week to look busy. Like Professor Drucker taught us with just-in-time inventory management, sometimes contract providers can be far and away the best and most costs effective solution.

About This Blog
Multifamily Insight is dedicated to assisting current and future multifamily property owners, operators and investors in executing specific tasks that allow multifamily assets to operate at their highest level of efficiency. We discuss real world issues in multifamily property management and acquisitions. This blog is intended to be informational only and does not provide legal, financial or accounting advice. Seek professional counsel. For more information, visit: www.MultifamilyInsight.com

Research has shown that a person who resigns from your property management company is leaving for one of three possible reasons: a new career opportunity, an unsolicited job offer or for a grievance that has not been handled correctly. Whenever a person resigns from your property management company for voluntary reasons it’s normally a surprise and it can be expensive to replace a valuable team member. This article will outline three important steps for conducting exit interviews, a process which will reduce employee turnover and improve profitability at the same time.

Implementing exit interviews: Start by explaining to your property management team that an exit interview will be conducted for any person who is voluntarily leaving your company. When done respectfully, exit interviews send a strong message to your team because it says that you and your company want to know why they are leaving. An exit interview process will also help you and your property management company clearly understand why people are leaving and may give you valuable clues as to where some improvement needs to be made from within your company. An exit interview process will also give each former employee a chance to tell you why he or she is leaving and this form of closure is both healthy and productive prior to their departure.

Tip From The Coach: As you begin to review your exit interview forms, look for trends that might point to deeper problems or might help you see new opportunities. Here are sometrendsto look for: the average length of time a person works for your property management company before they voluntarily resign, the topthree reasons why a person leaves your company, the top three positions with the most turnover, what internal changes might prevent team members from leaving, do you see any turnover patterns within a specific department or group, and what are you doing on a personal level to prevent future resignations.

Conducting exit interviews: The next step is to determine how exit interviews are going to be done in your property management company. Here are some typical ways to conduct an exit interview: give an exit interview form to the person who is leaving and ask them to complete it before their last day, give an exit interview form to the person who is leaving and ask them to mail it back in a confidential envelope, meet with the departing person on their last day to conduct a verbal exit interview or schedule a time to have this person call your human resource department for a telephone exit interview.

Tip From The Coach: With many of our property management clients, we have been asked to conduct exit interviews with some of their departing employees, as a neutral third party. We use a custom exit interview form for each property management company and then create a summary of our findings. From this summary, we then begin to address the internal areas that will either reduce employee turnover or make for a more productive and profitable organization.

Questions to ask during an exit interview: It has been our experience that each of our property management clients want to create their own custom exit interview form. Here are some sample questions to get you started with yours: What did you enjoy the most about working for our property management company? What did you enjoy the least and why? What suggestions or feedback can you share that would make our company stronger and more successful? Did we handle your complaint/grievance in an appropriate and timely way? Were you clear about your career path and future within our property management company? What would it take for you to stay, if that were possible? Is there anything else you would like to share as your final comment?

Tip From The Coach: Remember, if exit interviews are handled respectfully, you and your company will gain a wealth of knowledge to help grow, refine, polish and solidify the success of your property management organization. In addition, a departing employee will more than likely offer honest commentary about what is and what is not working in your company. Are you ready to really listen to what they have to say? More importantly, are you ready to take the action steps to resolve, fix, and improve whatever is necessary?

Want to hear more about this important topic or ask some additional questions about how to build a custom exit interview form? Send an E-mail to ernest@powerhour.com and The Coach will E-mail you a free PowerHour invitation.

Ernest F. Oriente, a business coach since 1995 [28,260 hours], a property management industry professional since 1988–the author of SmartMatch Alliances–and the founder of PowerHour, has a passion for coaching his clients on executive leadership, hiring and motivating property management SuperStars, traditional and Internet SEO/SEM marketing, competitive sales strategies, and high leverage alliances for property management teams and their leaders. He provides private and group coaching for property management companies around North America, executive recruiting, investment banking, national utility bill auditing. national real estate and apartment building insurance, SEO/SEM web strategies, national WiFi solutions, and powerful tools for hiring property management SuperStars and building dynamic teams. Ernest worked for Motorola, Primedia and is certified in the Xerox sales methodologies. Recent interviews and articles have appeared more than 6500 times in business and trade publications and in a wide variety of leading magazines and newspapers, including Smart Money, Inc., Business 2.0, The New York Times, Fast Company, The LA Times, Fortune, Business Week, Self Employed America and The Financial Times. Since 1995, Ernest has written 190 articles for the property management industry and created 350+ property management forms, business and marketing checklists, sales letters and presentation tools. To subscribe to his free property management newsletter go to: www.powerhour.com. PowerHour

Best service, especially in the property management industry, can be deceiving because the needs and expectations of your residents are changing and evolving rapidly. In addition, your residents are comparing your apartment communities to both your competition and to best service with every company, product or service they experience. By reading this article, you will learn the steps for developing a system so your residents can tell you exactly what best service means to them!

Developing resident surveys: Start by gathering the leasing teams at the properties you manage and discuss the current level of resident service being given. Also, ask for any feedback or suggestions they have heard or received from their residents. Next, prepare a resident survey that might include some of the following questions: Tell us about the best service you have ever received while living in any apartment community. Tell us about the best service you have ever received from any company or individual and why this was the best. Tell us how we can improve your living experience with our apartment community. Lastly, ask your leasing teams for suggestions on how these surveys might best be presented to their residents. Many of our property management clients ask their leasing teams to hand deliver these surveys to their residents on Saturday morning for a personalized touch while others give out small prizes to the first 25 survey responses.

Tip From The Coach: Do you want to experience best service? Take a few hours and visit a high-end retaillocation like Nordstrom, a Ritz-Carlton hotel or Tiffany’s. When visiting these world-class locations, observe how they greetyou, the words they select when assisting you, the types and variety of products or services they provide, the colors and fabrics they use and the quality of their brochures and printed materials. As a side note, any employee of a Ritz-Carlton can fix a guest service problem instantly, for up to $2,000!

Implementing resident surveys: Once you and your leasing teams have received the responses to these resident surveys you can now set your service standards at or above the level of your resident’ expectations. As a next step, summarize the results from these resident surveys and look for any repeated suggestions or recommendations. Then, design an action-plan with your leasing teams based on the suggestions they are going to implement over the next 30-60 days. Lastly, have your leasing teams share with their residents a written summary of exactly what they will be doing as a result of these resident surveys. Remember, surveys are a great way to get feedback, but these residents will want to know what your leasing teams are going to do with their responses.

Tip From The Coach: Once this first resident survey has been completed, ask your leasing teams to schedule additional surveys every 90 to 120 days for the next 36 months. These future surveys will allow you and your leasing teams to stay current with the ever-changing needs and requests of your residents. In addition, by having your leasing teams ask for this ongoing feedback their residents will know that service at their apartment communities will continue to evolve as a reflection of their expectations.

Learning from your residents: An additional benefit to implementing surveys will be the great new ideas or services you and your leasing team will learn from your residents’ feedback. Many of the responses to these surveys will include requests to receive something faster, something easier to use, something easier to read/understand or something that is causing a problem or frustration. Take each of these requests and look for ways to easily and inexpensively implement all of them. In addition, look at each of these survey ideas and see if your property management company can earn new income from any of these suggestions. A great example of this concept is the way many apartment communities are adding a fee-based business center where their work-at-home residents can access computers, fax/copy machines and Internet services.

Tip From The Coach: Remember, make it easy to listen and learn from the residents of the properties you manage because their suggestions and recommendations will uncover great new ideas and a variety of ways to set your apartment communities well ahead of the rest. Are you ready to raise service to a world-class level?

Want to hear more about this important topic or ask some additional questions about how to build powerful resident surveys? Send an E-mail to ernest@powerhour.com and The Coach will E-mail you a free PowerHour invitation.

Ernest F. Oriente, a business coach since 1995 [28,130 hours], a property management industry professional since 1988–the author of SmartMatch Alliances–and the founder of PowerHour and PowerHour SEO has a passion for coaching his clients on executive leadership, hiring and motivating property management SuperStars, traditional and Internet SEO/SEM marketing, competitive sales strategies, and high leverage alliances for property management teams and their leaders.

He provides private and group coaching for property management companies around North America, executive recruiting, investment banking, national utility bill auditing , national real estate and apartment building insurance, SEO/SEM web strategies, national WiFi solutions, and powerful tools for hiring property management SuperStars and building dynamic teams. Ernest worked for Motorola, Primedia and is certified in the Xerox sales methodologies. Recent interviews and articles have appeared more than 6500 times in business and trade publications and in a wide variety of leading magazines and newspapers, including Smart Money, Inc., Business 2.0, The New York Times, Fast Company, The LA Times, Fortune, Business Week, Self Employed America and The Financial Times.

Since 1995, Ernest has written 185 articles for the property management industry and created 350+ property management forms, business and marketing checklists, sales letters and presentation tools. To subscribe to his free property management newsletter go to: www.powerhour.com. PowerHour

Here are eight ways to read a rent roll with an eye towards determining stability of the tenant base. The objective is to provide insight into the stability of the asset by knowing the financial reality associated with the income stream from the multifamily asset.

Baseline Data. When beginning a review of the rent roll ask for two copies; one for the current month and one for the same month from the previous year (two years if you can get it). Our objective is to obtain a baseline; to determine those tenants that are on the rent roll in the current month and those removed.

Turnover. While a nice catch phase, in our business increases in turnover means we are burning cash. With the baseline data we can now determine turnover and inquire about the fate of those tenants no longer on the roll. What became of them?

Revenue and Revenue Growth (Rent Growth). Minusthe layeredview of revenue including Gross Potential, less vacant, less concessions, plus utility income, plus garages… yada yada. How much RENTAL REVENUE was obtained for the current month versus for the same month one and two years previous?

Renewals and renewal rates. Renewals are the cornerstone to stability. What is the year-over-year renewal rate? A number north of 75% is very good. High renewal rates converts to a low turnover rate. Low turnover converts to high gross margins and less turnover expenditures.

Lease Start dates/Lease end dates. This is separate and distinct from renewals. This category says much about the potential of un-locking value. What is the average length of tenancy? Is it 12 months or 12 years? Nationally, turnover is fifty percent annually.

Collections Activity. Collections refers to only collections of rent- not any other category. We are focused only on the rent roll. What percentage of rents are collected as of the first of the month? What is this percentage as of the second and third of the month?

Late fee revenue. Late fees can be an indicator of future collections. This revenue is a mechanism to enforce timely payment of rent. The real target inquiry is to determine the quality of the under-lying tenant base. Once late fees becomes consistently high, say, more than three percent of annual revenue, it becomes a red flag requiring deeper investigation.

Evictions Activity. Per the rent roll, how many evictions were performed in the last few years? What was the end result on each one; voluntary move once served or action necessitating legal fees? What was the cost to turnover evicted units?

Can you add to this list? Please let us know through your comments. Thanks!

About This Blog
Multifamily Insight is dedicated to assisting current and future multifamily property owners, operators and investors in executing specific tasks that allow multifamily assets to operate at their highest level of efficiency. We discuss real world issues in multifamily property management and acquisitions. This blog is intended to be informational only and does not provide legal, financial or accounting advice. Seek professional counsel. For more information, visit: www.MultifamilyInsight.com