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Apartment Marketing Solutions
Difficult Economic Times Have Affected the Apartment Industry
With difficult economic times... Unemployment is rising... Delinquencies dog revenue... more and more potential renters are doubling up... Traffic is slow... Occupancy is edging downward...
Apartment Communities need more resident prospects:
Calls - with so many renters doubling up we can't afford not to generate as many as possible,
Visits - statistics show that results are much stronger from online contacts if responded to within the first hour,
Emails - increasingly resident leads do not want to talk on the phone or otherwise interact. Some properties we serve have closed over 10% of their leases without a ...
Occupancy100 Blog
Related posts:New Occupancy100 Video
Finding Better Residents
Finding better qualified residents is essential to the success of your multi-unit property. Increasing apartment occupancy can be done through two main methods:
The first method for finding good, qualified residents is to heavily advertise your apartment so that you capture as many potential residents as possible, and then weed out the many unqualified rental applicants. This method of resident acquisition brings you a plethora of potential residents but heavy advertising is expensive.
The second method for finding great qualified renters is to only advertise to renter prospects who are more likely to qualify. Acquiring renter traffic though this method of resident ...
After Hours Leasing Support
This is a PAY per RESULT Apartment Marketing Solution.
We have found that potential residents fill out applications after work once they have gotten home. This means that rental applications are submitted after your leasing office has probably closed. Our research suggests that applications that are responded to within the hour lease more than 50% of the time. Because of this we have professional leasing agents at our central office between the hours of 8am to 2am which ensures that more than 90% of all applications are responded to within an hour. Even if your leasing office is not open, you ...
Resident Lead Generation
This is a PAY per RESULT apartment marketing solution.
Our Resident Lead Generation solution generates 2-3 daily new calls. How do we do this? We have identified some of the Internets leading web presence companies. We place weekly updated ads of every floor plan on each of these companies' websites. Craigslist, Whitepages, Google Maps, Yahoo Local, etc...
Customer Feedback - Beckie Foust
"Occupancy100 generates 1-2 qualified leads per day"
"Currently Occupancy100 generates 1-2 qualified leads per day, and 3-4 new applications a week. We love it. Most of our new tenants have come from occupancy100s services."
Beckie Foust Property Manager - ...
I ran into a great post on multifamily insiders by Bill Gray (the Land Lord Doctor) on tenant screening. I suggest you give it a look for some great indepth ideas on tenant screening. If you have thoughts on the same please comment.
“Ask these questions when talking with the current or previous landlord:
1. What was the tenant’s payment history?
2. Did the tenant give sufficient notice according to the lease?
3. Did the tenant fulfill all of the terms of the lease?
4. Did the tenant give a reason for moving?
5. Were there any complaints from neighbors about the tenant?
As the economic downturn has continued to worsen, I’ve watched deliquencies grow worse at several properties, I believe we are seeing more crime on our properties, and I am sure I could find other effects if I looked closer. All of this has caused me to consider our tenant screening process. The fact is a background check and credit check provide little information.
In the future, our company will be looking for subtle ways to strengthen and broaden our tenant screening process. The results of that effort will focus not only on tenant selection, but also on tenant retention. Consider that if using this information you can change your base as little as 5% per year that the results will become compellingly positive over a few years time.
Our focus is going to be on learning more about lifestyles, education, interests, and social choices. From these, we will focus on tenant retention and tenant incentives. We believe these are excellent way to develop tighter communities where the incentive to rent will overcome the desire to own as residents become more focused on cash producing asset acquisition than homeownership.
Today, Bloomberg ran an article that states an expectation of deflationary pressure throughout 2010. The principal driver behind this conclusion is the weakened employment environment throughout the United States. As a results as owners and managers we have to consider how this effects are operations and asset choices.
From a leasing perspective, this is extends the pressure households are under to accept living situations that were not acceptable in the past. Rebuilding America’s wealth means lower fixed cost choices for a large percentage of us. Owners should be considering rental options that will reduce tenants total cost of living decisions. Our affiliated properties have been developing fixed income solutions and solutions to increase the tenant density in our units taking advantage of our generally abundant parking, often good access to public transportation, and other factors supporting this.
From an operations perspective, we must be reviewing our labor costs and assure that we remain competitive. Additionally, as a sector that is likely to recover more quickly in this economy, we may have talent opportunities that don’t often exist. Also, expect and pursue significant reductions in costs for supplies and contract services.
As potential property investors, good deals today must offer extremely strong fundamentals as market conditions may continue to erode property values over the next 24 months. And, for properties already owned, lower leverage is the choice path.
We have been working hard to create as many helpful videos for you to enjoy as possible. Here is a video that explains our apartment marketing solutions, and offers a great overview on Tenant Lead Generation, and the Online Rental Application.
In the past few weeks, we have made several great improvements to our Online Rental Application and our Application Management Software. Please take a moment to watch our 4 minute video:
In the course of our daily grind, we can easily become distracted by so many things… We need to collect rent. We need to have tenant files correct. We need to complete the repairs and maintenance. Unfortunately, leasing requires time every day.
Here at www.apartmentmarketingsolutions.com we’ve learned the hardway. Leasing requires careful attention everyday. We need to identify our apartment competition. Compare them on the basis of features, size, convenience, service, and other items that residents will consider. We must understand what other multifamily portfolio concessions look like. We have to ensure we compete on price for the same apartment unit features. And, that is a beginning.
We have to ensure our leasing collateral is accurate and ready to go. We must understand how to present our multifamily property characteristics. And, we have to be armed to successfully sell them as resident prospects call or visit our property.
Next, and a new complexity in today’s apartment leasing world, we have to a great website that tells about the community, the property, apartment amenities, and apartment features. The more we provide the better our opportunity to lease.
This is all great, but in my estimation these points are fundamental. The real key to successful leasing is careful attention each day to driving and closing traffic. As operators, we have a responsibility to find out what is going on in the conversations, where they fail, where they succeed, and so on. Single minded focus on all elements of earning a resident prospect and improving the opportunity to close with the prospect on a new apartment lease.
So you have an apartment to lease. Either a weekly lease, monthly or yearly. And you’ve done all the things, including newspaper, CraigsList, local apartment guide, even a few fliers to neighbors. And you still have some un-rented inventory.
What’s next?
Make sure your web site and total online presence is where it needs to be, from email to website to Google Adwords to Search Engine Optimization for Google, Bing and Yahoo. A few ideas:
Make your photos real. So often, websites show canned or old photos, and have non-descriptive language. If you can’t afford a professional photographer, get out there with a camera yourself and take lots of creative angles. You can hundreds of photos with a digital camera; shoot away. Be creative. Yes, you want images that show the room, but you want the images to POP out at the reader.
Show floor plans. Potential tenants want to imagine what they will be getting.
Make sure the right numbers are on your website. Yes, you want the office number on the site, but do remember to keep the rest of the telephone numbers on your website. A few minutes delay might mean you miss out on a tenant.
Make it Melrose Place: No, we aren’t saying that Heather Locklear will need to be there. Instead, what we mean is that you need to “brand” the name and place as a community and way of life. If your clientele is just out of college, you want to play up the social aspect. If it is mid-life folks, then there is another approach to take. Go around and talk to the people who have lived in the apartments the longest, and like it. They will give you the scoop on what makes your place unique. Remember, outside of the signage and the architecture, your “brand” is the people who live and work at your complex. Consider having a web-page where you only list former tenants and what they loved about the place. “I lived there in 1973. Gosh those were some great days at Piney Apartments!”
Meet the staff: Do you have a lawn company or maintenance man? Show them on the site. Not only does it give them a boost, it tells the potential tenant that this complex is a place where the staff is valued. That message will translate to the potential tenant as this is a place that will take care of me.
Talk to Realtors. Realtors who do relocations might be a good source of referrals.
Use Google Adwords. With Adwords, you pay for clicks, not exposure. That means that your apartment community or resort gets exposure even if you don’t pay.
Use lots of noun-based copy. Search engines can only find your information through words, and adjectives are not as important as nouns. So use lots of words and descriptions for your apartments. Don’t use lots of descriptive words. Instead, use facts, such as size, color and amenities. For instance, you would say “oleander-lined walks” rather than “pretty” walks, or you might say “brick-lined paths” rather than just nice landscaping. This might sound extreme, but you can even mention paint colors, flower beds and the like. Read our tips on Search Engine Basics for ideas.
Have faith! While the economy is in an awful spot, everyone’s in this mess so just keep at it and you just might even build up a waiting list.
Know your architecture: At some point, someone designed your apartment buildings with a vision, however modest. Make sure you know that. For instance, if it is a complex built in 1962 by a local architect or developer or contractor, mention that on the site. People have confidence in other people; you are trying to differentiate yourself and every tidbit of information helps.
What are the benefits? Find benefits where you don’t think there are benefits: If you have shaded parking, that’s a benefit. If you have a pool, make sure that it is an”intimate” pool or a “jungle” pool or a pool with “dozens of deck chairs and card tables where residents play chess every Tuesday.”
Take advantage of Social Media. You can spend a lot of time in social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, promoting your apartments. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes not. But even a little bit of effort helps to get search engines like Google and Bing to find your name, and associate your apartment name with keywords.
In the neighborhood: Don’t be afraid of old fashioned shoe leather. Yes, the web is powerful. But make sure you make yourself known to other nearby apartment communities and businesses that are near to your apartments. They will certainly be able to refer people if they know of someone.
Post the rules but be flexible: When new tenants are hard to find, you need to keep the ones you have. Better to train an old tenant to be a good tenant than to have to find new ones. That being said, a person who finds your apartment over the web wants to know some of the expectations. For instance, are guests quiet at the pool after 9 p.m., or is there a Friday night pool party? How many parking spaces?
Make sure your site is running properly. Look at your site on different computers and browsers. Does it load quickly? Do you have analytic software installed so you know where your traffic originates and what they are looking for? Do you have all the pages up that you need?
I found this list posted by Primemedia on LinkedIn today and thought that this could be useful.
The apartment features and community amenities consumers searched most often for on ApartmentGuide.com over the last six months include (in order):
1. Washer and Dryer In Unit
2. Pets (allowed)
3. Air Conditioning
4. Some Paid Utilities
5. Washer and Dryer Connections
6. Dishwasher
7. Balcony
8. Garage
9. Cable Ready
10. Furnished Available
11. Swimming Pool
12. Short Term Lease Available
13. Fitness Center
14. Gated Access
15. Oversized Closet
The responsibility of renting a property is critical, but simply generating traffic and having a trained sales staff will not rent units. We are operators in a commodity market. By definition, this implies that as owners and managers we have to provide some basic underlying conditions to rent.
First on the list, as operators we gain nothing by trying to sharply under price the market and if we over price the market, we will not rent. This is a delicate item because if we price too low we lose money and if we price too high we will not rent at all. Further, this means we have to be competitive on concessions as well as basic price. With all this in place, if as owners and operators, we can establish a position of greater value we will have a sustainable edge in the market.
Next, our property must be priced to compete with properties on amenities. Visits and calls are generally determined by bedrooms, bathrooms, and amenities. Pricing to fit against the competition in this area is critical.
A clean well maintained property is another basic point. Property management processes and procedures that assure this are critical to renting units. As always, customer service wins the day.
Finally, social condition will kill renting and can be a great rent enabler. If resident prospects see a clean area, late model vehicles, quiet and low key resident interactions, etc. Residents and resident prospects need to feel safe in the neighborhood. The probability begin increasing quickly that they will choose your community as their new home if safe, clean, and friendly conditions.
About 55% of Hispanics respond well to ads in Spanish. Also, Radio and television is generally the best mode of advertising based on selling results.
When you considers Hispanics are $860 billion dollar market segment, ignoring this segment is at your own risk. This will be an even greater fact as the segment is expected to grow to over $1 trillion by early in the coming decade.
So you have an apartment to lease. Either a weekly lease, monthly or yearly. And you’ve done all the things, including newspaper, CraigsList, local apartment guide, even a few fliers to neighbors. And you still have some un-rented inventory.