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3/9/2010
Sometimes I discover a new technique or have the opportunity to see an expert in action. This week, I learned there is a big disparity between intent and reality.
Visit 1 - Leasing professional shows me a lovely property, but keeps telling me to "Go visit the website" for the daily prices. This is said repeatedly, even though I have indicated that I am looking for my mother, she has just put her home on the market, and isn't even convinced she wants an apartment. There is no attempt to have Mom come in, experience the place, etc.. (although when I suggest it, they say, "Sure! We'd love to show her around". No "I will take care of you, and make sure your mother is happy" moment. Just, "Go visit the website for further information. Your quote will be good for 72 hours". Why would I rent an apartment online at this point? My mom hasn't even seen it. MORE
2/24/2010
Does anyone have an idea they can share?? Please send them to info@leasingcafe.com and we'll post it on this blog!
I found a few links from a google search but these don't quite have the functionality I'd like - I'm looking for a website that keeps a national database of salary ranges that will let apartment industry people search for salary ranges.
http://bit.ly/bRtcfy
http://bit.ly/bGwyKi
http://bit.ly/aRoOqM
Does anyone have an idea they can share?? Please send them to info@leasingcafe.com and we'll post it on this blog!
Thanks,
Becca
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Important Update to Maintaining LEED Certification
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2/11/2010
How to Easily Lose Your LEED Certification and What That Means to Your Bottom Line! by Peter D. Morris Changes to the LEED criteria in 2009 may mean a previously certified building will lose its certification and with that comes a whole host of issues for the building owner, manager and tenants. READ ARTICLE
2/4/2010
DEALING WITH DIFFICULT PEOPLE COURSE NOW LIVE IN OUR LEARNING CENTER - We are pleased to announce the launch of our first new course title of 2010: Dealing with Difficult People! This informative online course is one of numerous titles we will release this year, all aimed at helping you to succeed in today's challenging work environment.
Here is what is covered in this 1-hour title: - A six-step process for resolving conflict with residents and prospective residents.
- What to say when addressing conflict with a colleague.
- How to use sincere and specific praise in order to encourage the performance you want from your co-workers.
- And, the complexities of blame and credit in the workplace and how to build alliances instead of making enemies.
- Recommended for All Onsite Team Members - Management, Leasing & Maintenance.
Dealing with Difficult People is included in our Unlimited Training Subscription of more than three dozen courses for the low cost of $0.20 per unit, per month. Not an Unlimited Training Subscriber? This title is also available at the Pay-Per-View rate of $79 per student. Click here to begin previewing Dealing with Difficult People. DEALING WITH DIFFICULT PEOPLE CONTEST WINNERS - We think this may be a record! We received our first ten Dealing with Difficult People 100% Knowledge Challenge winners within 24 hours! http://www.gracehill.com/
mailto:contact@gracehill.com
Phone: (866) GRACEHILL
1/28/2010
What happened with the Internet in 2009? From www.netcraft.com How many websites were added? How many emails were sent? How many Internet users were there? This post will answer all of those questions and many more. Prepare for information overload, but in a good way. We have used a wide variety of sources from around the Web. A full list of source references is available at the bottom of the post for those interested. We here at Pingdom also did some additional calculations to get even more numbers to show you.
Email* 90 trillion - The number of emails sent on the Internet in 2009. * 247 billion - Average number of email messages per day. * 1.4 billion - The number of email users worldwide. * 100 million - New email users since the year before. * 81% - The percentage of emails that were spam. * 92% - Peak spam levels late in the year. * 24% - Increase in spam since last year. * 200 billion - The number of spam emails per day (assuming 81% are spam). Websites* 234 million - The number of websites as of December 2009. * 47 million - Added websites in 2009. Web servers
* 13.9% - The growth of Apache websites in 2009.
* -22.1% - The growth of IIS websites in 2009.
* 35.0% - The growth of Google GFE websites in 2009.
* 384.4% - The growth of Nginx websites in 2009.
* -72.4% - The growth of Lighttpd websites in 2009.
Domain names
* 81.8 million - .COM domain names at the end of 2009.
* 12.3 million - .NET domain names at the end of 2009.
* 7.8 million - .ORG domain names at the end of 2009.
* 76.3 million - The number of country code top-level domains (e.g. .CN, .UK, .DE, etc.).
* 187 million - The number of domain names across all top-level domains (October 2009).
* 8% - The increase in domain names since the year before.
Internet users
* 1.73 billion - Internet users worldwide (September 2009).
* 18% - Increase in Internet users since the previous year.
* 738,257,230 - Internet users in Asia.
* 418,029,796 - Internet users in Europe.
* 252,908,000 - Internet users in North America.
* 179,031,479 - Internet users in Latin America / Caribbean.
* 67,371,700 - Internet users in Africa.
* 57,425,046 - Internet users in the Middle East.
* 20,970,490 - Internet users in Oceania / Australia.
Social media
* 126 million - The number of blogs on the Internet (as tracked by BlogPulse).
* 84% - Percent of social network sites with more women than men.
* 27.3 million - Number of tweets on Twitter per day (November, 2009)
* 57% - Percentage of Twitter's user base located in the United States.
* 4.25 million - People following @aplusk (Ashton Kutcher, Twitter's most followed user).
* 350 million - People on Facebook.
* 50% - Percentage of Facebook users that log in every day.
* 500,000 - The number of active Facebook applications. Images
* 4 billion - Photos hosted by Flickr (October 2009).
* 2.5 billion - Photos uploaded each month to Facebook.
* 30 billion - At the current rate, the number of photos uploaded to Facebook per year.
Videos
* 1 billion - The total number of videos YouTube serves in one day.
* 12.2 billion - Videos viewed per month on YouTube in the US (November 2009).
* 924 million - Videos viewed per month on Hulu in the US (November 2009).
* 182 - The number of online videos the average Internet user watches in a month (USA).
* 82% - Percentage of Internet users that view videos online (USA).
* 39.4% - YouTube online video market share (USA).
* 81.9% - Percentage of embedded videos on blogs that are YouTube videos.
Web browsers
* 62.7% - Internet Explorer
* 24.6% - Firefox
* 4.6% - Chrome
* 4.5% - Safari
* 2.4% - Opera
* 1.2% - Other
Malicious software
* 148,000 - New zombie computers created per day (used in botnets for sending spam, etc.)
* 2.6 million - Amount of malicious code threats at the start of 2009 (viruses, trojans, etc.)
* 921,143 - The number of new malicious code signatures added by Symantec in Q4 2009. About the Author: Website and web server stats from Netcraft. Domain name stats from Verisign and Webhosting.info. Internet user stats from Internet World Stats. Web browser stats from Net Applications. Email stats from Radicati Group. Spam stats from McAfee. Malware stats from Symantec (and here) and McAfee. Online video stats from Comscore, Sysomos and YouTube. Photo stats from Flickr and Facebook. Social media stats from BlogPulse, Pingdom (here and here), Twittercounter, Facebook and GigaOm.
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Beating Burnout - Surviving Stress by Heather Blume
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1/18/2010
Whether it's the pressure others put on us or the pressure we put on ourselves, our industry is rife with stressed out people. Go to a property management convention sometime, and I swear you will see a sea of smokers who NEED their nicotine fix standing outside of it. Vendors, try calling your regionals and property managers just to chat on Monday morning at the beginning or end of the month. It will be funny. I promise. (I'm kidding! NEVER do this!) And we all know that the reason the door to the managers office closes is so that they can go in there and cry when they need to without anyone seeing it. CONTINUED
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"Don't Be Afraid to Ask for the Sale" by Lisa Trosein
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1/11/2010
12/29/2009
Now Live in the Grace Hill Learning Center...
1) Workplace Diversity Courses Now Available
2) Bed Bug Awareness Course Now Available For more details visit http://demos.gracehill.com/
1. WORKPLACE DIVERSITY AND WORKPLACE DIVERSITY (SUPERVISOR VERSION) COURSES NOW LIVE In a diverse workplace, cultural differences can be intimidating. These courses will show you how to acknowledge, appreciate, and even celebrate diversity in order to form a happier, more productive team. Here is what is covered in these 1-hour titles: - The definition, legal foundation, and benefits of workplace diversity.
- Why open, inclusive communication is so important and the tools for achieving it.
- How miscommunications occur and strategies to recover from them.
- The importance of leadership for an effective diversity initiative. (Supervisory Version)
- The legal responsibilities of a supervisor when making important employment decisions. (Supervisor Version)
Recommended for All Associates including Management, Leasing, Maintenance and Corporate Personnel. Those who supervise others should take the course marked (Supervisor Version). 2. BED BUG AWARENESS COURSE NOW LIVE Reports of bed bug infestations are on the rise. The risks to the multifamily industry are real and the potential costs are high. The goal of this training is to provide an overview of bed bugs and their impact on the multifamily industry. It is intended to provide you with the skills necessary to identify, eliminate, and prevent bed bugs in your community. Here is what is covered in this 1-hour title: - The risks bed bugs pose to the multifamily industry.
- How to recognize the signs of bed bug activity.
- The importance of an established bed bug response plan to inspect for, eliminate, and prevent bed bugs.
- How to handle resident concerns.
Recommended for All Team Members - Corporate Personnel, Management, Leasing, & Maintenance.
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Lisa Trosien - Complimentary Seminar 12/15/09
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12/10/2009
Preparing Your 2010 Apartment Marketing Plan Lisa Trosien, award winning multifamily speaker and educator, will share marketing trends, tips and ideas from around the country that will help you create a great 2010 marketing plan and make the most of your marketing investments. Register at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/847649729.
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Harvard University Releases Housing Study for 2009
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12/9/2009
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8 Tips to Embrace Change from 94 Day Challenge
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11/16/2009
"8 Tips to Embrace Change" by Kellie D'Andrea offers great insight into positively dealing with changing times. READ HERE
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Training Corner: The Social Media Glossary
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11/13/2009
When it comes down to it, social media is simply a way to bring people together online to have a conversation. Because the social media landscape is vast, it's often difficult to decipher what things mean and which sites are best suited to our needs. To help cut through the clutter, Apartments.com has provided a go-to social media glossary for the most popular terms and Web sites. READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AT The Social Media Glossary
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Is it Time to Revisit your Pet Policy to attract more renters?
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11/13/2009
11/2/2009
Visual smoke alarms now a state law! (From the Texas Association of the Deaf Newsletter, Fall 2009) If requested by a tenant, a landlord must install a visual smoke detector that is capable of alerting a person with a hearing impairment of the presence of smoke. Effective: Jan. 1, 2010.
It was late at night in January 2005 when Tyrus and Sephra Burks, both deaf, were asleep in their apartment after celebrating the birthday of one of their four children. A fire broke out and the living room was in flames before Tyrus, who had fallen asleep on the couch watching TV, woke up. He was able to save two of his children, but the fire had grown too large for him to pass in order to reach Sephra who was sleeping in the bedroom upstairs and his other two children. Sephra and two of their children died in the fire that night. A visual smoke alarm in the bedroom might have prevented their deaths. The tragedy that led the Texas Legislature to pass SB 1715 is worth remembering. To honor the Burks family that lost so much, SB 1715 is now known as the Sephra Burks' Bill. As of January 1, 2010, landlords of dwelling units in Texas, such as apartment complexes, will be required to purchase and install visual smoke alarms upon request for their deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind tenants. These visual smoke alarms must be installed in the bedroom where a deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind person will be sleeping. The law applies to any "home, mobile home, duplex unit, apartment unit, condominium unit, or any dwelling unit in a multiunit residential structure." It also applies to "one or more rooms rented for use as a permanent residence under a single lease to one or more tenants." Deaf-blind individuals who cannot see the flashing component then the landlord should provide a smoke alarm bed shaker. The landlord is responsible for the purchase and installation of the visual smoke alarm, just as they are responsible for traditional, audible smoke alarms. Generally, you should put your request in writing and inform your landlord that you (or someone else living with you) are deaf, hard of hearing, or deafblind, and that you need a visual smoke alarm because you cannot hear the audible smoke alarm. The landlord should purchase and install the visual smoke alarm within a reasonable amount of time after they have received your request. If you need a specific type of visual smoke alarm, such as a bed shaking smoke alarm, you should include that in your request and explain why. Be sure you keep a copy of your request. An example of a request you can make to your landlord can be found at the end of this article. Generally, the landlord should purchase and install the visual smoke alarm within a reasonable amount of time after receiving a request. The landlord may ask you for such proof, which might include a statement from a doctor or audiologist. However, the landlord cannot ask for other medical history; the request must be limited to just that information required to show the hearing loss. Landlords should treat the provision of visual smoke alarm the same as they do for the other smoke alarms they provide. If they do not require a deposit from their hearing tenants for the smoke alarm, then they should not require you to pay a deposit for the visual smoke alarm. If you have children who are deaf the landlord must provide a visual smoke alarm in their bedroom(s). If the landlord does not grant your request (after the law takes effect in 2010, you should contact the Advocacy, Inc., office nearest you. Our locations and contact information can be found at http://www.advocacyinc.org/index.cfm. Additionally, your landlord should contact the Texas Apartment Association ( http://www.taa.org/) to get more information on their obligations under SB 1715. This information has been provided by Advocacy, Incorporated and is not legal advice. Please consult an attorney if you have any questions. Advocacy is a federally funded, non-profit agency that provides legal and advocacy services on behalf of people with disabilities.
10/29/2009
Renters Take Preventative Measures to Safeguard Their Apartments and Are Willing to Pay More Rent for Additional Security Amenities
CHICAGO, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Renters seek a safe haven when searching for an apartment. According to a national Apartments.com survey--conducted during national crime prevention month--96 percent of respondents said neighborhood crime rate influences where they choose to live. More than 750 renter survey respondents stated violent crimes including assault and battery followed by theft and burglary concern them most. To protect themselves, renters are acting responsibly including keeping strangers out of the apartment community and are even willing to pay more in rent to live where they feel secure. MORE
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Room for Color 2009 - The Fifth Annual Colors Contest
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10/16/2009
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10 Steps to Social Media Success
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10/15/2009
10/9/2009
For a limited time only, Property Management Jeopardy is available to all Grace Hill members for free on our website. Normally, the Learning Games will only be available to our Unlimited Training Subscribers. Use this opportunity to sample the game, then contact your Grace Hill representative to switch to our Unlimited Training Subscription plan so you may experience all the Learning Games!
Advanced Telephone Techniques Course is now available and registration for course launch contest. COURSE DESCRIPTION: The telephone is perhaps the most widely utilized of all business tools. Although using a telephone may seem like second nature, mastering the techniques presented in this course can help you stand apart from your competition by converting more prospect calls to visits and delivering superior service to your current residents. Here is what is covered in this 2-hour title: - Master successful telephone etiquette that will satisfy your prospective resident callers and get you closer to an in-person visit.
- Tour your caller through your community from the comfort of their own computer.
- Offer both reactive and proactive service in order to exceed resident expectations.
- Maintain a high level of customer service whether you're faced with emotional callers, language barriers, or multiple calls and visitors at once.
NEW CONTEST Advanced Telephone Techniques Course Launch Contest CONTEST DESCRIPTION: The first ten phone whiz kids to score a perfect 100% on the Advanced Telephone Techniques Knowledge Challenge will receive an environmentally friendly custom SIGG water bottle valued at $25.00. Our clients are highly competitive, so jump right into the course today and achieve 100% on the Knowledge Challenge. The top ten slots will go fast! Telephone Techniques is an Essentials title and included in our Unlimited Training Subscription of more than two dozen online courses for only $0.20 per unit, per month. Advanced Telephone Techniques is also available at the Pay-Per-View price of $79 per student, per course. Click here for a preview of this course.
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BusinessWeek Names 30 Strongest Housing Markets in the U.S.
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10/7/2009
According to real estate site Zillow.com's second-quarter home value index, there are more than 30 metro areas across the country where values have risen from the first quarter of the year to the second quarter...Business Week Article.
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5 Great Apartment Marketing and Management Ideas
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9/28/2009
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You Must Choose, But Choose Wisely
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9/21/2009
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Seven Deadly Sins Behind the Leasing Desk Series
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9/10/2009
Heather Blume of "Behind the Leasing Desk" has started a helpful and interesting series on seven practices to avoid at the office. Seven Deadly Sins Series
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The New American Dream: Renting
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8/18/2009
It's time to accept that home ownership is not a realistic goal for many people and to curtail the enormous government programs fueling this ambition. By Thomas J. Sugrue Read the whole article at: Wall Street Journal
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Congratulations to UDR on a 2nd Quarter Gain!
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8/10/2009
President Tom Toomey was pleased to annouce positive results for UDR's 2nd quarter: "In addition, he said, "Our Web-based tools speak directly to our main renter age cohort of 25 to 35 years old, who take the Internet for granted and who also use the Internet for their primary method for conducting personal business." READ THE ARTICLE at NAA's Aptly Spoken Blog.
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Seven Deadly Sins of Social Media
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8/4/2009
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Apartment Guide and Penske Truck Rental give prizes for Twitter Followers
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7/21/2009
It would be "tweet" to win free rent for a year from Apartment Guide and Penske Truck Rental. ENTRY DETAILS
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Great ideas for creating seasonal mini-models.
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7/9/2009
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Apartment rating website with students in mind.
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6/24/2009
Be advised that there is an apartment critique website located at www.HowsYourHousing.com. Many of you have had experience with www.ApartmentRatings.com. We can expect similar kinds of feedback at this student housing focused website. Quote: "Hows your Housing allows you access to post and read about EVERY house previously rented and EVERY Dorm at many campuses and lets you compare the prices, parking information, neighborhood information, neighborly relations, crime, and rental histories in the new place you are about to choose to live in."
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Helpful Closing Statements: 6 Reasons to Rent
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6/22/2009
Helpful article by Karen Aho of MSN Real Estate discusses the PROs of leasing vs. owning. Read the article HERE.
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Dealing with Apartment Ratings Web Sites
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6/22/2009
Brian Owen shares insight into how to deal with apartment ratings Web sites. Read complete Article HERE.
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Applause for Perry Reid Properties "Operation House America"
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6/22/2009
Perry Reid Properties will donate rent to individuals who qualify as having lost employment due to the economic down-turn. Details are posted at Operation "House America".
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$100 million donation to Habitat for Humanity
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6/8/2009
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Hats Off to Mark Taylor Residential & "Save the Family"
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5/12/2009
Mark-Taylor Residential and Save the Family team up to provide rent-free apartments to homeless families in Phoenix, AZ. See the whole story aired by MSNBC. Wait through the commercial and the clip will load automatically.
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National Multi Housing Council Releases 2nd Quarter Report
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5/11/2009
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Interesting Study by Advertising Age on how people use media.
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5/11/2009
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Research Report from NMHC
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4/21/2009
A Case for Investing in U.S. Apartments This paper illustrates the benefits of investing in U.S. apartments today by highlighting the key factors that influence their superior risk-adjusted performance and positive contribution to diversified real estate portfolio returns. Read Research Report HERE
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EPA Energy Star perfomance Tracking Tool for Multifamily
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4/21/2009
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched a multifamily version of its ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. The online energy performance tracking tool allows building owners and operators to measure and manage their buildings' energy consumption. READ MORE HERE
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Enjoyable and Helpful Apartment Industry Blog
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4/21/2009
3/23/2009
Looking for ways to differentiate your apartment community from the competition or building a new community that needs prospect driven amenities?
The article below my signature also applies to the apartment industry!!! I know we are always looking at ways to differentiating ourselves from our competitors in the apartment industry and this could definitely be a HUGE selling point. Especially when you realize that most if not all if our apartment dwellers use a cell phone as their PRIMARY phone line and their only source of communication for emergencies, etc while in their apartment homes. Just something to chew on. Becca Wilson.....read below...
Monday, March 23, 2009, 12:10pm EDT | Modified: Monday, March 23, 2009, 12:43pm Cell phone reception a key to hotel choiceOrlando Business Journal A new survey of U.S. travelers found that 54 percent who can't get strong cell phone reception at a hotel probably won't return. The survey, commissioned by Repeated Signal Solutions, a provider of in-building cell and wireless antenna systems, polled 1,000 travelers aged 35 to 54 with incomes of $50,000 to $100,000. The survey found the same sentiment applied to office building, 48 percent; meeting spaces, 45 percent; and hospitals and medical centers, 36 percent.
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Generational Marketing During a Recession
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3/9/2009
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Battle For Smoke-Free Apartments Heats Up
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3/9/2009
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Mobile and SMS Usage in America
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2/19/2009
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Facebook.com Receives Perpetual Rights
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2/16/2009
All Content Belongs to Facebook.com Through its New Terms of Use URGENT: Be aware that the new change in Facebook.com's Terms of Use agreement can have catastrophic repercussions. The new Terms of Use allows Facebook ownership and sublicensing rights to any content a member publishes on the Facebook.com website. It is now become very urgent that any photography you may publish on your property Facebook.com pages is royalty free and available for republication--that would include logos and other artwork. Otherwise, your company could be liable, not only for violating old-fashioned copyright law, but also for a double jeopardy for surrendering that copyright to Facebook.com's arbitrary redistribution. Even family, property and resident photography can be lifted by Facebook.com and used for whatever purpose they might decide according to their new terms. Terms of Use Article from Consumerist.com
2/2/2009
Want to better understand and relate to your Gen Y customers and employees? This blog by Laura Schildkraut shares great perspective on how to motivate the Gen Y Generation psyche. Onboarding Gen Y
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Apartment Rents Show First Decline in Over 5 Years
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1/29/2009
1/28/2009
Welcome to Sales Velocity's blog website. We invite everyone to take any ideas off of our website for your own use and also to give us some of your feedback and ideas. The purpose of our blog is for everyone to exchange sales industry concepts which will result in strengthening and growth in our companies.
About Michel Tate http://www.blogger.com/profile/15744539186089723956 Michele began her career in the real estate industry over 20 years ago as a means to finance her undergraduate degree. Since, Michele has proudly served prominent real estate firms within the multi-family, single family and commercial sectors such as Trammell Crow, General Investment & Development and Dewey Homes in various capacities such as sales management, sales coaching, marketing analyst, performance analyst, asset marketing and corporate educational development. Throughout her career, Michele has established a solid reputation for quality, creativity, leadership and achievement. Most of her successes are directly attributed to her natural propensity to communicate intuitively, build trust, motivate teams and demand excellence. In 2006, Michele founded Sales Velocity, a sales coaching firm devoted to helping real estate developers realize their bottom-line results through qualitative sales measurement, planning, coaching and management. Michele's formula for success emphasizes innovative methods revolving around performance assessment, self-discovery, team building, goal setting, ongoing measurement tools and, most importantly, individual sales coaching.
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Eight Simple Ways to Increase your Online Ad Conversion
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1/28/2009
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How to add listings to your Facebook.com page
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1/28/2009
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Ten Reasons to Be Optimistic About Online in 2009
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1/22/2009
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The Importance of Mobile Marketing to Apartment Prospects
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1/19/2009
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Parties Settle Over Defamatory Yelp Review
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1/12/2009
A San Francisco-based chiropractor just won a historic case against a patient for publicizing negative comments on Yelp.com: a business review site that is popular with urban-dwellers in major metropolitan areas. The results of the suit establishes a precedent according to Media Post since it is the first time a Yelp user has been sued for a negative review. It is a breakthrough ruling that could affect websites like ApartmentRatings.com in the future. To Read the complete article, visit: Parties Settle
12/31/2008
Padzing.com is now offering free market and data trends at www.padzing.com.
PadZing provides apartment rental rates and vacancy trends quickly with dynamic mapping. Validate your rent pricing, create comp survey reports, get a better handle on your market now. The video demo on the home page presents simple instructions on how to access relevant market data.
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Free digital itinerary planner from Tripit
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10/2/2008
Tripit will translate your travel confirmation emails into a master itinerary that you can share, print and send to your favorite mobile device. You may also upload a script into your blog that will show your current location, upcoming trip and travel stats. Enjoy! http://www.tripit.com
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How Good At Sales Are You?
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8/4/2008
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MyDesignSecrets.com Shares Decorating Tips
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7/21/2008
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Electronic signatures are now available in offical NAA and TAA leases.
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7/14/2008
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Student Housing Apartment Ratings
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6/23/2008
RateMyApartments.com is a website just for students. Similar to www.ApartmentRatings.com, this website allows students to rate apartments based on quality, price, location, social life, landlord, parking and overall satisfaction.
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Large Percentage of Residents Voting for Smoke-Free Apartments
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6/23/2008
3/21/2008
I made an interesting discovery this week while assisting two property management companies seeking to hire new employees. Free job listing opportunities are rare; and I have an even greater appreciation for Leasing Café's New Grind FREE listing service at http://www.leasingcafe.com/new-grind.asp Many apartment associations charge fees to post job listings for their members.
Emerald Coast Apartment Association of Northwest Florida offers a free job posting at http://www.emeraldcoastapartmentassociation.com/index.php?pr=Post_a_Job_Opening. The Tulsa Apartment Association will accept a job announcement via email at http://www.taaonline.org/contact-us.asp and they will make the listing available for inquiries. The Apartment Association of Greater Omaha and Lincoln also provides a free job posting at http://www.aagol.org/pages/career.asp. I also found a great resource for free job posting at colleges and universities; however, while these are helpful for entry level positions, they are not usually relevant to positions requiring experience. If anyone has information available on other sources where property management employers can post a free job listing, please send me a note at kfreeberg@spherexx.com and we will share the good news. Regards, Kathy
3/9/2008
I rec'd an email from a LeasingCafe.com fan that asked the following: Title: just an idea
Author: Ryan Dick
Email: ryan@gotcha-media.com
Phone: 407-599-6800
Content: Hi Becca, looks like this blog is shaping up nicely. Keep up the great work. How about a post on lead sources? Which ones are the most effective? Which source give the best average cost-per-lead? Any idea on where to grab data that breaks this down? (33% from drive-by, 10% from referral, 9% from apartment finder, etc.) also would love to see a post about Human Directionals ;) www.gotchadirectionals.com -thanks in advance
Of course, this topic is like herding cats - because the results of anyone aggregator or consolidator of information is going to differ and each lead source hates to have their information out in the public and gathering all the sources to report data is the "herding cats" part of the equation. The lead sources would want validation for the validation to assure an accurate view was taken of their success and the companies reporting the data would argue about the accuracy of collection and reporting. So I'm going to provide some information that was showcased at NAA in June 2007 that was a compilation of industry benchmarks and I transcribed the session which you can read at the link below. http://spherexx.com/benchmarks This is really great information and regardless of whether or not you agree with the data reported (as it is always skewed by the companies reporting information) it is still a great resource document.
I did ask permission from the speakers that compiled and presented the information (Tracey Hopkins - http://www.jumpstartonline.net/ & Lisa Trosien - http://www.apartmentexpert.com/ )
1/30/2008
You know that blasted phone just rings off the hook sometimes and it's hard to get anything done for the phone ringing. You can take messages, but who has time to them follow-up with a stack of messages? So the age-old dilemma.....how to manage constant interruptions from prospect walk-ins, resident pop-ins, emails, faxes and phone calls?
How can you control your day better and still provide coverage of the phone during business hours? Here are some ideas.
I mention this topic, because answering the phone is still a mission critical communication tool used by prospects, residents, vendors, your maintenance team and your supervisor. Everyone seems to be short on staff to cover the phones and leasing tasks each day - so what's the golden solution. I recommend trying some of these ideas and you will have to find what will work and you might have to try a combination of these options: 1] Select a window of time in the morning and the afternoon when you can concentrate on calling back non-emergency phone calls from residents, vendors or prospects. Keep an egg timer on your desk and that tickin in the background will remind you to focus the call towards resolution as quickly as possible. Recap the problem or issue and then tell the person that you have on the line what is going to be done then make sure you have all their contact information and close the call.
It is an art and a science to direct a call towards successful communication- that's why we pay money to call centers that specifically train their personnel to control and channel the caller to a successful close.
2] Talk with your company (or corporate office) about setting up a special phone number for maintenance calls and have one dedicated person that covers that phone for all the properties. That would give fantastic economies of scale and allow your onsite team to focus on leasing and customer service and allow one person to specialize in fielding all service related needs including follow-up after the maintenance team completes the tickets.
3] Try to get away from using an answering service during business hours - these calls are really important and even if you can only take a message for a call back later...it will come across more personalized than having a generic answering service take the same message.
Note: Absolutely require your answering service to send transcripts of all calls via email. 4] Look at getting pricing from a professional call center after hours - so they will do more than just an answering service - they will coax information out of the caller and help sell them on the community - versus just writing down the name and phone number of the caller which might be all you are paying for from an answering service. This service can easily pay for itself after hours! 5] Direct all vendors to email you or fax you their request instead of taking valuable time out of your day to listen to their sales pitch or recap the work they just performed. Besides having this in writing is much better for you anyway.
You might also talk to your corporate office about setting up a special phone number for vendors to use and ask them politely to stop using the main property phone number, which is reserved for prospects and residents. This "vendor hotline" could be directed to an answering service and they can email you the content of the calls. Think what a savings on time that would be and would allow you to have a written trail of vendor communication.
If you have successful strategies that have worked for you - then please share them with me and I'll post on this blog. Email me at: bwilson@spherexx.com
All the best.....
Becca
12/26/2007
I received an email asking for ideas on how to market an apartment community to the public and the sender told me that they send advertising cakes to local businesses, hand out flyers to different businesses and they haven't really yielded any leads. They asked for our assistance for ideas.
Keep in mind this is just my ramblings and not a formal around the world analysis of all forms of marketing channels and I have not analyzed the senders methods in their current forms of advertising and marketing. First and foremost you need to consider your potential market you are advertising to and the Generation X (born 1960 thru 1980) and Generation Y (born 1981 thru 1995) are your primary targets. The generation Y want to communicate with you throught the internet and they want your website to cover all their questions so they can lease online. They do not want to have to call your office for details so if your website says "call for pricing" on the floorplans then chances are they are going to go to your competitor's website where pricing is advertised. Generation X will absolutely research their apartment options on the internet so you need to put your best presentation on the internet and they will also pick up the phone and call your leasing office. However, here's a real problem that needs to be addressed. The leasing office doesn't typically answer the phone during business hours for whatever reason. I know this because I call on apartment communities every day of the week and most of the time I can't get through on the phone. My comment is also sadly supported by industry shopping reports from secret shoppers. So your prospective renters aren't getting through either. So you need to address that problem with your staff and make the phone a greater priority or hire a 3rd party service trained in how to handle apartment shoppers. I recommend phone training with Gracehill.com so your leasing staff are "closing" phone traffic or at the bare minimum closing the call with an appointment set. If you are understaffed then I would recommend hiring a 3rd party industry specific call center (which is just a fancy term for answering service). Can you afford to loose a prospect (aka "lead) because you don't have infrastructure in place to effectively collect and communicate with that prospect? At the National Apartment Association conference in June 2007, they had a benchmarking session that said the average property management company is paying over $200 to get ONE prospect to their front door or do their website. So you can see how expensive it is to let an email or a phone call slip past you! YIKES! I would recommend the following resources to help you build your infrastructure for leasing success: http://www.rentandretain.com/
http://www.gracehill.com/ (setup a free account and check out their resources)
If you don't have a website for your apartment community you need to get one and don't hire your cousin 3rd removed on your Mother's side that works out of his garage. Hire a professional web developer. Here are a few examples of some very effective websites you can get ideas from: http://austonwoods.com/ or http://waterstonecorona.com/ or http://missionatlavillita.com/. I'm signing off for now, but should something else pop into my head I'll add to this post.
All The Best! Becca
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Welcome to Leasing Cafe's Blog
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11/17/2007
My name is Becca Wilson and I'm the President/CEO of Spherexx.com which owns and operates LeasingCafe.com. I worked in the property management industry for 11+ years before starting Spherexx.com in 2000. So at this point I have 18 years in the property management business and I will use this blog as a forum to share ideas and thoughts about the industry I love. If you are reading this blog, then you and I have the same interests, so I would really value your ideas for a blog topic - just use the button on this page to suggest a topic. I'll provide my two cents and also pull together other industry experts to help expound on the topic. Today's recommendation: Bookmark leasingcafe.com in your favorites so you can easily return and learn everything you can about this fantastic industry!
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