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TOP 3 Qualities of Successful Multi-Family Apartment Careers

Nov 23rd, 2010
by daisynguyen.
2 comments

Here at RENT SODA, we’ve been talking about success A LOT. From our recent article (Build on Your Strengths: Build Success by Jim Baumgartner) to our Profiling Your Way to MORE Success sales classes, to every day conversations with our clients (“We want our manager to be more successful,”), it seems everyone is talking about “SUCCESS.”

It begs the question:

Do You Have What it Takes To Be Successful in the Multi-family (Apartment) Industry?

or better yet:

How About – What DOES it Take To Be Successful in the Multi-Family (Apartment) Industry?

We have been pondering this over the last few weeks. We’ve decided to do a series of articles on individual SUCCESS in the Multi-Family Apartment Industry. We’ve started researching and interviewing successful people – you’ll want to read what they have to say – so check back weekly as we post those articles!

First, we looked for individuals who were successful in the following categories:

  1. Someone who has had multiple career advancements and now holds one of the top positions in their company. (i.e. someone who started at the bottom and worked their way up to VP, CEO/COO/CFO or founder of a company in the Multi-family industry.)
  2. Someone who started in property management and has made a successful transition into a vendor role.
  3. Someone who started in a vendor role and has made a successful transition into a property management/development company.
  4. Someone who started at the corporate-side of the multi-family apartment business and has successfully transition into an on-site (at the apartment community) position.
  5. Someone who started on-site (at the apartment community) and has successfully transitioned into a corporate position at their management company.

We asked our network for recommendations on those people that they feel were successful in the categories defined above, interviewed them and asked them how they became successful. We heard lots of GREAT stories, uncovered GREAT tips, and gained WONDERFUL insights into these successes – and we’ll share these stories with you over the next few weeks.

We found some commonalities in our first round of interviews – we’re going to share those with you to wet your appetite for success. We’re still in the process of finishing up our interviews, but believe these 3 qualities aren’t going to change:

TOP 3 Qualities of Successful Multi-Family Apartment Careers

  1. Successful individuals in ALL categories EMBRACED change. Sometimes they were thrust into the changes, sometimes they instigated the changes, sometimes they recommended the changes, and even at times, they were initially against the changes, but whatever the reason for the change, they EMBRACED it. ALL of our interviewees talked about change as the ONLY constant in their careers > and embracing changes was one of the keys to their success. NONE of our interviewees said, “I just wanted to go to work and do my job.”

    2. In fact a couple of them mentioned that complacency within any position is a red flag that you’re not doing the best job you could be doing > which could eventually lead to failure.

    Change can mean anything – change in market/economy, change in responsibilities, change in supervisor, change in ownership, change in technology, change in location, change in portfolio, change in team members. - you have to always be pushing that envelope, embracing change, and figuring out how it can benefit you, your property, your goals, and your apartment owners.

  2. Successful individuals in ALL categories said YES. They were problem solvers for their supervisors/companies/sites/etc – they said YES to challenges, they said YES to change, they said YES to responsibility, and ultimately, YES to success.

    3. We’re not talking about being a YES man/woman. We’re talking about a positive attitude of “Yes I can – I’ll find a way” rather than a negative attitude of “No, I can’t, NO that can’t be done.”

    Who would you rather work for? Who would you rather work with? A “YES I CAN” person or a “NO I CAN’T” person? People who are promoted aren’t known for saying, “NO, what you’re asking us to do can’t be done,” they are known for taking a seemingly impossible situation/challenge and saying “Yes, there’s got to be a way – it’ll be tough, but I’m sure I can figure it out.” If you can solve a seemingly unsolvable problem for your supervisor/your company/your industry – you will be noticed.

  3. Successful individuals in ALL categories were active communicators. All of our interviewees were articulate, well-spoken, individuals with an ability to clearly communicate their thought process. We noticed this in our interviews – it was easy to follow their stories, understand their frame of mind, and see the natural progression of their career successes. Have you ever talked to someone who is hard to understand? Jumps from topic to topic? Someone who doesn’t tie in all their points – perhaps their communications have no point? Perhaps they are long-winded? Our interviews could have been explaining the complexities of rocket fuel – but they would have found a way to make it easy to understand and pertinent to what we were talking about. HOWEVER, this is not the case with all individuals in life.

    4. Let’s not forget the word ACTIVE.

    We noticed that all our interviewees were active in communicating their goals to their teams, active in communicating their processes to their supervisors, active in communicating their needs on a project, active in communicating their career desires. The key word is ACTIVE. None of our interviewees were passive-aggressive and hoped they would be noticed for promotion. None of our interviewees hoped clients would pick up the phone and call them to buy a product. None of our success interviewees hoped a job would land in their lap. No one we spoke to was hoping someone else would tell them what to do/how to do it. Not a single one of our interviewees hoped to get the budget they needed in order to complete a goal/challenge that they had been given. They were all active at communicating their wants/needs/processes/responsibilities/etc – so that everyone knew where they stood, and how to help them get to their goals. This seems like common sense, but how many of us know someone who works hard and hopes that someone notices and gives them a raise/promotion/award? Do you know someone who doesn’t ask about the expectations of a job? How about a boss who expects that everyone can read their mind? How about someone who is given a challenge but doesn’t ask for the parameters of the challenge? We have all been that person, or know that passive person. Don’t be a passive communicator and hope your actions talk louder than words. Be an ACTIVE one! COMMUNICATE!

These are just the tip of the success iceberg.

Join us after Thanksgiving and read about the STORIES, heartaches, struggles, tips that these successful individuals have to share with RENT SODA.

Be ready to be moved to greater success.

If you know someone who you feel has been successful in our defined categories above, please send us an email and recommend them for an interview!

Don’t GET IT? RENT SODA! GET IT!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota MN

CEO/President

RENTSODA-small

Offering Apartment Marketing, Apartment Business & Operations Consulting & Apartment Industry Training

Web: RentSoda.com Email: Daisy {at} RentSoda(.)com

Become a fan of RENTSODA on facebook.  Connect with RENTSODA on LinkedIn!

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Foursquare vs. Facebook Places – Which is Better for Marketing Your Apartment Community?

Nov 9th, 2010
by daisynguyen.
6 comments

OK, I’ll admit it. I’m a Foursquare GEEK, and now, with the launch of Facebook Places, I am TOTALLY CONFUSED. There’s so much news out about Facebook Places – what will be the best tool for helping your outreach or marketing efforts at your apartment communities? Which application will help you stay connected to more apartment residents, attract more apartment prospects, give you more positive exposure?

Some background:

I use facebook as a place to connect with friends and collegues, keep up with the latest news about places/businesses I “like,” and connect with other like-minded individuals.

I use foursquare to find out about places near me, get tips based on my location, and I hate to admit it, but I secretly covet being “mayor” and earning badges.

If I am a typical user, how does this information help YOU market your apartment communities or connect with prospects and residents?

Let’s put them in the boxing  ring and see who wins:

  1. ROUND ONE: First thing I do when I go somewhere is to look on Foursquare to see which businesses near me have tips, read them, and see if I want to try something new, or stick with my tried and true favorites. Currently very easy to do on Foursquare. AND Foursquare has had A LOT more activity – resulting in lots of tips & deals with local businesses. Facebook Places – I have not found a way to leave a tip or find tips others have left. The only way to see what others think about a place is IF that business has connected their facebook PLACE to their facebook PAGE, and you can see the information and wall of a business’ facebook place/page. This is a big IF. And even IF a business has connected their facebook place to their facebook page, you’ll only see their wall. There’s not really a place that encourages users to leave other information for other users. WINNER: Foursquare
  2. ROUND TWO: When I am marketing an apartment community (or even a retail business), I look for tools where I have control over the content, easy way to communicate my brand and my message. With Foursquare Places, it is easy to claim my “place,” connect it to my community’s facebook page, and manipulate the content users see when they find me. Additionally, if someone leaves an potentially negative remark or comment on my page, in Facebook, I can delete it. With Foursquare, I can claim my business on Foursquare -but there is no way to customize it beyond providing the basic info. Additionally, user can leave whatever comments and tips they want, I have no control over their comments. WINNER: From a business/marketing perspective, Facebook Places is the CLEAR winner.
  3. ROUND THREE: Deals. Everyone loves a deal. How easy is it to find places with “specials” or “deals?” On Facebook Places, when you bring up the app, all the businesses around you will be listed. If there is a “special” or “deal,” there is a little cut-out square icon that resembles a coupon. It was somewhat easy to spot. On Foursquare, when you open the app, it locates all the businesses close to you, and if there are any “specials” or “deals,”  the word “SPECIAL” shows up. Its much easier to spot, and there is no question as to the purpose. So, for all practical purposes, this is almost a tie. HOWEVER, as I searched through local businesses that I know are running deals, I found more deals on Foursquare than I did on Facebook Places. WINNER: FOURSQUARE through a technicality. - This may change if Facebook Places can attract more businesses and “specials” and “deals.”
  4. Round Four: Activity & Users – who has more? According to a recent Business Insider article from October 29th, 2010, although Facebook Places has 7X more users, those users are not as active as the 4 million foursquare users. WINNER: Foursquare
  5. Round Five: The FUN factor. In foursquare, as stupid as it may sound, I enjoy being a “mayor” and receiving”badges” for checking in. One of my friends, a VP of a large company in Minnesota, recently emailed me to say, “I just became the MAYOR at a local joint. I am secretly quite proud!” Facebook places currently does not have an incentive to check-in except for the possibility of a deal or “special.” WINNER: Foursquare.

Foursquare wins 4 out of 5 rounds because it meets the wants of its users. That’s a page from the facebook business book – build an application for the end-users, and the business will come. Score one for the small guy!

As it is with social media, today’s giants can be tomorrow’s cold empty grave. It’ll be interesting to see what Foursquare and Facebook Places have in the way of updates and changes over the next few months! But its clear that things are FAR from over for Foursquare.

I should mention that even though the end-user experience is much better on Foursquare, the Facebook Places application is more business-friendly. AND Facebook has HUGE potential to reach its over 500 million users.

I am still TOTALLY confused. Who will win? Can they continue to co-exist?

Depending on what YOUR marketing needs, goals, or objectives are, you may want to use one or both of these as part of your marketing approach/outreach efforts for your apartment community. If you are using Foursquare or Facebook Places to help market or as an outreach tool for your apartment community, please leave me a comment and share with everyone how you view one or both, or how you are using them!

Below is a comparison Matrix of Location Based Social Networks produced by Mark Fidelman on Flickr.com.



Don’t GET IT? RENT SODA! GET IT!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota MN

CEO/President

RENTSODA-small

Offering Apartment Marketing, Apartment Business & Operations Consulting & Apartment Industry Training

Web: RentSoda.com Email: Daisy {at} RentSoda(.)com

Become a fan of RENTSODA on facebook.  Connect with RENTSODA on LinkedIn!

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Have Money – Need Apartment. PS Don’t Irritate, Annoy or Otherwise *iss Me Off!

Nov 4th, 2010
by daisynguyen.
No comments yet

In today’s apartment marketplace, when a prospect walks into your doors, they are READY to lease from you. With all the information available on the internet, your facebook page, your twitter account, your website, apartmentratings.com – believe me. They’ve seen it, and your prospect is STILL interested. They may as well have a sign around their neck that reads, “Have Money, Need Apartment.”

What’s preventing you from leasing to them?

I call it the PS factor. They sign around their neck that reads, “Have Money, Need Apartment,” should also have a postscript that reads,

P.S. Don’t IRRITATE, ANNOY, AKA Don’t *iss Me Off – Otherwise You WILL Lose Me!

I’m sure you’ve never annoyed, irritated or *issed your prospects off, or have you?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7ACFZeCZwo

Here are 5 sure fire ways to lose a perfectly good & ready prospect AKA What NOT to Do When Leasing Apartments:

  1. Assume I want the cheapest apartment you have available. Start off selling me on price and price alone: Contrary to popular belief, finding your next apartment HOME is not a decision solely based on PRICE alone. ASK, LISTEN, OBSERVE and use the information you find to your advantage. When shopping for a home, most people do not try to find the cheapest thing they can find. CASE-IN-POINT: I recently did some apartment shops in a busy downtown market. I was dressed appropriately. My boyfriend and I asked to see a luxury unit in the 1500 – 2000 square feet range. We did not mention any budget. They leasing agent did not ask or try to pre-qualify us. Keep in mind, this is a luxury apartment complex, with rents in the $3000 – $5000 range. She immediately took us to what she referred to as the “entry-level” apartment unit. I was appalled. It wasn’t 1500-2000 square feet, it was 900 square feet. For whatever reason, she decided to show us the cheapest unit. Had I been a snobby, willing to over-pay prospect, I would have been insulted, irritated, and a TOTAL waste of my time. Instead I reminded her we had asked for a 1500 – 2000 square foot unit, this apartment did not meet our needs. She replied that those are the most expensive units, only available on the top floors, where a premium was charged. (WHAT? Remember, I never mentioned that I had a budget, but it was obvious that she couldn’t believe ANYONE would pay THAT much for an apartment unit!) We finally did get to the larger units. Don’t assume it’s all about price. Especially if you are in a luxury market, what drives people to spend money on luxury expenditures is NOT price. Because of the economy we are currently in, because of the financial pressure going on in OUR lives, don’t assume that your prospect has those same financial pressures. And NEVER NEVER NEVER, in any way shape or form, imply that you are showing them the cheapest most affordable unit – unless they specific ask for it. Cheap has a negative connotation. DON’t start off on a negative note. You’ve just irritated me.
  2. Make Long Excuses: If there are questions or objections, keep your answers short and sweet and move onto something positive. If I’m asking about the parking, don’t give me a long-rambling excuse on why the parking is $50.00/month. Just let me know what it is and move on unless I have an objection. If I inquire about moving in on the 27th of the month instead of waiting until the first of the month, don’t give me a long excuse of why  I can’t or go through a long list of things you’re going to have to take care ofo just so that I can move in a couple of days early. – I don’t care about why it puts you out. Just let me know if you CAN or can NOT, or if you need to check on it and then move on to something positive. There is no need to make excuses for anything. It’s a waste of time, and I’ll start to wonder if you’re always making excuses for anything/everything that happens….Now you’ve gotten me wondering, and I am even more irritated!
  3. Show me things I told you I am not interested in: If you do, it’s a total waste of my time – you must not respect my time, I’ll assume you didn’t listen to me when I told you I wasn’t interested in XYZ, and you just gave me information overload. CASE-IN-POINT: The same agent above, surprisingly asked us if we had any pets. We stated that we didn’t. As we were going through the tour, she showed us the pet spa, the doggy park, and the pet-only elevators. This added another 15 minutes to our tour. I reminded her that we had no pets, and in fact, I have terrible allergies to pets. (Hoping that she wouldn’t continue to show us all the pet amenities.) If I was an deathly-allergic-to-pets prospect, seeing all the amenities that they offered to pet owners would have scared me. AND, we had a lunch appointment at noon, and she was quickly eating up all our time with pet amenities and cheap units instead of showing us what we really wanted to see. Now I am TOTALLY irritated.
  4. Overload me with information: Don’t regurgitate your entire sales brochure to me. If I tell you I’m only interested in 3 things, give me those 3 things. Don’t overload me with information. Not only will you inundate me, I might even feel stupid. I don’t lease from people who make me feel stupid. CASE-IN-POINT: Same apartment building mentioned above, I named the 3 most important things to me were a.) 1500 – 2000 square feet b.) closet space was EXTREMELY important to me c.) common area entertainment spaces like pool or clubroom. The apartment building was also a green building, seeking LEED certification. As a prospect, I thought that was “nice,” but I didn’t really care to find out where the cabinets came from, how the air in the building was used to heat & cool adjoining units rather than heating/cooling the existing unit therefore conserving energy, or what the content of the “recycled content carpet” was made of or how. All this was explained to me in excruciating detail, all while eating into my upcoming lunch schedule….NOW they’ve escalated from irritating to annoying.
  5. Rush me: I’m not talking about trying to close a lease on me – I’m talking about trying to rush me and get me out of your office. If you have something better to do, do it. When I’m in your office with a sign that says, “Have Money – Need Apartment” and YOU have vacancy. I’m the most important thing on your schedule. If you look at your watch too often, or seem to rush from model to model to amenity, and try to move me along – I’m not feeling the love. Actually, I’m feeling quite the opposite – you must not want me. If I’m going to live here, I need to feel that you will service me, and not rush me through everything, including my first meeting(s) with you! I once had a TV salesman tell me that he wasn’t going to call the other store to look for my tv unless I was going to buy it from him – all I had asked for was 5 minutes to talk it over to my boyfriend. There were no other customers waiting around for help, and the store was pretty slow. My feisty reply was, “If you’ve got something better to do in the next 5-10 minutes, go do it. Before you do it, please find your sales manager for me, so that I can ask him to find me someone who has 10 minutes to sell me a TV.” Now I’m royally *issed! Congratulations! You’ve just lost my sale!

These are 5 Sure-Fire Ways to Loose the Sale/Lease. Don’t let it happen to you!

Have you seen any annoying or irritating things that killed a sale recently? Leave us a comment and share!

Don’t GET IT? RENT SODA! GET IT!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota MN

CEO/President

RENTSODA-small

Offering Apartment Marketing, Apartment Business & Operations Consulting & Apartment Industry Training

Web: RentSoda.com Email: Daisy {at} RentSoda(.)com

Become a fan of RENTSODA on facebook.  Connect with RENTSODA on LinkedIn!

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“I’m So Glad You Called Today” – 4 Phone Tips to Turn a Call into an Apartment Tour

Aug 26th, 2010
by daisynguyen.
2 comments

Phones have been around for over 140 years, so answering the phone is nothing new – or is it?

Having a great telephone conversation is one of the best and most powerful apartment marketing/leasing techniques in our industry.

It sets the stage for the rest of the leasing experience for your apartment prospect. Are you putting your best foot forward?

In the apartment business, a successful prospect call is one where we turn the telephone apartment inquiry into an appointment. What are the best ways to turn a phone call into a apartment tour appointment?

These are  my

top favorite tried and true phone leasing techniques

to turn that apartment telephone inquiry into an apartment tour appointment:

  1. Once you have identified yourself, find a way to let your phone prospect know how happy you are that they called TODAY. – If your caller says they are looking for an apartment, you should respond with, “I’m so glad you called today!...” and follow-up the comment with your specials or other related comment. “I’m so happy you called today,” is a great way to pause the conversation and inject some personal positive attention to your caller.
  2. What’s in a name? EVERYTHING. If the caller gives you their name – use it. If they don’t, ask them for their name – and use it. People love to hear their names – it acknowledges the fact that they are an individual and not just another caller. It will help you bond with the person over the phone. Using someone’s name is very intimate. Get the name and USE it.
  3. If you are comfortable, assume that the caller wants to set an appointment, and give them a couple of choices of times you have available for an appointment. With all the information available on the internet, most of your callers already know enough about your apartment community/complex to be ready to set an appointment for the leasing tour. – Assume they want the tour and work on scheduling it. If you are not comfortable with assuming your caller wants an apartment tour, then ask them if they would like to schedule a tour.
  4. At the end of each call, always thank your apartment prospect by name for calling you!

Your call should go something like this:

RING RING!

You: Thank you for calling ABC Apartments, how may I help you? (smile!)

Caller: I’m interested in finding a 1 bedroom apartment.

You: My name is Daisy – Can I get your name?

Caller: My name is Jane.

You: Jane, I’m so happy you called today! We have some great looking 1 bedroom apartments that just became available. Do you have any particular preferences you want to share?

Caller: I want to be on the top floor.

You: Great! I have 2 apartments on the top floor overlooking the park, and …

…(more conversations, get prospect info, bond, etc.)

You: I have appointments available this Thursday at 10:15AM, 4:30PM or Friday afternoon or Saturday morning to tour our apartment community and see the apartments we have available. What time would work best for you?

Caller: Saturday morning at 10:00AM.

You: Jane, thanks so much for calling today, and I can’t wait to show you our community on Saturday at 10:00AM!

There are lots of telephone leasing techniques out there. The objective is to schedule that apartment tour. These are my favorite phone tips, what are yours?

By the way, I’m so glad you read my blog post today! THANK YOU!

Don’t GET IT? RENT SODA! GET IT!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota MN

CEO/President

RENTSODA-small

Offering Apartment Marketing, Apartment Business & Operations Consulting & Apartment Industry Training

Web: RentSoda.com Email: Daisy {at} RentSoda(.)com

Become a fan of RENTSODA on facebook.  Connect with RENTSODA on LinkedIn!

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MOBILIZE Your Apartment Website For Smartphones, iPhones, Blackberries!

Jul 22nd, 2010
by daisynguyen.
5 comments

Smart phones, iPhones, Blackberries are everywhere. They keep us connected to our world – through the phone, internet, text messaging, etc.

I am addicted to mine. Not JUST addicted to it, but I LOVE it.

And I LOVE it even more, when my favorite sites have applications for my mobile device OR they have “mobilized” their websites for mobile devices. Not only do I LOVE those people who have mobile apps or mobilized websites, I am ANNOYED when someone doesn’t have a mobile app or mobilized website!

It used to be that you had to have a website. THAT is SO 1999. TODAY, you have to have a mobilized website!

Surprising, in the apartment industry, so few of our websites are mobilized. And when it comes right down to it, it’s due to pricing, leaving only the big guys able to afford to mobilize their websites. SAD!

RENT SODA’s blog is now “mobilized” thanks to a FREE application that took only 3 minutes of set-up time. In my attempt to mobilize my blog, I found it amazingly simple and FREE to mobilize it! Here’s the service I currently use:

http://mippin.com

Instructions are simple:

1.) Sign-up for an account

2.) Use the “MIPPIN MOBILIZER” – enter in your website URL or feed URL.

3.) Choose your lay-out

I was up and running in 3 minutes, with a few minor glitches:

  • I found that my blog title and my blog article titles were running OVER each other. – I emailed customer service, and they fixed it within 24 hours. (WOW – and this is free!)

Other things you should know about mippin:

  1. This service hosts the mobilized version of your website on their servers – which means mobile traffic is redirected to a URL that they host. (i.e. your traffic is leaving your site)
  2. They do support advertising on the mobilized version of your site through ADMOB – you keep 100% of the revenues. I have not tried this as I do not want ads on my blog, mobilized or non-mobilized. :-)
  3. Even if a website is not on the mippin server, if you goto mippin.com, and use them as a browser for any website that has an rss feed option, it will try to mobilize that website for your viewing pleasure.

I mobilized my blog (http://blog.rentsoda.com ) – I’m curious to see someone mobilize their apartment’s website and give us feedback on that process, and how it looks, so please leave a comment if you have used this to mobilize your apartment website.

Do you know of other services that are able to mobilize websites FREE or at a low cost? Please leave a comment and share with everyone!

Don’t GET IT? MOBILIZE IT! RENT SODA! GET IT!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota MN

CEO/President

RENTSODA-small

Business, Operations & Marketing Consulting to the Apartment Industry

Web: RentSoda.com Email: Daisy {at} RentSoda(.)com

Become a fan of RENTSODA on facebook.  Connect with RENTSODA on LinkedIn!

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Leasing Agent Compensation?…First a word about VACANCY!

Jul 14th, 2010
by daisynguyen.
2 comments

As a consultant to the apartment industry, I am asked a LOT, “What’s fair leasing agent compensation? Is their a leasing commission structure you would recommend?”

There is no easy or short answer to this question, so let’s take a round about way of discuss it, and then my next article will zoom RIGHT into what I recommend.

I find it a little backwards when people want to know what OTHER properties or OTHER management companies are doing when it comes to leasing agent compensation. I never say it out loud, but I’m always thinking, “What’s it worth to YOU?” (as owner/manager) AND, “What’s it worth to THEM?” (your leasing agent/leasing specialist)  What do I mean by that?

FIRST, let’s first talk about the REAL problem – VACANCY.

I don’t have a vacancy problem!

Well, then, you shouldn’t worry about leasing agent compensation then!

OK, OK. Let’s talk about vacancy…

TO make it easy, let’s say we’re talking about ABC Apartments. They have 100 units. Their average rents are $1000.00/unit.

Prior to the rental market taking a downward turn, ABC Apartments has been running along great, apartments never took very long to lease, and they had been at 97% occupancy for many years.

Fast forward to today, they are at 88% physical occupancy, which means they are at 12% vacancy. All of the sudden, they are struggling with just staying ahead of the renewals and turnover. Increasing the occupancy in the midst of the resident turnover looks very daunting.

Let’s do the math.

At 97% occupancy, the vacancy loss is:

(Average Rents) x (# of Vacant Units)

$1000.00 x 3 vacant units = $3000.00 of vacancy loss monthly. This is what they are used to operating at. Annually (x12), this amounts to $36,000.00 of annual vacancy loss.

TODAY, at 88% occupancy, the vacancy loss is:

$1000.00 x 12 vacant units = $12,000.00 of vacancy loss monthly. Annually (x12), this amounts to $144,000.00.

The different in vacancy loss monthly is $9000.00! ($12,000 – $3000) And annually, the difference is $108,000.00! ($144,000 – $36,000)

How much does the $108,000.00 mean to the site? The Owner/Investors? The manager? Now that we have things in perspective, it brings up a WHOLE bunch of other questions, like:

  1. Do you have the right staff in place? If your maintenance guy is doing showings – you may have a problem.
  2. Do you have a plan in place for resident retention? If you have vacancy problems, you HAVE to have a plan in place to close the back door to your vacancy problem.
  3. Is your staff properly trained? Not just in customer service, but in closing on leases?
  4. Is your staff properly motivated and positioned to succeed? (This question leads into the real TOPIC: What’s a fair Leasing Agent compensation package?

Do you have other questions? Other considerations? Leave me a comment in the COMMENTS section!

My next blog article, will discuss different leasing compensation programs, and how to pick what works best for you, your site, and your staff.

Don’t GET IT? RENT SODA! GET IT!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota MN

CEO/President

RENTSODA-small

Business, Operations & Marketing Consulting to the Apartment Industry

Web: RentSoda.com Email: Daisy {at} RentSoda(.)com

Become a fan of RENTSODA on facebook.  Connect with RENTSODA on LinkedIn!

Follow RENTSODA on Twitter!

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New to the Apartment Industry/Job/Career? 4 Stages to an Epiphany!

Jul 13th, 2010
by daisynguyen.
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Are you new to the apartment industry? New to your employer? New career? New promotion? On a new project? There are 4 stages that every NEWBIE goes through before becoming comfortable in the new position.

When I first started at Dominium Management Services several years ago, I was lucky enough to take a class called “Managing for New Managers,” taught by a wonderful human resources mentor named Claudia. I took away a few lessons from that class, that not only helped me in my new job - I still remember those tips to this day and pass along this info to all newbies I meet!

Before we get started, I first want to mention for anyone who is new to the apartment industry: CONGRATS! You have just joined the most exciting, most demanding, most fun, most fullfilling, most intelligent, most rewarding industry – EVER! If your manager hasn’t prepared you, I’m preparing you now:

4 Stages to an Epiphany in the Apartment Industry

  1. STAGE 1: UNCONSCIOUSLY INCOMPETENT: You read it right. INCOMPETENT. In this stage, you’re feeling good. You just landed a job – especially in this economy, this is quite a feat! You beat out the hundreds of other applicants and you were chosen as the best fit for the job. CONGRATS! You’re being introduced to everyone, your resume is being passed around, people are oohing and ahhing. Everyone LOVES  you and can’t wait for you to get started. YOU can’t wait to get started! You feel important, after all, you’re working for ABC Apartments/ABC Management Company and they own millions worth in real estate. The honeymoon’s just begun. This feeling can last anywhere from a week to a month before you head into…
  2. STAGE 2: CONSCIOUSLY INCOMPETANT: This is when you start to feel a little insecure. There’s SOOOO much to learn! You’ve just started to realize you are in charge of this multi-million dollar asset, and no one’s ever trusted you with even $100 before, let alone an asset worth millions! Then there’s Fair Housing – oh my! They expect you to market, lease, understand financials, manage people, respond to residents, live on site, deal with maintenance issues, vacuum on occasion, AND all with a smile, please and a thank you. Budgets? Maintenance? HAP? HUD?  OOOOOHHHHH MY. You’re ready to pull your hair out and rethink this whole new industry, whole new career, whole new job thing. BUT STOP! This stage is perfectly NORMAL. I tell ALL new job applicants, and all new hires, give it 90 days, and if you don’t feel better by the end of 90 days, let’s have a serious talk. The good news is, EVERYONE goes through this, it’s perfectly normal, and it WILL get better. I’ve done takeovers where I’ve had people cry in my office because of how overwhelming it is – and they’re not use to the chaos of change. Give it 90 days, and those same people are skipping, having a good old time, and thanking me for letting them know – IT’s OK. This stage usually lasts anywhere from 90-120 days, with some relief right around 90 days.
  3. STAGE 3: CONSCIOUSLY COMPETENT: At this stage, you’re starting to GET IT now. It’s not easy, but you know where to find the answers, and you’re starting to kind of like the job/industry/career! You understand what your job entails, and you’re starting to understand not only where you fit into the equation, but the whole bigger equation of the APARTMENT industry. Things that seemed like a foreign language to you, terms like, gross potential rent, RUBS, HAP, HUD, NOI, cost per lease, marketing cost per unit, traffic, replacement reserves, Yardi, MRI, multi-family residential – terms once alien, are starting to roll off your tongue. Things that used to bother you (residents coming into your office and interrupting your line of thought, vendors vying for your time, overly dramatic leasing agents, non-communicative maintenance technicians, etc.)  – are now an everyday part of your life. You’re drinking the koolaid, and it’s starting to taste good. You see light at the end of the tunnel, and you contemplate taking a day off – soon.
  4. STAGE 4: CONSCIOUSLY COMPETENT: EPIPHANY! Then one day, all the sudden, you’re walking along, multi-tasking with your blackberry in one hand, maintenance work orders in the other hand, picking up trash/stuffing it your pockets, and just as you round the corner, your leasing agent and maintenance guy are waiting with an angry resident in tow. You have 10 minutes to compose yourself and your office before your apartment owners/asset manager/big-wigs come for their annual visit. You smile, look at your crew, and say, “What a beautiful day outside. Let’s talk about what’s bothering you so you can enjoy the rest of the morning!” An epiphany hits and you realize, I LOVE this crazy industry/job/career, and if not for the variety, people, experiences, life could be SOOOO boring! I’m GETTING IT! WHOOHOO!

Loss of new hires usually occurs at STAGE 2. Before you give up or before you allow YOUR new hire to give up! Realize, IT’s OK. Give it time, and you’ll GET IT.

Since I’ve started to tell every new employee I hire about these stages and open the door for honest discussion, give them permission and encourage them to vent to me during STAGE 2, my employee turnover has dropped significantly. In addition – those people will come vent, talk and sometimes cry in my office – but 90 days later, they are laughing with me, hugging me, and asking for new projects and challenges. I LOVE this crazy apartment industry!

Don’t GET IT? RENT SODA! GET IT!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota MN

CEO/President

RENTSODA-small

Business, Operations & Marketing Consulting to the Apartment Industry

Web: RentSoda.com Email: Daisy {at} RentSoda(.)com

Become a fan of RENTSODA on facebook.  Connect with RENTSODA on LinkedIn!

Follow RENTSODA on Twitter!

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TOP 10 TIPS to Get the MOST Out of CRAIGSLIST Apartment Ads

Jul 12th, 2010
by daisynguyen.
8 comments

Craigslist, when smartly used as part of your marketing/advertising campaign, can become one of your apartment community’s top traffic generators. If it’s not, you’re not getting the most out of your Craigslist ads.

Here are the TOP 10 Things You Need to Know to Maximize Your Craigslist Ads for your Apartment Community:

  1. Generally, web traffic is highest during the week, especially during working hours of 8:00AM – 5:00PM. For the apartment industry on Craigslist, the highest traffic day is actually on SUNDAY. According to Yield Technologies, their RENTSENTINEL product, a web-based application that manages posting content for rental properties, they have noticed that Sunday’s see much less posting activity for apartments than any other day of the week. Couple that with higher traffic, and your posting efforts will get the biggest audience with less competition! (SUNDAYS have the HIGHEST average views/ad than any other day for our apartment industry!) This is true of every portfolio class, geographic location or market segment.
  2. Although Craigslist is “free,” there are TONS of different services available that can help you manage your content, produce “snazzier” looking ads, track traffic, provide analytics, and MORE – OH MY! Some more common ones include RENTSENTINEL and POSTLETS. Depending on your needs and preferences, these may work for you, are pretty affordable, and provide lots of extra’s to help you maximize your craigslist ads. There are TONS of other services available – if you know of some additional ones, leave a link in the COMMENTS section of this blog post and share with everyone! OR Leave a comment about your experience with the services listed here.
  3. PICTURES PICTURES PICTURES! – And not just any old snapshot – make sure to have good lighting, take pictures of clean, rent ready or model units – try to make an positive impression that gets your target market to pick up the phone and call you! Don’t turn them off with the wrong picture.
  4. Many people ask me, “what generates more traffic? The traditional organic craigslist ads or the jazzed up ones with hyperlinks, pictures, formatting, etc?” The answer is that they BOTH work. The key to a successful craigslist campaign is VARIETY. Switch it up between your traditional craigslist ads and fancier ones.
  5. Speaking of VARIETY, switch up your posts! Make sure you have an ad targeted specifically to attract your 1 bedroom renters, or your pet lovers, or one to attract roommates, or one to highlight the fact that you are near a bus route, etc! Be sure to keep within fair housing rules, but there is nothing that says you can’t switch up your ads and highlight specific features. Variety is the spice of life, and so it is with apartments on craigslist!
  6. Speaking of PETS, whether your building is pet-friendly or does NOT allow pets, there IS a specific market for THAT! Make sure to have a specific ad targeted towards your pet lovers (for those apartment communities that accept pets) or ones that specifically state that you do NOT allow pets. Believe it or not, there are those people who look specifically for pet-free buildings, due to allergies, conditions, fear, etc. If you are targeting pet-owners, be sure to use the Craigslist “Meow” and “Woof” options to state you are pet friendly, in addition to including this information in your title/content.
  7. And since we are drilling down on specific life style choices, a choice that is becoming increasingly popular in apartment searches is “smoke free apartment.” There are new organizations promoting living smoke-free popping up everyday. Here in Minnesota, one that is making quite a splash is LIVESMOKEFREE. Make sure to include those words for the craigslist search engines (as well as all other search engines) to pick up!
  8. While we are on the topic of search engines, make sure to include search engine friendly terms in your ad! If you are near a bus-line, post that. If you are near shopping/retail, make sure to mention the shopping or retail center name. If you are in a highly sought-after school district, name the school district or even better, name the schools. If you are nears parks, name the parks. People search for apartments based on their lifestyle choices, and if those choices are based upon transportation, schools, shopping, food, retail, etc – YOU will get picked up in their search, and your competition might get buried in the masses….
  9. Another question I get asked constantly – “how often should I post?” From my perspective, it’s not a matter of “how often,” but more importantly, CONSISTENCY. According to Eric Broughton of Yield Company’s RentSentinel product, ”the most important global trend is for communities to post their available units on a consistent basis, don’t take a day off from posting an available unit, your competitors aren’t.  Equally important is respecting the craigslist community and not posting multiple ads in a short period of time.  Never post more than 1 ad in the same hour, and never post for the same unit type more than once in 24 hours.  Our analytics show that following these simple rules will provide far greater results than someone that spams a region with multiple ads over and over again.”
  10. And lastly, and MOST importantly, be a good Craigslist Citizen. Common sense folks! Pay attention to things such as knowing the Craigslist Terms of Use, posting only available Units/Unit Types, not over-posting (never more than 1 ad per hour and 8 total ads in a day – this is for LARGE sites – many of you may not have larger enough sites, where posting every other day is more than enough), and posting to only one category and region at a time.  As an industry we can all be more effective and increase our traffic if we use the craigslist environment for which it was intended which is bringing renters and landlords together in an open marketplace. Let’s not ruin the “free” part of craigslist, by over-doing it. In some regions, and some industries, craigslist DOES impose fees. (See Craigslist FactSheet.)

Please leave comments on any tips I might have missed, leave comments about other craigslist applications or services, and your experiences with these services!

FULL DISCLOSURE: I am not affiliated with Yield Technologies or Postlets. Yield Technologies has provided me with information for this blog post. THANK YOU! (Roboblaster, another posting service also provided information for this blog, however, at the time of publication, they have folded.)

Don’t GET IT? RENT SODA! GET IT!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota MN

CEO/President

RENTSODA-small

Business, Operations & Marketing Consulting to the Apartment Industry

Web: RentSoda.com Email: Daisy {at} RentSoda(.)com

Become a fan of RENTSODA on facebook.  Connect with RENTSODA on LinkedIn!

Follow RENTSODA on Twitter!

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RENT SODA Welcomes Jim Baumgartner!

Jul 6th, 2010
by daisynguyen.
2 comments

It’s July, and RENT SODA is shaking it up once again – with groundbreaking news: (drum roll please!)

WELCOME JIM BAUMGARTNER to team RENT SODA!

With the addition of Jim, we are adding more texture to the RENT SODA landscape through rich experience & ideas. Our end result will remain the same: striving to help RENT SODA clients achieve excellence and success in the evolving marketplace.

And now, a note from JIM:

The Year of the Tiger!

Last February several friends commented that this year—the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese calendar—was my year.  They predicted a year of change!  I had my doubts but they were right.

My last day as Vice President of Operations for Bigos Management was June 25th.  After over four amazing years it was time to move on to new challenges—the urge to shake it up struck!  I am thankful for the amazing people and experiences I have enjoyed.  During my time at Bigos we built several new projects—including the amazing Lowertown Lofts in Downtown St. Paul, The Gables at Park Pointe in St. Louis Park and a new office building in Golden Valley.  We also started a new quarterly training/personnel development program, maintenance zone restructure, implemented energy-saving measures and came through the recession several percentage points better than industry average.  It has been good!

Now for the change—I have joined Daisy Nguyen at Rent Soda where I will be developing training programs, assessing the feasibility of new developments, creating marketing programs and assisting clients in achieving excellence amongst many other exciting things. 

Please take a moment to update my contact information:

Cell:  612-710-0546

Email: Jim {at} RentSoda(.)com

Web:  Http://rentsoda.com

Look for me on Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter: JimWBaumgartner

Watch for exciting new updates and announcements over the next couple of weeks.  If you have any questions or would like to learn more about Rent Soda please feel free to contact Daisy or me.

Don’t GET IT? RENT SODA! GET IT!

-Cheers!

Jim Baumgartner in Minneapolis, MN

Senior Vice President, RENT SODA

 RENTSODA-small

Business, Operations & Marketing Consulting to the Apartment Industry

Web: RentSoda.com   Email: Jim {at} RentSoda(.)com

DON’T GET IT? RENT SODA!GET IT!

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Apartment Leasing Tips Learned From George W. Bush at #NAA10 – Education Conference

Jul 1st, 2010
by daisynguyen.
3 comments

At the NAA 2010 Education Conference last week in New Orleans, the keynote speaker was George W. Bush.

I didn’t know what to expect and was a little leery how this would fit into the rest of the week. When I walked out from the session, not only did I have a little crush on George W., I had a new-found appreciation for him. As I reflected on his session, I realized, there were many things we can apply from George W.’s speaking techniques that could help us lease apartments! How did he turn me from “a little leery” to a “fan with newfound appreciation?” Here are some of my observations:

1. George talked about his family. He openly appreciated his wife, talked about his struggles with his children regarding his work, and how much he loved his parents. In the first few minutes of his speech, he became immediately human to me - I quickly identified with him. Looking around the audience, I saw that almost everyone could identify with appreciating a spouse, struggles with family-work balance, and love of parents. As apartment leasing agents, sales professionals, or in any business interactions, identifying with your prospect/client/ business associate sets the stage for transition to the next stage of the sale – your pitch.

2. Next, George W. spoke about his beliefs and his values. In this portion, he was passionate and moving. Whatever my position was, I found myself understanding his point of view. In the leasing of apartments, this would be your value proposition. Whatever objections your prospects might have, you’ll need to find a way to overcome them or at the very least, have them believe in your value proposition. Being passionate and believable makes this process an easier transition to the next step – the closing.

3. Lastly, George W spoke about his toughest decisions, and why he made the decisions he made. He was convincing – and if he were selling something, I would have happily signed on the dotted line right then and there.

George W. made we laugh with his humor, nod in agreement with his personality and cheer out loud for his passions. When he was done I GOT IT.

What were your observations of George W. Bush at the NAA (National Apartment Association) Education Conference?

Don’t GET IT? RENT SODA! GET IT!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota MN

CEO

RENTSODA-small

Business, Operations & Marketing Consulting to the Apartment Industry

Web: RentSoda.com   Email: Daisy {at} RentSoda(.)com

Become a fan of RENTSODA on facebook.  Connect with RENTSODA on LinkedIn!

Follow RENTSODA on Twitter!

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