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Attention to Resident Retention for June

Posted on 14. Jun, 2010 by Heather Blume in Resident Retention

I love camping. Not so much the whole mosquitoes, poison ivy, going to the bathroom outdoors part of it, but more the, “Look at me, the hearty nature girl…surviving on hot dogs, chili, and coke that came out of that cooler over there by my car, where I’m charging my computer and WiFi off the a/c adapter,” side of camping. Before dating an eagle scout in college, I didn’t know that real people hiked away from their car to set up a camping spot, wasn’t aware that a frame-pack and a backpack weren’t the same thing, and that “real” campers didn’t take an air mattress with them for use inside their tent. And I was a kid from the country. Just think what those urban kids must consider “camping.”

In recent years, however, my vocabulary has come to include words like “tarpaulin” and “Dutch Oven.” There’s no denying that there is something magical about camping, even if it is only in your own back yard. Money is still tight this summer, and while a lot of reports say that people are booking vacations again, more real people that I talk to on a day to day basis aren’t planning on going anywhere this summer because their budgets are still recovering in the wake of last year.

A lot of communities have open play fields or courtyards integrated into their design, the purpose of which, usually, is to sit there, look pretty, and encourage us to pay landscapers. If you have the resource and you’re paying to maintain it, the least you can do to be responsible to your budget is to find some use for it. Besides, imagine the fun of organizing and executing a property camp-out! It’s a little extra work for your staff, but for an event that people will remember and talk about, it’s worth it. And this is an idea that, depending on your staff’s level of excitement, you can either do the bare minimum or go the whole 9 yards on. Best of all, this sort of event doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. Food costs are under $100 for most properties and entertainment can be anything from water games and volleyball to scavenger hunts and ghost stories. Your residents can use their own tents or sleeping bags or, if they don’t want to be directly involved, you can ask for volunteers who would be willing to loan equipment to other families.

S’mores, roasting hot dogs on a stick, having an open fire pit (or even a grill if you don’t know how to build a safe pit or don’t want to pay for an external pit), ghost stories and sleeping bags under the stars (or ambient metro lights) – the pictures and stories alone that come out of this kind of event will look amazing on your property management Facebook page. But, more importantly, you are connecting with your residents. Remember: when we connect, we retain!

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Tags: community, resident retention