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Even More Ways to Improve Rental Properties Inexpensively

Posted on 19. Mar, 2010 by Marc Courtenay.

Yesterday I received an advertisement from a rental car company. It simply stated, “The next time you need a rental car call us and receive a free upgrade”, and they meant it.

The word “free” strikes a positive chord for us all. So if I’m a couple looking for an apartment or a rental home and I see the word “free”, I’m likely to investigate this offer.

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Property Management Marketing Ideas for March

Posted on 09. Mar, 2010 by Heather Blume.

We in the property management world know that sunshine brings in the tours, something that has proven to be a major challenge this year. To encourage a little more traffic, here are 3 ideas for your marketing teams.

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4 February Marketing Ideas for Property Managers

Posted on 10. Feb, 2010 by Heather Blume.

Whether you refer to the best known February holiday as Valentine’s Day or Single’s Awareness Day, this month packs a lot more marketing power than just events circling the 14th. Let’s look at 4 ideas that can bring you some buzz and some great new rentals!

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Tap In to Tax Time: Providing Resources for Residents

Posted on 09. Feb, 2010 by Heather Blume.

It’s the start of the new year, so inevitably the thing in the forefront of everyone’s minds right now is the same: tax time! Okay, maybe not. When it comes to taxes, you’ve got basically two camps of people.

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Top Retention Strategies To Get Customers for Life (Jan. 20 Webinar Recap)

Posted on 21. Jan, 2010 by Jonathan Brownfield.

In this January 20th webinar video recording, Jackie Ramstedt, nationally renowned Keynote Speaker and Performance Consultant for the property management industry, shares her perspective on how to establish a world-class approach to your customer service programs with specific goals for every member of your team.

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January Marketing Ideas for Property Managers

Posted on 14. Jan, 2010 by Heather Blume.

In the multifamily business world, January is a notoriously difficult month for us. Whether it’s the propensity for snow, the cold wind, or the fact that USA and TNT keep running excellent marathons of TV shows, we just have a hard time getting foot traffic in the door. Don’t let the blustery weather cool your renting power!

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5 Inexpensive Ways to Improve Your Rental Properties

Posted on 16. Dec, 2009 by Marc Courtenay.

If you had an unlimited budget for upgrading your properties you wouldn’t need an article like this one. In the current economic reality, we have to be creative and financially careful when we are trying to make our units more appealing.

As a property manager, you know what it is like to have a tight schedule and an even tighter budget, so I thought I’d share with you some simple and “cheap” ways to spruce up your inventory to attract new residents.

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4 Quick December Gathering Ideas for Residents

Posted on 10. Dec, 2009 by Heather Blume.

Whether it’s the food, time of year, or the weather, there’s something about the holiday season that makes people more social. That makes this a great time for property managers to bait some resident retention by using smaller gatherings or groupings. Here are four ideas to get you started.

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“Try Anti-Depressants,” and Other Ways Not to Respond to Resident Feedback

Posted on 30. Nov, 2009 by Heather Blume.

We used to ignore sites like Apartment Ratings and tell our people to try to just forget they were there and not take things personally. In the last two years though, the shift of the social media model has required a reexamination of our silence, and it’s been decided, by pretty much everyone out there, that it’s time to respond to online public resident feedback.

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5 “Spooky” Suggestions for Property Managers This Halloween

Posted on 15. Oct, 2009 by Heather Blume.

I adore Halloween. I love it almost as much as I love Christmas, and I am one of those weird people who has multiple Christmas trees in their house.
I started decorating the other day for Halloween, putting up my glow in the dark skeletons and using that black light sensitive spider webbing to coat the [...]

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More Green Incentives For Residential Property Managers – Part 2

Posted on 08. Oct, 2009 by Marc Courtenay.

The “science” of being an effective Residential Property Manager changes with the times and the priorities that our society establishes. Part 1 of this article covers ways in which property managers attract and retain residents with green incentives.
Today’s homeowners and home-renters are motivated to save energy and be “earth friendly.” That is why the “Green” [...]

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Does Size Matter: Revisiting Your Pet Policy

Posted on 07. Oct, 2009 by Heather Blume.

Let’s play a game. I’m going to show you two pictures and I want you to pick which dog you think would be a better fur-resident in your community, bearing in mind your current pet policy and your own personal prejudices and biases to certain dogs.

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Interview with Todd Breen, President of Home Property Management – Being Profitable with Section 8

Posted on 24. Sep, 2009 by Aimee Miller.

Recently I had the opportunity to chat with Todd Breen (South East Regional Director, FARPM; Faculty at the Property Management Academy in Florida) about how his company (www.624home.com) makes the Section 8 program profitable. While I was stuck in the office, Todd was actually spearfishing on a yacht in Florida…this is the fish he [...]

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The Deal Fell Through, So Why Should I Thank You?

Posted on 17. Sep, 2009 by Heather Blume.

I’m very lucky in the fact that, after moving out here years ago, I found/developed an amazing group of friends. They’ve taught me the differences between college friendships and adult friendships, (biggest difference being that when you throw a party in college, people bring beer and there’s major clean up…as an adult, they bring wine [...]

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2 More Ideas on How Property Managers Can Prosper in Today’s Economy: Part 2

Posted on 04. Sep, 2009 by Jennifer Newton.

This is the second part of my article on best practices for property managers to continue to grow their business, even during our tough economy. In the first article I talked about providing excellent service to both types of your clients – owners and residents. My second two best practices are around building a strong [...]

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Green Incentives For Residential Property Managers – Part 1

Posted on 31. Aug, 2009 by Marc Courtenay.

There has never been a better time for creative ways to attract and retain the kind of residents you want to rent or lease your properties. Appealing to thoughtful, conscientious and responsible people is actually easier than you think.
When I was a practicing counselor (I have an M.S. in Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage, [...]

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2 Ideas on How Property Managers Can Prosper in Today’s Economy: Part 1

Posted on 21. Aug, 2009 by Jennifer Newton.

I believe that property managers have the opportunity to get more clients during this recession so they emerge with an even stronger infrastructure once the economy turns around. Here is the first part of my thoughts on four areas to focus on right now so you can prosper in today’s economy. This article will cover [...]

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8 Ideas for Making More Move-In Day Magic!

Posted on 18. Aug, 2009 by Heather Blume.

I think it should be a requirement for people who work in the multifamily industry to rent an apartment, at communities they don’t directly work at, for at least 5 years, moving at least once every 24 months. What would possess me to make such an outlandish request of my fellow industry compatriots?
One word: EMPATHY
Empathy [...]

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Horizon Realty’s Twitter Debacle: It Can Help You With Your Property Management Social Media Plan

Posted on 29. Jul, 2009 by Aimee Miller.

I love reading Copyblogger’s articles – they are funny and always educational. Their most recent recent post, “What the Horizon Realty FAIL Can Teach You About Social Media,” has great reminders for an effective social media strategy.
In a nutshell, a resident with only about 20 Twitter followers, tweeted (under the now expired Twitter account name [...]

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Service Sells: 5 Rules of Property Management Customer Service

Posted on 28. Jul, 2009 by Aimee Miller.

Have you ever read a website or a company description that says something like…”We pride ourselves on delivering terrible service. Really, great service is expensive and we don’t think it is worth it so instead of great service we will provide pretty adequate to bad service. Thanks for your business.” Probably not! Really, we all [...]

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6 Tips for Communication Clarity with Your Residents

Posted on 16. Jul, 2009 by Heather Blume.

You know, not everyone has a gift for writing. Some people don’t even have the basics.
When I was younger, my mother was a librarian and an English teacher. She and I would sit at the kitchen table in the evenings, me struggling with the complexities of Algebra (many of which I, to this day, still [...]

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Challenges and Solutions for Residential Property Managers – Part 1

Posted on 10. Jul, 2009 by Marc Courtenay.

If you’re a property manager in today’s market you know you’re facing conditions that you may have never faced before. Those who are proactive and innovative will prosper, even in today’s economic conditions.
Currently in markets like Southern California, vacancies are at levels not seen in over 15 years. One property manager there told me, “Competition [...]

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Five Ways For Property Managers To “Pool” Their Resources

Posted on 07. Jul, 2009 by Heather Blume.

As temperatures rise, so do easy chances for resident retention!  Summer is a great time for connecting with your residents and one of our greatest warm season assets is, of course, our pool.  However, there is more to using your aqua resources than a single large gesture of the large summer pool party.  You can [...]

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