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It is a pretty exciting time, and our Urbane Laboratory continues to expand. Not only are there some really cool projects and developments going on with NCI and the whole Community Sherpa platform, our scale and reach of resources continue to expand.

We have reached a plateau at the Urbane Lab, where on a somewhat regular basis someone is popping in to the Lab with a new idea to test and try on our apartments. And while some ideas certainly have different merit than others, what is sh [...]

Lost among the hoopla of the growing importance of the  Internet as the best marketing for apartments is  signage.  The Small Business Administration notes signage as the most effective form of marketing.  As we drive down our local roads and highways the importance of signage must be important as they are everywhere and growing more high tech every day.  And yet, apartment communities often only have their specific property sign when so much more can be done by owner [...]

Last night I was watching television when an ad came on - in prime time - promoting a foreclosed/distressed Commercial Property Auction. "Who wants to by an empty Home Depot location ... step right up"

I thought to myself, "This really is a sign the end is near - meaning it is seriously time to buy!" I have never seen anything like this before. Sure, the "no money down" guru crowd does a lot of work with TV... but that's usually late night infomercials ... [...]

For most of us, winter has already arrived. These low temperatures of the season can affect us all, not to mention the living conditions for our residents. It is a must that maintenance employees have a proactive approach in getting ready for the winter.

It goes without saying, but one of the most important steps in getting ready for winter should be having a well-stocked and organized maintenance shop with all the equipment, supplies, and parts necessary to maintain and repair water heating [...]

 

 

Service requests, maintenance requests, work orders, maintenance work orders, MSR's - whatever you call them, they arrive in abundance each and every day on site. It's one of the benefits our residents have: to not worry about repairs and maintenance. That's our job. However, a slow or ineffective service request process can have one of the greatest [...]

The Pontiac (MI) Silverdome - former home of the Detroit Lions - just sold for $583K. That is not a typo .... $583,000

It cost $54M to build in 1975. Just think what that is in today's dollars !!

The Glory Days?

Back in 1994 Brazil beat Italy in a world cup game in this building. Michael Jackson, Madonna and Elvis all p [...]

Can you imagine the ability to take lease renewals off your long list of things to do? That is my challenge for the apartment industry. My personal recession recovery plan and if we all jump on board we just might save the world of apartment leasing from total meltdown.

The theory: For the next 12 months, we will be writing leases that will more than likely be loaded up with a rent decrease and in many markets, an up front concession. If we allow that lease to expire in the next 12 - [...]

I am the first the admit, I have used social media, text messages, email campaigns and any other "newby" marketing tool put in front of me. You all who haved used them in the past or currently using them know this can be a full time job.

When can we go back to the basics? I am so proud of my organization for not only employing new tools to market our communities but knowing that the basics such as follow up, awesome greetings, and customer service will always lease apartments [...]

Flipping through the Personals in today's newspaper, you're likely to see phrases such as "S/W/F seeks non-smoker" or "Enjoys long walks on the beach".  It's like an advertisement and Twitter combined when you have to describe yourself and convince someone else to date you in 140 characters or less.  When writing a personal ad, this isn't the time to admit to your "secret single behavior" or specify that you are looking for someone else who will only ea [...]

You're officially initiated into the property management world when you've gone through your first crisis. In my many years on site, I dealt with fire, flood, ice storm, hurricanes, dead bodies, robberies, shootings...fun stuff! By far the one that had the biggest impact on me was the fire I experienced. I was the only person working on a Saturday in the middle of a very large thunderstorm. In what seemed like an instant, one of the main fire alarms in the leasing office went off indicating trou [...]

CNN Money is reporting today the 22 banks that received the most help from the Treasury bail out programs collectively have cut $10 Billion from their small business loan balances in the last 6 months alone.

They make more money and the small businesses that drive the economy take it in the shorts. Just how is this supposed to make sense? I thought the fed and [...]

This is PART I of a 3-part series. You can read the intro here:

3 facebook questions everyone asks when starting out... 

OK, so the million dollar question is:

What is the ROI (Return on Investment) of facebook for my site? Usually followed up by - how many leases can I get from facebook? Serious questions, and just like an owner/investor/upper management to get to the point - eh?

Well, short answer is your ROI is either 0% (yes you read it right, ZERO) or 100% de [...]

Most apartment markets across the country saw occupancy rise at least a little between June and September. To some degree, that simply reflected the seasonal leasing pattern, as 3rd quarter is the peak demand period throughout the year in many places. A few metros, however, registered quarterly occupancy increases well beyond what seasonal shifts in leasing activity would yield. Denver stands as Exhibit A on the list of locales demonstrating real occupancy momentum during the past few months. [...]

One of my favorite clients, Griffis Blessing out of Colorado Springs, recently had happen at one of their communities what many have experienced, and all dread - a building fire. I have been involved in the aftermath of more than a few building fires in my career, and let me tell you, there is nothing more heartbreaking than the complete devastation of hope on the faces of victims that didn't have the foresight to purchase renter's insurance, as they gaze at the burned out building that used to [...]

What to think about Social Media (and hopefully we all think before we act) is troubling many apartment management teams. The questions “what is it”, “how does it work”, “how can it help or hurt”, and “should we even do it” are getting passed around. And often clear answers to any of these questions can’t be found. The suggestion “just jump in and get started” may work for early adopters but could mean trouble for an isolated s [...]