One of the key challenges for property managers is effectively managing today’s conditions without losing sight of long-term goals. In the multifamily housing industry, forward thinking managers know that sustaining long-term growth demands management tools and solutions that use accurate demand forecasting methods.

This article will briefly discuss demand forecasting and how looking ahead puts property owners in a better position to restructure rent tiers, redefine occupancy rate goals and respond to local demographic preferences.

Budgeting and forecasting tools give managers a peak into the future; examining potential rent levels, occupancy rates, make-ready expenses and market trends. For example, based on Fannie Mae’s report titled Is the Development and Design of Multifamily Rental Housing in Line with Recent Trends? released in 2013 reveals demand for smaller homes will increase as lifestyle changes and smaller family units impact rent preferences.

Research indicates two of the most significant factors for renters today are lifestyle and financial consideration. Younger adults (57% according to the Fannie Mae report) are more interested in home ownership today and see that as a future goal, but not all young adults will achieve that dream.

Today, and in their near futures, this demographic is looking for small, affordable housing with technology rich environments and green living amenities. Think hidden electrical outlets, ample wall space for flat screen monitors, on-sight recycling centers and energy-efficient appliances.

As college grads marry and start a family – a few years down the road – their wants and needs will evolve. To capture this cohort’s attention in the future, property managers’ focus must shift toward providing family-oriented amenities such as expanded sleeping spaces and access to on-site storage.

Although the prime renting cohort today in many communities is young adults, the next 15 to 20 years holds another promise for property managers – tens of thousands of retiring baby boomers. This group also seeks smaller apartment homes as they scale down their possessions and adjust to a single or “couple only” lifestyle as empty-nesters. Attracting baby boomers young adults simultaneously demands responding to two unique lifestyles.

Adjusting Strategic Expectations

The primary goal of many property management teams is achieving 100% occupancy. While that makes sense on the surface, demand forecasting processes that explore demographic expectations, economic conditions and renter trends sometimes reveal that higher rental rates combined with 90% or 95% occupancy nets higher revenue.

On a grand scale, some community managers may opt to modify existing floorplans. While converting a portion of your larger apartments into two smaller units may not seems financial prudent, it’s worth considering if there’s a large population of young single adults and people approaching retirement age living in your broader community. If you’re currently renting a 1200 square foot apartment for $1200 and you can rent two 550 square foot apartments for $750 to $850 per month, rent potential increases significantly.

Modifying Routine Processes

Another effective strategy that successful property managers implement is exploring property practices. Scheduling turn-around activities throughout the month, spreading out the cleaning and painting, affords greater control and often reduces turn-around costs. By streamlining operations and focusing more on revenue than occupancy rates, many properties see less overtime, higher quality work and faster availability.

Although changing company strategies should never be a quick decision, increasing revenue potential focused on demand forecasting models helps property managers and owners achieve growth expectations with target-focused strategies. Developing a demand forecasting model that includes research, local demographic profiles and market conditions in your area improves outcomes – and revenue potential.

Appfolio | Company Website | LinkedIn Connect | AppFolio, Inc. develops Property Management Software that helps businesses improve their workflow so they save time and make more money. Appfolio submits articles & blogs including topics of Resident Retention, Improved Owner Communication, Time Management, and more.

Is this the end of the housing recovery?
NO!

“By keeping interest rates low, we are trying to make homes more affordable and revive the housing market.”

That came from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen earlier this year.

My friend, that’s all you need to know when it comes to the housing market today.

Yes, prices are up. But mortgage rates are down. That means housing affordability (in general terms) is still near record highs. And the most important person for the housing market – Janet Yellen – is on our side.

My numbers show median housing prices could increase another $53,000 from here. And that’s just to get back to “fair value.” Our long-term gains could be even higher.

Let me explain…

Longtime readers know I’ve been putting my own money into real estate over the last few years. It might surprise you, but the majority of my post-bubble investments haven’t been in the stock market or any other paper asset… but in cash-flow real estate.

Since 2010, our opportunity has been incredible. And it still is…

The simplest example is the overall U.S. housing market. I’ve said for years that now is the best time in history to buy a house. And I still believe that statement is true.

You see, even after a few years of solid price increases, housing is still cheap!

To size it, we need to look at where home prices are, relative to their “fair value.” Our fair value calculation uses current home prices, mortgage rates, and incomes to determine where housing should be, based on what folks can afford.

Our measure showed the overvaluation during the housing bubble and it identified the value during the bust. Today, even after a big move higher in prices, it shows housing is still cheap. Take a look…

As I write, the median home price in the U.S. is around $203,000. But our fair value estimate sits at $256,000.

Said another way, housing (in general) is still $53,000 BELOW fair value!

The gap has been narrowing since 2012. Home prices are up in that period and mortgage rates have come up a bit as well (even though they’re down this year). So the opportunity isn’t as good as it used to be… but it’s still fantastic.

Right now, housing is cheap. Prices are moving higher, which is good. And Janet Yellen – the woman who controls interest rates – is on our side. She has explicitly stated her goal of continuing to boost the housing market.

You haven’t missed this move yet. All of the original pieces are still in place. And I expect housing and real estate to continue higher from here.

This is what I’ve been doing with my own money. And I’m not slowing down now. I suggest you do the same.

Continues success!

Marco Santarelli | Company Website | LinkedIn Connect | Marco Santarelli is an investor, author and founder of Norada Real Estate Investments — a provider of passive turnkey investment properties in growth markets around the United States. For investment opportunities please visit www.NoradaRealEstate.com

While both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are still the big dogs in multifamily lending, their biggest competitors have begun doing what they must to win over new market share–and with everyone from the House of Representatives to the President of the United States looking to phase out Fannie and Freddie all together, it looks like the competition is heating up as the local banks have begun chomping at old Fannie and Freddie’s heels.

After the market crashed, accessing capital via traditional lenders and banks was nearly impossible and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were there to lend for multifamily.

Unfortunately, in recent years, the amount of multifamily financing available has been stretched thin because of the increase in competition.

How is the impact being felt?

In 2014, Fannie Mae’s overall multifamily lending business has totaled a mere $6 billion or less than half the $13.6 billion in multifamily loans they did during this same time last year.

Aside from lowering interest rates, this drop-off in volume has had a surprising side effect in that there are fewer loans to turn into bonds. Which translates into potential bond investors being forced to compete for a limited supply of bonds, paying more, and reducing their overall yields by more than 20 basis points just in the last eight months.

Is phasing out Fannie and Freddie the solution?

As a result of the collapse of the mortgage market, many feel that replacing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a necessity, but, according to an article recently published in Forbes, phasing out Fannie and Freddie as a consequence to the mortgage meltdown is like “pulling over when the check engine light comes on and changing a tire, the fix has nothing to do with the problem.”

Even with regulators ordering Fannie and Freddie to limit their overall volume of lending to multifamily by 10% in 2013, this year a more relaxed attitude has both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lenders offering lower interest rates and the promise to have delegated underwriting service programs in place, plus “soft quote” capabilities available to allow for faster turnarounds.

Justin Alanis | Company Website | LinkedIn Connect | Justin Alanis is the Co-Founder and CEO of Rentlytics Inc. Rentlytics is based in San Francisco, CA providing deep analytics for apartment property owners and managers. View and analyze property operational and financial metrics more effectively and identify issues.

Fair Isaac Corporation, better knows as FICO, announced that it is making some changes to the way it assesses consumer credit.

This month, FICO introduced the new FICO® Score 9, a more nuanced analysis of consumer collection information which bypasses paid collection agency accounts, and differentiates medical from non-medical collection agency accounts.

This move, FICO says, will help ensure that medical collections have a lower impact on the credit score, commensurate with the credit risk they represent. These enhancements help lenders — and landlords — because it leads to a more predictive credit score.

As a result, the median FICO Score for consumers whose only major negative references are medical collections will increase by 25 points.

FICO has used sophisticated modeling techniques to make the new FICO® Score 9 more predictive of a consumer’s likelihood to repay a debt than previous versions. This latest version of the FICO® Score, the industry standard measure of U.S. consumer credit risk, captures recent consumer behavior to give lenders better risk assessments across the credit lifecycle and all credit products. It will be available to lenders through the U.S. credit reporting agencies starting this fall.

FICO Score 9 also supports the desire of lenders to better assess the risk of consumers with limited credit history – so-called thin files. In the model development process, FICO data scientists represented a consumer’s repayment behavior in degrees of risk. For example, instead of classifying a consumer as someone who paid or didn’t pay her bills in absolute terms, the various degrees of the consumer’s payment history have been quantified. The end result is a score with an improved ability to assess the risk of thin files.

The Score 9 will also be the most consistent FICO® Score across all three credit bureaus. This generation of the FICO Score uses the same development window across the three different credit bureaus to generate scores that will be as consistent as possible.

FICO is the leader in credit risk scoring, with 90 percent of all U.S. consumer lending decisions using the FICO® Score. Twenty five of the largest credit card issuers, 25 of the largest auto lenders and tens of thousands of other businesses rely on the FICO® Score for consumer credit risk analysis and federal regulatory compliance.

American Apartment Owners Association | Company Website | At the American Apartment Owners Association (AAOA), our mission is to serve the interests of landlords, real estate brokers, property managers, real estate owners and apartment building owners nationally. Visit www.AAOA.com for more information about membership details!

The U.S. apartment market continued its amazingly strong 2014 in July, as effective rent growth increased once again, occupancy remained steady and fewer concessions were offered, according to Axiometrics’ monthly apartment market trends report.

Axiometrics, the leader in apartment market research and analysis, noted year-to-date effective rent growth leads that of all post-Great Recession years for the fourth straight month and is just 10 basis points away from the recovery’s peak YTD figure, reached in 2012.

Annualized effective rent growth was 3.8% in July, a 12 basis points increase from the 3.7% recorded in June and a 40 bps climb from the 3.4% of July 2013.

Stephanie McCleskey, Axiometrics Vice President of Research says that it’s becoming more and more likely that 2014 will be the strongest overall year for the apartment market since the recession ended. “This is the year of the apartment,” she says.

Average effective rent in July was $1,163.10 per month, an increase of $7.40 from June’s figure.

Concessions Continue Falling
Concession levels set another post-recession low, dropping to an average of 0.7% in July from 0.8% in June. Dollar-wise, that translates to $8.70 on a 12-month lease. To compare, 8.33% is one month’s free rent.

“The consistency in the gap between asking and effective rent growth can be attributed to the descent of concessions as a large factor in the current apartment market,” McCleskey said. “With new deliveries being absorbed at a high rate, landlords at many properties — especially Class A and Class B+ buildings — can rent their units without offering anything beyond the location and the amenities.”

The increased use of automated revenue management systems also helps diminish concessions, since properties using that type of software do not tend to offer concessions.

Are the days of ‘one month’s free rent’ and ‘$100 cash back’ over?

“For now, in a strong apartment market, probably,” says McCleskey. “Concessions could increase in a future down cycle, but likely not to the extent of late 2009, when the dollar value of concessions was more than $70 per month.”

YTD Rent Growth Near Recovery’s Peak
Year-to-date effective rent growth was 5.1% in July 2014, up from 4.5% in June and 30 basis points ahead of the 4.8% recorded in June 2011, the next strongest post-recession year. The gap between 2014 and 2011 is unchanged from May and June.

July marks the fourth straight month in which 2014 has settled in as the strongest year for the apartment market during the recovery.

“The U.S. apartment market would have to go into significant decline in order for 2014 to give up its No. 1 position by the end of the year,” McCleskey said. “YTD effective rent growth need increase by only 10 basis points to reach the post-recession peak of 5.2% set in August and September 2011.”

Occupancy Remains at Highest Point
Occupancy remained at 95% for the third straight month, the highest level since April 2008.
“The steady occupancy portrays a market that is absorbing all the new supply being delivered this year, and settles the question (at least for now) whether overbuilding is generally taking place,” McCleskey said.

Sun Sets, Rents Rise in the West
Data for metropolitan areas show that the Pacific Coast is driving much of the national increase in effective rent growth. Oakland once again led Axiometrics’ top 50 apartment markets in effective rent growth with an annualized rate of 10.3%, while Bay Area neighbor San Jose led in occupancy at 96.9% and was No. 3 in rent growth.

The top 10 metros nationally included seven Pacific Coast markets, five of those in California — Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento, Oxnard and San Francisco. Two other California markets — Riverside and Los Angeles — weighed in at 11 and 15, respectively. Seattle and Portland, OR, also were in the top 10.

Only three of the top 15 were east of the Mississippi River: Atlanta, Miami and West Palm Beach. Denver, Houston and Fort Worth rounded out that list.

Northeastern markets continued to underperform the national average. Washington, DC effective rent growth was 0.0% for the second straight month.

Axiometrics improves property and portfolio performance for apartment investments. Confident investment decisions begin with reliable, timely information. No one has more accurate, detailed, and up-to-date research on the apartment and student housing markets. Learn more at www.axiometrics.com or by calling 214-953-2242.

Real estate marketplace Zillow has named the Oklahoma City area as the top place where mom-and-pop landlords stand to make the most money on their rental property short term.

A Zillow Rentals analysis looked at the top 50 U.S metros to determine which areas provide the best short-term return on investment for small landlords. Rental property owners in the Oklahoma City metro area can expect to profit $536 per month on the median home when comparing anticipated rental income versus their assumed monthly mortgage payment.

Mom-and-pop landlords commonly are homeowners who have turned their personal home into a rental rather than selling it when they move.

The study also named the best places for landlords interested in long-term profits. When looking at rental income, tax benefits and accumulated home equity (thanks to rapid home value appreciation), landlords in San Jose, California, make the most money: $8,927 per month, or $107,122 per year. The majority of this “profit” is derived from earned but unrealized equity distributed evenly each month over the next six years. Most, if not all, of this profit will not be realized until the landlord sells the property.

“When deciding if they should sell their home or rent it out, most mom-and-pop landlords are primarily concerned with whether or not they can cover their mortgage payment each month – they simply can’t absorb monthly losses like professional investors,” said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. “However, the greatest returns are actually in markets like San Jose and San Francisco where there are short-term monthly losses, but the long-term earned equity makes them the best markets to invest in.”

Nationally, the Zillow Rent Index has increased 2.5 percent since June 2013 and 9.1 percent since June 2011. On a local level, the Zillow Rent Index has gone up as much as two to three times that amount over the past year in rental hotspots such as metro Chicago (+6.3 percent) and San Francisco (+11 percent).

Top 10 Markets for Short-term Financial Gain

These figures were calculated by measuring the difference between rent and mortgage payment on the median home, accounting for property and income taxes, maintenance and vacancy:

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Cincinnati, Ohio
Denver, Colorado
Rochester, N.Y.
Tampa, Florida
Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
Indianapolis, Indiana
Memphis, Tennessee

Top 10 Markets for Long-term Financial Gain

The categority includes home equity gains, tax benefits, and the difference between monthly rental income and mortgage payments after holding onto the property for six years on the median home. Also accounting for property/income taxes, maintenance and vacancy.

San Jose, California
San Francisco, California
Los Angeles, California
San Diego, California
Riverside, California
New York, New York
Boston, Massachusetts
Seattle, Washington
Sacramento, California
Honolulu, Hawaii

More information on additional cities can be found by visiting: http://www.zillow.com/research/landlord-profit-7357/

Zillow operates the largest home-related marketplaces on mobile and the Web. In addition, Zillow operates an industry-leading economics and analytics bureau.

Reach beyond the chaotic logistics to establish long-term benefits

By: Nick Frantz

Move-in day is hectic, no doubt about it. It takes a lot of organization just to get through it and get everyone settled in. And even with the best plans, chaos can reign supreme.

But turn time is the best time to lay the groundwork for streamlined processes and smooth relationships with your new and returning residents.

Here are three tips that fit into any move-in day plan. They’ll help save staff time, reduce late payments and cultivate responsible residents long after move-in day is over.

1. Get all their contact information up front—in advance is best. Phone, email, social media. Students usually have multiple contact points. Get it all. And make sure you get all the contact information for their parents, too. Keeping parents in the loop greatly increases your ability to get responses and results. Get as much information as you can prior to move-in day. It may be mission impossible trying to obtain it after.

2. Rent guarantee agreements may be legally binding, but reminders trump collections any day! This is where having all the students’ and parents’ contact information is critical. It’s much easier to send a reminder—and it’s effective, too—than to try to collect delinquent rent. Message notification services like One Call Now make it easy. Use it to send voice and text messages via land lines, mobile phones, email and social media. Automated features save loads of staff time. Create and store messages and schedule delivery dates and times. Multiple delivery points for each message make it simple to include parents in your reminder messages.

If it’s feasible, consider sending reminders regarding other housing expenses: utility bills, insurance premiums, and parking permits. If it affects your property, it affects you.

3. Let them know what you’ll do. You may already have something in place—your website, literature—to let your residents know their responsibilities. But don’t fall short when it comes to letting them know your responsibilities. What you will do when a repair is needed; when there’s property damage; when rental payments are late; when they become delinquent.

Let residents and parents know the steps you will take. What they can expect. Knowing that there’s a process in place inspires confidence and satisfaction. And understanding the consequences when they default on their responsibilities fosters compliance.

The steps you take up front to establish your resident/parent communications will payoff throughout the term of the lease.

About One Call Now
One Call Now is America’s largest message notification provider. Thousands of property managers across the country rely on One Call Now to improve and simplify their staff, tenant and resident communications— sending voice, text and email messages to thousands simultaneously. Founded in 2002, One Call Now has been listed on Inc. Magazine’s list of fastest growing privately held companies in America since 2008. When messages matter, we deliver.

Listings giant Apartments.com is reporting that a significant majority of renters surveyed own a pet. This year, 72 percent of renters surveyed said they are pet owners, compared to just 43 percent in 2012.

The survey also indicates that most tenants are comfortable in pet-friendly buildings. More than 80 percent of pet-loving renters surveyed by Apartments.com believe their fellow residents either like pets or are indifferent to them living in the building. These findings closely align with the views of renters who don’t own pets. Three quarters of renters without pets said they either enjoy living in a pet-friendly building or they do not have a specific preference.

“While it is good news that most renters seem to enjoy living in pet-friendly apartment communities, the past two years have shown us the majority of pet-owning renters faced some difficulty finding an apartment that allows pets,” said Brad Long, president of Apartments.com. “We believe these trends may increase demand for new apartment construction that includes innovative pet-friendly spaces, amenities and policies, especially as, over the years, nine out of 10 renters have told us pet policies played a deciding role when choosing where to live.”

Cats topped the list for most popular apartment pets, followed by smaller-sized dogs. Thirteen percent of renters chose other pets, including fish and birds.

This year, less than 20 percent of renters surveyed said they live in a building that has no restrictions whatsoever on what type of pet they are allowed to have (down from nearly 30 percent in 2013). The Apartments.com website provides renters with the ability to tailor searches to only show pet-friendly apartments that allow cats, small dogs or all dogs.

More renters are being asked to pay for the pleasure of having a pet. Close to 80 percent of respondents said they were required to pay a pet deposit, up from around 60 percent in 2013. This year, just over half of renters paid more than $200 annually in pet deposits and monthly fees. Since the costs of renting with a pet add up, renters searching for the most value in their next apartment may want to ask about what specific pet amenities are included within the building and its individual units.

“Pets bring unconditional love and affection into the lives of millions of Americans, and whether an apartment community allows pets can clearly be a deal breaker for many renters,” said Tammy Kotula, public relations and promotions manager for Apartments.com. “In response to the increased demand for pet-friendly apartments over the past two years, we see the rental industry moving toward accommodating the needs of this important and growing segment of renters with flexible pet policies and new construction of apartment buildings that offer a variety of amenities for renters who own pets.”

Apartments.com is a leading national apartment Internet listing subscription service with more than 50,000 unique addresses representing millions of rental units from managed properties and for-rent-by-owner properties. As part of its What Renters Want series, Apartments.com surveys renters on various topics throughout the year.

A lower homeownership rate due to demographic shifts will have a ripple effect, keeping rents high, says a panel of experts.

The national homeownership rate fell in the second quarter, and a majority of experts said they expect it to fall further in coming years as the Millennial generation delays home purchases and the age of typical first-time homebuyers rises, according to the latest Zillow® Home Price Expectations Survey.

The panel also said they expect U.S. median home values to end 2014 up 4.6 percent, on average, and to exceed their 2007 peak levels by the end of 2017, roughly a decade after the housing bust and ensuing recession began. The survey of 104 economists, real estate experts and investment and market strategists asked panelists to predict the path of the U.S. Zillow Home Value Index through 2018, and solicited opinions on the age of homeowners, the homeownership rate and the impact of rising mortgage interest rates on home sales volume. The survey was sponsored by leading real estate information marketplace Zillow, Inc. and is conducted quarterly by Pulsenomics LLC.

In 2013, the typical first-time homebuyer was 31 years old, according to the National Association of Realtors. Panelists were asked for their expectations regarding the median first-time homebuyer age over the next decade as Millennials reach their prime home-buying years. Among those expressing an opinion, 61 percent said they thought the median first-time homebuyer age would rise marginally, to 32 or 33, with another 24 percent saying they expected the median age would rise to 34 or older.

“Because of its huge size and great diversity of housing preferences and opinions, the Millennial generation will have enormous influence in coming years, especially as they hold off on getting married and having children, the two biggest reasons for first-time home purchases,” said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. “A lower homeownership rate because of these demographic shifts will have a ripple effect, keeping rents high and potentially impacting the broader economy if substantially fewer people pay property taxes and buy fewer home goods. But while the age of first-time homebuyers may rise, it is dangerous to assume Millennials don’t want to buy at all. Recent Zillow research concluded that millions of current renters do want to buy soon, despite headwinds that may end up delaying their purchase. And when they do, policymakers, planners and developers will need to ensure that housing is accessible, affordable and desirable to this new generation of homeowners.”

Panelists were asked what they thought the homeownership rate would be in five years. Among those expressing an opinion, 57 percent said they thought the rate would be lower than the first quarter 2014 seasonally adjusted rate of 64.8 percent. After the survey was completed, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that the seasonally adjusted U.S. homeownership rate fell to 64.7 percent in the second quarter, the lowest rate since the second quarter of 1995.

Impact of Rising Mortgage Rates

Panelists were also asked what impact rising mortgage rates would have on home sales volume over the next two years, as higher rates impact mobility and home affordability. Among those with an opinion, 62 percent said they expected rising rates to have a somewhat negative or significantly negative impact on the number of sales going forward. On average, panelists said they expected interest rates on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage to reach 5.28 percent by July 2016.

Panelists predicted the U.S. Zillow Home Value Index would rise 4.6 percent year-over-year by the end of 2014, to $177,895, and expected the pace to slow in each of the next four years. The most optimistic group of panelists predicted a 5.6 percent annual increase in home values this year, on average, while the most pessimistic predicted an average increase of 3.7 percent.

“The dispersion of the experts’ home value projections has diminished to the lowest level in the history of this survey, and for the second consecutive quarter, the expected five-year average annual growth rate in U.S. home values is the same as that experienced during the pre-bubble era,” said Terry Loebs, founder of Pulsenomics. “Although one would expect to observe trends like this in a calming housing market, it’s way too soon to conclude that the market has healed and returned to the old normal.”

American Apartment Owners Association | Company Website | At the American Apartment Owners Association (AAOA), our mission is to serve the interests of landlords, real estate brokers, property managers, real estate owners and apartment building owners nationally.  Visit www.AAOA.com for more information about membership details!

Some tenants seem to think property managers sit around waiting for a problem to pop up. Fix a leaking water closet at two o’clock in the morning? No problem.  Calm the crying babies, paste up the drooping wall paper, and banish the sand fleas instantly from the pet park –  Right?

Whenever a complication develops, residents expect property managers to answer the phone and find a solution – pronto. What residents don’t understand is that property managers aren’t sitting around waiting for a problem to pop up. Most of the time they are overseeing daily tasks to prevent problems before they occur.

True, property management isn’t a nine-to-five job, but no one should be expected to work 24/7. There are some “temporary upsets” that simply don’t warrant calling the manager in the middle of the night.

Managers wish residemts would exercise some discretion when deciding what is urgent and what can wait.

In a real emergency situation, every tenant should be able to reach a management team member. Incidents involving water damage, fire, security issues and similar maladies demand prompt attention to prevent further property damage.

Every property has unique workflow patterns. For some managers, early morning is the best time to call to arrange pest service or schedule an appliance repair. As one property manager put it, “Calling early allows the property team to work maintenance requests into the daily schedule – making sure the tenant gets a faster response”. Calling five minutes before five on a Friday to book the clubhouse for Saturday morning is typically not the best time to call.

Delaying the call until it is convenient for the resident can create extra burdens for property managers.  If you discover a problem with the dishwasher on Wednesday, but don’t contact the maintenance team until your next day off, you could delay service unnecessarily. Since many contractors charge extra for night and weekend services, chances are the property will spend more for weekend repairs.  Ordering parts can also create special challenges.

The after-hours call service is an extension of the property management team, but . . . Many properties contract with a management service that provides a 24 hour call center. Call center personnel are trained to answer simple questions about accessing resident portals, pool hours, and property rules. Call center staff relay urgent messages immediately and hold non-emergency questions according to pre-established protocol. Calling back every fifteen minutes to complain about the neighbor’s dog barking or the pulsating security light won’t expedite a return call.

Customer service is important, but it doesn’t relieve tenants of personal responsibility. Rules prevent chaos. Delivering exceptional customer service doesn’t mean managers should bend the rules – in fact, consistency is a key component of exceptional customer service. Take the case of a tenant who fails to pay their utility bill and can’t get into his apartment because your property uses electronic key cards. Even though he is locked out until he can get service restored, this situation isn’t an emergency that property managers must address.

Stop Wishing and Start Solving

So what’s a property manager to do in these situations? Stop wishing your residents knew what to do in these circumstances and start solving the problems.

• Adopt call standards and publish contact information with hours of availability.
• Be consistent. Residents will appreciate it and everyone will have the same expectations.
• Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. If you haven’t already set up text messaging and email broadcasts to give residents prior notice about utility interruptions or upcoming property-wide policy changes, this is a great time to explore your options.
• Save money on after-hours repairs by improving your bidding and contracting policies. Third-party vendor contracts often save money in the long run.
• Review your after-hours call technology. Whether you use an answering machine or a call center, make sure callers know when to expect a return call.
  

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  Appfolio | Company Website | LinkedIn Connect | AppFolio, Inc. develops Property Management Software that helps businesses improve their workflow so they save time and make more money.  Appfolio submits articles & blogs including topics of Resident Retention, Improved Owner Communication, Time Management, and more.