Many Property Owners and Managers alike will find that the transition to warmer weather can mean added challenges in terms of general occupancy. With summer just around the corner and more renters searching for a new place to call home, this is the prime time to not only recover occupancy, but pre-lease for months to come (Bennett, 2018). Owners, Operators, and Onsite Teams can all use these following tips help to increase an assets performance, occupancy; and ultimately, top line income. The most critical time to do this is approaching – start planning now!
- Full pipeline, full property.
First, the property must have adequate leasing traffic. Online advertisements should provide a unique selling proposition to attract consumers in the target audience. The listing should match the market, without blending into the market. Examples of online advertising sources include Apartments.com, Facebook, Google, etc. It is important to continually track which application sources yield the highest quality leads.
One of the biggest factors of driving quality leads to the apartment complex is the online reputation of the property. According to LinkedIn, the consensus is the sweet spot for online rating average is generally between 4.2 and 4.7 (Callaghan, 2017).
2. Consistent, personal communication.
It is not only vital to call every lead immediately, but to also follow up with every received guest card. Guest cards are typically completed in advance of a prospect visiting the property and indicate that individual is already interested in the community! AFI expects Onsite Teams to respond to new guest cards within seven minutes of receipt and contact each individual three times daily (at minimum) by phone, text, and email. Some helpful items we can learn from guest cards include various aspects of what renters may be looking for in an apartment:
- Working from home? The free Wi-Fi will be perfect!
- Looking for family friendly activities? Tell them about the community pool and park down the street!
- Safety concerns? Feel at peace with ample exterior lighting and security doors!
3. How does the property look to someone passing by?
Curb appeal is the first impression the community makes to a visitor and is an opportunity to invoke a “wow” factor right from the start. Planting rows of flowers, touching up paint, professional landscaping, and keeping the parking lots clean not only attract people to visit the property, but also invokes a sense of pride and may encourage some renewals!
While this is not an exhaustive list of leasing techniques, should all these items be working together simultaneously, great results are much more likely! Make sure not to fall behind this summer. Start making plans now to be 100% occupied through the Summer, and in to Fall!
References:
Bennet, S. (2020, July 30). How does seasonality impact rent prices? Retrieved April 08, 2021, from https://www.apartmentlist.com/research/best-time-of-year-to-rent
Callahan, S. (2017, August 27). The power of online reviews to boost sales. Retrieved April 08, 2021, from https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/blog/b2b-beat/2017/the-power-of-online-reviews-to-boost-sales
