This is a great app for your smart phone that can really be of assistance for not only leasing agents, but also for prospects.

The app is called RoomScan and was created by Locometric.  RoomScan allows you to measure the dimensions of a room by simply holding your phone up to each of the walls in the room.  The app is also incredibly accurate with only a small margin of error of plus or minus 2%.

Seeing the app in action is quite impressive, as it is a very user friendly system and fun to use.

As a prospective apartment shopper, RoomScan would allow you to have an exact idea of what can and cannot fit in a potential apartment.  You will never have to wonder if your bed was going to be too large for the room, or if that sofa was going to extend past the end of the wall with the exact dimensions RoomScan can provide.

From a leasing agent perspective, utilizing RoomScan would enable you to to provide extremely accurate dimensions to your prospects for every single room of their new home.  In doing this, you would not only be educating the prospects on the apartment, but you would also be getting them involved with the tour.   This will also allow a leasing agent to prepare ways to overcome objections if a room is small.  Most importantly, using RoomScan will make your tour even more memorable, which in turn would make you standout from your competitors.

I cannot tell you how many communities I have shopped where the leasing agent does not know the dimensions for each room.  It is unhelpful and it makes it appear as if the agent doesn’t know the community.  By using RoomScan, you will look knowledgable and impress your prospects with the exact specifics of the apartment.

Take the time to download the app and give it a try.  If you are a leasing agent, I think you will find this app to be very helpful to your presentation of the apartment and could absolutely lead to more leases.  Plus, the app is free!

Filed under: apartment leasing, Apartment Marketing, leasing tips, property management, Solution To Vacancies, Student Housing by Danny Soule

In case you haven’t  heard,  JCPenney’s “fair and square” pricing strategy that rolled out in January has been a complete disaster. The plan was to rid all stores of coupons and sales by offering products at the lowest price without gimmicks and discounts. Yet the strategy backfired and within 4 months sales had dropped 20%.

But why? This approach seemed to be one that most consumers would understand and appreciate. However, by not studying the customer, JCPenney  failed to recognize key components of buying behavior.  And however unrelated retail and leasing may seem to be, consumer buying behavior is a universal language and something the leasing community desperately needs to focus on.

• Importance of price framing

Prospects are nowhere near as educated about your product as you are and, because of this, it is imperative that you convey the value of your community. One way this can be accomplished is  by “price framing.” Price framing in leasing can refer to only giving prospects your market rents–known as anchor prices. By telling prospects right off the bat that a 2 bedroom apartment rents for $1,300 a month, they automatically begin to perceive a high value in your product.  Then when you close them with a concession and the rent drops a couple hundred dollars, they reference the anchor price (market rent) and believe that they’re receiving a highly valued product at a discount.

• Need for urgency

Another flaw in JCPenney’s marketing scheme was the lack of urgency. Three-day sales and other promotions run by department stores are much more effective at pushing urgency than an open-ended “lowest price always” campaign. Consumers are far more likely to rush out on a Saturday for a bargain they think will only last the weekend. The same can be said for leasing. If you’re attempting to close a prospect, but say that the rent and concession will stay the same for an indefinite amount of time, nothing is compelling them to lease same day– or even same week for that matter. On the other hand, telling prospects the rental rate and concession are only good for 24-48 hours almost forces them into a type of impulse buy because they fear losing the apartment.

• Prospects love to “win”

The biggest mistake made by JCPenney was forgetting that consumers have a need to win. Consumers love bringing coupons up to the register and watching as the price drops because it gives them a sense of accomplishment. Your prospects are no different. They want to feel as though they are negotiating for a lower price and ultimately coming out on top. Your prospect doesn’t need to know that everyone coming through the door is getting the lower rent.

Filed under: apartment leasing, Apartment Marketing, leasing tips, Solution To Vacancies, Student Housing by Danny Soule

CLASS has spent the past month leasing a by-the-bed student property at Texas A&M University.  In a saturated market it is extremely important to quickly identify emerging trends in order to capitalize on market share. By gauging these trends and tweaking our sales process, the property is almost ten percent ahead of last year’s pre-leasing numbers.

Here are three trends we’re seeing this year:

• Enhanced focus on cost-effectiveness

Having leased-up the same property last year we have noticed an unmistakable uptick in the number of students paying rent on their own, whether through part-time jobs or student loans and grants. This results in a consumer far more involved in the buying process than we’re used to seeing. Whereas last year’s student, with parents footing the bill, didn’t care about price tags, this year’s student wants to ensure they’re getting the most bang for their buck. It is imperative that value is conveyed to this year’s student. Whether that means calculating how much money your community will save them on utilities each month or charting out the bus route to show how much closer they’ll be to campus, you must be communicating value at all stages of the sales process. In order for the price-conscious student to lease at your community, they need to perceive some sort of value in your product. Resident events and parties are no longer cutting it for a lot of students.

• Short-term leases

Reading that may have you cringing, but it’s true. The reality is that many students don’t want to lease an apartment over the summer if they aren’t planning on staying in town. However, students want short term leases so badly that they’re willing to pay almost anything for them– and Mom and Dad are too.

At my current property, the only alternative to a 12 month lease is one beginning in August and ending in May. With our current rent concessions taken into consideration, the 12 month lease actually ends up being the cheaper option when compared to the 10 month lease. Naturally, you would think that students would agree with the math and choose the longer lease. However, that is not the trend. Students are choosing the 10 month lease at almost every opportunity and sighting their “summer freedom” as reasoning. Our competitors have also taken notice of this tendency and one property in particular is charging a premium fee of $100 a month for 9 month leases.

• Applying and leasing online

There is nothing this generation loves more than the ease of technology. While some of you would never personally apply for an apartment online, this year’s students are doing that and more. Recently my property expanded upon the typical process for applying online. Instead of filling out the standard contact form and having a leasing agent get in touch with the prospective resident, our new website allows for the entire lease to be signed via our property website  without ever stepping foot on the property. While this approach certainly won’t appeal to every student, it definitely has caught the attention of some. In almost a month’s time we have received an average of about 20-25 online leases. While this number may pale in comparison to the number of leases signed in the leasing office, it is significant nonetheless. It’s very likely that the property may have lost out on these leases had we not had the online process in place.

Filed under: apartment leasing, Apartment Marketing, leasing tips, Solution To Vacancies, Student Housing by Danny Soule

Working for an apartment leasing company requires constant market research.  While I was browsing an industry website this morning I stumbled upon an article detailing how prospects shop around for new apartments. The article was great until I read the header titled “Get Off Craigslist.” My jaw dropped, but I kept reading. The author stated that posting ads to Craigslist is a waste of time and that no one reads the posts anyway.

As someone who has done my fair share of apartment lease-ups, I completely disagree.

Why wouldn’t you post Craigslist ads?

• It’s easy

Speaking from experience, nothing is easier than posting a Craigslist ad. It takes 3 minutes tops. Write a quick blurb, include a few photos, and click post. Of course you can add bells & whistles like links and videos to increase the “stickiness” of your page, but it’s not required. All you really need is the apartment description, pictures and your phone number.

• People do search Craigslist for apartments

Below is a breakdown of the leases obtained from a class A property in a tier one market where we are currently working.

As you can see, Craigslist accounts for almost half of the leases and is more than twice the amount secured by the second leading source. Imagine all the leases this community would’ve missed out on if the leasing specialist hadn’t been posting on Craigslist!

• All it costs is your time

Craigslist does not charge you to make an account on their site nor do they charge to post. Therefore, it should only cost you a few minutes a day to upload your ads.  Once you’ve created a few unique ads most of your work is done! From that point on, you can just click ‘renew’ and the time to post decreases even more!

Filed under: apartment leasing, Apartment Marketing, leasing tips, property management, Solution To Vacancies, Student Housing by Danny Soule

With all the talk about marketing and leasing to college students, we often find that a critical decision maker is left out of the sales process.  I’m talking about the parents.  You know, the folks who are actually writing the rent check.  While the property must first appeal to the student in order to have any hope of procuring a lease, we often underestimate the influence that a parent can play in the decision making process.  This is especially so if we are looking to maximize rents and the price point is going to be a key issue.

Before we explore some ways of marketing to parents, we first need to understand the basic dynamics of buying behavior.  When two parties are considering a purchase, one typically finds that the party who initially identifies the product will take a pro-purchase stance, while the party who was not present during the initial inquiry will often play devil’s advocate.  This is true in most cases, whether it’s the wife who first viewed the apartment and the husband must now be convinced, or the senior citizen who identifies a 55+ community but must now talk it over with skeptical children.  In other words, don’t just focus on the person who made the initial inquiry.  It is often more important to sell to the party who was not present when the property was first viewed.

As the Student Housing Industry continues to mature, most CMO’s are aware of the need for a robust, year-round marketing program.  Targeting students used to begin in January and end in May.  Today’s student properties incorporate resident functions, social media, web presence, reputation management, and traditional marketing strategies into a 12 month program geared at building a sense of community and a recognizable brand.  While these robust programs can make identifying the source of traffic and quantifying the ROI on marketing spends very difficult, it also means that prospective residents are very familiar with our properties by the time the leasing season gets cranked up.  But how do we sell the property to the parents?  Below are 3 ways that you can target this all important decision maker and ensure that they are happy to pay the rent each month!

• Get parent testimonials during lease renewals or lease signings.  Offer a free Starbucks card to any parent who provides feedback via email or on a review site regarding the ease of move-in, convenience of rent payment or overall satisfaction with the operations of the office.  It is not just the younger generations who value the feedback of their peers!
• Get their email address.  Have your CA’s acquire the parents’ email addresses on the phone or during the initial tour.  If received on the phone, send the parent an email and Cc the student. (Cc’ing the student is very important, as generation Y hates any lack of transparency and will want to be privy to the conversation).   The email should be short and personal.  It should explain that their son or daughter has contacted the property and you are writing to simply introduce yourself.  It should include pictures, floor plans and pricing as well as an attachment with some testimonials from both residents and their parents.  It should conclude by providing a good contact number and an invitation to either call or visit the property if they have any questions.  Finally, include a coupon for a free coffee or sandwich from a local restaurant or coffee shop for the next time they are in town.  With the click of a mouse you will become the parent’s first choice. This will help overcome any price objections by demonstrating value and customer service.
• Direct Mail.  As the postal service continues to scale back operations and mail volume declines, direct mail is becoming a viable marketing source for the older generations.  Have a direct mail piece drop during the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays while the children are at home.  Direct it to the parents and it may become the catalyst for a dialogue between parent and student about their housing plans for the following year.

Make no mistake, if the student does not consider your community as a housing option, any of the above suggestions will be futile.  However, marketing to the parents can be an extremely effective compliment to your existing student focused strategies.  Parents can’t make the sale, but if they are not on board they can certainly break it.

Filed under: apartment leasing, Apartment Marketing, leasing tips, Solution To Vacancies, Student Housing by Danny Soule

“Below guest blogger and CLASS Leasing Specialists James King weighs in on the new changes to Facebook:

The team at Facebook has finally thrown down the gauntlet and is poised to show the world that it can hold its own against search engine giant, Google. Early in January, Facebook announced its new social search engine, called “Graph Search”. Facebook plans to change the way we search by using the personal data of you, your friends, and the 1 billion other users of the social media giant. It works by taking the likes, check-ins, and locations of all the people, places, and things on Facebook and indexes all of that information into a search engine. Now, a user can search “People who went to University of Georgia and like R.E.M.” and get a list of all the Facebook users that meet that requirement. With this switch to a more social search engine, now is a good time to make sure your Facebook profile is up-to-date.

In addition to looking up individuals with the new Graph Search, it is also possible to look up pages of businesses and landmarks. Prospects can submit searches like “Apartments in Sarasota, Florida” or “Townhomes my friends have been to” and receive a personalized list of apartments, emphasizing the ones that have more likes and activity within their group of friends. We all know that word of mouth is one of the most valuable marketing tools a manager or leasing agent has at their disposal, and this brings those personal endorsements to a more public scale. Now every time a friend of a resident searches for apartments through Graph Search, your page will pop up on the top of the listings. That is, of course, as long as your residents have liked or checked into your apartment community. Maybe now is the time to take a look at your Facebook strategy before Graph Search goes live within the next couple months.

There are several ways to stimulate the number of likes on your Facebook page: -Add a flyer promoting your Facebook page to the leasing office and make sure your residents and prospects don’t leave without one!

•  Insert a link to your Facebook page in your e-mail signatures and website. I also make sure to put links in my Craigslist ads to make sure new prospects see the most updated specials and offers.
•  Many residents might not want to add your page and be spammed with links they care little about. Make sure the links and statuses you are posting are of value. One great selling point is that Facebook and Twitter are great for distributing information about events and news on-site quickly.
• Utilize QR codes and text messages to make it easier for residents to ‘Like’ you. Residents can text “like YourFacebookPage” to 32665 and automatically become fans without having to get on a computer. Alternatively, they can scan a QR code with their smartphone (Kaywa is a great source to generate free codes) and jump instantly to your Facebook page.
•  Offer a small incentive for people to like your page. For example, if a prospect is ready to submit an application, offer $5 off the application fee in exchange for them to like your page. They save $5, and you gain more visibility with all of his/her Facebook friends and acquaintances.

Remember that social media growth is a marathon and not a sprint, and that consistent work is key to build a strong social media base. By re-examining your Facebook page now, you will be a step ahead of your competitors and will look even better in front of prospects searching the web for their new home. Check out the video below for an example of the Graph Search in action:”

Video of Facebook Graph

Thanks for sharing your tremendous insight James!

Filed under: apartment leasing, Apartment Marketing, leasing tips, Solution To Vacancies, Student Housing by Danny Soule

With occupancy on the rise throughout the nation, apartment rental rates are approaching record highs.  In order to maximize the monthly NOI in these positive market conditions, more and more owners and management companies have started using revenue management software, such as Rainmaker and Yieldstar.  Revenue management takes into account availability, recent lease prices and market conditions to determine the best pricing options for each apartment.  This very same system has long been used for booking airline tickets, hotels and car rentals, which is evident if you have ever tried to purchase any of these three items during the holidays.

In addition to the monetary benefit of maximizing rents, there are site level benefits that can be leveraged by your staff and help the prospects as well.

1. Leasing consultants are empowered to negotiate pricing options with the prospects without having to check with the manager.  This ability stems from the manager preapproving the pricing options consistently sent over from the revenue management representative, which enables the leasing consultant to know what exactly they have to offer at the beginning of each day.
2. By having a pricing matrix, monthly concessions become obsolete and allow for the leasing consultants to be able to offer different rental amounts dependent upon the prospects flexibility.  Also, the rental prices are revenue neutral, so the leasing consultant is not incentivized to sway the prospect into signing a longer lease term.
3. There are a variety of pricing options based upon the flexibility the prospects have with their lease term length.  This in turn allows for the leasing consultant to find the best apartments that fits the prospects needs in not only lease term length but also in desired rental amount.
4. Marketing pieces that are created for the community are able to be designed without the use of any special rental amounts, or highlighted concessions.
5. From a follow-up standpoint, the leasing consultants will be able to create more urgency and will also be able to provide updated pricing information for the prospects apartment they were interested in.  Having this constant feed of updated pricing information will also help to make the leasing consultants be more proactive in their follow-up.

Revenue management software is a great addition to any community, regardless of if your occupancy is at 80%, or 99%.  Using this software ensures that your community’s NOI is at its peak amount each month and takes the hassle of having to worry about effectively pricing your apartments as your occupancy changes.  Even though the software will require the on-site team to be more diligent each day in learning their prospects needs and learning their pricing matrix, the benefit of being able to provide the best option to each prospect, will ultimately lead to more leases.

Filed under: apartment leasing, Apartment Marketing, property management, Solution To Vacancies, Student Housing by Danny Soule

Are you proactive?  One of the things that separate the top business people from the rest of the population is their ability to identify what needs to be done on a project.  Most of the nation’s workforce will wait around until they are told what to do.  But those top people will walk into a situation, asses the barriers to success, craft a plan of action and implement the plan.  What needs to be done at your property to increase leases?

Jossua Parini was sent to a new college property that was experiencing a major vacancy issue due to management turn-over.  The property was 72% occupied and school was about to start in 30 days.  When Jossua started leasing, it took over a week for him to get a single lease because many logistical items needed to be put in place.  45 days later, Jossua had secured over 60 leases and had taken the occupancy from the low 70’s to 90%.

Below are some of the items that Jossua decided to put in place to increase the traffic, improve the reputation and raise the occupancy.

• Developed over 15 different flyers for outreach marketing
• Partnered with over 40 merchants locally to do cross marketing.  Many of these vendors partnered with Jossua for move-in day giveaways including:  Papa Johns, Verizon, Red Bull, Muscle Milk, State Farm, All-state, State Farm, Chipotle, and a local bank.
• Had Verizon give free pizza for the residents that did not have cable or internet as an apology
• Worked a deal with Papa Johns to offer a free pizza for all new move ins
• Attended football games and gave away promotions; cozies, glasses, bags, key rings
• Chalked the university sidewalks with the property logo, phone number and catch phrases
• Attended freshman events to market the property
• Organized a welcome back party for the students, with music, food, games and prizes
• Re-developed the University relationships that were tainted by the last management
• Increase Internet presence and reputation and re-negotiated pricing for advertisements to save money.

A couple of months later, it is safe to say that Jossua has hit a complete home run on this assignment.  It is a testament to his pro-active approach to the marketing and an effort that extended well beyond the normal “call of duty”.   Jossua, you did a great job identifying what needed to happen to turn this property around!

Have some other ideas for a student project?  Wanna give Jossua some props?  Drop us a line on our Facebook page!

Filed under: Apartment Marketing, best of the best, Solution To Vacancies, Student Housing by Danny Soule

Time and time again, CLASS has proven to be the perfect complement to interim financing on new acquisitions.   A bridge loan may be the perfect lending vehicle to help secure underperforming or unstabilized assets, however it leaves the owner in a precarious situation during lease-up.  Many of these properties are experiencing high delinquency rates and the necessary evictions will lead to a huge leasing challenge.  When compounded with a bad reputation, owners are finding that nothing short of an all-star staff is capable of stabilizing the asset.

Hiring good people is hard enough on class-A new construction deals.  Hiring good people on a neglected property in a secondary market can be next to impossible.  Utilizing contract leasing services like CLASS on such properties is a great way to guarantee the lease-up.  By deferring the risky hire until the asset is stabilized, the owners are able to drastically accelerate the absorption rate and allow companies like CLASS to establish detailed marketing and leasing strategies for the property.  Additionally, the cost of such a leasing service can be financed through the loan itself.

Filed under: apartment leasing, Apartment Marketing, Solution To Vacancies, Student Housing by Danny Soule

At the NAA Student Housing Conference and Expo this year, a game of Family Feud was put together pitting five University of Las Vegas students versus five parents from that school in the ultimate showdown of student housing.  The responses to the game were based upon “11,195 college students and 3,605 parents from 159 different colleges and universities, who were polled via email Jan. 20-Feb. 1 by J Turner Research” (Units Magazine April 2012).  Ultimately the purpose of the survey was to determine what both students and parents want, or are looking for, when it comes to picking the perfect apartment in their respective college towns.  The survey is also a great education tool for all parties involved in multifamily from site level to developers, because what students and parents are looking for in an apartment community can vary greatly.

The entire summary of the survey can be found at www.naahq.org/resources/data/StudentHousing, but I am just going to highlight a few of the key questions and corresponding responses given that I found interesting from the showdown of parents versus students:

• It shouldn’t come as a surprise that word of mouth is typically one of the, if not the top marketing resource when it comes to a student deciding upon where they want to live.  I know when I was in school I always wanted to live either where my friends were living, or where the majority of students in town were looking to spend their time.  According to the survey of students polled, 38% of students learned of their apartment community from college friends/roommates, while 29% learned of their current community through an internet search.  I’d be willing to bet that the internet search somehow correlates Facebook and other word of mouth reviews as well, which adds up to nearly 70% of students being influenced by other individuals when picking their new apartment.
• When parents are searching online for their students new home, the number one thing those polled said they were looking for on the community’s website are rental rates (48%).  We typically encourage communities to not post their rental rates on the website, because this could lead to many individuals pre-qualifying themselves, or their students, and therefore not even calling your community to learn more information.  Even when prices are posted on a website, we like for the prices to be the market value, rather than the special price, to allow for the leasing specialists to sell the value, as opposed to just the special, of the apartment.  Surprisingly, parents were not concerned with finding out any additional information about the number one most important factor when selecting the actual apartment, safety, on the apartment community website.
• With the top tier student properties, you can typically expect to see more amenities than with conventional properties.  Movie theaters, pools, fitness centers and business centers are usually a must with many additional features stacked upon these.  So, if amenities are often times the main selling points of a student community, surely this is the number one feature students are looking for in their new home, right?  Not exactly.  The number one item students were looking for in their new home was a professional leasing and management staff (19%), followed by friends living at the community (19%) and a fitness center (18%).  It appears that students are concerned a little more with how they will be treated, rather than the amenities available for their use.
• This last stat from the survey I found of interest was one that I had actually heard before first hand at multiple communities, as well as in other student housing publications.  When asked what service or utility upgrade they would be willing to pay more for, of course the overwhelming response was none (26%), but after this the second response was high speed internet service (16%).  Current students are in the bulk grouping of the Facebook generation and absolutely have to have their high speed internet connection.  With internet venues such as Hulu and Skype, students rely upon fast internet access for entertainment just as much as they do for education purposes.  A student housing developer can plan on calling upon us sooner than later if a community is not designed with high speed internet access, because they will have a tough time leasing to students with that as an overwhelming objection.

It’s a two sided coin when it comes to student communities, because not only do the students have certain needs to be met, but the parents of these students also have concerns of their own that have to be addressed.  The tough scenario that can be encountered all too often is that the desires of the student and their parents can be very contrasting, so leasing agents must be able to cater the apartment and the community to both parties.  Just remember that when it comes to student housing, it’s all about being able to learn what both students and parents want in order to secure the lease!

Filed under: apartment leasing, Apartment Marketing, Solution To Vacancies, Student Housing by Danny Soule