This past month, Patty Morgan-Seager presented a webinar on how to increase your “Mojo” and positive attitude.  During the webinar, we asked everybody on the webinar what they did to increase the Mojo at their office.  Here are their responses!

• “Our team meets every Tuesday at 3:00 to compile a list of associates who have gone above and beyond the prior week.  They are recognized through a company sponsored program and are rewarded with 30 minutes of time off!”   Allison Clark – Tempe, AZ
• “Paying 5 dollars to charity to wear jeans on Fridays”  Courtney Eias – Trumbull, CT
• “Put cow bells on leasing desk and "Ring" when new lease or renewal is signed!  Even the manager rings her bell in response, so everyone celebrates the achievement!”  Jeanne Marie Zublin – Houston, TX
• “When someone on our team is having a bad moment we sing our team song which happens to be "Hello, Good Morning"  LeShannon Jefferson – Lewisville, TX
• “Morning coffee runs for the office”  Natalie Lozon – Santa Monica, CA
• “Let off early on pay-day Friday.  After all quality control issues are addressed - allow them to leave early by an hour or two.”  Lori Schultz – Dallas, TX
• “At closing time, play some music loudly that all like.”  Catherine Williams – San Ramon, CA
• “We have recently instituted "Fun Friday" & this Friday is "Bead Day"!  :)”  Stacy Dueker – Stockton, CA
• “Constantly smile and laugh...it's contagious!”  Jason Hilyard – Aberdeen, NC
• “Funky fun glasses for prospects & team member when we ride out on golf cart” and “Football jerseys on Fri, Sat & Sun”  Sandra Williams – Tampa, FL
• “Flip Flop Friday!”  Lauren Pettit – Port Richey, FL
• “Goodie Bags filled with small inexpensive gifts for my staff members to "grab" something from when they get a rental, save a renewal, etc!”  Amanda Hall – Vallejo, CA
• “Have an ice cream social for the staff and residents.  Grab buckets of ice cream, whip ccream, cherries, etc. and have fun!  Include it with a pool party on a hot day.”  Diane Christy – Cleveland, OH
• “I get doughnuts for my team every other week” and “After every lease my team gets we have a "happy dance”  Tanisha Young – New Carrollton, MD
•  “I like to buy goodies a couple times a month, for example, today I bought the staff ice cream!  They loved it!”  Shannon Lorenzen – Wilder, KY
• “Something positive or a compliment every morning to all of your staff”  Jennifer Moreno – Houston, TX
• “Once in a while have the team go out for lunch together to be able to communicate outside the work environment and share ideas.”  Jackie Cruz – Plant City, FL
• “Our office does a Youtube video challenge where each week we look for the funniest or most bizarre youtube video we've seen and then watch them on Fridays.”  Brad Randall – Salt Lake City, UT
• “Pizza Party”  Philip Nieman – Roslindale, MA
• “Secret Pal – Change it up once a month”  Helene Konneman – Humble, TX
• “Small gifts such such as candy or new office supplies left on team members desk!”  Leah Shay Hartley – Newnan, GA
• “Morning staff meetings for 15 minutes prior to the office opening”  Katrina Avila – Richmond, TX
• “We applause each other in the mornings for motivation even on Mondays!!”  Robert Torres – Houston, TX
• “We have a wall of fame where residents and co-workers can post kudos to the team.”  Lia Smith – Birmingham, AL
• “We ring a bell any time a sales person gets the sale.  Of course, after the prospect leaves.”  Sherre Helmer – Indianapolis, IN
• “We start the morning stating two things that were uplifting yesterday one personal and one professional.”  Karen McLelland – Plant City, FL
• “Manager cooks breakfast for staff 1xm and cooincides with a monthly safety meeting,” and “Pedicures/manicurs for great shop reports and super leasing results,” and “Randomly give out freeze pops to residents at the pool,” and “Big basket of crackers, candy bars, granola bars and drinks for the office staff on the busy days when you can’t get out to get a bite to eat.”  Christina Chalifour – Grand Prairie, TX
• “We share recipes with each other for that nights dinner, we give each other good advice and pump each other up... We love our team.”  Erica Spence – Fort Worth, TX

Why Book keeping?
Without proper Business book keeping practices, your business is susceptible to cash flow issues and potential legal problems.  Book keeping is one of the most important of your business records since it includes all your business transactions.  Book keeping enables the IRS to evaluate your business operations and helps manage your business better.

Here is a Guide to Understanding the Basics of Book Keeping:

1. Maintaining Employee Records
Employers are responsible for maintaining records on withholding, employer matching, unemployment, worker’s compensation and employee forms such as the W-4 (Withholding Allowance Certification and the I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification).

We’re all busy people and time is short, right? We need to be out there filling vacancies, so time to spend on the website and SEO is limited. Let’s see if we can help you by debunking a few myths that could be eating up valuable time and resources. 

Myth 1: Keywords in your Description Tag can affect your rankings 

They don’t. Search engines stopped placing any importance on the content of these tags years ago. It’s just too easy to manipulate them for the engines to really care what they say.

I just finished taking the Multifamily Insiders and SatisFacts survey on rent payments. I encourage each of you to take part so that the sampling is all the more representative of the industry, even if you don’t currently take online rent payments or offer the use of credit cards. You can access the survey on the homepage or by clicking here.

Taking the survey reminds me of how well a policy that I implemented about four years ago has paid off for me. I am not a management company, per se, and I don’t own that many units. I have less than 200 “tenants” (sorry, Katherine – residents). But each of them signed a lease with a stipulation – the ONLY way rent payments would be accepted was electronically, either through a credit card or an ACH direct debit. No cash, no checks, no money orders.

I'm just wondering WHY.....it seems 90% of the blogs written on this website are directed
towards MARKETING or the UNIT interiors?  I see blogs that state how you can save $20 re-painting units; or parties for tenants; great service (which should be there anyway),
but, I have inspected MANY properties over the years...and have found a majority of
Managers and maintenance personnel who really don't care.  WHY is there NOT some type
of "MF watchdog group" out there...the MF Industry is like the Hotel Industry...it's like "the fox guarding the hen house".

A close friend of mine, who is a MF Regional Manager, told me that the LEASES were very
heavily slanted towards the OWNER/MANAGEMENT.....if tenants are unhappy and want
out...it seems like it takes "an act of God".....if they wish to break their lease and move on. 

Too many Managers are hired, given a property to manage...and believe it's a 10 am to
5 pm job....no, it's a 24/7 responsibility!  I would bet that less than 5% of the Property Managers out there walk their properties at night...to ensure the property is properly lighted, that there are no burned out lights....on buildings, post lights, underwater lights in
the pools, etc.  I promise you, I can drive around my city tonight...visit a dozen MF properties managed by DIFFERENT companies and find ALL of these problems...WHY?
Just wondering out loud here.

Managers are, I'm sure trained with respect to writing up LEASES...managing the property's
books, filling out "maintenance work orders", etc...but, it just seems to me from my experiences....that few understand the very important issues that are necessary to provide a
SAFE site/property......like lighting, pool codes/safety, ADA & FHA issues...yes, when the
Manager takes over these properties...at a NEW property, all of the exterior site issues should be 100% correct...and in compliance with all city, county, state and Federal codes...
but, some are not.  And, for older properties...due to lack of property maintance...lights
on the property burn out, pools lack property maintenance.

I visited a MF site in my city last night (after dark)...a major developer in the area...in a
VERY HIGH-END area.  This property is only 8 yrs. old.....I counted 34 bldg. lights burned
out...maybe only 7 were on; 18 of the 27 tall 20 ft. decorative post lights were burned out;
over 35 lights mounted on garages were burned out.  There were ZERO post lights located in this pool area...WHY? You have to have a min. number of "foot candles" of light on the pool deck at night.  All 3 of the 500 watt underwater pool lights were burned out in the main pool. The Jacuzzi lights were out.  The gate leading to the "emergency phone", drinking fountain
and restroom was LOCKED...this gate must be accessible to that phone...as well as to the
drinking fountain and - obviously for good health reasons - to the restrooms.  Although there was a sign near the Jacuzzi that stated "Jacuzzi water can NOT exceed 104 degrees",
there was not a termometer hanging in the Jacuzzi...how would anyone know how hot that
water really was?  They couldn't know!  In every State, if there is even (1) pool code violation, the pool area must be completely LOCKED down 24/7, until the pool code violations have been resolved.  The #2 pool's only gate was NOT self-closing & self-latching per code; no post lights in this pool area either; the Cabana lights did not work; the gate to
the pool equipment area did not have a lock and was standing open 3 inches...and there were
6 children playing in the pool area when I was at the site...a VERY dangerous situation in that there is deadly chlorine gas running through the pumps/filters in that pool equipment room; the drinking fountain did not work - needs to work, especially in the Summer when the temps get over 100 degrees - this a code requirement.  Also, many of the breezeway
lights were not working.  I found 2 wrought iron safety fences mounted on top of an 8 ft.
tall retaining wall...both were very unstable...I could have easily pushed on these fences and they would have fallen the 8 ft. below...those fences are there for the safety of the residents and guests............NOW, the question I have about this property is...WHY is that
I was the person who had to discover all of these SAFETY and CODE VIOLATIONS?  Isn't
that sort of the Manager's job?  I just think it comes down to the FACT that so few Managers have the training or education with respect to the PROPERTY SITE issues....they're so
focused on the UNITS and collecting RENT checks at the first of the month.  I think if a
tenant signs a LEASE, he/she is must be provided with a safe and habitable and clean apt.
unit, but also, a SAFE property that is always maintained in full compliance with all city,
county, state and federal laws/codes........but, the property I mention above that I walked
last night...is more the "typical"....than not.  I know times are hard, but a lease is a two party agreement....the Manager/Owner has responsibilities as does the resident...it doesn't
seem fair to me that the Manager can pick and choose which responsibilities they get to
follow.  TRUST ME......5 years ago, I lived at a property with MANY, MANY more
code and safety problems than this (the TOP apt. developer in the city with over 20 large upscale MF properties...not a small little property - over 800 units! With over 30 yrs. of MF experience, I just can't help notice the problems.....when I brought the problems to the attention to the Manager AND the Corporate office, they just ignored EVERY problem!  WHY?  Well, I think it's because "maybe" they believe I was the only person who knew about the problems...and they didn't want to spend the $$$ to resolve the issues...they were leaning on that "liability insurance" in case something happens.  Problem with this "mentality" is...if a person drowns in one of your apartment pools....that "liability insurance" will definitely NOT bring that person back to LIFE again!!!

If some of you are LOSING residents......read the above paragraph again. 
I strongly believe that Owners should ensure their Property Managers have EXPERIENCE
and are trained and knowledgeable about the very imporant SITE issues.....that they can't
just focus on the buildings, the units and collecting rents.

Crime is an issue in any apartment community. Because apartments communities are denser populations, your apartment complex can be appealing to criminals - in a short amount of time, over a short distance of space, they have access to a higher number of "opportunities." What are some affordable tips that you can implement NOW that can help deter crime from your apartment communities?

5 Things YOU Can Do NOW to Deter Crime From Your Apartment Communities:

1. Take care of graffiti as soon as possible. Leaving a graffiti tag on your building only sends the message that your management either doesn't care or is lax in the maintenance of the building. If you are lax with the maintenance of the building, would be thieves may believe you will be lax with the security of the building, the legal process, etc.
2. Install good lightening around the perimeter of your community/apartment building. When I spoke with the Minneapolis police department, they don't recommend motion lightening in favor of lightening that is turned on a dusk and off at dawn. Their reason: crooks will run into a dark alley, along a dark street and look for opportunities. Even if the lights come on once they on that street or alley, you've invited them in. Rather, light the streets and alleys, and those same crooks will avoid your street/alley way altogether.
3. Leave windows to public areas unobstructed & lighted. Again, the best deterrent in crime is the appearance that the entire neighborhood could be watching. Especially where your community space may face a busy street, make sure the view into the space (i.e. community room) is not obstructed by potted plants, trees, etc. Thieves don't want to be seen when they are thieving. Where possible, install motion lightening in yourinterior public spaces - if someone were to break into your community room or office after hours, the space will light up, and with the windows unobstructed, any activity going on in your community room has the possibility of being seen by all.
4. Plant thorny vines or plants along walls or fences to deny access & prevent graffiti. If you have an area that is frequently tagged with graffiti, have an area that attracts unwanted activity, or have a wall that you want to keep people off - plant thorny vines or bushes. Nobody likes to be pricked by rose bushes or thorny vines - even toughened criminals or your harmless neighborhood juveniles.
5. In parking areas, like garages & parking lots, post signs to remind residents and guests to lock their cars and take their valuables with them.

Don't be a willing victim. Without the right "opportunities" for criminals, they WILL move onto greener pastures - that don't include your apartment buildings.

One of the most important elements of your apartment marketing strategy is your property photos.  Even if you aren’t a professional photographer, here are some creative ways and hints for taking great pictures of your property, while accentuating the best features and amenities it offers and minimizing the less desirable features.

1.)     Take pictures of rooms, not furniture.  The furniture should complement the room, so arrange the shot so that you are focusing on the entire room, not just a couch.  Prospects want to see room sizes and things like sliding doors, how the fireplace is situated in the room, how their dining room set might be placed, etc.

2.)    Exterior photos should be inviting and welcoming.  Use your property’s assets like trees, benches, and water features to welcome your prospects by including them in the frame when you shoot buildings, monuments, and clubhouses.  At the pool, showcase the lounge areas and spa.  Try taking your exterior shots at dawn or dusk when the lighting is not directly overhead.

With a variety of ways to generate a lead on the web as well as the different pricing models out there, how do you figure out which ILS platform to invest in? 

It is my belief that keeping the focus on "true" lease acquisition cost is the best way to get this one right. The key is to define what goes into cost... Let's look at 2 examples;

1. An ILS that sends 20 leads a month and generates 1 lease every other month for $200 per month. The true cost is more than $200. It is costing the time the sort through the 39 other prospects, the time to design the ad etc...
2. An ILS that costs $300 per month, generates 5 prospects and 1 lease. Now you only work through 10 prospects and depending on how you value that work this is probably your best deal...

So do you actually track these performance metrics? If so what seems to work best for you?

We're going to try an incentive at J.C. Hart  to get our onsite teams to really focus on their Craigslist posts and see what comes of it.  Watch the video for details, and please share with the online community what you've done to improve your Craigslist postings.

As seen @ MarkJuleen.com

I first heard about Zappos.com a few years ago.  Unlike some people I first heard of Zappos.com because of their unusual corporate “culture” not because of their online shoe store.  Over the years I had read a lot about Tony Hsieh and it was a goal to get the chance to visit their world famous headquarter myself.  Earlier this year I got my chance.  What an amazing experience – words can’t describe the experience.

Tony Hsieh took the company from almost no revenue to over $1 billion in less than ten years!  And, he did it by simply focusing on building the best culture he possibly could.  The result is an industry leading brand and company that was recently bought by Amzaon.com for $1.2 billion.

If you would like to see for yourself you can take advantage of a free tour Zappos.com without leaving your desk.  Here’s the information – share it freely!