Repositioning Dos & Don'ts - Trouble gaining momentum during a renovation

After almost two decades of property management, I have found myself on a renovation property for the first time. In fact, this property has dealt me quite a lot of firsts: private investment owner, "D" class, troubled residents, you name it. Regardless, the challenge is keeping me going but I'm finding that what might have once worked in my other life is not as effective at this community at this time.

I'm curious about the experiences of others and what they have found to work when tasked with repositioning a very much neglected community. My owner purchased the asset in July 2014 after the prior owner allowed it to rapidly decline both in quality of resident, property upkeep, and everyday management practices. I have only been with the property since October 2014.

So far we are on track to do a complete exterior and interior renovation along with many upgrades that the residents deserve. But the road is long and arduous and I'm running out of ideas. I started with the basics: welcome letter/introduction to the renovation for all residents, immediate implementation of a firm rental criteria on incoming prospects, phone calls/filing on outstanding payment issues, and seven day notices to those in violation of any of the community policies. Periodic updates continue to circulate with each new step in the renovation and we are attempting to remain tough on rule breakers amongst the chaos. It's been rough to say the least.

Now we are in this weird state of limbo where the exteriors are looking better, the demographic has improved, and in-house issues are manageable, but the traffic has declined. There is still so much negative word of mouth in the area and we are not yet ready to re-brand the community as a whole. Some days it feels as though the only interest we are getting is when we offer up concessions which has never been high on my priority list. In fact, just typing the word elicits a bad reaction.

I'm hoping that some of you may have already been through this and have some ideas / insights that you could share. Our market is certainly positioned to accept a quality "B" class community (which we will become) and I know that our current advertised rates are realistic as we scale them based on the renovation progress and the comps. As we all know, patience isn't the strongest attribute of the man/woman behind the curtain.

Referral programs? Outreach marketing? Open houses? Preferred employers? When overcoming a negative past and sometimes disruptive present given the reality of renovations, what works and what doesn't?

You haven't given this a lot of time. This is going to be a couple of years, not several months.

Think about something your property can offer that is really needed in your area and make that your thing. For instance Pets. People don't just want, they need, homes for their four legged family members. Consider the bigger dogs like labs or boxers, both very family oriented.

Consider additional review of denials. For example if someone was denied because they recently went through a divorce and their credit was destroyed but are making something like six times the rent and you know they would be a good renter otherwise, then reconsider. The second chance renters are awesome.

As for the existing tenants, don't try to make up excuses and instead agree when they complain about noise and mess during the work: Agree and thank them for their patience.

Figure out who are the social butterflies of the community and during a conversation let them know that you have an agenda that is 100% backed. It is your job to clean up the property. Those who are on board will reap the benefits and those who continue to make trouble will be gone. Plain and simple.

And you're going to have to be the best salesperson in the world. I mean a real salesperson not customer service/leasing agent. You're going to have to promise them the world, get them to believe you can deliver it and then go for the kill. The tenant's reward will be a clean, quiet community. Also make that clear to each and every prospective renter: This is a clean, quiet community. Include that in your advertising. If that's what they're looking for then that's what YOU will get. (...if you build it they will come)

I'm not going to tell you it's easy, but it can be accomplished. And everyone will know it was Jasmine who did it!

Since the property has a lot of existing word of mouth, maybe they need more visual verification that the property is improving, as well as a really visible roadmap for future upgrades?

For example, having lots of before and after pictures show how committed you are to the renovation process, and highlights how much you have done to this point. Then, having a very transparent roadmap that is used as a marketing piece, will show the next stages of the renovation and how great it is going to be. Lastly, you said you will eventually be a quality "B" class community - are you already pricing at that level? If you are trying to price based upon a future status, that might be a problem. However, if you are pricing accurately to the current status of the property, you explain how the pricing is in line with other local communities, BUT as a resident, they will get X, Y, and Z upgrades by the time their lease is over, which is much better than your comps.