Marketing A 45 and Older Affordable Apartment Community...Any suggestions?

Okay I'm at a brick wall here. I need some new fresh ideas or even old tryed ones on marketing a 45 and older affordable community. Our rents are high on special but at the same time to low for the quality of the apartment and community they are getting. We were built in 2003-2004 in kind of a rural area of Jacksonville FL. We have 160 units three stories with two elevators in every building. The property is absoulutely beautiful and gated. We have resident activities almost everyday and the amenities include swimming pool, fitness center, beauty salon, shuffle board and dog park. The problem is that I have a bunch of 2x2 to rent out, like oh say 14, at $749(special)and the fair market value is $802. I have leased all our 1x1 because they were more affordable to the seniors than the 2x2. I don't think I have found a way to really grab my market attention. So I'm hopping with this piece of information that I have given you some one will know of a way to market this community better?

Thanks!

Hi Jolene! I recently took over a senior site that needed to lease up this month and we closed 9 leases in December. We reviewed the traffic sources of our current residents and made sure we had those sources covered well. We also outreached to the groups where many of our seniors volunteered or where they were members; Elks Clubs etc. We found that many of our seniors had penions from automotive companies like General Motors and contacted a local union office for referrals. Have a Bring a Friend Open House or party and of course, offer a great resident referral incentive. Senior Centers are a great way to reach out! We sponsored some events at the local center; donated gifts for Bingo. etc. These things all worked for us and thankfully we signed our last needed lease yesterday!!! Oh, try veteran's groups, too. Good luck! You will do it!

We have a great resident refferal program of $300 for every refferal that moves in. I think they have become discourage on that end due to previouse managers. So my goal is to revamp the refferal program. I just had a fantastic conversation with a resident who was in Sales all his life about how I market to seniors like himself. He also gave me allot of tips and pointers. I'm going to add the elk clubs to my long line of list. Most of my residents have SSI and pensions from CTX so I'm going to look into CTX to see if I can get a refferal program started. I have also been going through the property prospect cards and saw that a large number of prospects came from a certain zip code where previouse staff were not marketing and there just happens to be a Senior Citizen Building there. My juices are following now. I think I just got stump for a bit. I greatly appreciate the addivce and would love anymore that anyone has to offer.

Here's another! We advertised under Mobile Homes for Sale and Rent. We stressed Care Free Living in the ad. Two of our leases came from those ads!!! Good luck! Also try Knights of Columbus, any community center and offer referrals if you can. I also contacted a local radio station. We selected one of our toughest units to rent, offered a substantial concession and asked them to mention it on a local talk show about doing nice things for people. We rented the unit and got traffic for others we needed to rent,too. ALWAYS create a sense of urgency.

I am in need of similar ideas..... My property is 55+ and low income (max income is at $35,000 for a 2 person household). Unfortunately; my property only offers 1 bedrooms at $575 (with a $99 deposit); it is also in an older part of town (this is the part of town where my own father grew up), the property is nearly 40 years old, with a rehab completed in 2009.

Sadly, we recently had a huge problem with bedbugs (with local press exposure), that we are just now getting ahead of. This property also has had a high turnover in terms of managers. I inherited a bunch of problems.

Hook up with a local therapy company to focus on wellness programs- education and healthy lifestyle are two keys to successful marketing IMHO. Many services that therapy companies provide are covered under insurance plans and Medicare (if the resident is 65+ and/or has access to Medicare benefits).

Also, don't rely so much on making the apartment an "old folks home". Just focus on quality of life, value, and services. This will enhance the reputation and occupancy will follow.

All of the ideas mentioned above are great! I would suggest sitting down and putting together a full blown marketing plan. Senior properties can be challenging. Having a plan in place outlining a step by step process is the key to success. I highly suggest making the senior resident that you spoke about your best friend for the next few months (do a little checking around and make sure he is trustworthy first). Make sure that he knows that he is very important and a key player in making not only the property but his home even better. Talk to him and find out his ideas and make sure that you utilize some of them. Talk to the other residents as well. Send out a survey and determine if they are happy and if they will be staying with you for many more years to come. If not, find out why and fix the problems if any. If yes, show them appreciation and ask them to help you to help them turn their friends and family into their neighbors. Senior residents are usually happy that you are taking the time out to inquire about them and will do their best to maintain a long lasting relationship. That relationship includes making sure that everyone is happy!

One marketing strategy that we utilize when leasing up senior properties is the coupon book. Think about it. A lot of seniors are on a fixed income and use coupons in their everyday life. They are always, like most of us young and old, looking for the best deal.
This is how it works:
Reach out to all of your area merchants and vendors and ask them to participate. They will need to pay a small fee that you determine and provide their artwork (you can charge them more if you design the coupon yourself). Explain to them that this is a way to generate business for their companies and that the cost is only pennies per customer. Compile all of the artwork from the merchants, vendor and a few free coupons off of the internet into a nice coupon book. Design a few different coupons for your property and include them in the book as well. Have them printed up (make sure that the cover identifies you as the developer so that people know that you are concerned about the community) and leave them with your sponsors, in stores and all of the other places that the seniors frequent. Before you know it you will start getting calls and tours from prospects. The only thing you will have to do is close the deal!
*Remember to include an expiration date on your coupons in order to create a sense of urgency. Each of your property coupons inserted in the book should have a different expiration date
:woohoo: **This marketing campaign should pay for itself if performed correctly and sister properties can join in too!

Good luck! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need assistance.
www.occupancyheroes.com

Johnny,

Sorry to hear about the bedbug problem. That is the most scary thing about our industry. I have 83 units in one building, and my residents have frequent visitors from other countries, so I have to worry about it.

Can I ask how you got rid of them? Do you have any suggestions for prevention? I've done a little research but all of the pest control companies say it would cost thousands of dollars to treat for them but there is no way to prevent infestation.

We have a fantastic public transit system here, and I suspect that it's possible to for them to be transported that way.

I had a friend who once moved in to an apartment that had them, and he used diatamaceous earth to keep them out of his unit. I don't know if it worked or if it was all in his mind, but if in that position, I know I'd try anything.

We contracted with Orkin and had them do the work... Unfortunately, I was not here when the project began; but I know that this is going to top $25k before we have total control of it. One of our biggest challenges is we had some residents who were troublesome while we dealt with this:

1) resident who blew the whistle and brought in the press and the local housing authority...AFTER WE ALREADY KNEW ABOUT THE PROBLEM AND WERE DEALING WITH IT. What did this do? Every time we had to respond to a request from her, whether it had to do with this or not, we had to DROP whatever it was we were doing to respond to it; even if we were doing something that was related to whatever issue she had at that moment. This caused delays. 'Sadly', she turned in her notice to vacate yesterday. It was all I could do to keep from doing my happy dance before closing the office up so I could do it discreetly. Invariably, this resident would choose to plant herself in the community room and voice her complaints JUST as I am taking a prospective resident for a tour; making sure she speaks loud enough for the prospective resident to hear.

2) TWO households that were hoarders and as a result, Orkin could not perform the work we were paying them for in their units. Both of which never allowed us access to perform any kind of work. We evicted both, one of them is gone now, but left behind their pests. The other one begged with us to reconsider our position, which we did by way of a legal stipulation which spelled out EVERYTHING she would be responsible for. The first of which was to pay her back rent (we refused to collect rent pending the outcome) IMMEDIATELY upon signing the agreement. It also included language that made her responsible for legal costs and additional costs of pest control; on the grounds that had she complied with Orkin's needs, we would NOT have incurred legal expenses, AND we would have paid for the costs of the treatment. Apparently, after we prevailed in court, she was able to procure help with the physical aspects of making her unit ready; but we never saw anything of the sort. Initially, I admit I felt bad about this, but I was done when she failed to meet the first obligation of the agreement. Her lockout date is scheduled for Next Wednesday. The problem with these units in particular was that they were putting Orkin's guarantee at risk.

3) We have a resident who bought a recliner chair from a thrift store, but they failed to treat it properly and months after our treatment, his chair was infested with live bedbugs (we discovered after a routine inspection). We told him that the chair had to go and that this infestation was affecting his downstairs neighbor, who has an expensive adjustable bed that was also infested (the pests traveled between the two units when we treated one, they would go to the other). He got rid of the chair by throwing it out his window into our yard (making us deal with it) and replacing it with a leather chair. As luck would have it, he acquired the new chair just before our regularly scheduled treatment by Orkin and I was able to have the tech look at it to make sure that there was not an infestation.


My problem is how do I get past this question when asked by prospective residents who may have seen the press this has generated, although we have clearly made significant progress and are able to say the problem is under control, or will be soon?

Well on the selling your community past the bed bug problem you can just be direct with the prospects and tell them yes we did have a problem and now have it undercontrol. Explain to them that prior to move in there apartment has been treated and is clear of bedbugs. I have found that if you are honest in negative things concerning your community you will have a better response from prospects. No one likes to be lied to or given the run around.

Now as for Marketing your older community rely on the charm of the area. Older communities in an older area have allot to offer. Hook up with local bussiness and the public transit authority. See if you guys can work something out that will benefit you both. Like maybe have a bussiness/resident appreciation night where the residents go out to the local bussinesses and ourchase or eat at a discounted cost. You want to create the sense of community and also that you are the it place to be.

I live in an older community and love that the rooms are larger than what I could get at a brand new one. I also love the fact that I don't have as many maintenance request because it is older that allot of the issues with newer communities have been fixed. Instead of thinking your in a horrible place ( not that you really are) think of it as the hippest coolest place for seniors. I have learn quickly that seniors don't like to feel old but they also like what is familar to them.

Now I agree with the person who commented about having a full blown marketing plan in place to market seniors which is what I will be doing today to give to my regional and hopefully get some support from them. I'm taking everything that has been suggested here and by my new best friend, and my ideas and putting in the plan. I'm also planning on dedicating February as Resident Appreciation month where I will be doing things just for the residents. I think I need to focuse on marketing my current residents to keep them here and to get new residents out of them. Of course this could all change when the new community manager comes but hey right now I need a plan and I'm the only here.

I'm so greatful for all the fantastic ideas that have been given and can't waite to hear for more. I will share anything else that I come accross also.