New Challenge Property

Hello All!

I have been in the industry for almost 5 years now, conventional and tax credit. Mainly focused on affordable, I have now entered back into the conventional side!

I am in need of some spectacular ideas for the follow areas. I just started a position as PM at an older (yet upkept) property in Florida. We're having issues with...

1) Old manager left, but was very close with maintenance lead. I need to prevent maintenance lead from leaving, but, need him to adhere to all issues such as overtime allowance, ordering, production, etc...

2) Resident Retention - How to get them to stay? Incentives? Shampoo carpet, gift cards..it's all I've got...

3) Leads - The best schedule for prospect follow up?

4) 20 Make-Readies needed...ASAP. Like, yesterday. I've got a Super, Assistant, and Housekeeper (she was previously hired - for a 136 unit property, a full time housekeeper? Good news - she can paint too!)

Any help appreciated, thanks!

This is what I would do:
1.Maintenance--Find out his favorite place to eat for lunch and ask him to go on a lunch meeting with you. Build up his ego!! Tell him how much you appreciate how well he has kept the property, anything you can think of to praise him. Tell him your plans (but don't overwhelm him). Keep it honest, get him on your side. Praise, Praise!
2. Newsletter out to residents with a little about you, your pets, kids, etc. Become a person in your description, not the manager in the office. I always put in "what's new in our area." With info about a new service, restaurant, etc. Know your residents and put in something you think they will like. Also, get some thank you cards and send them with a handwritten note for everything. Returning paperwork, renewing their lease, having a nice patio.
3.Return a response the same way they responded. Phone call--call back, e-mail response (create a very nice generic to copy and paste to save time). I would do this first thing in the morning after things settle, before I take lunch then again before I leave.
4. Meet with maintenance and make a list of vacants that need the least work and turn them first. Ask them to tell you when they can get them ready. They are not miracle workers. Make sure they have paint, supplies, locks, etc. ordered TODAY!

Advice--Calculate how much the company is losing in rent for reach unit that is vacant that you have leased so everyone understands the urgency to get new tenants in. The more money you bring in, the more there is to operate with. Let them know the owners are losing $30 per day then 10 days is $300. Praise your team!!!

Good luck!

Sandy's ideas are great! I don't have experience managing the maintenance team, but I can offer some help with 2 & 3:

2) Resident Retention - Love Sandy's idea of a newsletter to introduce yourself. Consider having a mixer so that you can actually meet them face to face and get to know them. I'd also recommend sending out a satisfaction survey to see what areas you can improve upon within your community. Making residents feel like you value their opinions will go a long way towards increasing retention rates. Be sure to follow up with people when you get suggestions, though. Let them know what you're planning to do, but also let them know if you have limitations and can't get something done quickly enough. If you get their suggestions, but do nothing, they'll feel like you just don't care. My strategy for renewal time was to set an appointment to discuss their renewal rate with them. That way I could explain why there was an increase, what we were planning to do in the future, etc. It helped ease the blow and I got a much better renewal rate that way. Carpet cleanings were always a hit, though. Especially if someone was a long-time resident.

3) Leads - With leads, I always recommend following a pretty firm schedule. Respond to email leads within 30 minutes and phone leads within an hour. Prospects that came into tour, I sent an email within 24 hours and always sent a personal postcard the following day. When it comes to prospects who seemed really interested but didn't lease that day, I always tried to call again after 48 hours to let them know if the unit they liked was still available or if there were any changes to our pricing since they left. The hardest part is making sure your whole staff is doing the same thing, though. Since you're new, make sure you meet with them to get everyone on the same page, give them the follow-up cadence you'd like them to adhere to, and run through the previous week's leads to see what steps they should take next. After a few weeks of meeting like this, they should be on a pretty good schedule and should know what you expect.

Congrats on the new position!