“For all the complaining staff, No worries, your jobs will evaporate”

For all the complaining staff, No worries, your jobs will evaporate,....Big Operators are seeing through the myths,........The overarching point here is they will operate the property with NO Site Staff, and will consolidate staffing off site and spread those costs over a much larger unit count

we have already experienced in our own operations that customers prefer virtual communications and experiences. Because of COVID-19, we jumped forward 10 years in our technology platform in just 10 months. To that end, we have redesigned our customer experience to allow our customers to do everything with us front to back in a touchless format, and clearly that is critical for their safety and the safety of our teams. But, post pandemic, I do believe that this focus is something that we will need to carry forward and constantly evolve, enhance and improve. We are investing heavily to be at the front end of that curve in our world. Finally, the real winners to me will be those that deliver the right technology needed to create these experiences, but do it in an “old fashion high touch” relationship management way, and I do believe you can do both well if it becomes a focus and a passion for your teams. This is very exciting for me to see the evolution of our industry for someone who grew up as an operator at a very different time. It’s terrific on many levels for our customers and our people...
PS: At least in our world, we would never contemplate this discussion being about staffing size or need to adjust staff at our communities. That’s something that’s not in our DNA as a company. Our people drive the relationships with our customers, and customer service will always be a Core Value, so I don’t foresee technological innovations being a driver as to staffing models, quite the opposite, I see it freeing up more time for our people to care for our customers.

That’s coming for sure. Virtual touring, virtual troubleshooting for maintenance jobs with residents, remote access from a central location to allow vendors operate. Outsourcing services will be more affordable if properties take away onsite staff.
- No employees taxes and burden.
- A huge worker’s compensation expense cut.
- unemployment or vacation away from their expense.
Definitely the direction this industry is heading.

I’ve been hearing this was gonna happen one day. I’m curious to see how this property plays out. If you think about it, the younger generation doesn’t really care about face to face. They never actual call anyone like their friends. It’s sad but a true reality.

Interesting this is going on in Rockville. I’ve worked in the dc market for 8 years. This will not be acceptable in the luxury apartment industry. Think about going to an automated Ritz. It would destroy all the positive aspects of the experience. I’m sure some owners and operators will choose this route but I don’t think our jobs will disappear because of this tech

I think if you asked renters if they would prefer a community with onsite staff or without staff, the majority would pick staff. I love technology and we do smarthomes with keyless entry, package lockers apps to open doors control thermostats etc... but it is our people our residents comment on more, our ability to provide stellar service and make their renting experience feel warm and caring. I applaud AvalonBay for being at the bleeding edge of tech, but this feels cold to me. May work really well in large cities where the demographic looks for that type of experience.

Yep! Automated technology isn't cleaning up the dog poop someone just left on the grounds, not picking up the trash bag drug along the parking lot, not there for the resident emotionally when the resident needs the shoulder to lean on...

Remember when we presented on this way of doing business at AIM a few years back and people thought we were crazy? Love seeing tech being embraced - and seeing our industry focus on the experiences the customer wants - instead of forcing prospects to do business with us the “old way”.

"WinkWink" Yes Indeed, the Industry Giants are coming around, Like it or not, MultiFamily Operations are about to change in a big way,............

This would never work in affordable housing. Fraud would be rampant, as people would rarely report their actual income, just what they want you to know. I know virtual things are a new way of life. Affordable housing is transitioning to paperless, but people still need to review the information.

I believe there is an affordable operator in FL that has implemented something similar. Their corporate infrastructure has staff that reviews and handles this. Floating manager to schedule in person appt.
maintenance is onsite handling work orders though.

Technology doesn't ever "kill" jobs in the sense that it completely eliminates them. It just changes them, and shifts resources around.
A report by the Institute for the Future (IFTF) estimated that nothing less than 85 percent of the jobs that will exist in 2030 haven’t even been invented yet. The future is on its way.
They said the same thing about ATM's back in the day, that bank employees were going to lose their jobs, blah, blah, blah...
Instead, the ATM's created even more jobs and freed up employees from the mundane, routine service of doing things like standard withdrawals and deposits, to providing more customer-service based services and focusing on the things that generated more revenue for the financial industry.
fee.org/.../technology-creates-more-jobs-than-it.../

This is essentially how we operate already. It’s wonderful. We call it “Contact free.”
I manage 4 properties remotely with one mobile agent, a mobile maintenance team, and a mobile porter. Everything from leasing to paying rent and maintenance requests are automated through the portal.
Virtual tours
Self tours
Open house tours
Online leasing
Electronic lease docs
Online / mobile maintenance
Contact Free move in / out
Our apartment units and apartment buildings have integrated smart home technology.
No leasing office.
We work from our iPhones.
Most residents seem to really love it.

We knew it would come one day but never thought a pandemic would usher it in.

This targets a specific type of renter. Not the typical but there will be a market for this for sure.

I’ve never really understood the notion that on-site is more attractive to residents. You do get that many many people rent single family homes. When they do that they meet someone for a brief moment on move in. Then again at move out and simply want someone to be able to arrange Maintenace with. Other than that they really don’t interact with the properties staff. This notion that people want or are willing to pay for a group of people to live close to them and pretend to be their friend is silly. They are renting an apartment because urban density has that need and the conveniences that come along with it.
People want good and more specifically competent and prompt customer service which has zero to do with actually being onsite. In fact that is sometimes easier to facilitate offsite rather than trying to.
Of course this all starts to go out the window when dealing with 65+ communities that are looking for someone else to orchestrate a community for them. Then you aren’t simply providing housing but rather Disneyland minus the rides. That is the point where they do value and pay for that level of fantasy. Everyone else simply wants a nice place to live and competent friendly people that can efficiently and effectively problem solve when they communicate a problem.

So basically staff moves to an off-site location where they still get screamed at, just over the phone instead of in person and via nasty emails. Oh, wait...that’s my life as a PM during the pandemic.

After the day I had yesterday,... No way it could have been addressed and remedied as quickly as I was able to take care of things. Without me being present it could/would have been a much bigger MESS. There is something to be said about having an on-site team that is invaluable. Some people are renting for the experience.

Well as we become a world that technology is taking over everyone’s lives it makes me wonder if you are taking into account the ramifications of mental well being of said lives. Nearly 2/3 of high end tech people being polled have said that digital life will be most harmful to the mental well being as well as the general health of people. Now I understand that with technological advances comes growth but also with tech awareness we lean toward becoming afraid of the very technologically advanced things we have created. Humans need interaction with other humans. Will we become humans versus machines? It will be interesting to see how we as humans adapt.

Good luck getting the computer to climb in the dumpster and find Ms. Johnson’s false teeth she accidentally tossed out because the got stuck in a Carmel apple