Singles Party for Residents

Has anyone ever thrown a singles party for residents? We have been asked by several residents to have a singles event. Our plan is to still invite everyone and to have it off site at a local resturant. I just wanted to make sure that we aren't breaking any fair housing laws.

That is diffently diffrent! Make sure you will not be held accountable for anything if things get werid.

What sort of things could I be held liable for?

I would be concerned that if someone leaves the party and something happens to them you may have "facilitated it." This would be a good question for a criminal attorney.
You may be able to just have them sign a release and be ok, depending on your state and local laws.
If someone leaves the restaurant and has been drinking and gets in an accident, could this be an issue? Things like that. Or someone that likes one of your residents follows them home. Scary!!
I would definitly consult your attorney and see what if anything you could be liable for. Just to be sure you protect your property's interest.

I simply do not recommend it. There are too many things that can go wrong and send the wrong message about your community. I would suggest sponsoring any local events by donating tickets, making contributions, etc. And certainly would not limit it to "singles" events. Locally we have a "Bid for Bachelors and Bachelorettes" where proceeds go to a great cause, Friends and Families of Cystic Fibrosis. It is well done and well known event in the area. That would be about as far as I would go with the Singles idea. Good Luck!

For resident appreciation, I include a suggestion to offer to host speed dating events at your community. Here is such a company that offes this: www.dateanddash.com/howitworks.php

They can be a lot of fun for singles in your community, not to mention the amount of new traffic it would bring in!

In property management practically everything is a liability to property management professionals (Regionals, Director's, etc.). Next, we won't be offering cookies or coffee for fear of getting sued!

Caution: Do not proceed with my advice without consulting a lawyer!

I must agree with most. While it is different, it could be a huge liability for your organization. I would do a meet and greet, where all residents can meet and chat. Like a meet your neighbor type thing. Now if someone hooks up from there, its on them.

Woohoo!!!! Viewed the "Dash" videos, listened to the salty language, watched the intoxicated singles. I guess it all depends on the message a community/ownership/investors and person wants to send and is comfortable sending. Thank goodness I am not in my 20's and single!!!

What some community's have done is to offer a service like this at a local pub and sponsor part of the event for their residents or some have even held the events in their clubhouse. You could also invite your single residents to an event hosted locally and they could register for "free" because the community is offering it as a resident service. Again, not for everyone however it does fit some resident profiles.

Singles Party--HOW FUN!! :laugh: But truly a liability because one part of fair housing is the Family Status and you might run into a person who is looking to sue. So my recommendations is to sponsor an ADULTS Night Out or a Lease Signers Night Out. If you go with the Lease Signers night out, I believe you will have no issues because you can say that you want to reward the people who qualified to live at your community and all of them should be adults (at least age wise) Anyways at this event make sure you have adult type games such as poker or tournaments of some sort which would interest singles as well as other adults. You can have a social coordinator introducing people as they enter to attend an event by stating their first name and telling everyone to say Hi to this person--this breaks the ice for everyone and they will feel more comfortable talking. It has been my experience as a leasing agent to to get involved with neighbor match making, but there is nothing wrong with getting adults together to have a fun time! :woohoo:

Hey, I know i'm chiming in late on this discussion, but as I was reading everyone's thoughts, ideas, concerns, i realized something...no one even mentioned the fact that a majority (50%) of apartment renters are single and 50% are under the age of 45 (both stats from NMHC 2009 study). It seems like it would be a huge miss not to tastefully put together social activities that fit a such a large portion of the demographic. I've been a part of plenty of 'singles' events that were never officially called such and that didn't turn into raging parties of debauchery, ha. Social stuff can be really important to a demographic that is looking for relationships and friendships (not just random hook ups) because single people are usually, well....a little more social than marrieds and have a need for friends. How can you do it wise and tasteful?

What about Resident Demographics, good point! That is exactly why we do these resident events and it is important to look at your community demographics.

Apartment residents, like everyone else, desire community. Recent JD Power research found that "sense of community" was the #1 driver of apartment resident satisfaction. In addition, Witten Advisors conducted a ground-breaking study called the Friendship Factor which correlated the number of friends a resident has in the apartment community with their likelihood to renew their lease. In fact, increasing the number of friendships to 7+ increases the resident's likelihood to renew by 47%!!