When taking over management responsibilities of an apartment community, a primary goal is to implement the extraordinary service levels unique to your brand. But in doing so, you also want to make sure the needle is moving in the positive direction for the community’s ownership group.

More to the point: You want to generate higher income levels for the company that hired you. 

There are practices third-party teams can follow to ensure their management efforts have the desired impact and ensure your company will be recommended for future opportunities. 

Here are some of them:

Utilize automated screening processes: Time-consuming busywork can swallow up an onsite team’s progress like no other. Using automated screening processes for credit, background checks, pets or anything else that’s pertinent not only gives associates their time back. It also mitigates the risk of potential resident or prospect discontent with the onsite team because the automated screening processes are done by a third-party service. Letting a prospect know that Experian or Equifax passed along a substandard credit results is easier than saying “we discovered your credit isn’t good enough to qualify.”

Use established, properly vetted technology: A property management system that fails to integrate with a community’s digital processes adds unnecessary work for the onsite team, increases the chance for human error and decreases the ability to complete tasks efficiently. Apartment managers can easily test new team-centric technologies before deciding to roll them out. The same diligence should be dedicated to resident-facing technologies, such as resident portals and smart-home devices. Otherwise, onsite teams increase the risk of a clunky, non-streamlined resident experience reducing renewal rates. 

Rely on leasing teams as a trusted source of local demographic information: If all locales were the same, leasing would be easy. One general handbook would contain all the secrets. But differences – ranging from subtle to significant – exist in each locale and must be considered when implementing amenities, scheduling resident events and even the way teams effectively interact with residents. Team members familiar with an area will have keen insight into its idiosyncrasies—these team members are a valuable resource! Using a one-size-fits-all approach for resident preferences heightens the risk that you’ll miss something important. 

Partner with trusted vendors: Vendors aren’t an area in which to cut corners. While the community might be able to save a few bucks by utilizing cheaper options in some areas, reliability and quality of work are prime factors to consider. Residents will certainly let you know if a vendor does a poor job and it impacts them, which could lower satisfaction rates and cost you renewals. When a mistake happens—and even if a vendor is clearly at fault—that mistake will reflect poorly on the community. 

Some claim third-party management is easier because no ownership stake is involved. Others claim the opposite, because you’re working on behalf a different ownership group and don't want to disappoint. Whichever the case, you can help ensure that your third-party efforts are on track by utilizing the practices above.