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December is a magical time of year where everything at the mall is glittery, there are new cookie recipes galore and you are practically required to cozy up on the couch with the fluffiest blanket available and watch your favorite holiday movie. (And, yes, Die Hard counts. It's 2024, and we're not going to have that debate anymore. It's not even that great. Give me Home Alone any day.)It's also a great time to ramp up your marketing and let ...

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Does anyone use the Brothers brand HVAC systems from Chadwell Supply? Looking for pros and cons from experience.

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Just found out my property is under contract and due diligence starts soon. This is my first time going through this (I’m a community manager)
What are some things I should expect? What are questions I should ask my current company and questions for the new company should they interview me to stay if everything goes as planned?

Guest Insider Do your job … remember your loyalty remains with the current owner until the deal is done (money is wired and the sale is complete) … don’t volunteer information but always be helpful….

Guest Insider Ask your existing company if there is a selling bonus ? This is usually offered to the existing staff so they can stay through the sale. I’ve seen the bonus in the amount of 2-3 times the monthly salary.

Guest Insider Start taking pictures of things you think are important. Especially people stuck in screening before your current company goes black. Email yourself or personal email with documents you can not seeing yourself without..one day you will log in and have no acesses to anything of your now company. And it will not be expected.

Guest Insider I just closed 2 years ago on a property I was at for 20 years. I got a 10% raise to stay until close and a bonus after closing. I chose not to stay with the new company. They did ask me 3 times for an interview. Hold firm on your pay because they will for sure go up on rents and fees after take over if you want to stay. Mine was very difficult because I had to take new prospective buys on tours because I had been there so long. That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done was sell my own property. Good luck. Oh and and ask what the new buyers plans are. Mine were doing improvements and selling it in 5 years.

Guest Insider One more thing. I printed off so many reports and extra side notes for everything. Who had R-22, 410-A’s, new appliances, what units needed a/c replacement and if the unit needed to be upsized. I left the new company everything and got a phone call about 2 weeks later I had the easiest take over they ever did and it was a big management company.

Stacey Pichette As the PM, you’re expected to be an expert on everything at your property and no matter what present the property in a positive way. Here are some things to expect…A scheduled 100% unit walk; Lots of detailed questions about the property including the unit count breakdown, the age of your appliances, HVAC systems, water heaters, and roofing. They may ask what size are the HVAC system and water heaters for each unit; Ask if you’re up to date on all required inspections like fire extinguishers and/or fire system equipment, sprinkler systems, and back flow systems. When are those due each year and the cost of each; Any capital improvements completed within the last year. Does the property have any immediate needs? If you were buying it, what changes would you make?; What is the cost of your average unit turn? Which tasks are contracted out (like painting or cleaning); What is your retention rate and what is the most common reason for turnover? What are the major employers in your area?... Show more

As the PM, you’re expected to be an expert on everything at your property and no matter what present the property in a positive way. Here are some things to expect…A scheduled 100% unit walk; Lots of detailed questions about the property including the unit count breakdown, the age of your appliances, HVAC systems, water heaters, and roofing. They may ask what size are the HVAC system and water heaters for each unit; Ask if you’re up to date on all required inspections like fire extinguishers and/or fire system equipment, sprinkler systems, and back flow systems. When are those due each year and the cost of each; Any capital improvements completed within the last year. Does the property have any immediate needs? If you were buying it, what changes would you make?; What is the cost of your average unit turn? Which tasks are contracted out (like painting or cleaning); What is your retention rate and what is the most common reason for turnover? What are the major employers in your area? Do you have a preferred employer program? Do you have a resident referral program? Do you have resident events and how much do these cost;
Questions you should ask your current employer: Will I remain employed by you after the property sells? If not, are you offering a sale bonus for all of the extras I’ll be doing during the sale.
Questions for the buyer: What are your plans for the property? Are you planning to keep the existing staff and/or add more people to the team? *After you know their plan, be ready to negotiate. They already know what everyone is currently being paid but also know that most people will expect a raise.*
Ideally, you will receive a sales bonus (the smallest one I ever received was $10k and that property was only 100 units), a solid salary increase (at least $15k more per year than your current salary), and a sign on bonus (these have ranged from $1000 to $5000).

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www.facebook.com/RandyandMandyandFriends/videos/59…

Guest Insider Clever!!!

Brent Williams What a neat way to repurpose the stool!

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This is the fourth in a 9-part series of “quick hit” blogs on the quickest way to uncover hidden revenue from leasing based on the presentation Bryan Pierce, Carol Enoch and Donald Davidoff gave at NAA’s 2024 Apartmentalize conference. Into the home stretch of this series, let’s talk about the misuse of $0 amenities. We talked in an earlier blog about using $0 amenities when all the units in a pricing group have the same amenity, ...

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Been in the business with one company for 25+ years and know the ins and outs of my company. My adult son is applying for an apartment and as part of the application process he is being asked for his social security card - this is not a practice with my property management group- is this a normal request with any of yours?

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Guest Insider Every company I have worked at ask for drivers license and social security card. It is part of completing the I9 for the government.

Guest Insider Not surprised with all the fraud since Covid.

Guest Insider We get copy of ss card to run screening on all adults

Guest Insider We ask for both ss number and DL number to run criminal and credit backgrounds.

Jennifer Hall Yes

Guest Insider We only ask if the back ground check says it doesn’t match.

Gerry Hunt It is normal!

Guest Insider It is so they can establish credit/risk profile to be approved. BUT if they use an online app MOST systems block out all but last 4 digits almost anyone in management can see.
Think of it in terms a lender will ask same information and as a renter you are essentially a short term hold of occupancy rights and pay to management. Make some sense? Ex 40+ years in business

David Snyder Totally normal for fraud alerts on credit reports

Monica Windham It’s normal for a lot of companies to ask for copies of both.

Guest Insider We don't normally ask for the actual SS card unless it comes back with a fraud alert or similar. Applicants do have to provide a copy of a government issued ID but we never take copies of SS cards. We visually verify it if necessary.

Stacey Pichette It’s required for affordable housing along with a lot of other documents. With my company (I’m at a conventional property) we’re also prompted to manually verify certain applicant’s identity which includes seeing their social security card, ID, and 3 most recent utility bills or 4 bank statements (showing their name and current address).

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Guest Insider Realpage has a pretty good one that is cheap. Integrates with Yardi.

Christina Bartlett I struggle with ongoing customer support. How was the onboarding experience? We have Yardi and Real Page products already

Jay Rawls I’ll second realpage budgeting. Best I’ve used. The product manager (Abe) is great. He knows the product inside and out and helpful for support.

Guest Insider realpage is my favorite I have used! I was able to teach 4 managers to write budgets and complete edits within ease! HIGHLY suggest

Guest Insider Vizibly

Josh McKibben We just moved to Karden

Guest Insider REBA

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This is the fourth in a 9-part series of “quick hit” blogs on the quickest way to uncover hidden revenue from leasing based on the presentation Bryan Pierce, Carol Enoch and Donald Davidoff gave at NAA’s 2024 Apartmentalize conference. Our turn to “fail” #6 is perhaps the most pernicious of all the ones we see because this one is usually at best a complete misunderstanding of how amenity pricing should work; and, at worst, it’s i ...

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As a broker in the commercial real estate (CRE) industry, you may have questioned whether public speaking is really necessary for your job. Yes, in a nutshell, and it's a skill that can greatly influence your success. I shunned public speaking for years. I would turn off chances to speak and give the platform to someone else. However, after I made the decision to say "yes," I found that the advantages greatly exceeded the initial difficulty.I mad ...

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What does your Christmas bonus structure look like?

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Guest Insider I’ve never gotten a Christmas bonus from any company before lol

Guest Insider In the past. I’ve had up to $250 paid in a check and I’ve had a $25 grocery store gift card 😅
And I’ve also had black out dates from December 1st till the end of the year with no time off, and no bonus lol.

Anonymous member Hhahaaa the grocery card must be intended to off set the blackout dates 🤣🤣

Guest Insider So my owner actually thought it was crazy that wasn’t a standard so they added it in. Community Manager and maintenance Supervisor gets $5k each and then an additional $5k is divided between the leasing and maintenance team.

Gerry Hunt Christmas Bonus? What is that? 🤣

Brandy Blazen Look like $0.00

Guest Insider I feel like that is an outdated concept. There are bonus structures, monthly, quarterly, but for most not a “Christmas” bonus.

Sue Kelley We used to do it by seniority for the hourly employees and management was by noi .. it actually was a end of year more than just Christmas

Guest Insider We’ve given them for 40 years! Every single employee even if hired the week of Christmas received. We were sold in 2020 and that is changing and won’t be paid until the first quarter of the following year.

Guest Insider Ebenezer Scrooge must have been in charge of those at my previous companies …. Started a new company this year so yet to be seen if he’s employed here too.

Danielle Herbert I used to work for an amazing owner who gave 10% of your annual salary. I was with him for 8 years & heartbroken when he sold the property & retired. My holidays were never the same! 😆
Now, the company that I work for gives one weeks pay.

Nichole Lipka It’s about $100 per year you’ve been with the company. It might be $150, I can’t recall. But I’m in condos now. Did not have bonuses with FPI or Avenue5 when I was there.

Tracy Jamison Wait what? There's a Christmas bonus??

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Can someone share their recent WOW fridges recently? What are we doing? Themes that go with the décor of the model? lease-up/no budget ideas below please:

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We have assets that are in markets where residents can REALLY take a toll on impacting the condition of units and though we bill up on their ledger, they don’t pay final balances anyway and security deposits are a fraction of the damages. Does anyone have a solution that worked to help offset these expenses? Is there a better renters insurance that we can get better restitution from? Any ideas are appreciated!!

Megan Goodmundson Increase your required deposit. Do more frequent unit inspections and charge for damages as work orders are generated. Put people on monthly housekeeping unit inspections when needed. Do non renewals for those that are not taking care of the unit. Stress this at move in, that unit is to be kept in good condition or lease will not be renewed. Managing the residents closer is the only way to minimize this.
Im not familiar with various deposit insurance products as I never worked with any so I cant give a recommendation but hopefully someone else can!

Anonymous member Megan Goodmundson thank you for such a comprehensive and action oriented response. Love the housekeeping check concept and fully agree that eyes on unit interiors are key. Appreciate you taking the time to write!

Miles Scruggs Sell the assets and move into different segments of the market that perform better. Seriously it just isn't worth playing down in the gutter. You can easily find other suckers who are going to run numbers the same way the current owners did looking mostly at income and hoping to do better on damages etc.
While there are outliers in every market / demographic. If you move up in quality of the housing we've found:
1.). Places are treated with more respect
2.) People are generally more respectful to us
3.) Damages that are repaired while in situ are recouped easier with less contesting
4.) Easier to maintain the equity of the assets
The one exception we found in some cases is they will fight charges after move out a bit more.
Again these are all painted with a broad statistical brush, but that does equate into actionable reality when applied at scale.
To answer your question directly though you can increase their willingness to pay by inspecting regularly and doing any repairs for... Show more

Sell the assets and move into different segments of the market that perform better. Seriously it just isn't worth playing down in the gutter. You can easily find other suckers who are going to run numbers the same way the current owners did looking mostly at income and hoping to do better on damages etc.
While there are outliers in every market / demographic. If you move up in quality of the housing we've found:
1.). Places are treated with more respect
2.) People are generally more respectful to us
3.) Damages that are repaired while in situ are recouped easier with less contesting
4.) Easier to maintain the equity of the assets
The one exception we found in some cases is they will fight charges after move out a bit more.
Again these are all painted with a broad statistical brush, but that does equate into actionable reality when applied at scale.
To answer your question directly though you can increase their willingness to pay by inspecting regularly and doing any repairs for damages caused while they are in there. You can do one off things like noticing that the unit as a whole isn't being kept clean very well but a single bedroom is. We've seen that before and noted that there wasn't a vacuum in the house. Well Santa magically made a vacuum and wet mop appear in their house and the clean person was happy to use them and try to hold the tide back. $450 investment in some tools was the choice against a full flooring bill. etc. At scale it is just a grind though, get out.

Anonymous member Miles Scruggs this is pretty spot on, and something we have discussed. We own other assets in the same market, that don’t have this issue, so this asset blindsided us. The inspections are critical and part of why we just transitioned management companies. Thanks for the honest feedback and productive recommendations.

Guest Insider Check out The Guarantors.

Chris Finetto Manage the residents, not the property. I get it. Oil field workers and steelmill workers are the two toughest “demographics” I’ve had to deal with.
I have added a budget line item “additional make ready” which was peeled off the revenue. We took a hit on margins, to cover the expense. This forced the property to push rents a little harder.
I also automatically deducted $150 to $250 from the security deposits for cleaning. Yes, it’s legal - when worded correctly.
I also examined ways to cut the “turn” expense. Upgraded paint that could be washed. Removed disposals. Vinyl flooring.

Mike Powers Raise rent
Larger security deposit
Pass the cost down to the root cause.

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I have an Active 55 property with two DIY rooms in the plans. There is no design concept other than built-ins from construction. Anyone have one they can share photos of. Any do's or don'ts when planning the space? Photos of one of the two spaces still under construction.

Tracy Hall Maybe several games tables and fill the cubbies with various board games, cards, cribbage boards, things adults would enjoy.
Basically, a place active adults could come and socialize over activities.

Guest Insider For a DIY room, table top space would be the most important- but I would have options for seating and standing while using. Or maybe a table top that lifts.
Also surfaces that are safe to cut on, hot glue on, draw/paint on since all that could spill over or bleed through

Guest Insider Looks like a perfect wood working space. Possibly small engine or bike repair?
Tune up shop for the army of Pickleball players??

Guest Insider I live in a very large 55+ community. The shared spaces that get used the most are 1. Card tables (Bridge and Poker are huge), 2. music spaces not sure if ya have space but a place to play hook up guitar, keyboard, electronic drum and sing 3. Crafts but remember we are not your parents 55+, we are the parents we grew up in 70s. We like rock, disco, we still party. So prepare yourself, we still get in trouble.

Ryan Baldwin We have art’s and crafts rooms and game rooms

Whitney Kincaid sewing machine, crickets, etc. you supply the larger equipment and residents can use it? That's so cool!

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