Moving into a new apartment can mean so many decorating opportunities for enthusiastic residents! While hanging pictures, painting walls, putting up window treatments or even stapling the area rug in place (EEK!) might be exciting and innovative to residents, it could mean disaster for your maintenance team. Here are five tips you can share with residents to help them decorate within the guidelines of the rental agreement, ensuring a happy living situation at your community
1.) Offer to do it for them – Whether it be painting or hanging items on the wall, give your residents the VIP treatment—and avoid potential disaster–by offering up your professional services. Before a new resident moves in, ask them if they would like to pick out a new color for the apartment and offer to paint as long as they front the supplies. As a result, your happy resident will feel more at home, while you control the quality of the paint job. Read More
This post was originally written by Omer Navaid, Online Marketing Specialist at Apartments.com
Do you know where your residents are coming from? Knowing the source of your leads – especially the ones that convert to leases – is critical in terms of determining where to spend your advertising dollars. Here are five friendly suggestions on how to keep track of your various lead sources: Read More
According to tradition, lore and law, October 1 is one of the two biggest moving days of the year (May 1 being the other). Let’s take a moment on this occasion to reflect on the data we’ve seen through our industry’s busiest time of year.
Apartments.com saw record traffic and lead conversion through the summer months, and while I’d like give credit to our recent site redesign, suffice to say macroeconomic trends came into play. Consider the following: Read More
This post was originally written by Kerry Sugrue, former Social Media Specialist at Apartments.com.
October 1st is one of the biggest moving days of the year and it’s right around the corner! Having a solid resident retention plan is a great way to avoid the costs associated with big moving days. Resident turnover can cost thousands of dollars once you factor in advertising, screening, leasing office time, maintenance, cleaning and everything else associated with finding the perfect new resident. Here are a couple ideas for keeping your residents happy and living in your community. Read More
Today, I’m excited to announce the release of our annual Top 10 Best Cities for Recent College Grads list with Hartford-New Haven claiming the #1 spot!
Faced with a sluggish economy, many college graduates who collected their diplomas in the spring are still looking for jobs and a place to live as summer comes to a close. As competition for jobs soars, along with the cost of rent, there is hope for many of these newly minted graduates who know which cities afford them the best opportunity to jump-start their professional lives. To help give these post grads a leg up, Apartments.com and CareerRookie.com—the collegiate job website from CareerBuilder.com—have revealed their 4th annual best cities list to paint a realistic landscape of the current job market and cost of living in the most popular cities for young adults. Read More
This post was originally written by Kerry Sugrue, former Social Media Specialist at Apartments.com.
It’s that time again. Back to school! If you have an apartment community near a college campus, then you are gearing up for the busiest time of year. As soon as you get all of your 2011-2012 residents moved in, you have to start thinking about getting leases signed for next year. I had the opportunity to chat with Kim Cory, Sales and Marketing Director for University Village, about marketing to students. She offered five tips for reaching your key audience and having a positive presence on campus. Read More
I know consumer reviews are scary. Trust me. Having worked in public relations my whole life, user-generated content that can disparage a brand I’ve been working years to uphold, has kept me tossing and turning more than one night. Something you used to have control over is not totally in your hands anymore: your public image (e.g. branding, advertising, marketing collateral, and even to some degree, the press being generated about your company). Sure, people could complain about your property, but that was typically somewhat contained. Today, anyone can publicize their praise or contempt for your brand by going online. What’s worse than consumers finding it? Consumers looking for it, especially renters. In fact, 58% of renters, who are also active on social media, told us at Apartments.com they search for additional apartment information and recommendations online when looking for a new place to live.
My name is Tammy Kotula, and I’m addicted to review websites Read More
At NAA this year there was a, let’s just say, interesting session on apartment ratings sites that was facilitated by a group of attorneys and featured a mock trial. What was interesting was that while the trial simulated a disgruntled former resident being sued by a wrongfully defamed property, the real indictment was against the rating sites themselves (in particular, ApartmentRatings.com, not-so-cleverly disguised as “ApartmentDestroyer.com” in the mock trial), and, in a larger – and more discouraging – sense, the entire concept of online reviews and ratings.
Last week Google released a free e-book called Winning the Zero Moment of Truth. I haven’t read it yet (I’m a pretty fast reader, but not that fast), but will, and recommend that you do, too. Because the “ZMOT,” a concept that has actually been around for a few years now, and that Google has a commercial interest in educating you on, is one that very much applies to the multifamily housing industry. The basic premise goes something like this: There are three stages in a typical buying process, starting with the Stimulus (e.g. advertising), followed by the First Moment of Truth, and finally making the purchase. In our industry, the First Moment of Truth (or “FMOT,” a term coined by Proctor & Gamble referring to the first time you see the actual product, usually on a “shelf” next to other competing products) takes place when the prospective renter first visits your leasing office and tours your property. Read More
This post was originally written by Catelyn Bergstedt, Associate Product Manager, Consumer Products at Apartments.com
If only you knew what your residents were thinking. Do they feel at home in their apartments? Is your maintenance staff getting the job done? Do they crave more community events to meet fellow residents? Read More
As a part of its national What Renters Want series, each year Apartments.com conducts its popular Moving Outlook survey, and the results for 2011 are in! Over 1,800 of our website visitors responded, giving us a look into their 2011 moving plans including reasons they are moving, when they plan to move and which tools they value most during their apartment search. Some of our key findings are outlined below, but please take a look at our full results and press release for more detailed information.
- The number one reason respondents said they are moving is to relocate for job opportunities
- Nearly 25% of respondents are starting their apartment search as early as five months to more than a year out from their moving date
- 64% of respondents said the most important thing during their apartment search is the ability to check real time availability
- 80.9% of respondents use an Internet Listing Service, like Apartments.com, for their apartment search, with only 5% of respondents using social sites
- 80% of respondents are using a mobile device during their search
Read More
