It’s hard to believe just one year ago Apartments.com launched its Training Series Live! webinar series! Throughout the year, we trained over 2,000 multifamily professionals and were accompanied by 11 incredible guest speakers. With new attendees registering for each session, we often get asked for tips on our previous webinars. That’s why for this special anniversary edition, MaryAnn Maksinski, Director of Trade Marketing at Apartments.com, and I co-presented highlights from this year’s webinars!

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This week’s Photo of the Week was shot by our Seattle-based photographer Robert Lawton! He traveled outside of his local area and shot this impressive community room at Block 32 at RiNo in Denver, CO.

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If you were to ask most property owners and managers if energy efficiency is important to resident retention they would probably say yes! The savings to renters or owners who pay for the energy costs, could be as much as 46%. When resident receives this kind of a break in cost, they are more likely to resign their lease. The problem is that many owners and managers of apartment communities do not know how to implement a plan of action for energy efficiency.

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Near almost every college or university, there are a wide variety of options for student housing. In many cases, there is the potential for new residents – from students that are moving off campus, moving from a different state, or that are transferring schools. To bring those students to your property, it is important that your community is able to stand out against other competing properties in the area. There are various ways a property can take advantage of the area they are located in to bring in new student renters.

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Do you have a pet-friendly policy at your apartment community? If not, you could be missing out on a growing breed of renters. In fact, there has been 32% increase in the number of renters who own pets today compared to last year, according to an Apartments.com national survey. These finding may be a sign of an improving U.S. economy as the struggling economy has played a strong role in the first decline in pet ownership since 1991, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.

While renting with pets may be on the rise, survey respondents said finding an apartment that allows pets was somewhat grueling, or often came with some hefty fees and deposits. More than 60% of renters surveyed said they faced some challenges in finding accommodations for them and their pet, and 63% said they were required to pay a pet deposit. Read More

This week’s Photo of the Week is a sun deck image from Domain San Diego taken by CA photographer Joakim Blomdahl. This is a great example of highlighting a truly unique feature; in this case, the property’s modern and angled sun deck.

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This week’s Photo of the Week was shot by East Coast DP Gerard Garcia at The Shipyard in Hoboken, NJ.

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Have you ever wondered how some properties that are in less than perfect condition somehow have excellent resident retention? The reason for that is simple: Resident retention starts with stigma rejection. Too often residents feel as though they were only important to the leasing agent until they signed the dotted line. After that, they are frequently treated as debtors with no right to complain or voice concerns.

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The housing recovery rolls on, and the latest reports reveal some very interesting trends for renters. Here are some takeaway figures. Note that these statistics apply to the urban market only:

• 11.5% increase in list price since last year
• 21% decrease in homes on the market since last year

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When it comes to searching for a home, people want to know as much as possible about the future place they are going to live. In addition to giving great tours and having an updated website filled with important information about your community, properties should consider providing walkthrough videos. There are various reasons and benefits why a community should consider posting walkthrough videos of the different units available, including convenience for potential residents.

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