tenants

As a property manager, you’re always looking for new ways to attract potential tenants. These days, you can add up-to-the-minute deals and specials to your property’s website, but those depend on folks actually visiting your website. And with all of the web traffic out there, it’s hard to maneuver your way to the top.

So most property managers rely on the tried-and-true methods of using signs, balloons, and colorful banners to attract the attention of walkers- and drivers-by. But does all of that actually work?

Some property managers swear by it and believe that if every other property has balloons, then balloons on your property are a must as well. To not use anything would be the equivalent of a motel having a NO VACANCY sign lit when there are plenty of empty rooms.

So then if everyone is employing the same methods, how do you make your property stand out? Well, one way is to think about balloon colors. Most companies choose balloons that mirror the company colors, but consider this:

• BLUE slows the heart rate and reduces blood pressure.
• RED increases blood pressure and motor-skills activities.
• YELLOW increases cardiopulmonary activity and is considered very exciting
• GREEN is a well balanced color, good for contemplation and a restful state.
• PURPLE speaks to the intellect and is considered a very cerebral color, good for inner thought.

So perhaps choosing a balloon color based on these notions might have a different effect.

Also, signs and banners that simply state availability or special deals tend to blend into the background and rarely get noticed. In this day and age, cleverness and wit are much more likely to elicit a response, so keep that in mind as you’re having your signs made.

And finally, decorations that both welcome new visitors and tie in with a major holiday, say Halloween or Christmas, tell the world that not only are you a property with vacancies, but that you’re also fun!

Pilera is a best-of-class, easy-to-use, comprehensive online property management solution for apartments, condos, and associations. Pilera provides the easiest, most comprehensive data management capability available to property managers, leasing agents, boards of directors, and back-office personnel. Quickly and easily access whatever you need, whenever you need it, from wherever you need to be with office or mobile phone connectivity. You are never out of touch. Act on the document/information accessed from the office or “on-the-road” with Pilera-supported mobile capability. Contact us today!

A recurring theme in this blog is how busy property managers are in the day-to-day. There’s never a moment when there’s simply nothing to be done, so a typical property manager’s day ranges from somewhat crazy to completely crazy. Of course, the smart property manager uses property management software to make his or her life a whole lot easier.

One of the most important duties of a property manager is to bring in new residents. There are almost always vacancies for one reason or another, and the longer those units sit unoccupied, the more money they end up costing.

But once a tenant signs on the dotted line, it’s crucial to make them feel welcome. Naturally, they’re going to be excited about moving into a new place, but as a property manager, you can make sure that the move-in experience is as seamless and stress-free as possible.

One way to do this is with welcome letters or welcome packages. Some property managers leave a folder stuffed with maps, coupons, lists of phone numbers, rules and regulations, and so on. This can be somewhat off-putting, as it can feel overwhelming to a person who’s already overwhelmed with a move. Sometimes less is more, and a simple welcome letter is sufficient.

A welcome letter should be upbeat and cheerful, and if possible, customized for that specific tenant. It should have the property manager’s name and contact information and encourage the new tenant to call or e-mail with any questions or concerns. Keeping it simple and easy increases the likelihood that the tenant will read it, and that they’ll feel important and like a part of the community.

If you don’t currently use a welcome letter, you should consider one. And if you do, look it over to make sure that if you were the new resident, it would make you feel right at home.

Pilera is a best-of-class, easy-to-use, comprehensive online property management solution for apartments, condos, and associations. Pilera provides the easiest, most comprehensive data management capability available to property managers, leasing agents, boards of directors, and back-office personnel. Quickly and easily access whatever you need, whenever you need it, from wherever you need to be with office or mobile phone connectivity. You are never out of touch. Act on the document/information accessed from the office or “on-the-road” with Pilera-supported mobile capability. Contact us today!

A property manager has a lot of hats to wear and endless day-to-day responsibilities. In addition to keeping the property safe and well-maintained, a property manager needs to make sure that the tenants are happy and satisfied so that they will renew their leases and spread the good word about the property to other potential tenants.

Part of keeping tenants happy is interaction. Knowing tenants’ names, unit numbers, past issues, and even the names of pets can go a long way toward making tenants feel appreciated and respected. But maintaining a friendly yet professional relationship with tenants is a skill all its own.

One of the problems with becoming too close with tenants is that they can come to feel like they can drop in for a casual chat anytime they feel like it. This can be extremely disruptive, especially on very busy days. Some tenants can also feel that they deserve preferential treatment, which is never good. Another more serious problem can arise when it comes to money.

If a tenant feels that they’re pals with a property manager, they might try to exploit that perceived closeness if they were, for example, having trouble paying their rent or if they were a source of complaints from other tenants. Even worse is when this friendship gives way to business and the tenant feels slighted or misled. That can lead to a whole host of problems that a property manager just doesn’t need on top of his or her workload.

Being friendly, courteous, and professional at all times is a prerequisite for a property manager. Just be sure there are boundaries and limits in place so that business never becomes personal.

Pilera is a best-of-class, easy-to-use, comprehensive online property management solution for apartments, condos, and associations. Pilera provides the easiest, most comprehensive data management capability available to property managers, leasing agents, boards of directors, and back-office personnel. Quickly and easily access whatever you need, whenever you need it, from wherever you need to be with office or mobile phone connectivity. You are never out of touch. Act on the document/information accessed from the office or “on-the-road” with Pilera-supported mobile capability. Contact us today!

It’s likely that if you own a rental property, your tenants never see a water bill. But you do, and you probably would love to see water usage go down, both for your bottom line and for the planet. There are a few ways you can do it without having to get your tenants on your side.

Your landscaping might be one of the things that attract renters, but plants can also use a lot of water. To reduce water usage, slowly replace plants that need a lot of water with ones that can withstand a little less moisture. You’ll save money and the look of your property won’t suffer at all.

Installing aerators in all sinks in your building can do a lot to reduce water usage. Sinks without aerators can use up to 2.2 gallons of water per minute! Bathroom sinks can use an aerator with 1 or .5 GPM, but allow a little more water to go through kitchen sinks so all those dishes will get clean.

A change that might be more expensive up front, but will save you plenty, in the long run, is replacing all of your toilets with efficient ones. This is a big one, because you can save up to 10 gallons of water per toilet per day. You could replace toilets one floor at a time if that works better for your budget, but keep in mind that you might get a bulk discount from the company that sells the toilets to you.

Once you’ve put these changes into place, track the results by installing meters or watching your water bill. You can even set a building-wide goal and get your tenants on board. Once you meet a particular goal, reward your tenants somehow. Everyone working toward the goal of water efficiency is a wonderful thing to do for the planet.

Pilera is a best-of-class, easy-to-use, comprehensive online property management solution for apartments, condos, and associations. Pilera provides the easiest, most comprehensive data management capability available to property managers, leasing agents, boards of directors, and back-office personnel. Quickly and easily access whatever you need, whenever you need it, from wherever you need to be with office or mobile phone connectivity. You are never out of touch. Act on the document/information accessed from the office or “on-the-road” with Pilera-supported mobile capability. Contact us today!

When people live in a community, like in an apartment building, there are a lot of things they can do collectively to protect each other. This is especially true when it comes to theft. As the property manager, consider sharing these tips with your tenants so that they can protect themselves and each other from property loss.

• When calling the kids in for dinner, make sure they put away their bikes and other expensive toys. Items sitting around outside are easy pickin\’s for thieves.

• If you purchase a big ticket item, remember that leaving the box by the curb for trash pick-up is like letting a thief know exactly what you have in your home.

• Thieves love properties that give them both easy entry and a good escape route. Keep hedges trimmed well below the window line. Hedges that grow over the windows provide good cover for thieves using them as a point of entry.

• When considering what plant to use in your well-groomed hedge, think about those that have thorns. Those provide a natural defense against criminals.

• If you have a sliding door, remember that some models can easily be popped off their tracks allowing thieves easy entry. In addition to locking your sliding door, place a strong dowel in the back track.

• Always lock windows and doors and keep blinds closed so that thieves can’t peek in and see what you have in your home.

• Look out for your neighbors. Know who belongs in your complex and who doesn’t, and question those who don’t look familiar.

Pilera is a best-of-class, easy-to-use, comprehensive online property management solution for apartments, condos, and associations. Pilera provides the easiest, most comprehensive data management capability available to property managers, leasing agents, boards of directors, and back-office personnel. Quickly and easily access whatever you need, whenever you need it, from wherever you need to be with office or mobile phone connectivity. You are never out of touch. Act on the document/information accessed from the office or “on-the-road” with Pilera-supported mobile capability. Contact us today!

There’s no doubt about it – green living is in. People make a lot of decisions about their lives to make sure that they’re living in a way that protects their bodies and planet. They might eat organic foods, choose cloth diapers, carefully select the origin of their meat, and use environmentally friendly cleaning products. But it doesn’t matter how many organic foods they eat or vinegar solutions they use to clean if you’re spraying their apartments with noxious chemicals to keep pests out. You’ll lose these tenants. And with the green movement growing, you’ll find a growing number of potential tenants who live this lifestyle. It’s time to adjust or be left behind.

Many property managers are protecting their tenants’ health and doing good for the planet by choosing integrated pest management methods rather than the chemicals of the past. This method looks for the reason behind a pest infestation and eliminates it, rather than simply eliminating the pests with a coating of bug spray. Eliminating habitats through careful landscaping, moisture elimination, crack sealing, and prompt disposal of debris may be a slower method of pest elimination, but it works better in the long run. If you kill pests with chemicals, you may notice an immediate reduction in their numbers, but they’re likely to come back stronger and chemical resistant.

Integrated pest management is something you can’t do alone. It requires the participation of all of your residents who must alert you to moisture problems in their apartments and keep the garbage from piling up. But if your tenants are committed to living a green lifestyle, they’ll likely be thrilled to find a property that is just as committed and will gladly participate.

Pilera is a best-of-class, easy-to-use, comprehensive online property management solution for apartments, condos, and associations. Pilera provides the easiest, most comprehensive data management capability available to property managers, leasing agents, boards of directors, and back-office personnel. Quickly and easily access whatever you need, whenever you need it, from wherever you need to be with office or mobile phone connectivity. You are never out of touch. Act on the document/information accessed from the office or “on-the-road” with Pilera-supported mobile capability. Contact us today!

The vast majority of your tenant relationships will be respectful ones with few bumps along the way. But if you aren’t careful, you’ll likely have one or two difficult relationships that will end up filling the majority of your time. To keep destructive tenant relationships out of your property so you can use your time to focus on more important things, tenant screening is of utmost importance. We’ve compiled a few tenant screening and decision-making tips to help you.

Before inviting a potential tenant to look at your property, ask a few questions over the phone to save everyone some time. These questions should be your deal breaker questions and could include questions about pets, smoking, and salary. If the potential tenant’s answers don’t fit your policy, like if they own an exotic pet, you don’t have to waste your time and theirs by showing the property.

If the potential tenant passes the pre-qualifying test, invite them to see the property. During this interaction, make sure your personalities mesh well. But whether they do or not, offer the same application to everyone who sees the property so you aren’t accused of discrimination. The rental application should ask for name, contact information, Social Security number, bank information, employment information, and landlord and personal references. It should also include the address of the property to be rented and its monthly rent. Make sure the application asked for permission to perform a background check.

Once you have the application, first check the person’s rental history. It is a good idea to call that person’s previous landlord rather than his or her current landlord who might be motivated to get rid of an unfavorable tenant. Next, contact the potential renter’s employer. Finally, run a credit report, keeping an eye out for eviction history or a pattern of late bill payment.

After you’ve gathered all of your information, run it through an established scoring system that assigns points based on salary information, references, and credit score. The person with the most number of points gets the apartment. Choosing tenants this way ensures that you’re not acting with bias of any kind and will protect you if you’re accused of discrimination.

Of course there are always surprises when dealing with tenants, but having a clear-cut method of screening tenants should go a long way toward helping you rent to responsible people with whom you can have friendly relationships.

Pilera is a best-of-class, easy-to-use, comprehensive online property management solution for apartments, condos, and associations. Pilera provides the easiest, most comprehensive data management capability available to property managers, leasing agents, boards of directors, and back-office personnel. Quickly and easily access whatever you need, whenever you need it, from wherever you need to be with office or mobile phone connectivity. You are never out of touch. Act on the document/information accessed from the office or “on-the-road” with Pilera-supported mobile capability. Contact us today!

When people begin searching for an apartment to rent, they know exactly where to go to look. And landlords know exactly where to go to post. So if everyone’s posting their available properties in the same place, how do you make sure yours gets seen by the right tenant? There are a few tricks that will help you do just that.

When faced with a large list of properties to consider, most prospective renters have to narrow them down in some way, and the way they’re most likely to do that is by lack of information. Including pictures of your property is a must. Some renters won’t even look at your ad if they’re not included.

Another way to stand out from the crowd is with a compelling headline. The words “Apartment for rent” tell a prospective renter nothing. Instead, include in your headline the things that make your property shine. And be honest!

Include the square footage of the apartment, the amenities available, its location, and the date the apartment is available. Include pricing information like rent and security deposit, and set expectations about utility bills if applicable. If you have rules about pets or a background check, be sure to say so.

Some property owners feel that luring tenants in to see the property and saving these conversations later is the way to go, but in the end, this method can waste everyone’s time. Be up front and descriptive in your ad, and you’ll find the perfect tenant in no time.

Pilera is a best-of-class, easy-to-use, comprehensive online property management solution for apartments, condos, and associations. Pilera provides the easiest, most comprehensive data management capability available to property managers, leasing agents, boards of directors, and back-office personnel. Quickly and easily access whatever you need, whenever you need it, from wherever you need to be with office or mobile phone connectivity. You are never out of touch. Act on the document/information accessed from the office or “on-the-road” with Pilera-supported mobile capability. Contact us today!

Anyone who’s lived in a condo complex is familiar with the notices that pop up on the bulletin boards, on the exit doors, in emails, and in every other medium imaginable. They generally address issues that have cropped up and serve as reminders about the condo rules and standards.

Notices are tricky, though, especially in smaller complexes. If the notice reminds tenants that tossing cigarette butts into mulch is a fire hazard and there’s only one smoker in the complex, everyone knows who the notice is talking about. If it reminds condo owners that parking in the fire lane is prohibited and there’s one person who consistently flaunts that particular rule, same thing.

So how can notices get their point across without making certain tenants feel targeted?

The best way is to use a bit of generalization, or a bit of passing the buck. Instead of saying “Don’t pitch your butts in the mulch,” a message more along the lines of “The fire department has asked us to remind all tenants that cigarettes and mulch are a bad combination.” Invoking the fire department is also a good way to bring up the issue of parking in the fire lane.

Communal living isn’t always easy, and when you need to bring certain condo owners in line, it can get even more challenging. But as long as your tenant notices are painted with broad strokes, no one will feel like there’s a target on them.

Pilera is a best-of-class, easy-to-use, comprehensive online property management solution for apartments, condos, and associations. Pilera provides the easiest, most comprehensive data management capability available to property managers, leasing agents, boards of directors, and back-office personnel. Quickly and easily access whatever you need, whenever you need it, from wherever you need to be with office or mobile phone connectivity. You are never out of touch. Act on the document/information accessed from the office or “on-the-road” with Pilera-supported mobile capability. Contact us today!

Sometimes it’s nice to just turn off the phone, power down the computer, and do some good old-fashioned face-to-face socializing.
And if you’re a property manager or have a property management team, why not extend that socializing to include your tenants? As we’ve discussed in previous blogs, going above and beyond for your tenants is one of the best ways of keeping them and keeping them happy.

Here are a few ideas for social functions you can use to show your tenants a good time:

Football Parties: These are great events for the fall and winter months when folks tend to be indoors more often anyway. (Other sports are good as well, but since baseball, hockey, and basketball have so many games in a season, it can get expensive. Best to save those for the playoffs.) Sundays tend to be a little more family-focused anyway, so everyone can come down and enjoy the big game.

Holiday Parties: Halloween parties are always great fun for the kids. Early Thanksgiving dinners (or even actual Thanksgiving dinners, for folks without families) can be a great way to build community ties. And Christmas celebrations are a festive time for all ages.

Movie Nights: Possibly the easiest function of all — just pick an age-appropriate crowd-pleaser, make some popcorn, and you’ve got an entertaining night in for anyone who’s a fan of the cinema.

“Picture This” Yard Sale: A fun and useful event where tenants bring pictures of items they no longer want and either sell them to or barter with other tenants. Since everyone’s on the same property, delivery of the actual items is usually a breeze!

Game Night: For a modest initial investment, you can provide your tenants with hours of fun. When it’s not game night, you can leave the games out and available to anyone who wants to play. (Just keep an eye out for lost pieces!)

With a little imagination and a reasonable budget, you can make your property the most popular joint in town.

Pilera is a best-of-class, easy-to-use, comprehensive online property management solution for apartments, condos, and associations. Pilera provides the easiest, most comprehensive data management capability available to property managers, leasing agents, boards of directors, and back-office personnel. Quickly and easily access whatever you need, whenever you need it, from wherever you need to be with office or mobile phone connectivity. You are never out of touch. Act on the document/information accessed from the office or “on the road” with Pilera-supported mobile capability. Contact us today!