Resident Retention Part 1

I often ask myself, why is resident retention not taken more seriously? Isn't a renewal just as good as a lease?

In some ways, it's even better. For instance, when you calculate in the advertising dollar per lease, the cost per turn, the cost of having an apartment stay vacant for a week, and most importantly, the risk of leasing to a new tenant who may not pay rent on time, isn't a renewal the safer bet? Especially if the renewal is a good resident.

This begs the question, why is more time not spent on Resident Retention? The answer lies in the lack of motivation from the leasing team to focus on the back door. When a leasing team is rewarded per move-in, then the focus is always on creating traffic and closing on it. Very little time, money, and effort is spent on keeping the currant residents happy.

Why not base commission on occupancy rather then move-ins? Give your team a reason to care about the back door as well as the front door. When we look at the cost per renewal vs the cost per lease, you can see that it will even improve your bottom line.