CLASS Leasing: Buying And Selling

Here is a great video that breaks down the process of buying and selling, in terms of what goes through a prospects mind before a purchase is made. It relates to any field and market, because regardless of the situation, we are all buyers and sellers at some point in time.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: MUST READ

This article from Multifamily Insiders is definitely one of the better Craigslist tips write-ups I have come across and does a great job outlining all of the key points that goes into posting ads. The goal in posting on Craigslist is to be seen and drive traffic to your property, but these two things can only be accomplished through the creative work a user puts into their listing. The title I used for this blog is an example of how effective a simple title change can be, which is what every person that searches on Craigslist sees first. Therefore, get creative with your listings and see how people are postings titles already and do your best to make your title unique. Have fun with your postings, because always remember that Craigslist is completely free!

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Website Redesigning

Redesigning a company website can be quite the daunting task, especially in terms of obtaining views and relevancy for the website. Search engine optimization has to be taken into account when developing a website, because if the website cannot be found when searched, then the money used for designing the website is money down the drain. Designing a website is a science in itself, but Multifamily Insiders offers some great tips to consider when developing a website in order to get the most bang for your buck.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Embedding Social Media

I have written numerous blogs about social media and it is no surprise that social media is the waive of the future for marketing in general, especially in the apartment industry. Joining the endless list of social media websites is only a small piece to the puzzle when it comes to utilizing social media and the many benefits that it offers. Once an apartment community page is created in all of these websites, then it is every person's responsibility to spread the word about these pages. By letting as many people know as possible about these social websites, an apartment community can take advantage of the already established customer touchpoints to increase the popularity of an apartment community. Here are two great articles courtesy of Freshnetworks and Apartmentfinder that harp on the importance of embedding social media.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Foursquare

With the many social networking websites that there are in the web-based world, there is yet another that made its' debut back in the early part of 2009. Foursquare is a web and mobile application that allows registered users to connect with friends and update their location. Much like Twitter Foursquare is an interactive social site that allows users to post status updates, in regards to where they are currently located. The added benefit of Foursquare is that businesses are actively involved, in that when one updates their location, they may receive an update from a local business to their location offering a special, or discount of some sort. Therefore, the more times a user visits a location, the more likely they are to receive benefits from businesses for their loyalty by visiting. This is definitely an up and coming social media site, so take the time to learn about Foursquare, because it is yet another way to get a business's name out into the social wire.

7 Quick Steps to Foursquare Marketing
Ten Foursquare Marketing Campaigns
How Businesses Are Using Foursquare

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Top Ten Social Networking Sites

Marketingcharts.com via data collected from Hitwise established the top ten social networking sites and forums as of September 2010. It comes as no surprise that Facebook is number one by a landslide, but take the time to do some research on the other nine. If your property is not advertised in all ten of these sites, then it's probably time to start researching all of these sites and getting information about your property on all of them.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Impressive Apartment

Price will always be an objection that one will encounter on a daily basis working in the apartment industry. It never fails that even if an apartment were offered for free, someone will still complain about it being too expensive! With that being said I happened to stumble upon a particular apartment that "expensive" is not quite an extravagant enough word to use to describe the price of this ONE apartment. This apartment is currently being rented out by Will Smith and his family and is located in New York. Make sure to not miss the monthly rent price. It's pretty hard to miss. Quite impressive.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Holiday Apartment Decorating

It's that time of the year to unpack all of those holiday decorations and turn your apartment into a shrine for Christmas! Decorating an apartment is usually no easy task, because you have to get a little more creative without the use of a front yard. Therefore, more decorating efforts should be geared towards the interior of your home, but make sure not to forget to take some time to string those Christmas lights on the balcony or porch. Here are some useful websites to give you additional ideas to help with your holiday decorating:
Decorating A Smaller Apartment For Christmas
Decorating Your Small Apartment
Decorating Your Balcony For Christmas

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Holiday Events

This is typically the time of the year that many apartment communities count their losses and plan on having a "slow leasing" season. Less outreach marketing is usually executed, because it is viewed as being done for nothing and fewer resident events are planned to work towards resident referrals, since no one is looking to move. These thoughts are huge misconceptions and can be detrimental to the upcoming productivity an apartment can see come the early spring time. Just because it is cold does not mean that there are not people moving, because there are always individuals looking to move all year long! If anything there should be a boost in outreach marketing during the winter time, in order to capture every piece of traffic possible. There should be more resident events planned, so residents will be more inclined to invite potential prospects to boost resident referral move-ins. With that being said I have compiled a list, with the help of Resident Events, Multifamily Insiders and Rent Soda, of great holiday community ideas to keep those residents happy and keep that traffic flowing all through the holiday season:

1. Post holiday door hangers on each residents door wishing them a Happy Holidays
2. Schedule Christmas caroling gatherings for residents
3. Have volunteer Christmas present wrappings in the clubhouse for those that are wrapping challenged individuals
4. Hold a kid's night in the clubhouse to allow parents to finish their Christmas shopping in the early evening and not have to worry about getting a baby-sitter
5. Host a resident Christmas dinner in the clubhouse, in which every resident brings some sort of food
6. Sponsor any kind of community service project (i.e., Clothing drive; food drive; toy drive; blanket drive; Salvation Army bell ringers; soup kitchen volunteers; etc.)
7. Instead of just accepting packages in the clubhouse, deliver the packages to the residents in the evenings as a little gift delivery
8. Offer doorstep recycling pick-up for all of the empty package boxes and used wrapping paper
9. Turn the clubhouse into the North Pole with a visit from Santa for any children looking to have their picture taken
10. Put-on a cookie exchange social or a pie mingle, in the clubhouse, in which every resident brings a dozen cookies, or pie, of their choice and have eggnog for the adults
11. Hold a Christmas card contest for all of the children in the community
12. Have a "decorate your balcony" contest
13. Put-on a wreath making event and invite all residents to the clubhouse to learn how to decorate/make a wreath
14. Holiday movie night in the clubhouse/movie room showing any Christmas movie favorite

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Winter Resident Contest

With winter just right around the corner, it is time to switch gears when it comes to resident retention and attracting prospect ideas. One great contest idea either for a resident prize giveaway, or a nice opportunity to offer a prize concession to a prospect is...a snowman building contest! What better way to take advantage of living in an area where there is a large abundance of wintery mix and get residents/prospects involved than constructing unique and festive Frostys'! Announce this as a resident referral game allowing residents to invite friends and I guarantee you there will be a large turnout.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Facebook Facts

Since I just finished reading the Social Network, which I absolutely recommend, I thought it would be interesting to share some impressive statistics about Facebook. When reading these numbers keep in mind that Facebook was created only 6 years ago...

-There are more than 500 million active users on Facebook
-50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day
-The average user has 130 friends
-People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
-About 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States
-The average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events
-It's estimated there will be over 630 million users by 2011
-There are only two countries, China and India, that have larger populations

Incredible.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Resident Events

I wanted to do a blog today about some great resident event ideas for the Holiday Season, so like any other search I ever perform, I started with Google. Upon maneuvering my way through the search results, I came across a website that I had never heard of that was linked into Multifamily Insiders. The website is actually called www.residentevents.com and was created by Multifamily Insiders as a way for property managers to search all of the great resident event ideas that have been posted on multifamilyinsiders.com that tend to get lost in the archive. This website and Facebook page are packed full of events that will get residents involved, which will therefore encourage not only resident retention, but also resident referral. Browse through both and see what you can find!

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Holiday Season Marketing Idea

With Christmas right around the corner, it is time to start making an extra push to get those leases before the holiday season is in full force. There is no such thing as a "slow season," but only a time of the year where you must market a little harder to drive those prospects in the door. With that being said here is a great holiday marketing idea that you can utilize for the season.
Candy canes are very inexpensive treats that are extremely popular this time of the year. Since this candy is basically only recognizable this time of the year, why not use them as a marketing tool? Purchase a large amount of candy canes, as well as ribbon, and design a holiday festive quarter page flyer with your property's information on it. When you've put together the candy canes with your property's flyer, distribute them to any place where people may gather for holiday events, or any place where children may be (i.e., Christmas tree lightings in town center; malls where Santa's may be; day cares; elementary schools; etc.)
Most places should be more than receptive to this holiday treat, because everyone loves a candy cane this time a year!

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: If You Think Your Apartment Is Small...

There are two big complaints that you will always here from prospects, regardless of what part of the country you are in: price and size of the apartment. In terms of price, the apartment could be offered for free and someone would say that it is too expensive. The apartment could also be 3,000 square feet and someone would ultimately say that it is too small. This is a common occurrence everywhere, so the next time someone objects to one of these two things, just think of this article and smile.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: The "More Seasoned" Apartment Community Charm

Often times prospects will look at apartment communities that do not have all of the bells and whistles as out-dated, or just too old. This is a common misconception that is unfortunate, due to the fact that older apartment communities are often times able to offer things that the newer apartments are not. With an older apartment community there typically comes a much more established reputation, since the community has been around for much longer and more than likely has long term residents. An older apartment community will be on a larger piece of land allowing for more lavish landscaping with larger trees and grassed areas. In addition, the floor plans will definitely be larger in an older apartment community than it's newer counterpart. As you can see there are many selling features that an older apartment community will offer, so do not overlook the "more seasoned" neighborhoods.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing