By Steve Boudreault, Buildium, Boston, MA

In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy are found guilty of assassinating the Chancellor of the Klingon High Council and are sent to the penal colony known as Rura Penthe. Upon arrival, the administrator of the facility informs the arriving prisoners, “Work well, and you will be treated well. Work badly, and you will die.”

This sentiment, paraphrased and without the threat of death, is a guiding principle of property management. If tenants behave themselves and follow the rules, the property manager can make their tenancy a pleasant one. If not, things can get ugly very fast.

There was a situation recently at a property in Virginia where the residents came close to rioting because of what they perceived to be shoddy property management. Management, for their part, claimed that the residents were disrespectful, slovenly, and constantly flouting the rules.

So as a property manager, what do you do when a situation turns ugly? You’ve all got to live with one another, right? If you say it’s them and they say it’s you, how do you come to an amicable resolution? Here are a few tips.

Document everything. If residents are accusing you of not performing your property management duties, be sure to have written documentation that states that you have been. And if, for example, residents are complaining about things not being repaired, photographic evidence of before and after can go a long way.

Isolate the problem. It’s very rare that an entire property rises up as one against management. Oftentimes it’s a single agitator, rallying other residents to the cause by pointing out minor issues and making mountains out of molehills. If there’s general grumbling, talk to your residents and see if you can trace the problem back to one or two malcontents.

Arrange town meetings. Gathering everyone together in an open forum is a great way to establish a dialogue, hear residents’ complaints, and keep everyone up to date on what’s being done and what will be done to fix things. Be sure to keep the reins tight, though. Meetings like these can easily degenerate into shouting matches if you’re not careful.

Property managers and residents live in an eternal state of careful balance. As long as everyone feels that their voices are heard and respected, that balance is maintained and everyone can live in harmony.

By Steve Boudreault, Buildium, Boston, MA

Well here we are in a brand-new year, and if you’re a property manager, you’ve no doubt drawn up your plan for keeping your residents and keeping them happy in 2013. Many property managers follow a fairly standard playbook when it comes to resident perks — Super Bowl parties, free coffee in the mornings, discounts on multi-year leases, and so forth. But here’s something to consider: SatisFacts, the apartment industry’s authority on resident satisfaction and retention, discovered that the top three factors that influence a renewal decision are quality of maintenance service, safety and security, and quality of customer service provided by office staff. But what about the free peppermint candy in the leasing office? Nope. Not gonna cut it.

So how can you use these three factors to your advantage? Let’s take a look.

The quality of maintenance service is a no-brainer. It can be a challenge for larger properties, but maintenance staff showing up quickly with the most likely tools they’ll need for the issue can go a long way. And though many properties have switched to an online maintenance request system, most service requests still come via phone or in-person leasing office visit, so having staff on hand who are familiar with the most common issues and how to resolve them can be a real feather in your cap. Never having to worry about the malfunctioning garbage disposal? Who wouldn’t want to renew?

It’s no surprise that safety and security are a high priority for residents. Why would anyone want to stay somewhere they didn’t feel safe? Taking proactive steps to ensure a well-lit property filled with well-informed residents is key. Make sure that you have a good rapport with the local law enforcement. Replace burnt-out light fixtures in exterior common areas quickly. Inform residents if there have been any incidents such as break-ins, vandalism, or strangers hanging around the property, and be sure to let them know what’s being done about it. A feeling of security? Who wouldn’t want to renew?

And finally, customer service. It doesn’t matter if you have five units or 500, it all comes down to customer service. Do you have experienced professionals in place? Folks who can endure the most expletive-laced tirades with a smile? Who can make prospective tenants feel at ease, but with just enough sales experience to convince them they should take the plunge? And the $64,000 question — do you have a customer service staff that cares? Really cares about resident concerns? If so, you’ve got the biggest piece of the puzzle already in place. A pleasant voice on the other end that makes a person feel valued and appreciated? Who wouldn’t want to renew?

So? What are you doing to keep your renewal rate high this year?

By Peter Lamandre, Better By Design Real Estate, Scranton, PA

“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.” – Benjamin Franklin

We all work hard to build our reputations. I was speaking with a potential property management client yesterday, when I asked him if he had any questions about my firm. His reply was simple; “Yes, are you honest?” I chuckled and reminded him that he was a referral from one of our oldest clients. The fact of the matter is that people like to do business with those they know, like, and TRUST. In property management the TRUST part is a big piece — after all the owner of the property is basically saying here is my single biggest asset, you’re in charge; please make me lots of money.

In the old days you would go to a chamber of commerce meeting, or an apartment association meeting, or a similar in-person event (we still do these things). In today’s internet-driven world, clients often first find you online then send you an email or fill out an online prospect form. The consumer will then conduct research online to find out all they can about you and your firm. The hard part is knowing what is said about you online — have you ever given thought to how many websites are out there? Here are some quick stats from pingdom.com:

Websites

• 255 million – The number of websites as of December 2010
• 21.4 million – The number of websites added in 2010

Social media

• 152 million – The number of blogs on the Internet (as tracked by BlogPulse)
• 25 billion – The number of sent tweets on Twitter in 2010
• 100 million – New accounts added on Twitter in 2010
• 175 million – People on Twitter as of September 2010
• 600 million – People on Facebook at the end of 2010
• 250 million – New people on Facebook in 2010
• 30 billion – Pieces of content (links, notes, photos, etc.) shared on Facebook per month
• 70% – Share of Facebook’s user base located outside the United States

It would be impossible to independently search all of these locations to see if someone has tweeted, posted, liked or criticized you or your firm. Luckily you don’t have to, as there are services on the web like ReputationDefender.com that you can hire to keep an eye on things. These types of services can not only monitor your reputation, but can actively assist in promoting a good reputation and suppressing negative content.

Now if you’re frugal and have a bit of time on your hands you can do it on the cheap by utilizing a free service from Google called Google Alerts. Google allows you to have their server run a search for specific terms and have the results automatically sent to your email for review. You can enter searches for your name, your firm’s name, common misspellings, and anything else that might be posted in reference to your reputation. This will enable you to quickly respond to any info posted about you. Many companies are actively monitoring their reputation; in fact in my last post I mentioned “Tap Inspect” and whether it was via a manual, automatic or paid service they became aware of my post and actually commented on it. This a great example of a company proactively monitoring what people are saying about them and responding.

But how do you respond?

If someone posts a nice comment… thank them, people like to be thanked and it will only encourage more positive comments. It also shows that you care about what your clients think.

Don’t retaliate against negative posts. You are better off taking a deep breath and thinking about the post, admitting fault if there was indeed validity to the post, and demonstrating how you will correct the issue.

Lastly, write a blog fostering comments from clients, or create a Facebook page asking clients to make positive comments on your service. The best way to make bad comments less relevant is to promote the good ones.

Whether you’re a landlord, a professional property manager, or a tenant you’ve got your own unique concerns when it comes to subletting a property. As a landlord, you want to ensure that the new tenant is screened properly and won’t be a disruption. As a tenant, you may not be able to pay several months’ rent at two different properties if you are not allowed to sublet. Whatever your specific concerns are, these links will ensure that your decision whether or not to sublet has been given due diligence.

• This article on 5 Factors to Consider Before Subletting is a great place to start — it’s all about understanding the risks.
• The Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco provides these guidelines on dealing with roommate issues in regards to subletting.
• eHow offers a simple, easy to understand summary of the issues you may encounter when subletting.
• Sublet.com is a great site for listing units available for sublet or finding a unit to sublet for a short period of time.

Whatever you do, make sure that you take the time to consider state and local laws before entering into any specific subletting scenario.

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Chances are you put a lot of effort into finding just the right tenant to entrust with your unit: you run a credit and criminal background check, you verify employment, you speak with applicants’ past landlords, and perhaps you even require an additional personal reference or two. In short, you do everything within your power to make sure that your unit is rented to the most reliable, responsible tenant possible. Performing this due diligence protects your property, your financial well-being, and also generally makes your life easier by bettering the chances that you’ve selected a tenant who will be a thoughtful neighbor to other tenants on your property.

Therein lies the biggest problem with subletting units: in such instances, you are typically entrusting this screening process to another party, essentially allowing a pre-existing tenant to select someone to occupy your unit on your behalf. Of course, it certainly works in the pre-existing tenant’s best interest to find a subletor who is responsible, who will take care of the unit, and who will make rent payments in a timely manner. After all, it’s the pre-existing tenant who will remain on the lease and ultimately be held responsible for any damage or financial obligations until the initial lease term has run its course. However, most tenants simply don’t have experience in property management or a complete handle on what it is that constitutes an ideal tenant. Because of this, problems can arise when subletting enters the equation.

On the other hand, there are benefits to subletting. No matter what a lease states, most property managers will at one point or another find themselves in a situation where a tenant simply must vacate a unit prior to the end of a lease term due to circumstances beyond their control. Unfortunately, this situation will not necessarily arise at a point where would-be renters are readily available. No matter what your lease states, if a pre-existing tenant finds himself in a position where he has to move with nine months still remaining on the lease, he simply may not have the financial resources to fulfill the terms of the lease on his own. Depending on your lease terms and state law, you may have the right to take this tenant to court to collect unpaid rent — in and of itself an expensive and arduous process.

For as much as subletting is not always an ideal scenario, if you find yourself in a position where the alternative is lost rent, a sublet may be the most viable option. If you do find yourself in this situation, it’s important to make sure that all of the following are in place:

• The pre-existing tenant (who is charged with finding a subletor) has proven himself to be responsible and generally exercises good judgment.
• A credit and criminal check are required of the subletor (whether this is covered by you or the pre-existing tenant).
• All necessary legal documents are in place to ensure that financial and other obligations are fulfilled, both in terms of monthly rent payments and any damage incurred on the unit.
• You maintain final approval over the potential subletor.

Remember, as a property manager, subletting is strictly under your control. If you opt not to allow subletting under any circumstances, be sure that you include a clause that states this in your lease contract. For an alternative view on subletting, be sure to check back next week when we’ll look at subletting from a tenant’s perspective.

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Some of you may recognize this article from a few weeks ago when it made the rounds on many Property Management Blogs.  Chris Throman from Software Advice was kind enough to allow us to re-post the article to the Buildium Blog. Chris Thorman blogs about property management software at SoftwareAdvice.com.

Last week, Software Advice set out to learn about the state of technology among property managers. Thanks to the 70 of you who responded to our survey, we gathered interesting information on social media use, business growth, lead tracking, and other areas.

We invite you to download the full results of our survey (PDF) to review these trends and stats and blog about them on your own web site.

We’ve covered a handful of the more interesting results here.

Technology Characteristics of a Growing Business

Nearly half of the companies we surveyed grew their business last year, either by revenue or by number of units. Below is a chart detailing the rate of technology adoption by those companies:

Percentage of technology adopted by growing companies

The companies that were able to grow their business in a down economy made extensive use of technology.

Over 60% of those growing businesses use property management specific software system, such as Buildium, Appfolio, Maxwell Systems or Spectra.

In general, those that were successful were able to:

• Automate tasks
• Track online leads well
• Provide their tenants with online options

Like with virtually every other industry, the successful property management companies are moving online.

Great Software Equals Efficiency

We asked our respondents how many units their company managed and how many employees worked at their company. We broke down the averages, compared them to who was using property management software to manage their company and who wasn’t.

Companies who used property management specific software managed an average of 102 units per employee. Those that using generic software or spreadsheets only managed an average of 61 units per employee.We acknowledge there are other factors to consider here. But we’re firmly in the camp that an integrated software suite frees up property management employees to do more tasks. It just makes sense:

• Less time spent moving between programs
• Less time spent learning multiple systems
• Quicker and more efficient data management
• Many automated tasks

We’d love to hear from those of you whose experience has differed from this.

Companies are Struggling to Track Online Leads

The property management industry has a strong presence online, from Multifamily Insiders to Let’s Talk Property Management to PropertyManager.com. Much of the discussion on those web sites is centered around online marketing and lead generation.

That’s why it was surprising to see 36% of property managers don’t even use computers to track online leads. Instead they rely on a tenant to mention it on an application.

In addition, 19% of our respondents don’t track leads generated online, which was perhaps the most shocking statistic.

As we noted above, those companies that are effectively tracking online leads are growing their business.

Social Media Use Widespread But Is It Effective?

Despite the evangelization of social media over the last few years, our survey showed no sizable growth in business between companies who are using social media and those who are not.

Percentage of companies who engage tenants and prospects on social media sites

This begs the question: What strength does social media have in the business of property management? Facebook and Twitter are fantastic for networking – but does that generate leads and provide a return on investment?

We’d be curious to hear from those of you who have defined ROI metrics for social media.

Thoughts from the respondents

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Parking can be a nightmare, not only for property residents but also for property managers. Many municipalities don’t do much to help either. Check out these linked photos to see how bad parking can really get.

• I wonder how the front passenger got out of this car?
• Oops … how did that get up there?
• Aren’t there days when you wish you could just stack your cars? (Incidentally, many U.S. cities use these.)
• Where do you think this car is going?
• Does this look like a familiar scene in your parking lots?

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