If you’re like most property managers, your work day is stuck in the 20th century. Rent checks are collected through a metal drop box. Brochures sit idly by outside of your office. Your web site consists of one page with a phone number, e-mail address and a few photos. Enough paperwork is collecting in your office to create a fire hazard.

I want to point out six things that property managers can really master in the 21st century, thanks to the latest property management software systems.

Managing Leads to New Tenants

According to Apartment Internet Marketing, 46% of apartment prospects inquire about a property after normal 9 AM to 5 PM office hours.

How are you currently tracking these? Through e-mail? Scrolling through your Caller ID to check missed calls? Do you even know how effective your current advertising methods are?

Fortunately, many property management software applications will collect and organize your leads from all sources, even after you’re out of the office. Rent Manager is one company that is integrating marketing with it’s property management software.

A modern property management application can:

• Collect call information from prospects inquiring after hours
• Respond automatically via e-mail to internet prospects
• Track e-mail open rates so you can follow up with those who haven’t seen your response
• Broadcast e-mails to the leads you’ve collected but haven’t converted
• Log the source of leads to your web site (Craigslist.org, Apartments.com, etc)
• Track leads from offline sources through the use of specific phone numbers
• Integrate with your online advertising methods (pay-per-click, banners ads, etc.)

In our opinion, this is the wave of the future in property management software. With more and more people every day going to the internet to look for properties, integration of web services with your property management software will be the difference between surviving and thriving. Connecting with Your Tenants

Don’t be that property manager on ApartmentRatings.com whose tenants claim is never around.

Running your office on one of the leading property management software applications will allow you to:

• Generate e-mail blasts to your tenants and rental owners
• Create community forums to discuss important topics and feedback
• Manage online calendars of events and important dates

In short, your property management software becomes your communication hub between you, your tenants and your rental owners. There’s no need to combine three of four different, separate services that don’t talk to each other. Moreover, you’ll be present without having to knock on every door.

Automation of Regular Tasks

If the rent deadline has passed and a tenant has not paid their rent yet, what do you do?

Typically, you either call them on the phone or drop off a notice at their door. That’s too much manual effort. Your property management system should email them an alert or late rent notice immediately. No need for you to type, print, mail or deliver.

Property management software can even ease the pain during one of the most stressful times of the year – tax season. Buildium’s property management software will automatically generate 1099 tax forms for vendors and rental owners and even file them electronically to the IRS. All of this is done from within the software itself.

The advantages of automation are clear: more time to focus on more important tasks (like finding leads), fewer mistakes and an overall higher level of efficiency.

Others tasks that have been automated by property management software are:

• Rent increases
• CAM charges
• Preventative maintenance scheduling
• Lease expiration notices
• Tenant log in to view account details

Many of your automated notices to tenants can be emailed directly from the property management software or even sent to mobile phones.

Advertising with Popular Web Sites

Put yourself in the shoes of a prospective tenant. Where are you going to look first for a new apartment or home? More than likely, you’re going to start your search at Craigslist or another website.

Property management software company Appfolio integrates the ability to post listings to Craigslist directly into its software, making posting vacancies to the hugely popular web site that much easier.

Appfolio uses the information you’ve already entered and are managing about your properties and ports that information directly to Craigslist. No double entry and no time wasted managing your Craigslist account separately.

And it’s not just about making it easy to post to Craigslist. Appfolio allows you to design a custom template (pictured right) that makes your Craigslist posts stand out among the typical, text-only ads.

Building a Web Site that Integrates with Your Software

If you can count the number of pages on your web site on one hand, chances are it’s not doing much to help keep your occupancy rate high. You need more than a digital business card. What you need is a web site that appeals to prospects, tenants and property owners alike.

A good number of property management software systems out there give you the option to build a slick, fully functional web site that integrates directly with their software.

Property Ware and Rentec Direct are a few of the many property management software suites that give you this build-a-web-site option in addition to their other property management software services. They’ll build a fully customizable web site with all of the features you need.

Advantages of customizable property management web sites include:

• No coding or site maintenance is need on your part
• Installation is quick and painless
• They’ll manage your domain name
• Web site analytics built into the software
• Built in forms increase your lead generation
• All of this is integrated directly with the property management software

Instead of having one company handle your web site design and hosting and another handle your property management software needs, why not have one company do both?

Going Green

Eco-conscious tenants are increasingly concerned with the environmental footprint of their home, even if they are a tenant rather than an owner.

Here’s a list of ways that property management software helps property managers save energy and save paper:

• Storing documents digitally, resulting in fewer lost documents and less paper
• E-mailing renter’s statements at their request instead of printing out paper statements
• Scan renter’s checks and upload them electronically
• Web-based property management eliminates the in-house server, saving energy

Going green isn’t just about saving energy and trees. It also helps you increase your efficiency:

• Digital document storage cuts the time searching for documents dramatically when you can type in a search instead of rummaging through a massive file cabinet
• E-mailing out monthly statement’s is quite a bit quicker than printing, stuffing envelopes and making the rounds on your property dropping off statements
• Imagine eliminating those weekly, sometimes daily, trips to the bank when you can scan and uploading a renter’s check from your desk
• Web-based property management software virtually eliminates IT headaches (and time spent dealing with those headaches) because your software vendor hosts the software on their own servers

If you do take these energy saving measures and advertise them, you’ll attract more customers. And depending on the extent of the “greening” of your properties, you’ll be able to charge more in rent too.

What else does property management software help you do better? What things do you want your property management to take care of that it currently doesn’t?

(Chris Thorman is social media manager at Software Advice. He can be reached at 512-364-0118 or chris@softwareadvice.com)

After essentially shutting down since the fall of 2008, the real estate transaction market is starting to show some signs of life. According to Real Capital Analytics (RCA), a leading real estate data provider, July marked the first consecutive gain in transaction volume in seven quarters. Yet sales volume is barely 10 percent of the market peak in the first half of 2007. Why so slow?

Considering the events of the past year and the front page media headlines, one would think there would be many distressed apartment asset sales–but surprisingly, that’s not the case. Banks have been recapitalized and appear motivated to restructure debt/ownership positions rather than foreclose, realize a loss, inherit operational burdens and, potentially, affect capital/regulatory requirements. As a result, they tend to be in a “pretend and extend” phase. Many distressed assets also have complicated layers of equity and financing, requiring consents from several investors with conflicting investment objectives. Underscoring this, per RCA, less than 10 percent of the distressed situations that have emerged have actually been resolved.

In most cases, deals are being brought to market by partnerships, institutions or insurance companies that are looking to bolster liquidity or lower exposure to real estate. The majority of the buyers are smaller private investors/regional companies. Many of the investors are i) entrepreneurs who were active outside of real estate; ii) foreign buyers looking for a relatively stable investment; or iii) seasoned owners/funds that were previously active in other real estate sectors. Buyers seem to be most focused on high quality locations and assets with low operating risk as well as an attractive discount to replacement cost and cash-on-cash yield. On top of this, smaller assets ($10 – $50 million) that can potentially limit exposure and risk seem to be attracting the most attention; according to RCA, the average apartment deal sold this year is roughly $20 million. Unlike other real estate sectors, ample financing from the GSEs and positive leverage have helped to support apartment pricing. Although cap rates have increased 150-200 bp (values down 25 percent-40 percent) since the market peak, the rate of change is decreasing but there is still a lot of pricing discovery and equity remains volatile.

In May, AVB completed the first REIT deal of the year, when we acquired Verona Apartments for $33.1M (or $150,000 per home) on behalf of our Fund. The property, built in 1994, comprises of 220 homes and is located in downtown Bellevue, Wash. The price reflects a discount of approximately 45 percent below estimated replacement cost and a 200 bp increase over a sale AVB completed in Seattle less than one year ago. Given that AVB manages over 1000 apartments in Bellevue, Verona will benefit from the company’s deep local knowledge, established management platform and economies of scale. In addition, there is potential to reposition the asset through additional physical upgrades as the market strengthens.

We’re still early in the revaluation process but the market appears to be firming again and confidence is re-emerging. Uncertainty can bring tremendous opportunity for buyers with strong reputations, extensive track records and discretionary equity. Assuming short-term operating weakness is underwritten, now may be an ideal time to secure high quality assets at relatively attractive risk adjusted returns that should be well positioned to take advantage of strong fundamentals once the market recovers.

(Lili Dunn is the senior vice president of investments for AvalonBay.)

With space at a premium, imagine a kitchen without boundaries or barriers, an environment free from conventional thought and restrictions, a kitchen created to successfully achieving the delicate balance between form and function reflect the needs and lifestyle of the modern homeowner. 

The new “kitchen matrix” allows for maximum usage of space with the focus on utilization and optimization of the interiors and exposed work areas, allowing the homeowner, apartment dweller or loft inhabitant to maximize the usage of the space at hand. Like the Roman God Janus, who could see the past and future at the same time, the modern kitchen is centered on the duality of purpose and space.

The new approach to kitchen design is to challenge the way we look at space, so we may better understand the problem. As designers, we must move away from a one-dimensional approach to kitchen design and began to think of the kitchen as a multi-dimensional canvas. The static, cluttered, restricted and unchanging kitchen of the past must now evolve into a living stage, a place where it is possible to create an environment that alters old beliefs about space and structure and infuse new concepts that reflect the needs of today’s modern homeowner.

Today’s kitchen has grown far from its primary function of food preparation to that of “the social center of the home”. In the modern kitchen, the family, both nuclear as well as tribal, still gathers to share, rejuvenate and commune together, but the walls have come down and this once hidden and secluded place is now part of a larger social arena. It serves as a meeting place, a dinning room, a home-office, a place to do homework; it can even serve as a hide away for quite reflection, as well as a place to gather for family fun and social entertaining.

The modern kitchen, in its new domestic role, finds itself reflecting a family lifestyle based on the sharing of traditional roles and functions. The living area embraces the kitchen as a multifunctional arena, were food is prepared, people talk, homework is finished and where family and friends sit by a modern hearth to bath in the warmth of community.

Today’s kitchen is open to the rest of the home, and as such, the kitchen now must function on several levels, from food preparation to social interaction, from entertainment center to living-room. More furniture, than cupboards, the modern kitchen must blend seamlessly into the living areas of the home,

(Kevin Henry is the Executive VP of Bazzeo LLC as well as a writer, speaker and environmental activist. He can be reached at kevin@bazzeo.com or you can read his blog at www.theessentialkitchen.blogspot.com)

At a recent design show in Los Angeles this past June, I had the opportunity to see firsthand, the highly touted sustainable all-glass kitchen from a very high profile Italian manufacturer. At first glance, it appeared to be the “holy grail” of environmental kitchen design. The doors, drawers, box, counter top and toe kick were all made of glass and it was this overuse of glass that got me thinking, “Just how green is glass?” When we think of glass, the first thought that comes to mind is its ability to be recycled and reused over and over again, but more often than not, the creation process is often overlooked. 

When seeing this all-glass kitchen for the first time, the thought of fingerprints and chipped edges come to mind long before the impact that the creation process of glass has on the environment. It is understood and appreciated by the populous at large, that glass, in most cases, is 100 percent recyclable and can be used in the process to create new glass, but in recent years, several environmental organizations as well as government agencies, are beginning to take a closer look at how glass is created.�
 
The formula and process to create glass has changed very little over the centuries. Sand, soda ash, limestone, dolomite and feldspar are mixed together and then baked in a blast furnace. This process of bonding and melting can play out over several hours or even days before the glass even begins to cool.

The intense heat required to manufacturer glass, 2,750° F takes a tremendous amount of energy consumption, resulting in enormous greenhouse gas emissions. It has been calculated that producing one ton of glass will create two tons of CO2.

The manufacturing of glass releases high doses of health threatening pollution into the atmosphere, like nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, as well as toxic particulates made of metals, chemicals, acids and dust, small enough to easily enter the nose and throat and reach the lungs.

On further investigation, mining for sand, the primary ingredient of glass, is a practice that is becoming an ecological nightmare as the demand for glass increases on a global scale. And if that wasn’t enough to put you off an all glass kitchen, the shear weight of glass, especially when used in this application, would leave an immense carbon-foot print when transporting from Europe to the United States. 

So we must ask ourselves, just how “green” is an all glass kitchen? As discussed in the beginning the beauty of glass is its ability to be recycled over and over again. Its fatal flaw is the cost to the environment in its primary production. 

(Kevin Henry is the executive VP of Bazzeo LLC as well as a writer, speaker and environmental activist. Henry can be reached at kevin@bazzeo.com or you can read his blog at www.theessentialkitchen.blogspot.com)

You may have heard about LED lighting in the news recently. There are several cities around the country converting their street lights to be LED street lights. No more metal halide or high power sodium bulbs. As you would imagine these types of streetlights need to be quite powerful to light up the blacktop 25 feet below the pole. Sure enough they are bright!

So what about LED lights on your property in the common areas that you are paying the electricity on? Well such replacement bulbs exist and they make CFLs look bad.

There are two types of LED bulbs; high power and low power. You have most likely only seen low powered bulbs which hardware stores and Costco try and sell. The problem with low power bulbs is that they do not give off enough lumens, light. High powered bulbs do exist and are fantastic. Visit www.standard-led.com to view great options for your property.

You may be thinking that the high powered LED bulbs are too expensive. Not true, $40 to $60 each.
When you factor in the length of time your lights are on, the replacement cost of incandescent and CFLs, the cost of electricity, and the low wattage LEDs consume you will appreciate the power of LEDs. Look at this real example.

Dave F. of Los Angeles, CA, purchased 177 LED bulbs for the common area of this 125 unit complex in Orange, TX.

He replaced 65 watt incandescent bulbs with 6 watt LED bulbs. This measured a savings of over 90% on his utility bill for the portion dedicated to lighting. This positive changed saved Dave F. $37.18 PER BULB per year starting in year 1. At an 8% CAP rate Dave F. raised the value of his property by $82,261! ($37.18 X 177 =6,580.86 ÷ .08 = $82,261)

How much did it cost Dave F. to replace the bulbs? Answer: $9,549. With the energy savings that the 6 watt bulbs save, Dave F. will experience an ROI on the LED bulbs in 1 year 3 months and 25 days. This assumes that the common area lights are on for 11 hours a day. As the cost of electricity rises he will find his investment to have an even higher rate of return.

As an added benefit, high power LED lights last for  50,000 hours, so Dave’s maintenance staff does not have to purchase and replace bulbs for the next 12 years 5 months and 13 days.

Spending $9,549 to save $6,580 annually for the next 12+ years and raise the value of his property at an 8% cap rate to $82,261 is not just a good financial decision it is smart!

(Scott Yahraus is the president of Apartment Energy Consultants. Apartment Energy Consultants is the governing body that certifies multifamily properties as being “National Green Apartment Certified visit them at www.GreenRetrofitter.com

Last week, In Part I, we took a look at the “SoCon” —these Socially Conscience Consumers understand that the purchases they make have a profound impact on the world around them, both economically as well as environmentally

Darwin is often misquoted…it is not the survival of the fittest…but rather the survival through adaptation. How are we to adapt to the new economy? How must we change to survive the current market conditions?
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1.    First we need to re-think our products and services in this new economy…our clients are looking for value, not just a deal, not cheaper materials, they are looking for real value from their ever-shrinking dollar. The SoCon (explained in previous post) will invest a few dollars more for something that was built to last and not have to be repaired or replaced in a year or two.

2.    Be the company that cares, who understands and feels the pain the consumer is feeling. These are emotional times. The SoCons are leery and more than a little shell-shocked from what they have been going through. What can you do to meet the client half way? How can you be the company that “Gets it”?

3.    At the core of marketing to the SoCon is “Justification”. Justification such as value, craftsmanship and longevity are the underlying motivation of SoCon purchasing. These justifiers are used as rational excuses to give oneself permission to buy. The overriding justifier behind all-discretionary spending is to improve the quality of life, of individual, of the family and ultimately of the species and planet. The SoCon wants a better, more satisfying, fulfilling life and they will search out and attain those items to fulfill that need.

4.    Branding still has value to the SoCon. They still believe that traditional indicators of value are most important. To our target consumer, products must be sold through a trusted name, be made well, as well as live to a higher standard that contributes to the global good.

5.    As today’s lifestyle purveyors, we are talking about sustainable luxury…products that are solutions, not just commodities. That can mean anything from environmental friendly factory to using sustainable materials in manufacturing to enforcing toxic-free workplaces. Again the “currency of consciousness” and the “Social Return On Investment.”

6.    Thoreau said “Simplify, Simplify.” I say he went too far…I say “Simplify (period).” Keep your sales approach simple…nothing complicated. Educate your client about the benefits and value of your product or service as well as create an atmosphere of trust and dependability in these uncertain times.

In the end trust goes beyond product. It is about people putting their trust in other people. It comes down to one simple question…”would I give “you” my money?” What is your “trust equity?” Do you and your company live up to the brand promise?

(Kevin Henry is the executive VP of Bazzèo Kitchen + Bath, as
well as writer, speaker and industry activist. He can be reached at
kevin@nyloft.net)

The near collapse of the global economic system has had a major impact on the lifestyle of the American consumer, who is buying fewer services and goods that were once considered staples of the affluent life. �
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American consumers have suffered a collective breakdown. They have begun to question their lives and their lifestyles…Do I need that big German car? Do I really need that second house at the beach? Do my kids need to go to that private school? Do I need a new phone or iPod or laptop because it now comes in a cooler color? 

Out of this period of self-denial and personal re-evaluation, a new consumer will be born, the Socially Conscience Consumer or SoCon. SoCons are aware of the world around them and what it means to be self-sufficient—they are consumers who understand that the purchases they make have a profound impact on the world around them, both economically as well as environmentally.

The SoCon will no longer be goaded and coerced by peer pressure or ego-based advertising. He has moved from a consumerism based on flaunting and bragging to one of self-reflection and social responsibility. The battle cry of the SoCon is simple and direct “Do I really need this?”

SoCons will emerge from this economic downturn not as victims, but as survivors. They will feel good about themselves and most of all they will feel good about the future. Like the economic collapse of the 1970s and 1990s, the SoCons will enter into an age of great opportunity and great possibilities.

They will feel empowered and they will have the confidence to take on the future. They will believe in a better tomorrow. And they will focus on what’s good about life, rather than what’s not.

So what is at the “heart” of the Social-Conscious Consumer? To the SoCon it is about lifestyle, it’s not about owning, it’s about living. If stress and anxiety were the bi-products of the post-economic collapse, then nothing will be more coveted by the SoCon than a safe haven to gather and commune with family and friends.

What Are They Looking For?

They look at labels and check out websites and align themselves with those companies that embody their beliefs and values. They are no longer brand loyal, but seek brands that exemplify the new social contract and will hold them accountable.

A word that was once associated with an older generation has become the watch word of the new economy. “Frugality.” Everyone is looking over their collective shoulders, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Will I have my job next year or even next month…my 401 is useless, my savings account is near empty and I have no way to cover tuition for the kids next semester. In other words…every penny counts.

The SoCon has begun to buy store brands at the market as well as cutting and using coupons for the first time. They no longer are looking at cars and phones as a disposable commodity…they are looking and purchasing refurbished phones and other personal electronics as well as pre-owned autos…and even considering public transportation.

The biggest change has been the use of credit cards or better yet the lack of use…the SoCon have lost their need for instant gratification…they are taking their time and pondering their purchase…they have moved from a purchasing reflex of “I want this” to a conscious thought pattern of “Do I really need this.” They are abandoning the credit card to using a debit card or cash or— in a throw back to the 50s—lay-a-way…paying for it over time.

The 7 Characteristics of the SoCon
1.    The SoCons feel that they have too much “stuff.” And that they were prisoners of their possessions and had fallen victim to easy credit and the siren song of mass-consumption. Today they will no longer cave-in to their old buying habits.
2.    The SoCon wants to experience life and not just fill space around them with things. Now every purchase must be weighed and evaluated.
3.    The SoCon is embarrassed by past indiscretions…such as the Hummer or that 10- bedroom summer house for a family of three or the latest…the need to have an iPhone.
4.    To the SoCon, wealth is no longer about things or logos or a brand name…true wealth is about giving back to the community, to the country…to the planet. The things they will purchase today will reflect the social good.
5.    From the clothes they wear, to the coffee they drink, to the car they drive, to the kitchen that defines their home…each purchase must reflect a Social Return on Investment by the company or manufacturer.
6.    The SoCon will use limited resources as a currency of consciousness to leverage a greener and more sustainable tomorrow.
7.    The SoCon believes that the actions of the individual can make a difference.
In Part II, next week, we’ll take a look at marketing to the SoCon.

(Kevin Henry is the executive VP of Bazzèo Kitchen + Bath, as well as writer, speaker and industry activist. He can be reached at kevin@nyloft.net)

We are all familiar with the web and have heard all the stories about young entrepreneurs becoming fabulously rich by building amazing sites and selling products through them. Some examples include Amazon, Zappos, and today’s social media darling Facebook.

Every property is a business and just like any other business you need to promote it. The best and most efficient source to advertise your business is through the Internet. Unlike traditional print advertising, your website need not cost a lot to advertise through. Essentially, your website is a tool to take and use as your advertising vehicle in various sources like Google AdWords, banner ads on popular websites, and through email marketing such as Constant Contact. But if you do not want to spend money to promote your website (which I do not recommend) you have another option. 

You may have heard of the term search engine optimization (SEO). It is the fancy term used by every out of work graphic designer and webpage specialist to try and hook you into paying them big bucks to “optimize” your site. I can tell you from experience that 95% of the people looking to “optimize” your site are not aware of what they are doing.

Your goal should be to build a site that can stand alone by itself and optimize itself. So if you are currently using a template-based system on which your properties site was built upon you’re in trouble.

Three things have to happen for you to have a good site that will be searchable by Google and the other search engines. 1) Domain name 2) Strong keywords inside the pages of your site 3) Receiving backlinks

Let’s look at each of the three points. Let’s assume that your property called Windmill Terrace and it is located in Encino, CA. Let’s also assume that the website to your property is www.wtencino.com . The name of this site is terrible for your property. The reason is because when a potential renter is looking for an apartment on Google they are very committed to a geographic location. What query might a renter queue into Google? How about ‘Encino Apartments’. This search term is highly searched for renters looking to live in Encino, CA. My suggestion for the owners of Windmill Terrace would be to change the domain name of their property to be www.EncinoApartments.com or www.apartmentsencino.com. By doing this the #1 key of importance is satisfied from an SEO perspective: having a searchable domain.

Keywords laced throughout the pages of your site are important. Keywords that are focused on amenities and conditions of the property are important because this is what renters will be queuing into search engines. I recommend that you have a heavily key worded article at the bottom of your home page. When someone types in a phrase in the search bar of Google and your website has several of the words in that phrase or matches it exactly, Google should recognize this and put you more towards the top of the sites they display in your search results. Keywords in the title tags of each of your web pages are essential. The headlines of sites that you read on Google, well those headlines come from the title tags.

Backlinks are a vital component of a good SEO campaign. Essentially heavily laced key worded articles are written (200 to 600 words) and submitted to at least 20 of the top article directory services. Other services then pick up on your article and create what are known as backlinks pointing to your site.
You can do the writing yourself or pay to have it done.
When a term is keyed into Google, it searches all the sites with that term in it. It then categorizes the sites that you see in the results on several factors but one main one happens to be backlinks. If my property’s site has 10,000 backlinks for the term ‘pet friendly’ and my competition has 1,000 for the same term, then my site gets ranked higher.

There is no silver bullet with SEO. I’ve given you some important snapshots. Getting your site ranked high is incredibly important when renters are looking for somewhere to live. You should want your site to be number 1. For fun go to Google and queue in ‘apartment energy consultants’ and see what you get. If you would like assistance with your site and SEO please let us know.

(Scott Yahraus is the president of Apartment Energy Consultants. Apartment Energy Consultants is the governing body that certifies multifamily properties as being “National Green Apartment Certified” visit them at http://www.GreenRetrofitter.com, 818-854-6850, or email Scott directly at Scott@GreenRetrofitter.com)

Individual homeowners are going green in record numbers, but they are not the ones who will be the leaders in the green movement because they are going green slowly. As much as they might want for circumstances to be otherwise, most are not in a position to run out and buy, for instance, a high efficiency clothes washer when the old one is still running just fine. It’s a big expense, and while they will ultimately recoup all of the money from the savings on their water bill, the immediate savings does not justify the price of such a big-ticket item.

And even if they do go for the high efficiency washer, how likely are they to be able to replace all the other items that are wasting energy in their homes during the same time period?

Multi-housing owners and developers, on the other hand, are in a perfect position to realize profits in energy bills very quickly, depending on how many units they are overseeing. In their wildest dreams, many of them may never have thought of themselves as being on the forefront of a movement that, in the beginning at least, was associated with a political ideology. But the opportunity has been handed to them, and many are taking the reins.

One company deserving of recognition for its green leadership is The K & D Group, one of Ohio’s largest privately owned real estate development firms. They own and manage over 13,000 residential units in several apartment communities in the northeast portion of the state. The K & D Group is just about done with a project they began some six months ago to retrofit toilets in 7,500 of their units, mostly in buildings that were 20 to 30 years old. These same units also got new showerheads and aerators on their faucets.

The reason I know so much about The K & D Group project is because the company I work for, Niagara Conservation, supplied the toilets, aerators and showerheads. But that is beside the point (though I would like to mention that our Flapperless toilet is perfect for such retrofits not only because it is water efficient and maintenance free, but also because the base and tank are large enough to cover the old toilet’s footprint).

The point here is that K & D has chosen to overlook the difficulties inherent in such a big project (not the least of which is that residents don’t especially like the interruption of having installers working in their bathrooms) and focus on the bigger picture—and that picture is green, in two senses of the word.
Each one-bathroom household will be saving 9,200 gallons of water per year because of the toilet retrofit alone. K & D expects to save $1.5 million in water costs.

These are amazing numbers to consider. Think about it: There are 100 million toilets in the U.S. that flush at 3.5 gallons or higher, and if just half of these older models were replaced with high-efficiency toilets, 600 billion gallons of water would be saved each year. Thanks to companies like The K & D Group, that kind of savings no longer seems unfathomable.

(Matt Voorhees is the Business Development Representative for Niagara Conservation www.niagaraconservation.com and www.itseasybeinggreen.com)

By and large it has been a bad year for all of us. High tides raise all ships and low tides bring them all down. We’re all riding the crest downward, including your residents. I probably don’t have to remind you of that.

In this month’s issue of Multi-Housing News, Christy Freeland, CEO of Riverstone Residential said, “We know that people like to be social, so we’re offering things like movie and game nights, or bringing in guest speakers on topics like physical fitness. We’re not having to spend a lot of money on those things, but it’s the idea of providing a sense of community that will keep residents around longer.” (MHN, June 2009, pg. 13)

I could not agree more with Freeland. Your residents are your customers, so it is wise that you treat them well. To me, this means going above and beyond giving them a clean and safe place to live. Goodwill goes a tremendously long way.

Recently a client of ours decided that he wanted to host a grand re-opening at his property to market his 43 vacancies. He decided that he wanted a local radio station to attend for two and a half hours and that he would have a raffle drawing. The raffle was for a flat screen TV to be given away as the radio station wrapped up their time on the property.

When asked for our input, we modified his original plan and enhanced the benefits at the margin.
The radio station was given four different pitches to announce how this complex is green, new, convenient, healthy to live in, and safe (the complex is “National Green Apartment Certified” platinum level.)

 The DJ would cycle through those four pitches in succession every time he spoke while announcing that there was an iPod giveaway every half hour. The DJ also mentioned the free burgers and hot dogs that were being served and how easy it was to see the new green property while you ate your free food. 

For the current residents of the property, the management firm announced a week and a half in advance that the ownership was throwing them a party. There would be free catered bar-be-que, as well as an iPod raffle.

For the drive by traffic who weren’t listing to the exact radio station that was broadcasting from the property, we decided to have BBQ smoke chips in a separate grill billowing white smoke up in the air a hundred feet high. We also chose to have very large balloons made up and strung together raising high into the sky. Think of the balloons that you are accustomed to seeing at car dealerships.   

The results of the promotion were nothing less than amazing. The week of the event resulted in 28 new leases! 10 of the leases came as a referral from current residents. The current residents were encouraged to bring their friends and family. Not only did the owner surpass his goal of 20 new leases, he was also able to build a stronger community at his complex. This strength binds the residents together more closely and will “…keep residents around longer,” something Freeland points out as being very important.

(Scott Yahraus is the president of Apartment Energy Consultants. Apartment Energy Consultants is the governing body that certifies multifamily properties as being “National Green Apartment Certified.” Visit them at http://www.GreenRetrofitter.com, or contact Yahraus directly at Scott@GreenRetrofitter.com or 818-854-6850)