Resident Retention 101 - A Game Of Cheese And Mouse? - Whom Is Which?!?!

Part 1



In the game of resident retention, perception is key and dependent upon your customer service and leadership ability as a management team, it will determine if your are "Team Cheese" or "Team Mouse".






To be honest, neither actually sound very appeasing because after a while both begin to stink - if the game isn't played more so like chess than checkers. Resident retention is all a game that if played correctly will go in your favor every time. So on that note ... let us begin.






Scenario #1: Resident of Building 8890 Apartment 1B comes into the office. She states that she came in to discuss her lease renewal options on her lease that is expiring in 75 days. She states that she can not afford another $20 increase and if that is the case, would have to move out. You tell her that her lease would be indeed increasing by another $20. Instead of wanting to discuss another thing further, she asks for a sheet of paper and proceeds to write you a 75 days notice to vacate (The fact that she wrote you a 75 day notice says a lot in itself.). You accept and she then walks out of the office only to return in 75 days with her keys, stating that she is ready when you are to complete her move out inspection. She patiently waits 27 minutes while you complete your monthly close-out. To your surprise, she has cleaned the entire unit and the unit is completely free of damage. When you return to the office to get a forwarding address from her to refund her security deposit, her forwarding address is literally right down the street at Blah Blah Blah Apartments! Wow! Surprised??! You shouldn't be ... that's what happens when:




You officially become "Team Mouse" ... you loose your cheese.






Analysis #1 : For one,  Resident of Building 8890 Apartment 1B has a name and that name is Jessica and if Jessica has decided to move over $20, then she wasn't happy nor comfortable while residing with you. Please note, comfortable people never move, just like comfortable people never leave their comfortable jobs. So your job as a management team is to shoot for comfort and customer satisfaction.




Some will have you to believe that a 30% annual turn over rate is acceptable and expected in troubled area housing, Section 8, conventional and mostly in student housing, BUT trust me trust me trust me when I say this ... this false conclusion is never (and I do mean NEVER) entirely the case.


For any property type, your first priority is 100% of the time Resident Retention. Why? Resident retention is a saver of time, expenses, etc. Now dependent upon your overall management team goals will determine how realistic in nature that this aspect will be for your particular team.




Lease renewals are inevitable and so are residential rental price increases ... soooooooooo what should you be doing right now, you asked ??? Great question! Answer: Be proactive and get ahead of the curve.




Begin Now With The Three C's:

• Constant Contact:

Constant contact is the ultimate key in getting to know your customer. This along with exceptionally customer service is the ultimate definition of Rock Star Leasing! Read: 5 Step Guide To A Constant Contact System - Really

• Community Involvement

Community involvement encourages ownership in your resident toward your community.

• Community Value.

For example, Annual Snap Shots are a great way to build value in your brand. This little book of tidbits literally is a snap shot of everything positive about your community. Pictures of their actual involvement, helps them remember all of the positive reasons why they call your community home. There are a lot of "apartment communities" everywhere ... make yours feel more like "home".




Now ... take a deep breathe and rewind 13 months from the date ... Jessica phones into your community.  You begin your Rock Star Constant Contact Approach. Jessica becomes your resident. You've encourage continuous community involvement. Jessica has participated mostly. Jessica's lease expires in 80 days and instead of waiting for her to come in to discuss a lease renewal on day 75, you are proactive and send her an Annual Snap Shot.




Outcome: Not only does Jessica renew her lease without the $20 increase being a matter of discussion, she refers 2 other friends that ultimately move into your community as well.




Congratulations!! You have just relinquished your role as "Team Mouse" and have evolved into "Team Cheese"!




The game of Resident Retention is really quite simple when taking the "Team Cheese" and "Team Mouse" approach ... either you're something worth picking up, checking out and taking a bite out of or are you the one still scurrying??




The "Team Cheese" and "Team Mouse" Approach, furtherly forces you to self-reflect. Regardless of how you put it or what your excuse for losing a resident is (which indeed may be legitimate), to lose is not to win (in some causes ... I repeat: in some cases) and to not win in the game of property management is ultimately a hit to your finances.




Always remember to think outside of the mouse hole ...