NYC startup InsideDigs’ peer to peer rental site to expand – AGBeat
InsideDigs showcases off-market rentals. Much like a pocket listings site for residential listings prior to being publicly listed through the MLS, InsideDigs is a free peer to peer community for apartment hunters that are looking for information on rental listings prior to their hitting the market.
The New York City based startup was launched by renters “who were tired of expensive broker fees, too-good-to-be-true photos, and bait-and-switch listings.” Unlike many other cities, these problems are reportedly common in the relatively unregulated Wild West that is known as the NYC market.
InsideDigs’ founder Sharif Fakhr told AGBeat, “Currently InsideDigs is based in New York City and has been broadening to other major cities including Boston, Philadelphia and Washington DC, San Fran, LA, Chicago and Atlanta.”
Site registration is free for those willing to share information about their “current digs” or willing to refer five friends to the site, or $19.95 per year for people simply looking for insider access. The idea is that renters will share honest information about their apartments before they hit the market and in an interesting twist, brokers are not allowed to list any properties unless it is their own personal property.
Users can connect with each other privately and anonymously through the site’s messaging system, particularly if they seek to learn more about how to leas, swap or sublet an apartment which aims to do away with fake listings and Craigslist scams rampant in the city. The company’s mantra is “No Fees. No Brokers. No Hassles.” which is highly indicative of consumer sentiment in the city, given the rise of rental sites across the metro.
via NYC startup InsideDigs’ peer to peer rental site to expand – AGBeat.
Apartment Guide Launches Night In or Night Out Sweepstakes – MarketWatch
ATLANTA, Feb 10, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Apartment Guide, a leading resource for apartment searches nationwide, announces the launch of the “Night In or Night Out” Sweepstakes on Facebook(R) through Feb. 14. Participants visiting the Apartment Guide Facebook page will have a chance to win $100 prizes for their ideal night in or night out. Prizes include theater tickets, dining gift certificates, pizza delivery gift cards and movie subscription services. To enter, first “like” Apartment Guide on Facebook at www.facebook.com/apartmentguide , then find the Sweepstakes tab on the left-hand side of the Facebook page.
The “Night In or Night Out” Sweepstakes is the latest Apartment Guide initiative designed to reach and connect with apartment consumers. With more than 100,000 Facebook “likes” and 8,000 Twitter followers to date, Apartment Guide is capitalizing on consumers’ preference for social media, garnering more than 3.4 million impressions on Facebook throughout 2011 and 8,200 consumer actions through post likes, comments and shares. Through ongoing outreach and content partnerships with bloggers, Apartment Guide generated 15,280-plus consumer comments, 2,200-plus Tweets, 1,100-plus Facebook posts on non-Apartment Guide channels and nearly 3 million impressions.
“We are focused on maintaining an ongoing relationship with consumers through our multi-channel strategy,” said Arlene Mayfield, president, Apartment Guide. “Programs such as our Night In or Night Out Sweepstakes introduce Apartment Guide to new users, increase consumer engagement and generate excitement online. Through our integrated approach we are enhancing the online renter experience and increasing the quality of our leads.”
Reaching apartment consumers through a variety of channels is a growing strength for Apartment Guide, which saw huge strides in mobile throughout 2011 with industry-first introductions of Android and Kindle Fire apps, continued innovation of first-to-market iPhone and iPad apps, more than 292,000 mobile app downloads (1.6 million to date), resulting in 18 percent of overall ApartmentGuide.com traffic now coming from mobile.
Total traffic to the ApartmentGuide family of sites also saw monumental growth in 2011, from 39 million visits to more than 58 million visits, growth of more than 48 percent from 2010 for an average of nearly 5 million visits per month and consistently ranking in the top two ComScore leaders.
via Apartment Guide Launches Night In or Night Out Sweepstakes – MarketWatch.
Multifamily Coupon Usage Part II – RENT NOW Coupons
A quarter of all landlords have never used a coupon to lease up, are you one of them? Many that have tried to use coupons have given up…sound familiar? Fact is there isn’t a Groupon or Google Offers or a one-stop site for rental rebates, coupons or deals for renters. Tons of sites push time-shares, vacations and so on but little for consumers willing to commit in contract to spend $18,000 for 12-months (2 bedroom/modern averages).
If you are buying a car there are hundreds of websites dedicated to rebating and coupons – Why not Residential Multifamily?
How are the Lead Aggregators sorting out coupons? A quick review of MyNewPlace, ApartmentGuide and Rent.com illustrate and maintain some staple elements in the apartment ad presentation across the board. There are photos/videos, price ranges, details and a shopping basket (for lack of a better word). But to the point of couponing, ApartmentGuide lures you in with a “Current Rent Specials” button which opens up email communication with the apartment manager which seems like an unnecessary step instead of jut listing the move in specials. Rent.Com lists the special in a pop-up screen with “Move-In Specials”. Coupons have secured placement on the initial presentation – which is the most important take-away. In fact, I think most ads are incomplete without one. Consumers are expecting deals – so let’s give them one.
Coupons have come a long way since the days of printed ones attached to your apartment ad in the guide books. And those were a bit suspect because often potential residents were urged to retrieve the guide for the coupon as sales tactics by leasing staffs. Renter referral programs are great but really help the incumbent renter and not the prospective one. Our industry also offers current renter’s deals to release so all the existing forms of couponing are still in use today. However, online distribution, bar-coding and CRM campaigns are taking complete advantage of tracking our consumer’s fascination with coupons. Here are some quick tips for your campaigns.
- Whatever the deal is – Make sure all staff (leasing to maintenance) know about your current Coupon Deals. Nothings worse than a consumer inquiring about one and staff fumbling about the details. Consumer distrust of the value sets in.
- Keep our Coupons at a 15-day shelf life. End of the month too. Set incentives for your Leasing Staff to remarket old rental prospects and set urgency for new ones walking in the door.
- Learn or re-learn how to update and maintain your deals, specials and coupons on the lead aggregators and guides. Document it and make it handy. It’s the first thing to teach new staff on the first day. A poorly managed Coupon Program can hurt your reputation on apartmentratings.com. LOL! – Just what we all need but yet another thing for people to complain about.
- TRACK IT! Long gone are the days of the printed coupon stapled to the lease application being the end of the process. The tracking doesn’t stop there. Aggregate it on a spreadsheet. Compare what services are bringing you coupons; are their similarities in the applications, apartment sizes rented, what seasons which work better and so on.
- Treat your Coupon Programs like GOLD. After all, it’s money coming off your bottom-line. There should be an excitement around them. Prospects should use them and tell their friends. Renter referrals work that way and coupons are more viral. Ask the renters to use them to gloat about it in Facebook, Twitter and all. It’s a win-Win.
And the last tip – Remember the ABC’s of Leasing - Always Be Closing
About Resident Places
Resident Places is a zero cost amenity to residential and mixed use properties where residents receive valuable money saving offers from local businesses through a co-branded coupon portal. These neighborhood deals are made available without any sales activity by leasing staffs or IT teams. Every deal printed through the co-branded portal will include the name of the property and is shareable via social media networks like Facebook and Twitter, which expands the reach and audience of the community’s brand to their residents, prospects and area businesses. For business owners, our unique offering gives access into a typically difficult advertising market – multifamily communities, with a low cost, high tech solution.
Resident Communications Part II – Do We Need Schooling or Are We Leaders?
So how about it – Do we do a good enough job communicating with our Residents? After all, 100% of them eventually leave us and probably never come back. Unlike professional services and storefronts who aspire to hold on to each customer wherever they live our customers are transient and move on. Sometimes into a house and sometimes they just pick up and move down the street. Renters statistically shop for specifics like amenities and pricing and once someone fulfills this it seems logical they should be happy right? But somehow, something happens along the way and they get the urge to move on. When discussing Resident Communication, we ultimately need to discuss Resident Retention & Satisfaction.
First off, it may help us to look at how other businesses communicate with their Customers – both loyal ones and potentials? And how do they gauge success when it comes to Customer Satisfaction & Retention? Last year I downloaded a trial sample of the The Loyalty Guide and found the insight and correlations to our industry remarkable. It’s the definitive resource and worth a read. Consistently, it references Face to Face Interaction as the key to loyalty and retention.
Face to face contact costs nothing. It’s a part of human nature and frankly people generally like people who smile and friendly. Our family used to frequent a restaurant in my hometown. The food sucked, the parking was horrible, they were slow but we ate there every Friday night. Why? They treated us like royalty. The servers knew our names and said things like “Welcome Back” and “You look great”. The cooks always made a big deal about portions for the men in my family. And the owner told my mom how beautiful she was at every turn.
One of my favorite Sponge Bob episodes was the “Chocolate with nuts”. Patrick Star and Sponge Bob realize the success of selling and being entrepreneurs – that is – when marketing, stretch the truth. LOL! I’m not advocating this but we can make our Residents feel like we appreciate their patronage daily. Even the cranky ones and it can’t hurt right. In fact, proactive work with disgruntled Residents can offset the often negative wave they send to neighbors and potential residents too.
- How is everything today – Is there anything that needs our attention? This may shock them a bit but it could offset the beginning of a maintenance item out of mind. Maintenance can utilize technicians who could be idle with service calls too.
- New staff introductions – with Photos. Just a quick memo to introduce the guy painting the hallways, the new girl at the community room or the new manager. Realtors introduce their new agents in Local newspaper advertisements and to me it feels like the company real cares about the hire. This could reinforce that you’re being attentive to them as you may be replacing an ineffective staffer too.
- Hand out candy to Residents as you walk the hallways or grounds. Nobody can be mean after getting a Hershey Kiss but it’s actually an excellent ice-breaker for conversation and slows down the pace to communicate.
Your company should work out sample scripts ranging from the standard to the community specific items to practice in case of discussion with Residents. And there are always the seasonality aspects that can help the script writing. For example, “Wow, it’s getting chilly and fall is here…. Hey, is does your apartment have the storm windows down or missing – do you need us to check?” Verbal communication is the key as Landlords are from Mars and Residents are from Venus – LOL!
About Resident Places
Resident Places is a zero cost amenity to residential and mixed use properties where residents receive valuable money saving offers from local businesses through a co-branded coupon portal. These neighborhood deals are made available without any sales activity by leasing staffs or IT teams. Every deal printed through the co-branded portal will include the name of the property and is shareable via social media networks like Facebook and Twitter, which expands the reach and audience of the community’s brand to their residents, prospects and area businesses. For business owners, our unique offering gives access into a typically difficult advertising market – multifamily communities, with a low cost, high tech solution.
Resident Communication – New Series Part 1
Resident communication is not just about problem solving maintenance issues or making sure your tenants know about the pool opening in May. The idea of Resident Communication is about building value in the service you provide, highlighting amenities and building a bond with your residents that will increase lease renewal rates and yield higher profits.
Marketing costs per unit are stabilizing around $170, but turnover costs continue to rise according to MyNewPlace. If you include lost rents, paint and carpet, commissions and marketing costs, the cost to turn over a $947 per month apartment can be more than $4,000. Try this tool provided to calculate your possible turnover costs. – Apartment Turnover Cost Calculator. Are they similar?
Doug Miller, President of SatisFacts, says “Real simply, if you cannot communicate, you cannot provide service. When resident satisfaction goes up, renewals go with it, and turnover down, and we find clients improving their turnover rate up to 17 percent against the national average when they take these kinds of results and commit to a culture of responsiveness.”
So, what works? What should you communicate, when and how? – print, photos and videos, editorials, reviews, coupons, prior to lease renewals? What tools should you use? Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Email, Newsletters and Texting to communicate.
Over the next few months I will be writing a series of articles that outline effective techniques from within our industry and other industries. We’ll identify ones that trigger actual positive responses, build your brand, create social activity, assist in leasing and re-leasing and impact your bottom line profitability.
Of course, you can always be like Pearl, the Landlord. ; )
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