Apartment Operations

Our guest post comes to us today from Nathan Burnett and his team at Watchtower Security. His Multifamily Case Study blew me away. And, not just because we are a client or the fact we were part of the punch line. Nathan edified the true meaning of what I believe a partnership to be. He is not after business for the sake of business. I have seen him turn down huge revenue boosting contracts just because all interests were not aligned. His philosophy being that the relationships have to stay pure over the three to five years coming. So if there a hiccups or hard feelings at negotiation time – it is simply better to walk away. And with that being said, let me turn it over to Nathan and his team.

Surveillance Cameras – Quick Fix or Long Term Solution

Community wide video surveillance cameras typically sound like a high-tech and quick fix to crime/nuisance issues for multifamily housing properties.  For those that have tried it in the past, most have failed miserably or barely met any expectations for what they thought it would carry out for the price tag.  Primarily due to the fact that even with the best cameras out there, when the package is sold, there is never any mention to how incredibly time-consuming it is once installed.

Surveillance Cameras in Multifamily are Hard Work

It’s a shame that the sales people never mention that much like your personal computers, surveillance servers/cameras go offline during thunderstorms and don’t always come back up (or for the same reasons your desktop freezes up), cameras go out of focus, and that the systems are not the ‘turnkey’ products sold to you.  They take a ton of daily maintenance to make sure it’s all working right!  That’s just the tip of the iceberg too…They never explain to you that even when a minor event occurs, finding the culprits on your many confusing cameras, reviewing hours upon hours of mind numbing footage, and then working with the authorities to take action, can literally take up your entire work week!  Many times it would be cheaper to just pay the resident to replace the stolen items from their car than review the footage…especially when you add up what your time is worth (and that employees are not leasing/managing units during that time, which is what drives your business).  If a property were a typical business with a dedicated systems operator on site, this would be their job responsibility and very doable…but, unfortunately, in our property world we are short-staffed and could never dream of this.

Proof in the Numbers

So, after all this, why would anyone ever consider cameras on their property?  Well, because someone has actually figured it out for our industry and has proven it with authority’s crime statistics across the country.  We all want proof…

Here is a quick summary of an independent police study conducted at what was once considered one of the “roughest” properties in all of St. Louis.  This effort was performed in tandem with a change in management firms (Mills Properties was engaged as the turnaround expert) entering the picture and pushing an enormous shift (with limited funds) from the way business had been conducted at this property for years.  Mills Properties deserves a great deal of credit as they upgraded lighting, landscaping, and most importantly operation process/procedures.

The largest of their key initiatives (again stressing with limited funds) was scaling back the high cost of random patrol guard services and engaging a nationwide company (based out of St. Louis) called Watchtower Security.  The reason this worked so well, is because Watchtower is solely focused on the multi-family housing industry (and realizes the pitfalls/wasted money of the aforementioned typical camera systems).  Watchtower, with the help of Mills Properties and local law enforcement, were able to create a campus wide surveillance system covering all key areas including entry/exit points.  Mills Properties was able to engage them on a yearly contract with a set monthly rate far less than what they were paying for part-time patrols.  And unlike a typical camera system, Watchtower does everything from maintenance of the systems/cameras, monitoring of systems, repairs, and most importantly, reviews all the video crime footage to work directly with the local authorities to prosecute (even testifying on big court cases on their client’s behalf!).  Long story short, Mill’s was able to stay focused on leasing up the property (up over 76% from the previous year of 57%…another staggering stat) while virtually eliminating major crime that was plaguing the community.  The independent police study took the most common offense on property (burglaries) from the year before (March 2012) to current (March 2013) and the results are staggering:

Burglaries 2011-2012:  51 (door kick-ins were happening almost weekly)

Burglaries 2012-2013:  7

Those numbers were even hard for St. Louis County (the authorities conducting the study) to believe, but were verified.  Amazing results that show that with the right push from management along with the right tools (used intelligently), no property is a lost one…