Mills Properties
Apartment Marketing: Friendslist
Friendslist might be something to keep an eye on. Especially in light of the shrewd move by Forrent.com in creating an exclusive, carve their client marketing partners right out of an avenue of advertising platform, relationship on FBs Marketplace. Could a platform like friendlist make the likely crazy expensive quasi-distribution point irrelevant? Likely not but I secretly hope so…
No offense FR. But, please know whether it was you, AF, AG or any other provider, I would feel the same. The move gave me every cause to expedite the reallocation of near $550,000 of FR specific marketing spend over the last 18 months. Not a complete departure but a semi-massive one. Stay tuned…
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Apartment Business Observation
Earlier tonight I was talking to 30 lines’ Mike Whaling about apartment websites, social media and business. Its been a very long bit of time since I really had any sort of meaningful conversation with Mike which is kind of sad. In the same respect I think it’s an absolute function of the state of business today. To me, it’s a sign that times are getting better.
At one point in the conversation, Mike asked me the the proverbial, “So what’s going on with you?” I took it in the context of business and replied, “I think that this is an absolutely exciting time to be alive! And, I think things just feel like they are getting better.” I really believe that. Not to suggest the the whole world is peaches and cream but the bulk of what I touch on a day to day basis is good. Mills Apartments has absorbed North of 2000+/- units additional units into the family in the trailing eighteen months and the pipeline for more is there. We are on the cusp of unveiling a new website, our social media platform is on a firm setting, our community team [marketing director, coordinators, mascot, bloggers, etc.] are planting the seeds for conversation and operations are seeing concession reduction and in some cases rent gains. To borrow a quote from our company President, Kirk Mills, “things are good.”
Skip back to Mike Whaling, it seems his appointment book and book of business are filling up. We feel the same way about our business at Mills.
So there is my apartment business observation.
And, I wonder – what is your sense of the business today? Is the phone starting to ring more? Are you booking more appointments? Are companies starting to reach out in a more meaningful way?
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The Making of an Apartment Company Mascot
We are always looking for new and creative ways to start conversation at Mills and we think our latest adventure is sure to be a hit. While we understand this will not resonate with everyone; we are certain there is a niche that will appreciate it and be moved by it. Some people just love to have fun!
Millsy Becomes a Real Boy
Our newly appointed Marketing Director & Communication Strategist, Melissa Preusser (we have an interview lined up – stay tuned to learn more about her) borrowed from the world of athletic mascots to come up with Millsy! Millsy is our Apartment Company Mascot. Millsy will accompany our media teams to any and all company and community functions, festivals, sporting events, partnership gathering and networking events. His chief aim? Give people a reason to talk about Mills. And, what better event could there be for his coming to life party than the annual St. Louis Mardi Gras Parade. Millsy becomes a real boy on Saturday March 5th 2011. We will be sharing a lot of the highlights and pics in future posts.
For now, I thought it would be fun to share some pics of Millsy in the early stages of coming to life…
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Apartment Maintenance On-Call Policy
I have taken a number of questions lately on the subject of calculating compensation for on-call maintenance men and women. As such I thought I would post the important points of our policy as a way to hopefully starting some discussion.
In brief of our policy is as follows:
1. Employees are paid for one-hour minimum – if they physically leave their home to complete a call
2. They are paid at time and a half
3. They are paid mileage from their legal residence
I am curious about other nuances our there; please drop us a comment as the community is interested.
And, I do hope that you have an amazing and over the top weekend.
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Property Management: Money Orders are a Necessary Evil
I am turning to our readers today for some feedback on process.
A lot of renter’s in our communities are one life circumstance away from total financial ruin up to and including losing their apartment. It has given cause for desperate behaviors such as sacrificing their electricity, gas, phone, cable etc. in order to make the rent. In other cases they use creative means such as robbing electricity via extension cords run to your common area outlets in hallways and laundry rooms. It’s amazing what you see out there anymore.
Now one could argue that life choices predicated on fulfilling wants over needs or necessities has contributed to a lot of this and in the same respect I think there an equal amount of people out there that make all the right decisions and still get hit with the downside of adversity.
Our residents are not the only ones faced with making the rent. Many of our employees are waging the same battle month after month. And, sometimes it leads to desperate actions.
That leads me to the premise for my question – money orders left blank by the prospective resident and or current residents paying rent are so very tempting in a desperate time of need. Can you share some of your processes with me as it relates to keeping good people honest. What do you do to keep integrity in the system on your bigger sites where you have six, eight or even ten people working an office and handling money. Specifically, what do you do to make sure these blank money order gems are not used as float to get by to the next pay period? How do you make sure that once an application is taken that it is processed in your property management software asap?
While they are a necessary evil – I have to believe there is a system of handling that keeps theft to a minimum.
Thank you in advance for your considerations and feedback.
Your ready for some economic prosperity friend,
M
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