When you’ve been in an industry long enough, one has the
unique opportunity to actually see the evolution of best practices that in the
end result in better business. Sometimes
these changes are trends moving forward for business in general and other times
they are thanks to technology and advances in the tools at our disposal. And
sometimes, they are moves specific to multifamily with the benefit directed
solely to our industry.
If life were like a movie, we’d all be spending the
holidays with family and friends, meals together would be four course
extravagant affairs, and we’d always have a party to attend. Unfortunately, for
many the holidays can bring added stress and even depression. Community
Managers are not supposed to be therapists and we realize the clubhouse is not
meant to act as group therapy. However,
there are some simple things you can do on site to help your residents who may
not experience the lifetime movie version of the holidays just make it through
to the New Year.
While our friends and communities in the Northeast deal with
Hurricane Sandy and the rest of us are helpless to do anything but watch, we
should spend a moment to reflect on our own emergency preparedness.
We’re probably all guilty of complacency every now and again. You work hard, you create a program or task that works great and everyone seems happy – why not sit back and enjoy? You can, but not for long. Complacency has a price, the price is the inability to adapt quickly to change and continue improving. You may think, if I am getting 100% on shops and can renew 45 to 55 percent of the time, I am a Rock Star and don’t need to worry about change or improving. You’d be right in that you are a rock star, but does anyone really need to stop improving or stop preparing for change?
Every four years we are treated to the spectacle that is the Olympics. Elite athletes train for years for their moment, which can last only seconds, but create memories for a lifetime. These Olympians, winners and not, are all at the pinnacle of their sport and personify perfection.
Everyone on your on-site teams is deserving of appreciation; however, it is maintenance who is often overlooked. While leasing teams may be awarded bonuses for doing well at their job and managers are often adorned with awards and honors for strong performance, it is the unsung heroes of maintenance who are often left behind in the recognition department.
Have you ever known someone who is just successful and happy in everything they do? You watch them sail through life as if they don’t have a care in the world, and yet they manage to land the big jobs, move up the corporate ladder effortlessly, and greet each day with a smile on their face.
Bringing Games into the workplace can create positive, competitive fun that will invigorate team members of all ages. Take a quick poll of your community site teams and find out how many have played a video game of some sort in the past 30 days. Whether it is Words with Friends, Angry Birds, Call of Duty, or online arcade games, chances are that nearly all of your team members have engaged in gaming of some type recently. Why is that? Because it is fun!
Fair Housing is pretty clear cut for the most part. Federal and state laws clearly list the protected classes and outline the ways in which they are to be protected. There are however, outliers: situations in which doing the right thing isn’t always clear and when it is easy to make a mistake and violate Fair Housing laws. Most often it is just not realizing someone is a member of a protected class or fully understanding the situation. Let’s take a tour of some of the less common, but altogether more difficult situations in Fair Housing.
Don't panic. The title of this post is indeed scary, but the lesson is simple and quite valuable. Let's dive into this cautionary tale of how zealous leasing without the minutiae of procedural details landed a community in a conciliation agreement with HUD.
