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BEST PRACTICES

Steven J. Egger

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Table Of Contents Questions Statistics My Role Rent Strategies Increasing Revenue Cutting Expenses Advertising Marketing Website Designers & Ideas Lead Generators Selling Your Apartments Concessions Resident/Employee Screening,

Collections & Renters Insurance

Retention Vendors Retention Ideas Service Maintenance Characteristics of a Successful

Company Employee Training Utility Management Property Management Systems Rent Collections Security Systems Real Estate Insurance

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Questions?

Do you want to maximize the revenue of your apartments? In order to do this it’s my opinion that we

need to establish best practices & be connected to the right resources.

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StatisticsNational Home Builders Association for National Statistics / Multi Family Council

National Resident turnover is 65%, goal is to be to get down around 35 to 38%. People that look for a long period of time are the ones that stay the longest, we tend

to ignore these people in this industry. 65% of resident turnover could and can be avoided. Average cost is 3,000 dollars to turn over an apartment. People leave because they don’t feel it’s theirs. It takes 7 years to recover from an apartment that sits vacant for 30 days! 65% of pet owners earn $40,000 or more a year. The best customer is the one you already have. If you sell on price they leave on price. 50% of all Ohio renters are going to move next year. The highest cost an owner can concur is turnover!! When looking for a place to rent the avgerage person calls 7 to 10 complexes, they

get a hold of 5 to 6 and only visit 2 or 3 communities. They will also lie about who they have been to see.

Average cost per lead when using: For Rent, Apt Guide, Local Paper and 2 Internet sites is $78 in North East Ohio. National Average is $146.

50% of renters have one type of pet or another.

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My Role

Director Of Operations Director not the doer. Develop it, sell it & be done vs. operating it!

Researcher & Explorer Cutting edge, trends, making sure we are on top of

it all.

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Rent Strategies

It all starts here.

Setting the right price for right product is your first step!

Companies w/ Expertise In Rent Setting...

REALPAGE – M/PF YieldStar

Ellis Management Services, Inc. Epmsonline.com

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Increasing Revenue

Revenue Raisers Strong Collections Process Timely Eviction Process Make Deposits Quickly Know How To Raise Rents Increase Rent On Renewals Laundry Machines Vending Machines Party Center Vacuum Cleaner Coin

Machines Cable Revenues Late Fees

Revenue Reminders & Ideas Add a 9 to the last digit of

your rent. Improve physical assets in

order to continue growth & rent revenue.

The Golden Path Value Selling / Closing Card

Game

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Cutting Expenses

Group Purchasing – Value Discounts Constantly Get New Quotes If You Pay Early – Demand Discounts Never Let Your Maintenance Leave The Property Organize The Maintenance Shop

Standardize Each Product Monitor Supplies Do Spot Inspections

Maximize Carpet Life Utilities Savings - Cut Electric, Water, Gas/Heat

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Advertising Magazine Print/Internet

For Rent … ForRent.com … Print w/ Web Counter Parts Apartment Guide … Apartmentguide.com … Print w/ Web Counter Parts Apartment Finder … ApartmentFiner.com … Print w/ Web Counter

Parts Internet

HotPads.com … FREE! #1 Move.com … #1 … $20 Floor Plan or $.75 Cost Per Click …Vertical

Search Engine…AOL, Yahoo & MSN #2 Rent.com … $375 referral fee … Paid For Performance #3 Apartments.com … $400 a month … Internet Listing Service MyNewPlace … $375 referral fee … Paid For Performance PezGrande.com … $34 a month (Spanish Web Site) … Internet Listing

Service

Local Paper Local Radio Weekend Directionals

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Marketing Tell a story in your ads. Change your ads seasonally. The purpose of advertising is to generate enough interest to generate a phone call. White space is your best friend in an ad. People call your ads to eliminate you. Change ads all the time, but only change verbage and pictures not the layout. In pictures try to capture that there is a lot of space. Don’t just take pictures of

furniture or exercise equipment. Don’t feature dump People want to see color, want to see what their getting. Branding is important. Break your properties into categories – high rises, garden style, downtown, town

homes etc. Peoples 3 buying habits – 1 Save me money, 2 Save me time, 3 Make me feel good Moving company will move anyone to your property. $390 bucks!

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Website Designers & Ideas

Ideas Your Website Linked To

Advertisers

Online Floor Plans, color, furniture, 3D, w/electronic furniture templates interactive.

Designers The Ellipse Group Spherexx.com Webrentpro.com Resite – resiteIT.com Property Solutions – Prospect

Portal Propertysolutions.com

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Lead Generators

Lead2Lease.com Level One

Levelone.com Call Max

Callmax.us REALPAGE – CrossFire Resite – LeaseToLease

resiteIT.com Call Source

Callsource.com

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Selling/Renting Your Apartments

Call Max – callmax.us Don’t ever miss a lead!

Car Give Away – Saturn – Our Apartments Are Out Of This World! More than 20 people drawing and more than 1 prize to give away ipods etc

Village Marketing DVD / Toni’s local photographer $290 a day plus expenses

The Walk Up Closet European Heart Smart Apartments Garden Level The Store, lights, scent, sound, invitation station, YELLOW! Sun Light Indicator Multifamilypro / killer closers / gracehill.com

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Concessions Sure Deposit

Suredeposit.com Free Laptop One Month Free Rent Win a free car! Cover some moving expenses Pay for the Moving Van Groceries Trips (cost you less) Utility Deposits - A check to cover the costs Upgrades (that remain with the apartment home) Selection from a gift table - vacuum cleaners, fancy appliances ($75.00) Try not to give away operating expenses. Like 1 month FREE!

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Resident/Employment Screening, Collections & Renters Insurance Renters Insurance Only

Leasing Desk - eRenterPlan.com Assurant assurantspecialtyproperty.com

Resident/Employment Screening CBC Rentgrow.com Mocco-inc.com TransUnion.com REALPAGE – OneSite & CrossFire

Resident/Employment Screening & Collections ResidentCheck.com ChoicePoint.com ResidentData

Resident/Employment Screening, Collections & Renters Insurance First Advantage Fadvsaferent.com On-Site.com

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Retention Vendors

The Ellipse Group – ellipseinc.com Relate 24/7,

Call Max callmax.us Keep residents

News & Graphics – newsgraphics.com Keep residents informed!

Illustratus – illustratus.com Keep residents informed!

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Retention Ideas Relate 24/7 – Ellipse Communications Inc. 80% of residents have e-mail. Mortgage lenders contact

residents 12 x per day – phone calls, letters, e-mails, tv etc. about benefits to purchase a home, well were going to counter those with benefits of renting thru e-mail reminders

Design Book – Customize apartments. Design a marketing & leasing strategy that appeals to long term tenants. Put a value on all of this customization such as $800. People are visual. Create a design book for people to choose from. White walls is the biggest resident complaint. Ideas – chair rails in dining room, accent 2 tone paint job, solid accent wall, 3 inch wide curtain rods w/ toper fabric sleeve on a roll w/ diff. colors fits over rods changing is easy, lighting kits w different tops victorian tulip bulbs, contemporary chandelier, / Don’t make the apt look temporary, every day visually the resident feels this, change the environment to make them feel like it is their home

American Express Resident Loyalty & Retention Program Move In Day Program – reserved parking space, complimentary newspaper, pre printed address

labels, personalized stationary, grocery store gift card, magnetic letters on fridge, welcome mats, personal escort

How do you get residents to stay steps – Service team is responsive, efficient & effective / Hire the right people / Educate the staff / Manage the moral / Empower them / Flexibility / Lead / Make it personal

Summer Staff Free Car Washes Dinner Arrangements 1 Time Per Month Establish a high level of customer service & maintenance Maintenance – 100% of residents have left an unreported svc request Customer Service

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Service

Work Orders Completed ASAP no later than 24 hours.

Follow up call after maintenance has been completed.

Never let your maintenance leave the property.

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Maintenance

Maintenance Uniforms!! Work orders never go more than 24 hours. Never let your maintenance leave the property. On Call 24/7. Maintenance shops immaculate/organized. Keep a high low inventory in maintenance shop, 4 is low 12 is high. Only outside contractors to use are for landscaping, snow plowing,

ashfault repair & roofing. Replace filters once a year. Empty hot water tanks twice a year so sediments don’t rust. Destroy all master keys!! Maintenance should always do a quick audit when doing a work order,

check for cats, dots, pets and check smoke detectors.

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Characteristics of a Successful Company I. Involve Every Employee at Every Level. II. Set Realistic Goals & Expectations III. Develop a Personalized Employee Reward

Program IV. Develop Training Programs that Involve

Every Employee V. Employee Appreciation is a MUST! VI. Recruit, Hire, Train, & Retain the Best

Employees VII. Take Time to Analyze

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Employee Training

Consistent training in small doses. GraceHill.com Call Source

Callsource.com Ellis Management Services, Inc.

Empsonline.com

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Utility Management

REALPAGE - Velocity Minol

Minolusa.com

ConService Utilitiesinfo.com Water, Sewer, Trash, Gas, Electricity, Heating,

Cooling, Rent and Cable

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Property Management Systems Yardi, MRI, AMSI, Realeum & Remanage Property Solutions

Propertysolutions.com DIY Real Estate Solutions

Diyresolutions.com REALPAGE – CrossFire

Property Marketing Systems REALPAGE – M/PF YieldStar

Asset Optimization Systems REALPAGE – Velocity

Utility and Billing Services REALPAGE - OneSite

Accounting, Leasing & Rents, Facilities, Purchasing, Screening, Payments

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Rent Collections

American Express Property Solutions – ResidentPay

Propertysolutions.com RentPayment

Compatible w/ Yardi, MRI, AMSI, Realeum, Remanage

NWP – aBreeze Nwpsc.cm

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Real Estate Insurance

Neace Lukens neacelukens.com