Week 4 Presentation

Past, Present & FutureLearning in phases for The Pointe Management Co.

Past, Present & Future. Leaning in phases for The Pointe Management CompanyWhat is Pointe Management Co?Pointe Management Co. is an apartment management company that was established in 1989 with the ground breaking of their first property in La Vista, Nebraska. Fast forward to 2013 and you will find five greatly maintained apartment communities, each of which were built with a little learned knowledge on how to build the next based on building the previous.

The Pointe Management Company is an apartment management company in Omaha and La Vista Nebraska that first broke ground with their first property in 1989. Today The Pointe Management Co. has five properties that they run, and beautifully maintain to provide a comfortable community that their residents' call home. Throughout the past 23 years, The Pointe has learned from the day before when planning, building, and operating each property.A Manager's Pointe of ViewKaren, the manager of two out of the five properties, was interviewed in an attempt to learn more about learning in the organization over time. Karen has been a property manager with this management company for 11 years and has helped start, lead, and continue some of the learning during her time.

I sat down to interview the property manager for the two properties that I currently work at. Karen, who has been the manager of these two properties since the elder property opened eleven years ago, was very eager to share her thoughts on learning in the organization since the day she was hired. I learned that Karen had a lot of say and help in most of the things I have learned and use on a daily basis when doing my job. From basic things that make our daily tasks quicker and easier to creating long term goals for the properties, Karen was a major factor in learning in the past.Learning in the PastThe office 11 years ago:Worked 60 hours a weekContact through faxLogged everything on paperEmployees had a log binderDaily phone logsDaily trafficTimesheetsNo resident file organizationNo computers; typewriters were used to type reisdent file paperworkMaintenance Requests were written on carbon copy paperRent deposits were tracked in writing

When Karen walked into the office on her first day things were very different from the way the office ran on my first day. Eleven years ago Karen worked an average of 60 hours a week. There was no internet use so all communication with the owner was done by phone or fax. All phone calls were logged on a phone call log sheet and every employee had a binder where they kept their written phone logs as well as their daily traffic, which is the prospects they tour, and their daily timesheets. There was no organization as to how resident files were kept or the paperwork they signed at move in. At this time because there were no computers used in the office, leases were typed using a typewriter and maintenance requests were written on carbon paper, and rent checks and deposits were tracked using written spreadsheets. I couldn't help but ask Karen, "are you sure this was 2002, 11 years ago?"Learning in the Past Cont.The office staff:The office manager (Karen)3 leasing agents1 maintenance staff member1 grounds keeper

At this time, the office was run with a staff that consisted of the office manager, which was Karen, three leasing agents, one maintenance staff member, and one grounds keeper. There were nine buildings which equaled out to about 230 apartment units. With an office full of non-stop paperwork to keep track of everything three leasing agents worked out. However, a major issue was having only one maintenance team member to work on 230 units plus turn units when residents moved out. What were the goals 11 years ago?3 year goalsBring in computers and softwareBuild a more professional officeChange notive-to-vacate and regulating lease end5 year goalsUpdate building hallwaysColor changes in apartments

Now that Karen was in charge of the property, she had goals and was determined to acheive them. She made it known that she would bring this office out of the stoneage of tracking everything on paper to bringing in computers and a tenant software program that could keep track of current residents as well as past residents and rent. She knew that this would be a huge learning project for herself as well as the office staff, owners, and other property managers in the organization. New Learning for the OfficeComputers and Internet cameMRI and Tenant DataAdded Accounts Receivable Printable maintenance requestsDeveloped a handbook and dress code

When computers and internet were finally introduced into the office, everyone on staff had new steps to learn. With the internet came a property management software program called MRI. With MRI the office was able to track residents, their rental payment history, administer late fees, and keep track of work orders for each resident's apartment unit, which also allowed for maintenance requests to be entered in the computer and you could print them out from there. Karen had also set out to create an employee handbook for the organization. This led to enforcing rules such as a dress code of business professional to business casual. This was a step in the learning for all current employees to go from a casual work environment to having a full on handbook with a new set of rules to learn.The Opening of a new Property8 years ago the 2nd Northwest property for Pointe Management opened bringing more learing and changeLearning time managmentHiring more maintenanceHigh turn over rates for leasing agentsHiring office employees who could work without constant supervision

Eight years ago, Karen had to help in the opening of her 2nd property with Pointe Management. With it being only a mile away from the other, Karen was left to manage both properties. During the opening of the new property, Karen was experiencing a high turnover rate of office leasing staff which made the goal of hiring leasing agents who could run one property while she was at the other a little harder than she had anticipated. So she created a new way of teaching and a new list of office tasks to learn in hopes of finally hiring a team she can trust and hold on to. On top of this, a commissions program was created inorder to reward leasing agents for each apartment they leased and the prospect moved in. Because she went from ten buildings to nineteen under her belt, it was time to hire a maintenance supervisor and extra maintenance staff. Over a short period of time, a solid staff was built and Karen was able to run two properties out of one office while leasing agents staffed the other. She was able to go down to working only 40 hours a week and finally had a suitable working staff that could be relied on, and at this time after 4 to 5 years of hard work, things got easier.Learning TodayAfter building a strong organizationStaff learns easily and willing to learn new tasksThe office runs smoothlyTechnology is always changingNew and improved policies

Today, Karen has a solid staff that enjoys working and learning underneath her. Our office staff is able to grow and learn with her as they work in a business that is constantly learning and changing. As we know, technology is always changing. With changes in technology, today in the office Karen and her staff are learning how to use newer programs for running credit checks and background checks of applicants. Within the last year the team has also developed a new website and learned how to piece it together and keep it running as a team. Just as technology changes, policies change as well. Because there is always something new coming up, such as a new question from a prospect that leads to learning something the office is not familiar with to changes in smoking policies because of a large number of apartment fires in the Omaha area. To Karen, it seems that every week there is something new that her as well as her staff have to learn from, such as changes in communication with residents as it has moved from phone calls to using e-mails and texts, to new experiences for why certain residents are sent notices of violating their lease.The Present GoalsKarens current goals for the futureOnline rental paymentsReputation MonitorBeing able to track the comments people leave on the properties websitesNo more print adsMoving to an all web based way of advertising

Karen discussed some of her current goals for the future on the properties. As more and more technology is being created, she would like to set up and start using an online rental payment source. This would allow residents to pay on line rather than bringing in a check every month. She feels that as the staff learns how to track these payments online, it will help to prevent late rental payments. Karen also talked about how on the properties online ads, upset prospects or residents can easily go on and write a bad review. She would like to learn how to begin monitoring the companys reputation to find new ways to prevent disputes that cause these bad reviews in the first place, however she knows and has learned that she can not please everyone all the time. Karen also mentioned that recently her and her staff have learned that everything is moving to internet based. All the ad companies that he property and management company work with are getting rid of printed apartment books and moving to just a website. This has led to her staff learning how to mange these web pages on a daily basis.Looking to the FutureMore learning to comeChanges to building security using key fobs rather than keysCreating a gated communitySatellites on the roof to allow for community cable service and building Wi-Fi

In looking to the future, Karen is aware and anxious for the possible changes ahead and the learning that goes with them. Some of her wants and what she feels will someday be needs for the properties are changes in security. These changes will consist of making the buildings secured entries accessible by key fob rather than a traditional key. Using a key fob system allows the office to monitor who enters and leaves the buildings and at what times. Another way to bring added security to the properties is to turn it into a gated community where outside cars will not be allows in unless they are buzzed in by the resident, this could be done from their apartment. Another things that can be added on to the buildings is satellite and Wi-Fi that will allow residents to use the cable and internet that the apartments have, and can pay one flat fee for everything with their rent. Another thing the satellite will allow for is access for residents to view their guest at the gate to the community over a camera system. With anything new that the property decides to take on, Karen will get to learn it with her staff.The Constant GoalLearning how to keep occupancy numbers up no matter the circumstanceLearning how to gradually raise rent rather than tack on a new large payment fee

Karen ended the interview with the topic of something that stays constant. The number one goal is and has always been to keep the properties full and maintain a good occupancy rate. As time changes the office learns how to sell to both young and older prospects and how to keep the properties up to date to attract new prospects. Another things that is always a constant is rental increases. As the cost of living continues to rise, finding ways to raise rent without making a huge dent in the residents wallet is something that keeps Karen on her toes with learning.