Challenging Assumptions About Apartment Operations

Today’s multifamily industry is characterized by diverse and evolving resident preferences, making it crucial for professionals to base their strategies on accurate insights rather than assumptions or rules-of-thumb.

From move-in day to online reviews and then some, a panel of industry professionals challenged these assumptions at the Apartment Innovation and Marketing Conference on May 8 in Huntington Beach, Calif.

Carla Alicea, Director of Client Performance, SatisFacts Research; Stephanie Anderson, Senior Director, Communications and Social Media, Grace Hill; and Kristi Fickert, Vice President of Enterprise Growth, Realync, unraveled several assumptions through real data derived from recent industry-backed research studies (NMHC/Grace Hill, NAA, Zillow, RENT., and ApartmentRatings/SatisFacts.

By using data, management professionals are better able to make their case to the C-suite when it comes to suggesting new policies, getting rid of old ones, or putting greater emphasis on certain types of onsite tasks.

For example, move-in day is both stressful and exciting. Some apartment companies offer a specialized move-in orientation. But do residents actually want one? Data show that 68% of renters prefer them.

Many residents today are working from home. Looking to cater to those professionals, apartment communities are offering shared workspaces at the property. That’s a good thing, because nearly half (48%) do desire that arrangement.

Apartment communities offer many amenities, such as a swimming pool, fitness center, covered parking, controlled access, and secured package lockers or spaces. However, residents say the top amenity they are looking for is reliable cellphone reception.

When renters decide to move to another apartment community, how much of their search is dictated to finding a property that is managed by the same company? In the case of satisfied renters, 69% say they would look for a community under the same management.

Most prospective residents will read online reviews as part of their decision-making process. Surprisingly, they don’t only look at 4- and 5-star rated communities. In fact, the lowest acceptable overall average rating for an online review before disqualifying a property from consideration is 3.82 stars.

Staying with online reviews, it’s amazing how many prospects will only filter through to read the negative reviews. Some 70% do just that. Meanwhile, for apartment companies that overemphasize obtaining 5-star reviews, the panel said that is a negative because it puts too much stress on the onsite team.

Fickert added that perhaps most maddening in the strategic thinking is when a supervisor says the staff needs to “get back to basics,” because the basics are so loosely defined, leaving employees wondering, “how far ‘back’ are we going? and how exactly are ‘basics’ defined?”