Apartmentalize Special Report: Smart Strategies for Stronger Teams
The event kicked off with insightful panel discussions to help property managers rethink AI, onboarding and investor communication.
At the National Apartment Association’s 2025 Apartmentalize Conference, improving processes and communication emerged as a major theme across multiple sessions on the first day. Industry experts offered new strategies for multifamily operators and leaders to implement when it comes to AI, onboarding employees and stakeholder communication.
Rethinking processes with AI
When it comes to operational efficiency, AI tools are increasingly becoming essential for both marketing and property management teams and tools are being used for everything from leasing to employee training.
In a fishbowl-style session titled Artificial Intelligence and the Future of the Industry, Anne Baum, marketing director at Towne Properties, credited her company’s improved prospect-to-show ratio to AI. Towne Properties saw a 55 percent increase after implementing AI into its leasing process. “Additionally, we saw our prospect timeline shrink by five days, (so) we’ve now moved into testing renewables and collections,” said Baum.
AI is also being used to improve leadership training. Bell Partners COO Cindy Clare explained that her firm uses AI to help managers navigate difficult conversations with employees. Rather than spending time scripting the right language, the AI tool models the conversation. “It’s a great, powerful tool, without having to make people role-play for those difficult conversations,” noted Clare.
Looking at AI’s potential for the future, Baum believes its value lies in enhancing scalability, not replacing staff, and shifting how teams are structured to work alongside the technology. “It’s about automating tasks and thinking about how we become more scalable. It’s big thinking—from a system standpoint, from a company standpoint, from a department standpoint,” she said. Baum even believes companies can benefit from a dedicated AI leadership role. “(It) needs to be steered by one person who’s looking at all the technology and at how AI leads our company forward.”
Clare added that AI’s ability to identify trends is one of its most powerful assets, but leaders still need to analyze and make the final decisions. “As a leader, if you’re not looking ahead at what those options are, you’re going to get left behind.”
Employee onboarding experience
Leadership strategies were also front and center in the panel titled Mirroring the Move-in: Aligning Resident and Employee Onboarding Experiences, which included Mary Gwyn of Apartment Dynamics, Kara Rice of Swift Bunny, Peter Lynch of Cardinal Group Cos., and moderator Steven Wunch of the Apartment Association of Metro Denver.
The panel explored how operators can approach onboarding through the same thoughtful lens used for resident experiences. According to Rice, improving onboarding is not only about retention but also impacts your bottom-line. When employees leave within the first 60 to 90 days, companies incur significant recruiting costs to start that process again.
To reduce that risk, the panelists emphasized the importance of pre-boarding. “You can’t just let it be automated. You really have to take a personal approach and call people,” said Gwyn. Transparency is key, especially when your new hires may be walking into major projects or a heavy workload on Day 1.
Some companies are already seeing results of shifting their onboarding strategy. One of Rice’s SwiftBunny clients reduced turnover by 26 percent after implementing improvements like a 30-day “New Hire Coffee and Conversation” with leadership. Lynch described a similar effort at Cardinal Group: a weekly onboarding call, where new hires meet members of the executive team. “We have a face of the business who says: ‘you are important,’ (and) we are going to take time to be in front of you.”
Simple but meaningful efforts, such as sending a welcome gift or making sure a new hire’s workstation is set up, can go a long way. “If you can eliminate some of those things that make it feel uncomfortable, they’re going to feel better about that experience on Day 1,” said Rice.
She recommended assigning a “go-to” person for the new hire to ask questions of, while Gwyn emphasized the value of personal touches: “Anything that comes in a bag with gift paper and curly ribbon is always nice. There’s nothing more important to making them feel special than personalization.”
Importantly, relationship-building shouldn’t stop when an employee leaves. Gwyn and Lynch both make a point to stay in touch with former employees, with Gwyn sending birthday wishes and Lynch emailing former staff at the 30-, 60- and 365-day marks. This intentional communication is a way to continue reflecting a company’s culture and often encourages “boomerang employees,” who come back to work for the company.
Building trust with stakeholders
That same intentionality applies when cultivating investor and owner relationships. During a session called the Ultimate Guide to Perfecting Relationships With Owners, Investors, and Stakeholders, speakers John Carlson, CEO of Mark-Taylor Residential; Patrick Morin, investment banker at Transact Capital Partners; and moderator Kate Good of Hunington Residential shared tips on building trust and creating long-term relationship ROI.
Carlson discussed the importance of preparing team members to handle investor conversations themselves. “You want them to work through it and to understand what that process feels like, in order to build that confidence,” he said.
READ ALSO: Outperforming in a Soft Apartment Market
Morin shared that he’s transparent with his team from the start. “I let them know, within 60 days of joining our firm, that they’ll be on the phone with the CEOs of companies that matter.” Even if their approach is different, he believes in giving employees that ownership so they can learn. “Let a new person do it their way, even if it’s not the way you would do it.”
Understanding an investor’s ownership goals is critical, noted Carlson. “That shows that you’re a partner and you’re willing to work with them on their objectives and their investments.”
Panelists agreed that communication should always be proactive and education-focused. Your communication with them should be transparent, proactive and solution-oriented, shared Carlson.
If there’s something that needs to be addressed, it should be the property manager who’s reaching out first and not the investor who’s making that first call. Don’t wait for them to notice a significant change when they’re looking at a financial report. “Don’t delay the bad news; it’s just going to get worse,” he said.
The important thing for investors is the impact of whatever’s going on with their property, whether that’s budget variance or a major repair or decreased occupancy. Tell them why it matters, how to interpret it and how it meets with their investment objectives, advised Morin, “When you educate your owners, your investors, and even your team members, you take that path to expert and that (becomes a quality relationship,” he said.
Leaders should view transparency as an opportunity. “If you find yourself saying, no news is good news, that is the best way to get fired,” added Good.
