Are You Trying to Lease Apartments Without Hash Browns?

By Jessica Fiur, Senior Editor

Did you hear the wonderful, amazing news?

McDonald’s is finally, finally offering their breakfast menu all day. No more crying softly on your steering wheel at 10:35 a.m. when you just missed the breakfast cutoff time.

Except…

It’s not all good news. Because of logistics, not all the breakfast items are going to be offered all day. And, because only one thing can be fried at once, they’re opting for fries instead of hash browns. I mean, yes, fries are awesome. But how can you have your lunch Egg McMuffin without a lunch hash brown?

It’s like going to an awesome concert but leaving before the encore to “beat the traffic.” Or going apple picking without stopping for hot cider and powdered doughnuts. Or offering all-day breakfast at McDonald’s without the freaking hash browns!

They’re missing the best part. Why did they even bother?

Are you trying to lease apartments or keep your residents happy without giving them their hash browns?

It’s great to take steps to improve your apartment community. And residents will definitely appreciate upgrades. But, before you make a big change, think things through. Will the upgrade provide everything the residents will want? If something isn’t broken, sometimes half measures can end up causing more frustration than if you just left things alone.

For example, if you’ve had a decent, no-frills gym for awhile at your community, you might be looking to redo it by adding new mirrors and carpeting, classes, or cute trainers named Diesel. But if you keep your always-broken treadmill and two creaky stationary bikes, then no one is going to use it.

Or what if you have your staff around to accept packages, but they’re only there when the leasing office is open (which is when most people are at work)? Residents will love having someone there to sign for their packages, but if they can never pick up their packages, then that gets frustrating really quickly. Especially when the care package of Grandma’s cookies is getting stale.

Or what if you finally give residents the option of paying their rent online (um, finally, by the way. Who even knows how to write a check anymore?). But then you charge a hefty fee for the “privilege.” Some residents might get annoyed and go back to paying rent the old-fashioned way.

Of course, if it’s too costly to do a major upgrade at a community at once, it’s fine to roll it out in stages. The important thing is to keep your residents updated. That way they can appreciate the cool new thing, but won’t get frustrated with what you’re not offering.

And they won’t be stuck eating fries with their Egg McMuffins.

Like animals.