‘What Renters Want’ with Jessica Fiur: 5 Ways to Impress Your Residents and Earn Extra Income

I don’t like country music. It’s more likely that I’d spike my hair into a mohawk before I’d ever don a cowboy hat. But there was a country song that crossed over to the pop charts back in ’97 that they played all the time that still pops into my head every now and then. Shania Twain’s “That Don’t Impress Me Much.”  And now it can be in your heads the rest of the day too. You’re welcome.

In the song, she meets all these guys, but she’s all, “That’s nice, but what have you done for me lately?” (I’m paraphrasing.) She says she’s not even impressed by Brad Pitt. Let me remind you of what Brad Pitt looked like in the ’90s. Lady, if that doesn’t impress you, I don’t know what will.

Anyway, renters are totally like Shania Twain.

You may have a doorman, newly painted units and a beautiful lobby. And that will make your residents happy for awhile. But that won’t impress them after awhile, and they’ll move on to greener pastures. (And, obviously, Mckayla is not impressed, either.)

You guys are really hard to please!

What could you do for your residents that will really make your community stand out, so you can have retention, great reviews, and great word of mouth? They key is to make your residents’ lives easier. And, bonus, these services are ways for you to potentially earn extra income if you partner with different vendors and work out different deals.

Here are some suggestions.

Offer apartment cleaning services. You know what’s more fun than vacuuming and dusting? Pretty much everything. Work up a deal with a cleaning service. Then residents can pay for someone else to clean their apartments. It would be like living in mom’s house again, except without the nagging about who you’re going out with or when you’re going to give her another grandchild.

Partner with a laundry and dry cleaning service. Along with cleaning the apartment, this is something else no one wants to do. Residents would definitely pay for the convenience of dropping off their dirty laundry and dry cleaning and coming home to clean and folded underoos.

Hire dog walkers. Many residents are busy, important people. Or lazy. Anyway, if you have someone in-house they could hire to walk their dogs while they’re at work, it would make their lives a lot easier.

Offer gym classes or personal trainers. You have that brand-new fitness center with a yoga room you keep bragging about. But do you offer any classes? Or how about personal trainers? Since the residents have either free or discounted access to the building gym, they would definitely be willing spend a little extra for these perks.

Have babysitters available. Good teenagers are hard to get ahold of sometimes (they’re very wiggly). Especially in an apartment building, where people might not know their neighbors. Partner with a babysitting service or if there’s a building playroom playroom have hours where people could drop off their kids with a qualified caregiver.

What are some other extras or services you could offer your residents?

Oh, and P.S., Brad, if you’re reading, you definitely impress me. Call me, maybe?

-Jessica Fiur, News Editor

Photo credit: Joe Seer for the Shania Twain photo