“What Renters Want” With Jessica Fiur
What Renters Want with Jessica Fiur: Looking Beyond the Resume: 8 Traits to Look For in a Multifamily Employee
Resumes can reveal a lot about a potential property management candidate—relevant experience, education and ability to write a resume, to name a few things. But they don’t tell anything about the personality of the candidate (unless, of course, they submitted the resume in crayon, which says they have a wonderful, childlike spirit, or are a serial killer. It could really go either way). You’re going to spend a lot of time with the people on your team, more than you do with your family. Plus, this person will be interacting with residents, so you want to make sure that he…
What Renters Want with Jessica Fiur: 6 Ways to Encourage Healthy Living at an Apartment Community
OK, so I know it doesn’t feel like it, especially to those of us on the East Coast who are still walking around in our puffy jackets and fur-lined boots, but it is almost swimsuit season. Already. I know, it’s been months of pasta and red wine and candy (though pasta has essential carbs and red wine has antioxidants and you can take the peanut butter M&Ms out of my cold, dead hands), but according to the calendar, it’s technically spring, which means summer is right around the corner. Time to shape up! (Of course, we know that there are…
What Renters Want with Jessica Fiur: 5 Ways to Give Your Community an Apple Watch Makeover
Yesterday Apple had a huge announcement where they gave more details about their soon-to-be-released Apple Watch. And now we all know what we’re going to do with that extra 10 grand we have laying around in our apartments, right? Well, time will tell whether the Apple Watch will go the way of Google Glass, and be cool in theory but look totally lame in real life (and, like, be unusable. But, more importantly, will look dorky), or if we’ll all be walking around with our future-watches like George Jetson. But, as of now, people are super excited about the new…
What Renters Want with Jessica Fiur: 5 Ways You’re Infuriating Your Renters
Have you ever been minding your business on the subway, when, at the next stop, someone innocently sits across from you, and then, for some infuriating reason, starts clipping his nails? And even though you turn up your music and try to look anywhere but at that person, you hear the click of the clippers, and see pieces of human nails flying through the air and landing near you. Doesn’t that make you so, so angry? What is wrong with some people? Well, I hate to break it to you, but sometimes property managers or apartment communities have policies that…
What Renters Want with Jessica Fiur: 50 Shades of Property Management
It’s Valentine’s Day on Saturday, which is a great time to show your residents you appreciate them. Are you searching for some ideas for something special to do at your community? Well, as you know, a little movie called Fifty Shades of Grey is coming out this weekend. And even though it’s a movie based on a book that is just some poorly written Twilight fan fiction (seriously), and certainly something you should not be seeing with your residents, the name is definitely inspiring. So that’s something. So in honor of Valentine’s Day, and the name Fifty Shades of Grey, here are 50 ideas for you…
What Renters Want with Jessica Fiur: Could Apartments Turn Down Anti-Vax Renters?
So, I’m going to see the band Bush in a few weeks. They were popular in the ’90s (and was my first concert, like, ever), and they’re totally back! I’m so excited! Do you know what’s also back? Flannel shirts. Oh, and measles. As I’m sure you’ve heard, even though it was considered eradicated in the United States years ago, there is currently an outbreak of measles, which started in Disneyland, and now is spreading across the country. Many people are saying that it’s able to spread so far now because of an anti-vaccination movement, where parents are choosing not…
What Renters Want with Jessica Fiur: The Problem With Some Amenities
Theoretically, you could have a community that is 100-percent leased even though it doesn’t offer any amenities. After all, amenities are just the icing—the “cake” of an apartment is a safe place where people can live. That’s all. And plenty of apartment buildings are just that—apartments with no frills. But, as we all know, the icing is always the best part. (For cakes, I mean. And apartments, in this metaphor. But not for Oreos. The cookies are the best part of an Oreo, not the icing, and I will defend this to the death.) Especially if there are a lot…
What Renters Want with Jessica Fiur: Alternative Super Bowl Party Activities for Residents
It’s almost Super Bowl Sunday. I know, I don’t really care either. But it is a good excuse to have a fun event for your residents. If you’re like me and couldn’t tell a football from… a slightly deflated football and have no idea why this is an issue, then here are some alternative activities you can have for your residents that will still get everyone in the spirit of the big game. Flag Football. If your community isn’t currently buried in snow, and you have the space, you can arrange a friendly game of flag football (while also allowing for…
What Renters Want with Jessica Fiur: Why You Should NOT Use Facebook at Your Community
It seems like everyone uses Facebook. You use it. I use it. Your weird aunt who still plays Candy Crush and keeps sending you requests to join for some reason uses it. So, it’s been pretty much decided in the apartment industry that it’s necessary to have a community Facebook (and Twitter, and, for some enterprising communities Instagram) page to communicate about what’s going on at the apartment. In fact, many people view this as not just necessary, but, essentially, mandatory. But what if it’s not? Think about it. When you use Facebook, sometimes posts get buried, or people just…
What Renters Want with Jessica Fiur: Property Management Lessons from the Golden Globes
Did you watch the Golden Globes last night? If you missed it, you missed out. There were gorgeous movie stars, gorgeous dresses, flowing champagne, George Clooney in a tuxedo and property management lessons. Seriously. In case you missed it, here are some property management lessons I gleaned from watching the awards show. Go for mass appeal. Unlike the Emmys or the Oscars, the Golden Globes give awards for both movies and television. And they also have separate categories for comedies and dramas. There’s pretty much something for everyone, unless you’re one of those people who only likes the book, but even…