Effective Property Management Techniques

It’s that time of year….. The multifamily market is heating up as we head ever closer to leasing season. This year, there are some clear trends emerging that can help your property standout and win. Here are 5 key insights to focus on for 2025, based on the latest industry research: 1. AI is Your New Best Friend ✔️ AI is no longer a futuristic concept - it's here and it's changing the game. From chatbots to reputation management, AI can automate tasks, personalize the renter experience, and boost your bottom line.  If you haven’t dabbled in AI, now's your chance.  Start small or dive in, but start. It’s a game changer. 2. Diversify Your Marketing Mix ✔️ A solid ILS strategy is essential.  But the renter journey has evolved and your marketing mix needs to as well.  Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Explore new channels like geofencing, paid social, and display ads to reach a wider audience and stand out from the competition. You can start small and learn into these channels before committing large budgets.   Leverage all your touch points, including your property website, to tell a consistent story to potential residents. Don’t under estimate the power of a solid integrated marketing effort.     3. Data is King (and Queen!) ✔️ First-party data is the key to unlocking valuable insights into renter preferences and behaviors. Use this data to hyper-target your marketing efforts and maximize your ROI.  Don’t have enough first-party data to scale to campaigns, work with a partner to augment your data.  If you need help, I know some people that would be happy to help.  Let me know! 😉 4. Transparency is Key ✔️ Renters are demanding transparency, especially when it comes to qualifications and costs. Be upfront about your requirements and provide detailed information to attract and convert qualified leads. Nobody wants to waste time on something that wont work. 5. Reputation is Everything ✔️ In a digital world, your online reputation can make or break you.  Proactively manage your online presence, respond to reviews, and cultivate a positive brand image to attract and retain residents.  If your reviews aren’t fresh, now is the time to get a plan to solicit reviews.  Current reviews are going to carry more weight with potential residents than ones 6 months old or older.  So if you want a wave of new reviews, set a reminder to ask for reviews from your current residents at least 3 times a year; spring, summer and fall. Be sure you dedicate the time to respond to reviews as well. It will pay off. 💡 The multifamily landscape is evolving rapidly, but you can stay ahead of the curve and set yourself up for a strong 2025 leasing season and beyond.  To learn more about these and other trends check out “The State of Multifamily Marketing in 2025”. https://lnkd.in/gQ5yMQME

Attention Tenant Rep Professionals! 🏢   One of the best pieces of advice I can give: never take calls or hop on a conference call while you’re site touring with a client. When you’re out in the field, it’s not about your inbox, deal flow, or other meetings—it’s about them. That client chose you to represent their brand and their vision, and touring day is when they need your full focus. If something urgent pops up? Reschedule it. Calls and emails can wait—but your client shouldn’t feel like they’re competing for your attention. I’ve learned that the most successful tours happen when clients feel heard, understood, and prioritized. That only happens when you’re present in every conversation, every site visit, and every observation along the way. 👉 Protect the tour time. Put your phone away. Put your out of office on your phone and emails. Your clients will notice the difference.✨ ~Tori's Tenant Rep Tips #cre #womeninbusiness #TenantRep #RetailTenantRep #Brokers #RetailRealEstate #TenantRepTips Anchor Retail 🌟

Four scheduled tours last week. Zero completed. Three no-shows. One cancel. 100% failure rate. At 76% occupancy, we can't afford this conversion problem. Here's what we're testing this week: sending unlisted YouTube videos to every prospect before their scheduled tour. Not fancy production. Just simple walk-throughs of the actual units they're coming to see. The goal: let them preview the space before they drive over. Self-qualify. Reduce no-shows. Right now, prospects schedule tours based on photos and floor plans. Then life happens. They forget. They get busy. They decide it's not worth the drive. But if they've already seen a 2-minute video of the actual unit? They're more invested. More likely to show up. We're implementing this across the property this week. Every tour confirmation email now includes the video link. Here's the logic: if someone watches the video and cancels, that's actually good. They saved us both time. If they watch and still want to come, we have a qualified prospect who's serious. The leasing team starts sending these videos tomorrow. We'll track the data: watch rates, cancellation rates, conversion rates. Testing fast. Tracking results. Adjusting based on what works. This is how we think about operations when standard marketing isn't converting. Markets get tough. We can't control that. We can control our follow-up, our execution, our response. Our newsletter documents how we manage through difficult markets: execution gaps we catch, systems we implement, and results we track. Subscribe to see operational discipline when markets get hard.

SEO isn't dead. It's just getting weird. 👇 Ok that was judgey, but I’ve been spending a lot of time working on GEO (Generative Experience Optimization) and AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) for a client so give me some leeway. Here’s the short list of what I’ve learned so far. Google's new AI summaries mean renters get instant answers instead of clicking through links. And were you aware of this - AI doesn't just pull from your property website (I mean, duh...but...what now???). It grabs answers from Reddit threads. LinkedIn posts. Review sites. Local news. Anywhere it finds what it thinks are trusted sources. About YOU. Well, your community anyway. So while you're optimizing your leasing pages, AI might be serving up that complaint from six months ago on Nextdoor or FaceBook (is that a thing still?). Or that Reddit thread where someone asked about your property's parking situation. The game isn't just about ranking higher in Google anymore.  It's about being the best answer everywhere AI looks for information about your communities. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗨𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗚𝗘𝗢/𝗔𝗘𝗢 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀 1️⃣ 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗔𝗜-𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 – Clear headings, short paragraphs, bullet points, and labeled sections like “Amenities,” “Pet Policy,” and “Parking.” 2️⃣ 𝗔𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲 – Pricing, availability, neighborhood perks, move-in timelines, and policies. Avoid hiding this info in PDFs or “call for details” popups. 3️⃣ 𝗔𝗱𝗱 𝗮 “𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗔𝘀𝗸” 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 – Include it on your property website and your Google Business Profile Q&A. 4️⃣ 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗮 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝘂𝗽 – Tag floor plans, prices, and amenities so Google can pull that info straight into AI-generated answers. 5️⃣ 𝗕𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀 – Monitor and engage in relevant Reddit threads, LinkedIn discussions, and local forums about your neighborhood or property type. 6️⃣ 𝗘𝗻𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀 – Google, Yelp, Apartments.com, ApartmentRatings, even LinkedIn recommendations for your communities. 7️⃣ 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 – Sponsorships, event listings, and business directories boost your domain authority and get you into citation networks AI already trusts. The goal isn’t just more clicks. It’s more confidence that your property is the right choice, no matter where renters find their answers. What's your team doing to show up when AI goes hunting for apartment information? PS thank you Kristi Fickert, Justin Jones, Daniel Paulino, Mike Whaling and all the other AI enthusiasts writings and hosting webinars on the topic. Someone (me 🙋🏻♀️) is reading and watching and listening. Let's talk, ❤️ LZ

Leasing/touring tips: -No phones out. If it's out, it should be because you are talking to another team member to assist with your tour and you've let the tour know who you are talking to. Having a phone out on a tour is the equivalent of having it out on a date. -No bashing competitors. This is just poor form, no matter the industry you work in. When I worked at COACH, customers would frequently ask how I felt about Michael Kors, Kate Spade and Louis Vuitton. This was nothing more than baiting and I didn't participate in it. -No walking ahead of the tour. We are guiding them through what we hope is their new home. Walk along WITH them while making personalized conversation. -For the absolute love of all things holy, please pick up trash when you see it. I had a set of leasing agents who would submit work orders for the maintenance team when they saw gum wrappers in the hallway while on tours. Being a helping hand goes a long way for your team and your prospects. What's wild about the above mentioned is these items are so basic. These items have nothing to do with the budget or needing to get approval from ownership. These items are as 101 as it gets and the fact that a lot of these items are getting missed? These are non-negotiables. #MultiFamily #Utah #SaltLakeCity #PropertyManagement #Leadership #Leasing

So you have a potential listing property tour. How do you prepare?  My old strategy was good ole winging it!  As you can imagine my hit rate was… subpar.  My new strategy is very simple. Over-prepare.  I study all the sales comps within 1 mile of the building.  Understand every property in the owners portfolio.  Create a google my maps of all the new developments, who owns it, and the amenities.  Call up my clients with nearby buildings and ask them their recent rents.  Time and time again when I ask sellers why they hired our team, I hear “You put in the effort and knew your shit!” Well maybe not shit but that’s what I hear.  Do one job. And do it well.  My goal is effortless knowledge which actually takes a lot of effort. 

Broker tour tip This should be Broker Touring 101, but always always always arrive early to tour the common areas, amenities, and units (or space) before bringing a perspective buyer or tenant through any property! I’ve encountered shattered windows, flooded basement, nasty unflushed toilets, unmade beds in model units, recently used shower with wet towels in model unit, smelly bathrooms (IYKYK), and many more unpleasant situations. By touring before taking investors through, you can pivot and reroute the tour to avoid affected areas and avoid potentially embarrassing situations!

Having a strong online presence will never force you to become salesy. Here’s why: - It keeps you top of mind.  - It positions you as an expert in your field.  - It builds connections that go beyond business.  - It helps people trust you before they even talk to you.  - It allows you to attract the right opportunities effortlessly. And here’s how you can start it too: ✓ Start posting content around your work life. (Your failures, your lessons, etc.) ✓ Share insights from real experiences instead of generic advice.  (What worked, what didn’t, and why.) ✓ Talk about the challenges in your industry. (This sparks discussions and positions you as someone who understands the field.) ✓ Showcase behind-the-scenes moments. (People love to see how things actually happen.) ✓ Engage with others' content meaningfully. (Build relationships instead of just posting and disappearing.) Your online presence is not about selling, it’s about sharing, engaging, and building trust. When you do it right, sales happen naturally without you having to push for them.

437% more leads in 6 months. Not from ads. From SEO. Here's exactly what we did for a property management company in Memphis: The problem: They had offline credibility but zero online visibility. ❌ Low Map Pack rankings ❌ Thin service pages ❌ Slow mobile performance ❌ Inconsistent NAP ❌ Few reviews, no Q&A ❌ Overreliance on referrals They needed organic leads without raising ad spend. The strategy: We focused on 3 things: 🗺️ Local SEO → Full GBP optimization (categories, services, photos, posts) → Location pages for each target suburb → NAP consistency across all directories → Review request system + Q&A seeding → UTM tracking on all Map Pack leads ⚙️ Technical SEO → Core Web Vitals fixes (LCP, FID, CLS) → Mobile UX improvements + sticky phone button → Crawl cleanup (removed 100s of junk URLs) → Schema markup (LocalBusiness, FAQPage, Service) → Internal linking architecture 📝 Content & Authority → FAQ expansion for owner and tenant questions → Resource guides (rental trends, checklists) → Unique suburb content with local context → Digital PR with chambers and real estate associations → Linkable assets (calculators, checklists) The results (6 months): ✅ Leads up 437% ✅ 122 additional organic calls ✅ Clicks up 84% (12K → 22.1K) ✅ Impressions up 4.45× (162K → 721K) ✅ Top 3 rankings for "property management + [city]" across priority suburbs ✅ Map Pack visibility in multiple service areas No magic. No shortcuts. Just GBP optimization, technical fixes, and content that answers what owners actually search for. This is what Local SEO looks like when it's done right. Questions about growing organic leads for your business? Drop them below 💬

Most multifamily operators would never consider giving up their model units. I think they should. I've seen operators on both sides of this debate. Some have eliminated models across their portfolios and leaned into 360 virtual tours instead. Others follow the industry standard of models at every property. What I've noticed at properties without models? Prospects rarely ask about it. Here's what I've learned prospects actually care about when touring: - Can I see the exact floorplan I'm considering renting? - Does the property take care of their units and are they in good condition? - Will my furniture fit in the floorplan I am interested in? A model unit might help with some of these questions, but there's a better approach. Let's say you have a 1-bedroom model that could rent for $1,500/month. That's $18,000 in annual revenue you're giving up, worth $360,000 in value at a 5% cap rate. Take that money and invest it in comprehensive 360 virtual tours of every floorplan. Now prospects can view any unit type online before they visit. Then show them actual vacant units during tours, ideally the exact unit they're considering if it's available, or another unit of the same floorplan if their specific unit isn't tour-ready. This approach answers all three questions prospects have while generating real revenue and value creation. The key is knowing which units and floorplans are vacant, ready, and clean on a daily basis so your leasing team can confidently give tours in actual units instead of a designated model. I know many operators swear by model units, what's your take?