Are you an Otter?

Good morning everyone. I love watching Planet Earth and found an episode particularly interesting this weekend. There was a section that discussed the otter as a social creature and how well they work together as a group.

Here is what was cool. What do you think? One on One, Otter versus Crocodile. Who do you think would win. The answer is obvious. Don't count the otter out yet. Here is how the otter faces such a formidable opponent--teamwork. As a group they work together to harass and antagonize a crocodile that is coming to close to its family group. The crocodile although hungry, gives up on trying to catch a meal.

Lesson for today--Are you an otter? How much do you contribute to your team? What is the crocodile in your company's daily challenges? Is it the economy? Occupancies? Or maybe something within ourselves?

Whatever the case may be, there is a lot to learn from such a wonderful creature. The only thing that matters to an otter is keeping the team together and facing adversity and challenges head on. How do you act like an otter in your daily work and life? Thanks for reading, and have a great Monday.

Training--Huhh!! Why??

Good morning everyone and happy Friday!!!

Morning thoughts have been reflecting on the different types of multifamily professionals I have met. The most intriguing for sure were the ones that when I asked questions about their training program, they said--Huhh! Why? They looked at me as if to say-"We hired them because they know the position, why should we as a company have to go any further?"

I really need your input on this statement. Here is what I have humbly noticed thus far. Please notice that this may not be the only variable on this next statement, however it is an important factor. Those companies who did not believe in training have been laying off like crazy. In contrast those companies who have a strong training program are hiring and even buying up new additions to their portfolio.

My message--Maybe your response to why you are laying off or why your NOI does not look good at all should be--Huh!! Why!!

Open the mind, examine the possibilities, get involved with the social aspect of the multifamily industry so that you can learn from others. Be humble.

Please share your thoughts-thanks folks- Have a fabulous weekend.

Informative Multifamily Bloggers-Knowledge is Power

Good morning Everyone,

I am kind of new at blogging, but about to dig in and learn how to do it by just "doing". We know the old expression of jumping in with both feet. Knowing this was a necessary part of interaction with the multifamily community, I decided it best to learn from other's who blog that I especially appreciate. I know there are probably many others that I just have not noticed as of yet, so if I missed you and you want to share yours with me, please feel free.

The links below are some great blogs from experienced professionals here in the multifamily industry. The fastest way to keep in tune with their posts is to either subscribe by email or use a RSS feed that posts the information right to your reader. I use google as my home page, so when I open it up in the morning, I take a few minutes and get a good start to the day by reading the insights on their blogs.

http://behindtheleasingdesk.com/

http://www.theapartmentnerd.com/

http://www.multifamilyinsiders.com/home/

http://www.apartmentveteran.com/

http://www.apartmentmarketingblog.com/

I look forward to blogging regularly now. Just so you know I am not a "stats" kind of guy. I know that is helpful for many topics. My direction is more on overall development. Whether it is ourselves personally or how are companies grow, I feel that statistics have a place in the board room absolutely, but also how we live our lives each day and our personal motto we live with is just as important. Other than that I have a lot to share about my customers and their success. I work with a lot of great teams now and their passion inspires me.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to your comments.

Are Complaints Growing or Lowering?

Now that the Horizon situation seems to be passing for the moment, I thought it prudent to point something out that I have been monitoring. It seems that this twitter complaint has inspired others to really get on board. I use twilert to monitor certain keywords that people use and to see in what context they are using them. Of course I have our company name and I regularly do random tests to see if my tweet turns up in my morning email report on that key word.

I also have a keyword report on “property management”. Since the well published situation that happened not to long ago, I am noticing this trend of complaining continuing. This is just with that particular expression alone. In the tweets I noticed they named the management company within their post. One company I knew and I let them know right away which they were grateful for. The others unfortunately I did not know who they were and felt sad that a customer complaint was going to go unheard.

My other thought was, how many tweeters are not using the expression “property management”, but are just naming the company name. When I tried to see a twitter presence on the companies that were named in the complaints, I could find none.

What lessons do you think need to be learned here????

On the hand, I felt quite privileged last night to monitor a property management company have an entire business meeting via twitter. Mike Whaling from @30Lines made this great comment last night to them, “Want transparency? Very interesting to watch @AlbertMBerriz & the McKinley team openly talk about their biz plans on Twitter. “

I was amazed myself to see a team embrace technology with people who are using it to its fullest potential and are using it to engage and connect with their residents.

Is this message getting out there?

Consistent Leadership---Learn From the Restroom

Consistency holds a special place for all different aspects of life. Even in our subconscious, our mind craves it. I happened to appreciate that even more reflecting on different restroom experiences I have had in restaurants.

I put my hand in front of the soap dispenser and the motion sensor kicks in and out comes the soap. I then place my hands in front of the faucet and for that brief moment I was waiting for the water to come out automatically. Another brief moment passes and I realize there is a manual faucet of which I must turn. Now on to the towel dispenser, I am looking frantically for the wheel or lever to roll the paper out and then the brain has to make its adjustment and once again it’s back to the motion sensor.

After reflecting on that for a while, I came to realize that this is really nothing new. Many restaurants do this, for which I do not know why. You go from motion sensor to non motion sensor items in order to complete your mission in the restroom.

This made me think of the impact it had on my brain’s craving for consistency. With so many things on my mind, it was amazing to me that an inconsistent restroom experience could contribute to a lapse in productivity and time management.

Now take this small insignificant situation and amplify that into our workplace. If such inconsistency in a restroom contributed to a lack of productivity, how more so would this take place at work if we have to deal with leaders who are changing how business, policies, procedures, marketing plans etc. all of the time

If you are a leader in your workplace, is consistency a quality that you keep working on in order to aid to the satisfaction of your team and the overall productivity of each business day?

"Estimating the Cost of Sitework - Conceptually Multifamily Insiders - Apartment Marketing Property Management Resident Retention Apartment Investment"

Do management companies use outside sources for their cabinet repairs, refacing and touchups prior to a move in, or do they usually try in house first?