Apartment listing website MyNewPlace just announced that it has launched MyNewPlace for Mobile, a version of its website for mobile devices, allowing renters to search and review apartments and rental homes wherever they have a wireless connection.

• Complete search functionality of millions of properties based on location and amenities
• Multimedia listing information with pricing, detailed descriptions and photos
• Mapped property locations
• Click-to-call functionality, allowing users to call a leasing office without dialing a number

by Robert Griswold, Inman News

Q: I have a tenant who recently signed a two-year lease for my rental home. She just contacted me indicating that she has been approached by her employer about transferring to another city for a promotion with the company. She wanted me to voluntarily let her out of the lease, but I declined, as the rental market here is not that strong and it took me three months to rent the house.

I don’t want to be difficult, but I hate to lose a good tenant when I spent so much money upgrading the rental unit and marketing the property. She has now come back to me with the proposal that the employer will pay me a “reasonable” amount to break the lease. I don’t have any idea on what is an appropriate charge. Am I limited to a certain amount? What if I ask for three months’ rent and end up renting the house in two months?

A: Your tenant is approaching you about breaking the lease so you have the option of simply declining and holding her to the lease. Of course, in most states if the tenant does vacate your rental home you are obligated to re-rent the property and can’t just let it sit empty and expect the tenant to pay the rent for the balance of remaining months on the two-year lease. On the other hand, you could agree to unilaterally release your tenant from any further obligation under the lease for nothing.

I would recommend a middle-ground response that is calculated based on a conservative estimate of the most likely costs you will incur in re-leasing the property. That includes the cost of cleaning and preparing the home to be rented, the advertising, and the length of time you will not collect rent. Based on the soft rental market you may want to propose a lease cancellation fee that includes your out-of-pocket expenses plus four or five months of rent. The factor you want to keep in mind is how long it will take you to re-lease the unit and whether it would be at least at the rent level you were to receive under the lease if the tenant weren’t leaving. If it is likely that you will not be able to get the same rental rate as the current tenant is paying or if you will have to offer some concessions (like free rent), then you should include that as well.

So while you could play hard ball and demand the full remaining balance of all the lease payments to the end of the lease, the reality is that you and your tenant’s employer will probably reach a compromise. Once the amount has been mutually agreed, be sure to prepare a basic written agreement that indicates it is a full and final settlement and that you will not seek any further payments — but that you will not pay back any funds even if you are able to re-lease the property in less than the agreed time.

  
This column on issues confronting tenants and landlords is written by property manager Robert Griswold, author of “Property Management for Dummies” and co-author of “Real Estate Investing for Dummies.”

E-mail your questions to Rental Q&A at rgriswold.inman@retodayradio.com. Questions should be brief and cannot be answered individually.What’s your opinion? Leave your comments below or send a letter to the editor. To contact the writer, click the byline at the top of the story.

Copyright 2008 Inman News

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services related to your commercial housing investment including REAL ESTATE FORMS, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing.  Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

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Tags: when+tenant+moves+out+early, apartment+owners+associations, landlord+associations, landlords

So, your renters are not interested in looking at those old coffee stains or lovely series of stripes from years of not using a cutting board on the formica countertops?  Hmmm.

Why not consider an easy, cost effective solution -  overlay countertops?  Several types of materials can be used right on top of your old countertop with many advantages:

• No messy demolition!  If the layout of your property is just fine,  there is no need to go through the expense of ripping out the countertops. 

• Formica, tile or any substrate can be overlaid. 

• Easy installation - certified personnel take exact measurements, then fabricate the material in the shop for a perfect fit.  This means NO MESS in your property. 

• Overlay counter-tops are fitted and glued usually within 1 – 2 days,  unlike a long drawn out process for many other types of counter-tops.

The Look of Granite Without the Hassle

A popular type of overlay is called Trend Stone, which has the look of granite without the bi-annual sealing process or the danger of staining or chipping.  This material is a mixture of 95% natural stone (granite and quartz) and a polymer, which maintains the beauty of the natural look while adding extra benefits.  It’s heat, stain and scratch resistant and has a lifetime guarantee.

Another type of overlay is FLEX-C-MENT -specially formed and produced to obtain many unique looks.  Colors of “c-ment” can be mixed to match anything from tile to stone, with very interesting cost-effective results.  Commercial grade epoxy is used to seal the surface for extra durability.

When counter-tops need a face-lift, and you want to avoid demolition and downtime, explore the options available with overlay counter-tops. 

Your prospective renters will appreciate the modern touch of class!

You’ll appreciate the  no-mess, budget friendly solution.  Bye Bye eyesore counter-tops!    Hello welcoming kitchens and impressive, profitable properties!

Check out our Green Pages for information on money saving tips that help the environment.  Once there, click on the Green Forum.

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services related to your commercial housing investment, including real estate forms, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing.  Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

To subscribe to our blog, click here.

Tags: landlords, landlord+associations, apartment+owners+associations, green+forum, veneer+countertops+save+money, don’t+replace+countertops,+resurface+them

Maybe it’s the high carbs, the beers used as bribes, or sheer exhaustion, but move-out time for tenants breeds temporary insanity.  It’s a time when the quest for friends with strong arms or a pickup truck makes strange bedfellows. Things get left behind, other tenants get annoyed, and the landlord may get caught prepping the unit for the next tenant with no time to spare. 

A move out checklist is the key to maintaining harmony, and to getting your property back on time and in good condition. Make sure yours is up-to-date:

Move-out Information

A written checklist of procedures is the best bet to getting the results you want. Give the tenant the move-out checklist at lease signing, and go over it again when a tenant gives notice.  Lay out the time lines.  When, exactly, does the tenant have to be out? List the steps they need to accomplish to get their deposit back.

Forwarding Address

Don’t ever let the tenant get away without leaving a forwarding address. Be sure to note that address for future reference.  That can make or break later attempts at debt collection.

Provide a Cleaning Checklist

As many landlords can attest, one person’s ‘clean’ is another’s nightmare. Supply a cleaning checklist for each room.  If you are expecting the tenant to wash the windows, baseboards or clean underneath the refrigerator, you should say so. If you don’t want them plugging nail holes with toothpaste, especially the green and red minty kind, then say so.

Don’t have a cleaning checklist?  Check out www.mrscleannw.com for room by room tasks and helpful cleaning tips: for example, dust before you vacuum,  remove scuff marks on linoleum with a  pencil eraser.

Modern Materials, Modern Solutions

Abrasive cleaners wreak havoc on granite.  So can the popular citrus-y ones. Common grocery store wood floor cleaners can leave a waxy buildup. Some stain bamboo. Does the ceramic tile cleaner the tenant is using clean the grout in between? Your best bet for all of your floors may be diluted vinegar and warm water. But how much vinegar?

Tell your tenant how to protect your special finishes, or supply the cleaners, labeled with instructions when the tenant moves in.  

Provide oven liners, a cheap way to avoid the hardest item to clean – the oven.  The extra time savings can be applied to cleaning other areas.

Don’t Forget the Exterior

Mowing and weeding are easy to neglect, but untidy landscaping or a dirty front door are the first things the new tenant will see.

Provide Phone Numbers for Services

Don’t want the couch or eighty bags of trash left on the curbside? Leave the numbers to call for special trash pickup. Have a special relationship with a carpet cleaner?  Your tenant is tired, stressed and buzzing from caffeine. Leave them the phone numbers of providers so they can get the job done on time.

Gone Keyless?

Update your checklist to reflect your upgrade to keyless entry.  You’ll avoid the cost of re-keying the locks and the headache of having your keys delivered at 2:00 a.m. by installing a keyless sytem.  But set up another way to assure your tenant will touch base with you before they leave.

Be a Help, Not a Hindrance

Encourage questions. Be available to help solve problems.  Work together. Consider a small moving out gift. Good communication leads to a good relationship; the tenant will want to leave the place clean.  Maybe they’ll even send you a referral or two! 

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services related to your commercial housing investment including REAL ESTATE FORMS, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing.  Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

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Tags: update+move-out+checklist, tenant+move-out+checklist, landlord+forms, landlord+associations, apartment+owners+associations

When renting an apartment, one usually feels as though they are free to do as they wish, as long as it is within the bounds of reason, legality and the terms of their rental agreement.

Whether renting an apartment or owning a house, everyone wants to feel like the king or queen of their respective castles. Smoking, however, is a contentious subject; should one be allowed to smoke in his or her own apartment?

According to a recent article in Units Magazine, apartment owners are favoring a more restrictive policy when it comes to smoking and are seeing happier tenants and a higher demand for their smoke-free apartments as a result. A survey done by the Portland-Vancouver Metro Area Smokefree Housing Project found that 75% of renters prefer smoke-free apartment buildings and half would pay more for smoke-free communities.

Not only do non-smokers wish to live in a smoke-free environment, even those who do smoke recognize the dangers and the undesirable side effects of smoking in their apartments. The survey also found that only 11% of smokers actually smoke inside their own apartments; many cite preserving their loved ones’ health and keeping their apartments clean as primary reasons. Property managers and apartment owners are now citing their smoke-free policies to potential renters as a selling point. Their apartments are cleaner, healthier and do not depreciate as quickly, and they mitigate the risk of the devastating effects of fires.

The issue has even attracted the attention of local city councils. When local governments get involved, however, staunch opposition typically emerges. Smokers do not necessarily have a problem with apartment owners prohibiting smoking, but when a local ordinance is passed, a tenant’s right to privacy is commonly perceived as being infringed upon.

What do renters think? Should MyNewPlace add smoke-free as a search filter option? Do problems often erupt between non-smoking and smoking neighbors?

Send us your feedback or tell us your stories about dealing with this controversial issue.

MyNewPlace.com is an online marketplace for apartment rentals, featuring a free-to-use apartment finder to search its database of over six million listings.

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services related to your commercial housing investment including REAL ESTATE FORMS, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing.  Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

To subscribe to our blog, click here.

Tags: smoke+free+rentals, non-smoking+apartments, demand+for+smoke+free+apartments, apartment+owners+association, landlords, landlord+associations

In 2008, there will be, at the absolute minimum, almost 26 million people looking for an apartment online. We have tabulated this figure from the fact that there are 37 million rental apartments and houses in the United States, according the U.S Census Bureau.

An overwhelming 88% will seek another rental home this year, according to a study by Apartments.com. We combined this information with an independent study conducted by Compete, Inc. for MyNewPlace, which found that 79% of potential renters use the Internet for their search.

The Internet has become a reliable resource for people to begin their search for an enormously important decision in their lives, namely, finding a place to live. If 26 million people are using online resources to inform their decisions and choose apartments, it is absolutely necessary for apartment management companies to have user-friendly, updated and effective websites.

Recognizing and living by this, MyNewPlace offers a website solutions product called MyNewSite, which has been gaining popularity amongst apartment management companies.

Most recently, we would like to welcome Western National Group, www.wngapartments.com, and Miles Properties, http://miles.mynewsite.com to our online community and the MyNewSite product. We have great expectations that their sites will really be able help them attract new renters.

So how will these websites be able to get some of those 26 million into their rental properties?

At MyNewPlace, we have found that renting decisions are driven primarily by location, so it is important for sites to have maps that can show locations. One does not look for an apartment in Los Angeles or Atlanta, they look for a location within that city that will meet their needs.

For renters, can you even imagine not using the Internet for your apartment search?

I cannot even begin to fathom how I would go about cooking a chicken without the Internet, let alone find an apartment for rent.

Just as it is becoming common to use Google Maps to plot the most efficient route, even if only a few blocks, efficient apartment hunting is now only possible by using the internet.

MyNewPlace.com is an online marketplace for apartment rentals, featuring a free-to-use apartment finder to search its database of over six million listings.

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services related to your commercial housing investment including REAL ESTATE FORMS, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing.  Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

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Tags: Internet+apartment+search, find+an+apartment+Internet, rentals+Internet, apartment+owners+associations, landlords, landlord+associations

We noticed that a certain rental property, ‘Arbors at Branch Creek‘ had aroused some marked interest in the past few days; organic traffic to those apartments for rent has skyrocketed in the past few days. We wondered what was at the heart of all this commotion.

Apparently, ‘Arbors at Branch Creek’ is now called ‘Eden’ and has a whole new swing in its step. The upscale apartment complex in Tampa, has just stripped down their image with a brand spanking new policy.

The Eden apartments encourage their residents to “shed more than their inhibitions as they enter the gates of Eden.” By offering a European-style clothing optional swimming pool, Eden hopes to become a luxury condominium community that puts no restrictions on the lifestyles of its residents.

Eden has a newly revamped website that certainly made us consider relocating to Tampa. The website is very visually convincing. Actually, we hear Tampa is supposed to be a pretty nice place. Nice climate, good people. There are probably some good job opportunities there. Perhaps, it would be a good time for us to embark on a southeasterly relocation.

No, no! We must ignore the intriguing possibilities of living in Eden. We cannot be moving about the country to explore hedonistic living situations, regardless of the attractiveness of the models in the website’s photo gallery.

Though it does seem reasonable; is the diversity of custom not the strength of our cultural fabric? Should we turn our clothed shoulders to that which is unconventional? Are we that close-minded? Certainly not! Being a bit more European would help us enjoy the finer things in life, stop and smell the roses, so to speak. Oui, Oui, il sera tres bon!

Oh that sneaky website has us speaking in romance languages now. That photo gallery has stealthily and stubbornly entrenched itself in our minds and is beginning to become a little too creatively persuasive. 

“But what of the pristine natural landscape that surrounds Eden? It would be so relaxing and calming.”

“We know what you are up to, brain, and you are going to have to wake up pretty early in the morning to convince us to move into some kind of natural, nude paradise.” We are not falling for that, again.” 

Help us decide what to do. Would you move into this kind of apartment complex?

But seriously, check out Eden’s website.

MyNewPlace.com is an online marketplace for apartment rentals, featuring a free-to-use apartment finder to search its database of over six million listings.

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services related to your commercial housing investment including REAL ESTATE FORMS, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing.  Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

To subscribe to our blog, click here.

Tags: online+rental+marketplace, apartment+owners+association, landlords, find+a+tenant

The Internet has become the most trusted and effective method for renters to find information on rental properties. 

With nearly 70% of U.S. households using the internet and leading managers reporting over 50% of their lead and lease activity coming from online sources, it is essential for any multifamily owner or manager to develop a comprehensive online marketing strategy.  

Components of a Good Strategy 

With all of the options open to a multifamily marketing professional today, how do owner/managers craft an online strategy that ensures they are spending their advertising dollars in the most effective manner?   

The best strategies will have the following elements: 

• Comprehensive systems and processes to track all types of spending, including, most importantly, new types of spending. 

• A full accounting of current marketing expenditures and how that spending is broken down in terms of acquisition costs, both for leads and leases.

• A strategy for the allocation of the new planned spending and plans for testing. 

Online Marketing Products 

For most management companies, Internet Listing Services (ILS’s) remain one of the more cost-effective ways to acquire leads and leases. The industry now has several pricing models, and an effective strategy uses the ILS’s that work best for a given portfolio’s or property’s situation. 

An Apartment Marketing Site, or AMS, may not be the first site renters use in their apartment search, and thus may not be the most cost-effective way to find renters, but renters increasingly use them later in their search process, and they make a very effective closing tool. 

Tracking and Accounting for Current Spending 

The decisions on where to spend advertising dollars will be only as good as the underlying data used to make those decisions.  Leasing office and call center personnel must ask prospects how they found the property and, if the prospect doesn’t know or remember, to list “unknown” rather than guess or, worse, list a source because of the incentives it offers.  

In fact, one management company CEO reported that six months after he cut a certain advertising source at the corporate level, specific properties were still attributing leases to that cut source because they were so conditioned from the perks and incentives they had been offered.  

We cannot emphasize enough the importance of gathering accurate lead data. Inaccurate data can lead to false conclusions on the efficacy of certain types of advertising, resulting in the waste of thousands of dollars per property in misallocated spending.  

In order to determine the efficacy of its spending, a company should accurately track the following data:   

• Dollars spent monthly by source 

• Leads sent monthly by source 

• Leases signed monthly by source 

• Close rate by source 

• Cost of lead 

• Cost of lease 

Developing Your Online Strategy

Online advertising is very much like direct marketing, and good online marketers focus only on the numbers, ignoring concepts such as “brand building.” This approach works well for the multifamily industry, since except for the largest REITs, spending online marketing dollars on brand building is too expensive.  

Some advertising sources are fixed and some are variable.  For example, an advertising-based ILS may charge $400 a month for a listing and generate on average 1.5 leases a month, resulting in a per-lease cost of $267. However, if the property is near occupancy, or it does not need advertising year-round, a variable source that costs $325 per lease — but can be turned on or off at will — may be a better option.  

The key to marketing your listings online is based on the ease with which you can immediately analyze reliable data to see where leads and leases are being generated. Every apartment building is different and there is no one formulaic method or model that will work for each company.  The trick is to have the tools and information on hand that will allow for continual and diligent improvement of your own formula. 

Submitted by MyNewPlace.com, an online marketplace for apartment rentals, featuring a free-to-use apartment finder and a database of over six million listings. To learn more about how to optimize your Internet listing service, visit www.mynewplace.com.

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services related to your commercial housing investment including REAL ESTATE FORMS, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing.  Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

To subscribe to our blog, click here.

Tags: online+rental+marketing+strategy, internet+listing+services, how+to+market+your+vacant+unit, how+to+market+rental+online, landlords, landlord+associations, apartment+owners+associations

Photos

Properties that display photos are viewed three to five times more frequently than those lacking photos. Renters often will not even look at a listing that does not have photos. Interior photos are one of the biggest requests from renters on MyNewPlace.

Floor Plans

Good-quality floor plans are also a must. Some sites have introduced furniture arrangers that work in concert with floor plans; however, this technology is so new that there is little data on its ROI.

Detailed Rents and Availability

Some management companies do not like to display their actual rents. However, renters demand it. They become frustrated if all they see is a broad range or are forced to call the property. By not displaying actual rents by unit type, managers risk losing potential prospects. Today, many owner/managers use services like VaultWare or OneSite’s Crossfire product to display actual rents and provide a reserve-a-unit function. Feedback from renters on these products is very positive: VaultWare reports that 12 percent of renters on MyNewPlace who use the unit availability function on MyNewSite through VaultWare end up reserving a unit at the property. These are highly qualified prospects that close well above the industry average.

Maps

As the old adage goes, real estate is about “location, location, location.”  Apartment buildings are no different. Renters want to see a building’s location on a map, and if they can get driving directions or see locations of nearby schools or bus lines, so much the better. This is especially important for the roughly 28 percent of online apartment hunters who are looking in a new city or state.

Specials

Everyone loves specials. Even a small special, such as waiving the application fee for people who contact the property via email or reserve a unit online, gets results. On MyNewSite, we have found that properties that offer a higher rebate increase their click-through rate (clicks to view that property’s detailed information) and leads by over 100 percent.

Featured Property Listings

Most ILS’s also offer a way to buy your way to the top of a search result, often called a “Featured Property.” These positions are limited and usually sell out in popular markets as they typically increase traffic by two to three times. These promotions, which typically cost anywhere from $150 to $400 a month, can give a significant boost to leasing efforts. Featured property listings typically increase viewers and leads by two to three times.

Number of Vacancies

Property managers should evaluate the number of vacancies, turnover rate, and how much exposure/how many leads are necessary to fill vacancies.  Once this is determined, property managers can decide what Best Practices should be used in order to have desired occupancy.

Submitted by MyNewPlace.com, an online marketplace for apartment rentals, featuring a free-to-use apartment finder and a database of over six million listings. To learn more about how to optimize your Internet listing service, visit www.mynewplace.com.

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services related to your commercial housing investment including REAL ESTATE FORMS, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing.  Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

To subscribe to our blog, click here.