8 Things We’re Going to Stop Doing in 2024: Advice for Multifamily Professionals

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Cheers to doing less and being strategic in the new year!

Happy New Year! Who else is ready for a fresh start?

Lots of people are here to tell us what we should be doing in the new year. (According to my TikTok For You page, I should be eating more protein, drinking my body weight in water and adding cottage cheese to all recipes, which, gross, not going to happen. It’s like the algorithm doesn’t know me at all!) I’m not into it. We all know what we should be doing. But what should we stop doing? Well, that’s a whole other story.

Especially professionally, sometimes it can feel like we’re ramming against a brick wall. So let’s all take some of the pressure off of ourselves at our multifamily communities and concentrate instead on stopping doing the things that no longer serve us well. (And check out my list of anti-resolutions from 2022 and 2023.)

So, cheers to doing less in the new year! Here are 8 things multifamily property managers and marketers should stop doing in 2024.

• Being afraid of AI. AI is everywhere now, and while it’s still not perfect, there are a ton of things multifamily professionals can use it for that will make their lives easier, like marketing to prospective residents, using it to predict when appliances will need repairs or writing website copy.

• Not having EV charging stations.In 2023, it is estimated that the EV market generated $561.3 billion in revenue. That’s a lot of electric vehicles (or, like, one really, really expensive one)! It’s pretty much guarantied that some of your current and prospective residents would benefit from having charging stations at the community. It might be a little costly up front, but in the end, the investment can really pay off.

• Having small package lockers. This week, I had a waffle maker, pants for my daughter and a huge bag of dog food delivered. And I’m just one person! Multiply that by all your residents, and that’s a lot of space you’ll need. Make sure you have adequate space for all your renters’ packages.

• Not calling prospects back in a timely manner. In the year of our lord Taylor Swift 2024, what excuse do you have for not getting back to a prospective renter right away—I’m talking within 24 hours or fewer. And with AI chatbots, you really have no excuse anymore.
• Not utilizing TikTok. It’s not just kids dancing anymore. In 2023, TikTok had 1.5 billion users and it is estimated that there will be 2 billion in 2024. And in 2022, 34.9 percent of the users were 18-24, and 28.2 percent of users were 25-34. How many of those people are renters? I don’t know, I’m an editor, not a mathematician. But it’s definitely a lot, and you don’t want to miss out of those prospective renters. Start a community page, and start making content!
• Dedicating a ton of amenity space to “office” equipment. I recently got to tour a spectacular multifamily property in Manhattan. It had full-sized tennis courts! A hydroponic garden! A recording studio! And an itty bitty room with a computer and a printer. No one was in that room. Yes, a lot of people are still working from home or work a hybrid schedule. And you might need to include some coworking space as an amenity. But don’t waste valuable real estate (Ha! See what I did there?) on something that probably won’t get used that often. Instead, you might want to stage one of your apartments with an office nook, so you can still show off that people can work from home without taking up a ton of room.

• Giving up on expensive amenities that we have already. So while we don’t want to waste space on new amenities, such as coworking space, that might not get a lot of traction, sometimes you already have a big amenity that doesn’t get much use, for example, maybe your movie screening room never has anyone in there. Don’t just show off the empty amenity on your tours, find ways to get current residents excited about them! Maybe host a themed movie night and before the movie starts tell everyone how easy it is to reserve the room for themselves, or to play their own movies.
• Restricting pet breeds. You are potentially leaving a lot of revenue on the table by having a weight limit or restricting breeds. (Of course, the renters need to make sure their pets aren’t aggressive or will be barking all night or are a 20-ft python that eats toddlers.)

Source: Multi-Housing News