Focusing on Your Residents' Needs

Student Housing is a different breed of apartment leasing. Students rent sight unseen based solely on what a leasing consultant or “community assistant” tells them and puts in emails. They and their roommates are assigned a unit (not necessarily based on their preferences but on what works for the property at the time the assignment is made, or even on the whim of the leasing consultant.) In my experience in this market, at renewal time, many will ask for a transfer to a preferred location. Our communities actually have achieved as high as a 37% renewal rate consistently. The number one reason for this is the close proximity to the campus. 

Would love to say it is because of the great customer service and devotion of the teams, but truly, students can be a fickle crowd even when the team exceeds expectations. While at these properties, we have expressed the concept I personally ascribe to: “Make It Happen.”

In the midst of the renewal process during the closing month of the properties’ sale, I noticed that one of the residents was approved for a transfer by incoming ownership. I ask the consultant why he assigned that particular unit to the person transferring. Having already spoken to the student’s mother on a few occasions and offering the option to transfer at the lease expiration period, I wasn’t surprised by the request at all and had passed along the special circumstances surrounding the request to the onsite team, since the expressed reason for the transfer from the UPSTAIRS 2 bedroom apartment to a DOWNSTAIRS one bedroom apartment at our sister property was to accommodate a wheelchair access entry,  

“He asked for a 1-bedroom so that’s what I gave him,” he replied.

“Yes, but do you know where this 1-bedroom is?” I asked.

“Yeah, I know. Why do you ask?”

The unit he assigned is located up a flight of concrete STAIRS. Yes, it is technically on the first floor of the building but the building is located on a hill. “How is the wheelchair supposed to go up the steps?” I asked. The leasing consultant shrugged his shoulders and said, “Oh? Well, he asked for a 1-bedroom and that’s what I gave him. I guess that’s his problem to figure out.”

If you have someone on your team whose attitude is this callous and uncaring, is your team’s approach ever going to be customer centric? (Not to mention the wasted time of training and teaching ADA compliance.)  You can teach skill (usually) but you cannot teach or train for attitude.