More Sunday Funnies in Student Housing

Every Leasing Office everywhere can provide funny stories that prove this is the best industry in which to work. Honestly, though, Student Housing has to be the funniest genre! Even when our students are trying to be funny, they inevitably are. Here’s few more.

A girl walks into the office carrying an envelope. I ask how we can help her today and she responds, “How do I close this? I need to mail it?” Huh? “Oh, do you need a stamp or help addressing the envelope?” She shakes her head no. “How do I close it?” Oh. Wait. I tell her there is sticky stuff on the flap. You wet it and press down to seal it. She looks at me and says, “I have nothing. I have no sponge to wet it.” I have to actually show her that you can lick the flap and when she looks horrified, I offer to tape the envelope for her. She nods profusely. Kid you not.

One of our residents who has always paid rent on time with a check inadvertently forgets for the month of January, which is not so far-fetched since most students leave for a month over winter break. He is notified of his delinquency and upon return, he sheepishly brings in his check, apologizing for being late. Nothing more to be said … until he returns a couple of days later carrying a pound cake warm from the oven, which he baked himself. He tells us, “Here’s your Christmas present. It’s late too!”

In the property email account, I read the following: “Hey, XXXXXX Village! Can you send the guy to look at my toilet?” No name, no apartment number, no description of what is the matter.

Another one came from the resident who reported there was something wrong with her “Trash Compactor.” Except there are no trash compactors. Apparently she thought the Garbage Disposals were a trash chute and she was shoving everything down it. (Okay, maybe not so funny.)

We notified all the student residents of a contractor’s need to enter their apartments. Most of the students never responded. A couple went ballistic about demanding an exact time of entry (law school students, Go Figure.) One person responded with “It is my pleasure to help you and the contractor. Please let me know what else I can do to assist you.”

Got to admit – the last one is my favorite. :-) 

Student Housing Move Outs: What Do I Do With My Keys???

The mass exodus of college students living in apartment communities across the country has begun. And of course, for maintenance teams, this will become the busiest time of year for them as they ready hundreds of “beds” for incoming new residents (and some returning from summer break) in the fall. But for the Leasing Teams out there, it is a hectic, stressful time.

In an effort to organize the move out process (to which many student-residents call “checking out”) some Leasing Specialists try many tactics to help alleviate the confusion. They send out mass emails to the residents with detailed instructions on what is expected and How-To-Turn-In-Your-Keys. They organize the files in order of unit for quick retrieval so paperwork can be signed (that is IF the Move In Inspection report was even completed and returned in the first place.) They create flyers and post on doors the instructions for move out. They set up tables and clearly outline those instructions yet a third time at those tables as to what the student-resident should do.

And guess what? 98% of those student-residents will completely ignore those emails, flyers and still fail to read the signs posted at the move out tables. It’s human nature! Everyone who walks into a Leasing Office EXPECTS human contact. I explained this recently to one person who was lamenting the fact that everyone was coming to her and asking her what they should do with their keys. She was exasperated.

I listened intently and watched as student-resident after student-resident arrived at the Leasing Office. Because so many had signed their leases electronically, paid their rent online and submitted service requests online, they had no idea what the Leasing Office even looked like. Until then. They had no idea what to do and looked like lost puppies with a deer-in-headlights facial expressions.

One suggestion – do all that: send the detailed email, post the flyers, set the tables up with clear instructions – and then GO OUT AND ASK THEM IF THEY NEED ANY HELP. Of course they do! It doesn’t matter how academically bright these Ivy Leaguers are, they still crave the human interaction when it comes to The Process. Too many of them had received the streamlined, ultra easy online application and lease signing at move in, and now, at the move out, with no experience interacting with real people in the Office, what an opportunity we have to gain their stamp of approval, the holy grail of leasing – get a referral – when we simply get up and ask how we can assist. Yes, though you may have given instructions, but isn’t it so much more fun to TALK to the resident (and oftentimes, his or her parents) when they are standing right there?

It sure beats getting a phone call, or hundreds of phone calls, a day or so later from the resident or parent asking about the return of the security deposit. Which is a whole other topic of conversation!

Funny Stuff People Say In the Leasing Office

There are some funny (haha) conversations to be heard in a Leasing Office. There are also some funny (strange) ones, too. Every day either one or both occur and for various reasons. Here it is the twentieth of the month and this property is still trying to collect THIS month’s rent from some of its residents. People here do not even try to hide the fact that they aren’t paying on time – mostly because the rent collection policy has never been enforced.

When one of the Leasing Consultants finally did the inevitable – turned in her two-week notice – then the funny (haha) and funny (exasperating) conversations began to occur in the course of the interview process. Working in property management gives one a crash course in determining truth or dare situations, and there are many when it comes to collecting rent payments and interviewing candidates for jobs,

The thing that grates my nerves is having the UPS or FED EX delivery person drop off a package in the Office for a Resident who still owes rent. I usually pick up the phone and call them right away to let them know that they have a package so I can ask them, “Why?” I mean, I understand that it could be a gift from someone but really, if I were in those circumstances, I would almost feel obligated to beg forgiveness. Worse is the couple who went to a local Rent-a-Center and the business faxed over a Reference Request. Really? You guys owe $900 in rent but you want to rent furniture????

Then there are those residents who come into the Office for the purpose of turning in their keys – and they still have several months left on their lease. When I explain this, they look at me and say:

“We bought a house.”

“I lost my job and I paid this month’s rent already. I have next month’s rent, too, but I am not sure about that last month, so we packed up and moved.” I am thinking that gives you sixty days to find another job, plus your wife could also work.

My personal favorite: “Our lease is over so we moved.” When I explain they are obligated to provide a written notice, they tell me, “Oh, yeah? Even if we weren’t planning to renew?” I explain that yes, they are supposed to give notice so that we can market and re-rent their apartment. Otherwise, how would we know what their plans are if they don’t communicate them to us?

But some of the funniest things that are said happen during the interview process.  Interviewing someone for the position of Leasing Consultant one day, I asked, “Do you like talking on the telephone?” never expecting to hear, “Oh, no. I try to get off the phone as quick as I can!” I looked across the table at her and asked, “You do understand that as a Leasing Consultant the bulk if your time is answering calls, don’t you?”

My personal favorite though is the person who asks if she will need to work weekends, because, after all, I have a life and the weekends is when I really get to live it. Let me pause a moment while I ponder that remark. Yeah - I am not so sure you are the right fit for this job.