Blog entries

2012 Houston Apartment Association EXPO

Audrey Nardecchia — Sat, 19 May 2012 00:58:09 +0100

The annual Houston Apartment Association EXPO was held this Wednesday at Reliant Center in Houston, Texas. This year’s theme was Small World Big Business and hosted over a thousand industry professionals to a day filled with information and FUN! This event was a free educational opportunity for property managers and supervisors from all across Houston to connect with 840+ suppliers, their products and their services.

Prior to the EXPO commencement, the Houston Apartment Association offered 4 different educational seminars covering a variation of topics: CYA: "Consider Your Asset (Manager)", Social Media 2.0, The Ten Commandments of Maintenance, We Built this City, and an hour long general session: Make the Right Choice,given by the interactive and hilarious speaker, Joel Zeff.

The Social Media 2.0session was co-hosted by our very own Multifamily Marketing & Training Director, Stephanie Graves, along with Brent Williams, founder of Multifamily Insiders. The duo delivered an enthusiastic presentation of the Top 10 Mistakes in Social Media Today. The audience was encouraged to keep their cell phones out and browse through their own properties’ Facebook pages while Stephanie and Brent covered the Top 10 Mistakes and ways to avoid them. If you were unable to attend the seminar, no worries, I have the top 10 mistakes that you need not be making on your social sites today!

You have created Facebook and Twitter Accounts and then never touch them again!
You have created a friend profile rather than a fan page.
You have no idea why you are doing this! You have no social media plan!
Lots of posts but no feedback!
If you build a page, they will come but nobody comes…
ME, ME , ME – GET ME more leases.. Get ME more renewals!!!
You are posting specials and discounts; rather then engagable content.
Who is trained to be the face of your company?
Social Media efforts are TEAM efforts. There is no I in Social Media…Well there is but there shouldn’t be!
Ignoring on-line reviews!

If you have questions about how to defeat these Top 10 mistakes, feel free to email us at assetnews@assetpluscorp.com and we will send you the complete PowerPoint from Stephanie and Brent’s session.

Many of our Houston team members attended the EXPO educational seminars and met with HAA member suppliers to discuss the most beneficial and cost effective services and products available to their properties. All in all, the 2012 Houston Apartment Association EXPO was a BIG success!

New Student Housing Assignments in Philadelphia, PA and Akron, OH

Audrey Nardecchia — Wed, 16 May 2012 02:40:02 +0100

Wannamaker Plaza is a student housing redevelopment located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 14-story community is just steps away from Temple University and will provide 832 beds for Temple students. Amenities that will be featured include: an innovative media room, fully equipped fitness center, interactive game room, stand up tanning bed, multiple study rooms, an interior bicycle storage area and a picturesque view of the Temple campus from tower’s 14th floor clubhouse. Retail shopping will also be available on the first floor of the community to all residents and the public.

401 Lofts is a new student housing development located in Akron, Ohio. The community will provide 328 beds in a variety of one– and two bedroom loft style floor plans to students attending The University of Akron. Residents of 401 Lofts will enjoy a beautifully landscaped outdoor pool with a fire pit, an exclusive yoga and pilates room with a floor to ceiling mirror wall, a large clubroom with a game room and multiple study rooms, a 10-person conference room and a fully equipped fitness center.

Asset Plus Announces Two New Multifamily Management Assignments in Houston, Texas

Audrey Nardecchia — Tue, 08 May 2012 23:30:12 +0100

Sterling Crossing Apartments are located in Houston, Texas and offer a variety of floor plans and amenities including: an onsite laundry facility, controlled access gate, outdoor pool, walk in closets and much more.

Sabine Park Apartments are located in Orange, Texas and offer residents the option of a one-, two-, or three bedroom floor plan. Sabine Park also provides residents the luxury of two outdoor swimming pools, a full size competitive basketball court and walking distance to Lamar State College.

Marketing Monday with Stephanie Graves - Enjoy Your Surroundings

Audrey Nardecchia — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:48:48 +0100

Entertaining toddlers isn't easy. They are everywhere all at once and mine is very sensitive so you never know if a laugh will instantanously turn into a cry or outburst. So we try and prepare and enjoy every minute because this is so much work we will surely not have another (I digress). So this lesson actually comes from both my 15th month old and her father. Daddy was responsible for watching the little one.. for TWO WHOLE DAYS.. as mommy was in conference. He said, "oh we'll just hang out in the room or go to the pool", I said "trust me when I tell you that if you actually go do something the day will go much quicker". Day 1 - he didn't listen, I show up after my conference, the hotel room has toilet paper hanging from the lamp shades, my suitcase is unpacked (skillfully by Rilynn of course as my pants are wet from being plunged in the toilet) and daddy looks like a train hit him and is ready for a night cape and his pj's.

Day 2 -- ZOO DAY! Good decision dad! The day went great and I received texted photos of giraffes and monkeys and it put my mind at ease - that they were doing something together and that there were other people at the zoo to help him out if it got desperate.. (just kidding daddy - you did a great job as always!) So as they return from the zoo I of course ask how everything went and he said great and she said yes and bye bye and made monkey sounds - sounds like a success to me! And then daddy says, "you know she just kept stopping and picking up rocks and looking at flowers and at first I was like, 'come on Rilynn that is so much to see' and then I realized I am here to entertain her - to be with her - why do I care if she wants to look at rocks and take forever to get from one exhibit to the next.. she is loving it". WOW... Lesson #7 - sometimes it is OKAY to slow down and just enjoy the surroundings.. take time with your residents and your team - you don't have to rush from one renewal to the next or one tour to the next. Sometimes the joy is in the doing and not the rushing from task to task or tour to tour!

Regional Supervisor and Acquisitions/Development Promotions at Asset Plus Companies

Audrey Nardecchia — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:03:17 +0100

Asset Plus believes its people are the company's greatest asset and has assembled a team that is quite simply unparalleled in the industry. With that said, we are proud to announce the recent promotions of Ginger Bernstein and TJ Chambers.

Ginger Bernstein, Regional Supervisor - Multifamily

Ginger has recently been promoted to a Houston based Multifamily Regional Supervisor. Ginger began working for Asset Plus as an onsite manager at one of our largest multifamily communities with 1,326 units. Ginger has over 23 years of property management experience with expertise in all aspects of the multifamily industry, including tax credit, innovative sales and maximizing revenue for clients.

Prior to joining Asset Plus, Ginger served as Director of Marketing for a portfolio of 4,200 multifamily units with AIMCO and is attributed with successfully increasing occupancy at all properties under her direction. Ginger also served as a District Regional Manager for Holistic Equity Management, LLC. where she was responsible for all operations of 8 apartment communities. Ginger holds the ARM (Accredited Resident Manager) designation from IREM (Institute of Real Estate Management).

TJ Chambers, Acquisitions and Development

TJ began his career with Asset Campus Housing in 2003 as a marketing and leasing specialist for The Cambridge @ College Station, a newly developed full-service student housing property serving Texas A&M University. Within seven months, TJ assisted in increasing the occupancy at the property from 10% up to 100%. Since then, TJ has overseen the leasing, advertising and marketing efforts of 4 other new construction projects located in Statesboro, Georgia; Tyler, Texas; College Station, Texas and Kingwood, Texas.

In TJ’s new capacity as part of the Asset Plus Acquisitions and Development team, he will lead the coordination of market research and identifying new construction opportunities in emerging markets across the nation. TJ is a graduate of Texas Tech University with a BBA in Finance, emphasis in real estate and marketing.

Marketing Monday with Stephanie Graves - Practices Makes Perfect

Audrey Nardecchia — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Traveling with a toddler is always risky! My little one is very mobile - in fact she has just started jogging and is currently training for her first 5K for the 2013 Houston Apartment Association Fun Run I'm sure!! (I digress!) So we just got back from our 5th flight with little Ri (smilin' Rilynn as we call her). Because for her other trips she was not walking and now she is a jogger, I was a bit nervous this time around. Her four other flights were pretty eventless and we made out looking like we had the perfect child. You see traveling with a little one is all about research, preparation and flexibility.

The first time I knew I was going to get on a plane with my little one she was just about 3 months old - it was my first time for a work trip and I couldn't bear to leave her so we packed her up and we were off. But before we took off, I started scavenging the internet, went to the book store (yes I still do that - I actually LIKE the feel of books in my hand that I can highlight and fold the pages) sat in the corner and read all I could, checked out parenting blogs and asked my friends. Then I took all the good advice and prepared. I bought the necessary tools (footnote: I have included a few tips on GREAT gear at the bottom on this blog). I packed and repacked everything and had my perfect plan for the trip. I even practiced repacking and changing her in what I measured out to be about the size of those awful, stinky lavatories. NOW we were off! To my surprise we proceeded through the ticket counter, security gate, boarding area and onto the plane with no events - not even an explosive diaper (sorry non-parents for the graphic details). We were boarded and just about to take off when I shoved a bottle in her mouth (non-parents, this prevents ear popping from cabin pressure changes). We hit our cruising altitude and she was asleep... FOR THE ENTIRE FLIGHT!! We landed and just as we touched town she woke up smiling... yes I said smiling and besides a cramp in my side from holding her perfectly still the entire 2 1/2 hours things went perfect. Although I have to say I was a bit disappointed I didn't get to try out all my toys and training during the flight :).

The second, third and fourth flights were much the same and she was just about the most perfect flyer I have seen! Which brings us to 15 month old, attention seeking, only child, mobile Rilynn. I was sure things had changed and the ante was up. I was sure I would be tested to my full potential on this flight so I again hit the blogs, book stores and on line resources for some much needed toddler traveling advice. And again we were off. I'll spare you the boring details from this trip but let me say that my skills and preparation paid off - she was awake the ENTIRE two hours and twenty-two minutes (from gate to gate). I had to pull out all the tricks and all the tools for this flight because she was chomping at the bit to get down and fly that plane while she handed out the cold beverages. Needless to say it was a success and we had no outbursts, no crying and besides a slight kick to the chair in front of us people were saying, "I didn't know there was a baby on this plane" as they exited!

This brings us to... you guessed it (finally) - our PM lesson from my one (now almost 15 months) old. Even though I had traveled successfully several times with Rilynn I still scheduled time to research, prepare, practice and be flexible (heck she is almost twice the size now - it was much harder to fit in that stinky lavatory so practice and flexibility are so important!) In our industry that is ever changing we MUST consistently practice these four skills or we will be left behind! Whether it is pricing strategy, advertising, maintenance, renewals or competitive vendor pricing we MUST stay on top of our game - research, prepare, practice and be flexible or we will be stuck with crying residents, pooppy properties and unhappy owners!

FOOTNOTE: If you have a baby less than 25 lbs and are planning a trip you MUST get the fly baby hammock - it is a GREAT tool for travel and is worth the $35!

New Student Housing Assignment in College Station, TX for Asset Campus Housing

Audrey Nardecchia — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Campus Village has 1,071 beds and offers students a variety of floor plans including: efficiency, two-, three-, four-, and five bedroom apartment homes. All units come with direct TV, RocketNET High Speed Wireless Internet and full size washers, dryers and refrigerators. This community hosts the city’s only onsite Lazy River along with a sand volleyball court, basketball court, tetherball court, large outdoor HD movie screen, tanning salon and multiple study rooms.

ACH Properties Raise Over $11,000 for Charity:Water

Audrey Nardecchia — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 00:49:12 +0100

Over the past 90 days, Asset Campus Housing team members, residents, friends and family joined together in raising over $11,000 for the company’s selected 2012 non-profit, Charity:Water! This successful completion of the 2012 ACH Spring Campaign for Charity:Water would not have been possible without the contributions of time, effort and funds from many Asset team members.

From there, our employees met the challenge by returning to their properties to host resident events and work with their local communities in order to raise maximum funds. Some of the top fundraising resident events included: staff members selling and delivering Candy Grams to residents on Valentine’s Day, BINGO tournaments where residents paid an entry fee and won items that were donated by local vendors, Casino Nights where residents bid on donated silent auction items, and water themed carnivals hosted on March 22nd—National Water Day.

After 90 days of this campaign, we are proud to donate a total of $11,049.57 to Charity: Water. 100% of our donations will be donated to providing clean drinking water to 552 people in a developing nation for an entire year. In 18 months we will have GPS coordinates, photos and information about the community that we have impacted.

What began as a challenge to see which ACH property would raise the most money for Charity:Water, turned into a campaign that revealed the strong passion and dedication that each of our ACH employees and residents have for serving others. Upon introduction of the campaign at the 2012 ACH training seminar, ACH onsite employees (majority age 18-23 year olds) instantly donated an overwhelming total of $800 in spare change from their own pockets.

Outside of hosting big events to raise funds for Charity:Water, our properties did an extraordinary job of creating publicity for the campaign and educating their community on why our company supports this cause. The properties used social media to post weekly “Water Wednesday” updates that informed residents on what Charity:Water is, what they can do to help and why we want their support!

Some of our properties went above and beyond and even made the local news. The Domain at Town Centre, a new student housing development in Morgantown, West Virginia, had 10 different local restaurants participate in raising funds to the campaign by charging their customers $.25 for a glass of water on National Water Day. This creativity and community involvement that the team at The Domain at Town Centre demonstrated is what assisted them in being named the top fundraiser amongst all of our student housing properties nationwide. This property alone raised $985!

Congratulations and Thank You to everyone who supported this cause; we are extremely blessed to work with and for such extraordinary individuals.

Marketing Monday with Stephanie Graves

Audrey Nardecchia — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 05:00:00 +0100

My daughter has a little friend that was born 1 day before her. He is quirky and full of personality like her but much, much different. He is full force from 8 am until 8 pm. He pulls out every toy in the toy box, puts them all back in and then pulls them out again just to make sure he didn't miss anything. He is not really interested in us adults because he has too much going on himself but he will stop and plead his case for a snack and lunch of course. He runs full force, grabs everything in site and truly lives life to the fullest. Come 8 pm is he out for the count and awakes fresh and renewed at 8 am to start the day over again. My little one is a bit slower, she wants you to be involved in everything she does and she wants to know what you are doing at all times. Walk in the laundry room - she must get up and go with you to ensure you are sorting the clothes properly. She wants to see everyone, introduce herself and be at the head of the table for adult conversation. She goes to bed between 8 and 10 pm; hardly sleeps through the night and will awake at the first sign of sun light to ensure she does not miss any adult activity. Born only 20 hours apart but WORLDS apart in their behavior and personalities. Both are perfect children with parents that with them daily to grow and learn. Neither is better than the other (although when I'm rocking mine at 2 am begging her to sleep, I'm thinking why can't she be more like ..) they are just different.

These two children have reminded me of a lesson to remember daily in property management:

Every person is different, every co-worker, every resident and every boss! One way is not necessarily better than the other - just different. When we are at our wits end with someone who doesn't do things the way we would do them or doesn't show us appreciation like we want them to it is easy to think that our way is better or we are better because we do something a certain way - but we are merely different. The best characteristics of my child (her positives) are the ones that hinder her sleeping patterns (her negatives). Next time you wish that resident would do this or that or you wish your co-worker would put the pens back where they came from - try and envision the positives that you may have to give up with that negative that drives you nuts. Every person is different, special and unique - truly focus on those attributes that make them special and unique and your daily grind will seem a bit less 'grindful'. Happy leasing!!

Asset Plus Receives Innovator Award for Best New Development

Audrey Nardecchia — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 22:07:31 +0100

Asset Plus/Asset Campus team members attended the annual Student Housing InterFace conference last week along with 700 peers in the industry. The team took home the Innovatorawardfor Best New Development Over 200 Beds for the development of 25Twenty in Lubbock, Texas.

The Innovator Awards recognize the student housing industry's most original and successful developers, owners, architects and managers.

25Twentyis a compelling investment for Asset Plus/Asset Campus since the property is located in a public university market with solid enrollment growth and strong barriers to entry. Prior to the grand opening in July 2011, the team had successfully pre-leased the property to 100% occupancy for the fall 2011 academic school year.

25Twenty’s premiere location separates it from other student housing developments in the market. This development is located within walking distance ofTexas Tech Universityand the Jones AT&T Stadium. Residents are provided convenient access to parking in the adjacent 11-story Raider Park garage, which is a mixed used development with an open-air rooftop bar and ground level retail.

Asset Plus/Asset Campus designed this property to feature top of the line amenities including: a 15-seat computer lab, “Full Swing Golf” Simulator, tanning room, 1,800-sq.ft. fitness center, soft serve ice cream machine, two courtyards containing a sundeck with swimming pool, poolside hammock area, outdoor grilling station, pro-style sand volleyball court, competitive horseshoe pits and an outdoor fire pit.

March Madness has a Double Meaning for Houston Apartment Management Company

Audrey Nardecchia — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 20:03:03 +0100

For Asset Plus employees, March Madness has a double meaning.

Yes, we all set up our individual brackets and root for our favorite college basketball teams, but we also anticipate the annual Houston Apartment Association Sand Volleyball Tournament which is hosted in mid-March. At this event, over 60 different property management companies and vendors alike compete in a full day of sand volleyball.

Asset employees from the student housing, multifamily and accounting departments came together to represent two Asset Plus teams. After 7 long rallies in the Texas sun, our team made it to the semi-final rounds with the support of multiple Asset Plus enthusiasts!

Although we did not win this year, you can expect to see us out on the practice courts preparing for next year's HAA Volleyball tournament!

ACH Student Housing Featured on Local News

Audrey Nardecchia — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:12:23 +0100

The Domain at Town Centre, a new student housing development in Morgantown, West Virginia, was recently featured on their local news station for their fundraising efforts with the 2012 ACH Charity: Water campaign. As many of you know, last Thursday, March 22nd, was National Water Day, below is the article and video link that features The Domain's story.

Cities across the country, including Morgantown, are celebrating World Water Day.

The Domain at Town Centre sponsored a Charity Water Drive at 15 area businesses.

Instead of receiving a free cup of water the stores asked patrons to donate 50 cents to the cause.

"We are raising money for an international organization that drills wells in developing countries for those who don't have water," said Courtney Jurasko of the Domain at Town Centre. "So what we like about the company is that for ever dollar that we donate, they are able to take that and track it online. Which is really notable for a charity. Its really cool."

The Domain has offices across the country and hopes to raise $50,000 for the water charity.

http://wboy.videodownload.worldnow.com/WBOY_20120322180242613AA.mp4

We are so proud of the new development team out in West Virginia for going above and beyond and including their entire community at large in this fundraiser. We also want to thank the 15 restaurants that partnered with The Domain to help raise money: Coach's Bar and Grill, TCBY, Kenyan Cafe, Tudor's Biscuit World, Oliverio's, Tutto Gelato, Lira, Chico's Fat Burrito's, Cold Stone, Boston Beanery, Rosa Pizaa, Ali Baba, Zenclay, Wild Mountain Bakey and Cafe Mojo.

*ACH student housing properties all across the nation have joined together in hopes of raising over $50,000 for the non-profit Charity:Water. Charity:Water is a non-profit that assists in providing clean drinking water to people in developing nations while tracking every dollar that is donated to the cause. Follow this link: www.mycharitywater.org/achspring to learn more or make a donation today!

Two Quick Tips on Determining Your “Market to Target”

Audrey Nardecchia — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:43:19 +0100

Two Quick Tips on Determining Your “Market to Target”- Marketing Mondays with Stephanie Graves, Marketing and Training Director, Asset Plus Companies

If you have chatted with any marketing professionals regarding your property you’ll hear them say something like, “you must properly analyze your property to determine your target market and demographics for effective marketing”. But what does that mean and how do I do it, some of you may be asking (truly the ones that are asking are probably not reading MI, but I digress)? Here are some tips to quickly get you thinking about your “market to target”:

1. Calculate the right income earners. Take the average rent of your apartment homes and multiple it by your qualifying income level. For ease of math, let us say my average rent is $500. I require that my residents make three times the rental amount to qualify. I can quickly calculate $500 X 3 = $1500 per month or around $10.00/per hour is what my typical resident needs to make to qualify for my apartments. Use this amount to base your marketing efforts. Target those clients that are about 10% higher and 10% lower (roommate possibilities) than this amount. You’ll want to look for businesses or jobs that pay about $10.00 per hour, as this is the average income of your typical client. Does this mean that people making less or more will not lease with you? Of course not, but this gives you a good base to start so you are not just randomly flyer marketing.

Think about this, if your average income is $10.00 per hour than you probably will not target doctors or nurses right? But you would target possibly hospital janitorial staff or front desk clerks at a hospital right? As you approach hospitals and market, target your efforts to those that are within your target income, rather than to the higher income earners. Make your flyers or give away appeals to the right income earner.

2. Survey your residents to determine their psychographics. What did you call me? Simply put, while demographics are what makes up your target market psychographics are what your target market does. While demographics are very important I like to focus on psychographics because those tell me what my target market DOES, so I can go where they go and do what they do. How do you determine that? Ask them! Make your questionnaires fun and include questions like:

a. It’s Saturday night and you are hungry, where would you go to grab a quick bite?

b. You are on a ‘date night’, what romantic, yet economical restaurant would you take your sweetie to?

c. What grocery store do you shop at?

d. If price was not an issue would you shop anywhere else? Where?

e. Which of the following can you NOT live without

i. Monthly hair appointments, who do you recommend?

ii. Mani or pedi appointments, who do you recommend?

iii. Weekly happy hour, where do you recommend?

iv. Daily work out, where do you recommend?

This is a great start to target local businesses that your current residents already frequent and can solicit a few more!

This is an excellent start to your marketing efforts. Is it all encompassing – NO! But it is a good start to your efforts and it is a plan! Your supervisor will be impressed with your thought process and efforts when you tell him/her how you targeted your businesses based on income and your current residents’ patterns. More importantly I believe you’ll see more results by targeted efforts.

Top 4 Things You Can Do to Make Sure You Are Replaceable!

Audrey Nardecchia — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 19:39:17 +0100

Top 4 Things You Can Do to Make Sure You Are Replaceable! - Marketing Mondays with Stephanie Graves, Marketing and Training Director, Asset Plus Companies

So did I get your attention? I know, I know, you don’t want to be replaceable because then they will… replace you!!! YES they will because you will be PROMOTED because you are so awesome!! So in preparation for your promotion to assistant, manager, director, supervisor or whatever title you are striving for you must make sure your team is ready to take the reins and RUN! Here are 4 things you MUST do to ensure that they are prepared:

1. Let them stumble, and even fall! I said it, let them fall – it is okay to have them make a decision about something that may not have been the decision you would have made or that is the absolute best decision for that time. Of course you want to mitigate the losses and ensure that you are not losing money for the property but let them make a decision about a customer that is upset about a rental increase or one that has been late for the 10th time and still wants you to refund their late fee. Having your employees make bad decisions is a teaching moment for you to not only gauge how they think about tough decisions but also to see how they react when they are confronted with making a bad decision. The best inventors made 100 different prototypes of the wrong thing before they stumbled upon the right one!

2. Show them a budget! Yes, share your budget with your teams. Help them understand how you derived your numbers, what they mean and what happens when you hit those numbers or miss those numbers. Make sure that you help them understand the cost of every concession, the cost of every turn and how much a lost renewal can cost the property and how it all relates together. Understanding the budget is part of developing a ‘career employee’ rather than a ‘this is my job employee’.

3. Find teachable moments every day! Look for opportunities to teach your teams something new. It could be as simple as a touring with them to build a better demonstration or a quiz on the lease to make sure they know every aspect of it. Find ways to refresh skills and build new ones DAILY!

4. Ensure your supervisor knows and spends time with your team – not just you! We are all busy and have a list five miles long. Supervisors may come into the office and you and him/her get down to business with your property walks, budget talks and no nonsense meetings of what and how things are progressing and what needs to be done. It is okay for you to have your supervisor spend some time with your team, after all if you can teach them a one thing daily think of the knowledge that he/she can share with them too. It makes them feel special that the property supervisor is investing time in them and it sets up your promotion plan because your supervisor will feel more comfortable promoting someone that he/she has spent some quality time with.

Don’t be threatened by a fully informed leasing agent or assistant manager – relish in the amount of delegating you can do when they actually understand the business and not just their day to day duties that constitute of 1/10th the property management business.

Resident Event Invites Via YouTube and Student Housing Mascots

Audrey Nardecchia — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 20:15:34 +0100

With all the different means of communication available to residents on our student housing properties, YouTube continues to be a popular way to connect with the targeted demographic.

The Pointe at 3636, an ACH student housing property located in East Lansing, MI, recently used YouTube to invite residents to their upcoming Block Party. Not only did they inform residents about the event details (time, location, food, prizes, etc.) but they also used their property mascot, Pointy the Penguin, to help promote the event.

ACH student housing properties nationwide have different property mascots that are used to draw attention to their respective properties. Whether the mascots are walking around campus passing out flyers, being seen on the jumbotron at the university football games or making appearances on YouTube videos like such, they are extremely helpful during the leasing season!

We will share more photos and videos of different property mascots in the near future - stay tuned!

Welcome Home Student Housing Video

Audrey Nardecchia — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 06:00:00 +0100

When welcoming a prospective resident to your community, there are 5 things that are essential to include in your property marketing video.

Captions.
Every slide, photo or employee needs to have a detailed caption. This helps prospective residents know which features are onsite as well as become familiar with employees' faces that they will be interacting with on a regular basis
Timely Transitions.
Often times we see videos that rotate photo frames too quickly. We recommend spending at least 5 seconds on each photo you highlight before transitioning to the next.
Music.
Nothing is worse than a beautiful video with smooth transitions and great photos, but has NO music. The video needs to have background music that is appealing to your target demographic - multifamily and student housing videos' music may differ slightly. Contact us if you would like to see further examples of our music selections on student housing or multifamily videos.
Call to Action.
A strong marketing video ends with a call to action. You want to keep the text short and sweet because chances are, if they are watching a video about your property - they don't much want to be reading about your property. A powerful call to action will include the property's phone number and website along with any current promotions.
Contact Information.
Every video you can upload includes an area to fill out information about your video - DO NOT overlook this step! This is where you can include all of your property's contact information AND your property's website URL. This will provide an easy way for prospective residents to find you if they do not make it to the end of your video, or if they like what they see in the first 20 seconds and want to contact you immediately!

Asset Plus and the Houston Rodeo

Audrey Nardecchia — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 05:09:50 +0100

With Asset Plus headquarters located in Houston, Texas, many of our employees volunteer their time outside of the office serving on different committees that help make the Houston Rodeo such a success!

The Houston Rodeo is the world’s LARGEST rodeo and is a charity which benefits the Youth of Texas.Since the Show's beginning in 1932, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo has contributed more than $283 million to scholarships, research, endowments, calf scramble participants, junior show exhibitors, School Art participants, and other educational and youth programs.

We are proud to support all of our employees who volunteer their time to such a worthy cause!

5 Things to Remember When it Comes to Evictions

Audrey Nardecchia — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 01:34:41 +0100

5 Things to Remember When it Comes to Evictions

Often times property managers have questions about evictions and notice to vacates, so we put together five things to remember when it comes to knocking on your resident's door.

1. You must list EVERY lease holder on your eviction notices. You will have to pay a fee for each lease holder; however this is the ONLY way the eviction will hold up in court. Use the NAA Notice to Vacate for further instructions.

2. When you are filing at the courthouse for evictions make sure you list on the documentation the following:

“Should I have to hire an attorney I am requesting attorney fees be paid.”

3. Your Notice To Vacate MUST list that you want possession, rather than ‘pay or quit’ verbiage – this can be found on the TAA Notice to Vacate Form.

4. Always list the FULL address of the community along with the specific unit number on the eviction notices.

5. Notices should be delivered by at least 2 people. Bring both copies with you upon serving and indicate the method served on both copies at the time you serve the resident.

a. NOTE: YOU MUST serve someone over the age of 16 and/or post INSIDE the unit, you may NOT post outside the unit.

The Lorenzo, a 3,648 bed student housing development located in Los Angeles, California

Audrey Nardecchia — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 23:45:18 +0100

HOUSTON, February 28 -- GHP Management, a subsidiary of G.H. Palmer Associates, recently awarded Asset Campus Housing with the management of their most recent student housing development.

The Lorenzo is a 2013-2014 mixed use student housing development located in Los Angeles, California. The property will be built in two phases: Phase 1 will be completed in fall 2013 with just under 2,000 beds, while Phase 2 will be completed in fall 2014 with an additional 1,658 beds. Upon completion, The Lorenzo will have a total of 913 units and 3,648 beds available to students in the greater Los Angeles area.

The site is located less than one mile away from the University of Southern California, St. Mary’s College, LA Trade Tech, Exposition Park and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Further entertainment near The Lorenzo includes the renowned Staples Center, LA Live, the Music Center and the Disney Concert Hall. In addition, the site is directly adjacent to one of the 19 stations on the future Expo Line, which will be the first mass transit line to connect Downtown Los Angeles with the Westside.

Paving the way for all future student housing developments, The Lorenzo will offer an unparalleled variety of amenities available to residents. Community amenities will include: five libraries with computers and break out study rooms, a fully amenitized virtual gaming and arcade room featuring XBOX 360 and Wii, a theatre room with stadium seating and karaoke features, a three story fitness facility complete with a climbing wall, a running track and an aerobic/dance fitness room. Outdoor features will include five rooftop sundecks with views of downtown, four resort style swimming pools with cabanas, three heated outdoor Jacuzzis, two indoor basketball courts with elevated joggings tracks circling each court, and a pro-style sand volleyball court. All apartments will be fully furnished with granite counter tops, brushed nickel hardware, stainless steel Whirlpool appliances, wood plank flooring in living and kitchen area and plush cut pile Berber carpet in bedrooms.

Asset Campus Housing is proud to work with GHP Management in the lease-up of this new development and looks forward to introducing The Lorenzo as the premier student housing community in Los Angeles, California.

About Asset Campus Housing

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, ACH is an affiliate of Houston-based Asset Plus Companies, a third party property management firm specializing in real estate services for investors, developers, and owners. Asset Campus Housing manages a student housing portfolio of 65+ properties, exceeding 42,000 beds located throughout the United States. For additional information, please visit: www.assetcampus.com.

About G.H. Palmer Associates

G. H. Palmer Associates, established in 1975, is a diversified real estate company with an aggressive commitment to the future of high-quality, investment grade real estate. The firm has been involved in a variety of properties as a general partner for acquisition of residential, commercial and industrial properties. To these partnerships, the company has contributed the creative and administrative leadership as well as the financial depth to assure each property’s successful operation and performance.

Student Housing Casino Nights

Audrey Nardecchia — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0100

Hosting a Casino Night at a student housing community is a great way to get residents, staff and the local community excited and involved with your property. Most of our student housing properties host a Casino Night at the beginning of the spring semester (usually end of January/early February) and attract a wide range of guests including: residents, non-residents, prospective students, community members and ACH corporate team members.

Spending weeks ahead of time planning the event, our staff is responsible for hiring a third party Casino Party Rental Company to bring in the poker tables, poker chips and professional card dealers and requesting local vendors to donate prizes for our attendees during the Casino Night. In the past, we had one property collect over $5,000 in donated prizes! Other essential elements to consider when planning a successful Casino Night include: food & drinks – must have some delicious hand food & bubbly soft drinks at all time during the event, decorations – follow a generic Casino theme and delegate your most creative staff member(s) to be in charge of cost effectively turning your property into the Wynn Casino, and lastly promotion – you have got to sell this event to not only your residents, but also their friends and the entire University student body. Promoting this event will be easy if you have everything planned and organized; you will be able to let everyone know the prizes they could win, the games they can play (Roulette, Craps, Poker, Black Jack, etc.) and what they will be served!

Our team at Gateway at Lubbock is hosting their annual Casino Night this coming Tuesday and has created a YouTube video to promote their event. Watch their creative promotional video below: