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.
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!
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.
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:
This Friday we are featuring one of our student housing teams, Legends at Canyon, and how they are calling all of their residents, friends, and family members to make a difference for many others.
The team located in Canyon, Texas, came together in making a 6 minute video to promote our company's efforts to raise money for Charity Water. Every staff member takes part in the video by stating facts and raising awareness to their community on why it is so important to help others receive clean drinking water.
The Legends at Canyon team has a goal to raise $5,000 by April 8th, 2012 - we believe this video will help them communicate the importance of their fundraising and wish them the best of luck!
February is Apartment Career Month and the National Apartment Association has selected to partner with Asset Plus Companies in launching a program to market careers in the apartment industry to college students nationwide. UNITS, the most read magazine in the multifamily housing industry, featured an article highlighting why most college grads do not initially seek careers in the apartment industry.
Many people, especially new college graduates, don’t realize the variety of careers offered by the apartment industry. Multifamily housing companies employ more than 1 million people. Reaching out to recent college graduates is not new to the industry. In fact, the efforts highlighted below are but two examples of the ways in which the apartment industry is reaching out to new sources of potential job candidates.
UNITS interviewed our very own Chief Operating Officer, Ryan McGrath, to find out what exactly Asset Plus is doing to successfully recruit college graduates to the industry. Mr. McGrath discusses the training technique in which begins way back when the student is a resident at one of our student housing properties.
Often times, a resident will enjoy living at our communities so much that they will then apply to become a resident advisor the following year. Supervisors keep an eye out for young staff members who have a good work ethic, personal integrity and the willingness to learn. As of today, we currently have 13 previous resident advisors at our student housing communities, now working at our Houston corporate office.
We are proud to partner with the National Apartment Association in promoting careers in the apartment industry and support our industry’s endeavors in recruiting the top college graduates.
According to Internet World Stats, over 78% of the United States population has access to the internet. This means that over 78% of the US population has free access to online reviews, ratings and opinions of both services and products that are available to consumers. With that being said, there is vast opportunity for our property managers and onsite team member to utilize the internet in communicating with future and current residents.
For this week’s video, our staff at 25Twenty in Lubbock, Texas, caught fever of the latest YouTube hit that is going on around campuses nationwide, and created their own version of the series called “Stuff 25Twenty Says”. This video features two minutes of basic one liners highlighting all of 25Twenty's amenities and reasons why they are the best housing in Lubbock!
Knowing what is going on at your local University is important for all off campus student housing communities, however, keeping up with what is popular online is just as imperative when it comes to managing resident retention. By being friends with your residents on Facebook or having them "Like" your business fan page, you are able to observe what is trending and popular amongst your audience. With this knowledge you can plan events and YouTube videos based upon the students' interests.
Our team in Lubbock demonstrates their familiarity with the Texas Tech market by creating clever videos like such and posting them on their Facebook Fan Pages. Kudos, team!
Asset Campus Housing begun the 2012 Annual Training Seminars Nationwide this week. With a portfolio of over 60 student housing properties, ACH hosts 4 regional training seminars for all onsite team members. The seminars cover a wide variety of ACH's most successful leasing strategies and property management skills.
This past Monday, January 16th, was the first of four training seminars in College Station, Texas. Over 150 ACH employees were in attendance including: college student CAs, Leasing Agents and Property Managers from all over Texas!
The training kicked off with an ice breaker that allowed for all of our student employees to mix and mingle and see what they held in common with other college employees in the company. After learning that most of our staff is Tebow fans, we buckled down and reviewed some of the basics such as: Customer Service, Fair Housing and The Perfect Tour!
What is unique about our management approach is that we allow each of our employees the opportunity to lead. The various topics discussed were covered by a different individuals in our company who have demonstrated exceptional knowledge and expertise in the given field. For example, the property manager and leasing team at the Crossing Place, a student apartment community in College Station, TX, went over the importance of a guest card. The Crossing Place Apartments have leased 100% for the past 4 years, so taking tips from that team was no time waisted!
Along with the key apartment management skills that were discussed at training; we also rolled out the 2012 ACH Charity Water campaign. ACH properties have been challenged to raise over $50,000 at their communities by April 9th, 2012! With the caliber of young adults we have working at our properties, it was not surprise that by the end of the day, students had donated over $238 of their own money. The college students were giving whatever cash they had in their pockets, $1, $5 and $20 to show their support!
It is truly a pleasure to work with such talented and giving individuals. Good luck to everyone going into the the 2012-2013 leasing season!
Follow the blog for future updates on Charity Water!
All of the multifamily and student housing properties that we manage are held accountable to host at least one monthly Resident Event.
Resident Events provide all tenants a time to meet their neighbors and their property management team. It is important that we as property managers not only provide our residents with a great place to call home, but also a place where the ENJOY living. These monthly events are free for residents and we encourage them to bring their friends and family members. Most events include free food, drinks, music and planned activities that involve everyone.
The team at Knights Circle made a YouTube video that gives you some "Tips For Throwing A Good Party" if you need some ideas, check it out!
Be sure to check out Asset Plus and Asset Campus Housing's January 2012 Asset Report. The Asset Report begins with a message from our company President, Michael McGrath, and then discuss different business accomplishments that we have seen on the student housing and multifamily side.
New student housing developments are discussed in detail along with photos that depict the new luxury living facilities. The student housing division also began a new training and development department that focuses on ensuring each and every property staff member is fully educated on the Asset Campus Housing procedures and strategies.
In addition, 2011 was a big year for Asset Plus when it came to giving back. With the support of residents, clients and colleagues, the Houston based property management company surpassed it's goal of fundraising $25,000 for the non-profit Charity:Water. The report discusses what Charity:Water is and how the management company raised support.
Click the image below to read the full Asset Report!
Asset Plus Companies has one of the industry’s lowest supervisor to property ratios: 1-to-6 for multifamily properties and 1-to-4 for student housing properties.
