6 Ways to Attract College Students to Fill Your Apartment Vacancies

The millennial generation makes up a large portion of the growing number of college students in America. To successfully fill open vacancies in your apartment building, you must first know what millennials are searching for, and exceed their expectations. Although millennials often hold different standards and ideals compared to other apartment tenants, you can appeal to the younger generation by using an updated marketing and business approach.

1. Produce Flexibility and Quick Maintenance 

Most of the millennial generation is composed of long-term renters who are not prepared or qualified to purchase property anytime soon. These short-term renters expect instantaneous service and flexibility when renting property. Millennials desire flexibility in their living arrangements, in case they decide to transfer colleges, or move for a relationship or job. Consider alternatives to a 12 month lease agreement if you intend on attracting and satisfying the millennial generation.

2. Location, Location, Location!

If you are a property owner and want to attract the growing millennial and college student population, choosing the right location is the key to success. This generation desires flexibility, and saving time on commuting towards popular restaurants, colleges, bars, and shopping centers gives them more time to enjoy life. Millennials prefer to be near prominent restaurants, cafes, gyms, grocery stores, college campuses, and other places they can unwind, be social, and entertain themselves.

3. Incorporate Social Media

The average millennial spends 12 hours a day consuming media, often multiple forms at once. What this research means for property managers is important. Today, most businesses spend their marketing budgets, even those geared toward social media, primarily on sending out advertising messages. Integrating advertising and technology is becoming necessary to stay relevant and successful. Keep tenants updated on your apartment complex with social media posts. Furthermore, consider employing a social media manager to publish valuable real estate content on your social media platforms, to attract the attention of college students and millennials searching for a new apartment rental. Building an online community for your apartment complex will allow renters to quickly communicate any questions or concerns.

4. Modernize Your Apartment Technology 

Create an engaging, modern website to advertise your open units and give detailed descriptions of your apartment rentals. This will attract renters, while also showing them your modern approach to property management. Furthermore, allow renters to apply online and pay rent electronically, and let renters make maintenance requests online. Whenever possible, utilize the millennial preferred commutation methods of email and text message.

5. Bring Efficiency to Your Apartment Complex

Along with flexibility and fast service, the millennial generation appreciates efficiency when searching for the right living arrangements. To bring more efficiency to your apartment units, use compact fluorescent or LED lights in common areas, upgrade units with energy-efficient appliances, offer recycling services on site, and use programmable thermostats in common areas to maintain low expenses. Other creative ways to bring efficiency to your apartment complex include insulting your property to reduce cold drafts and low utility bills, and adopt solar panels, wind power, or another source of renewable energy.

6. Create Community-Oriented Activities 

Many college students come from different states and countries, and will appreciate feeling a sense of community in their condominium association. To make your rental properties more community-oriented, introduce community parties, move-nights, and social hours. Documents photos from the events to post online and engage with renters through social media channels. Also try introducing a virtual bulletin on your real estate property's website, where residents can engage and connect with each other. Show photos of community events, amenities, and local events on your website.

5 Creative Ways to Decorate Your Boston Rental

Renting provides many advantages over homeownership, including the affordability factor. You are not responsible for paying the repairs, maintenance, or other issues that arise. You are also not responsible for property taxes, insurance, and other potential unforeseen expenses. One of the downsides of renting however, are the strict regulations regarding your freedom in altering the design aesthetic of your home. Many landlords prohibit tenants from altering their rental property, especially if it involves architectual details, paint, or other design experiments which cannot easily be detached when your lease expires. It's still possible to have a creative and fun experience decorating your rental, while appeasing your landlord's property regulations. Discover five creative and temporary ways to decorate your rental property, while staying on good terms with your landlord.

1. Personalize Light Fixtures

Unique and contemporary light fixtures add personality to any room. If you want your rental to appear more stylish, feel free to swap your builder grader light fixtures for a more appealing option. Try installing a luxurious chandelier, vintage fixture, or modern sky lights. Just remember to store the old light fixture in a safe place, and have the original light fixture installed again before moving out.

2. The Crowning Moment

The lack of crown molding next to the ceilings, baseboards, and around the windows of an apartment can make the property look incredibly drab and characterless. Design experts recommend purchasing beautiful molding which fits your style preferences, and install it using Velcro with adhesive backing. Installing crown molding around doorways and windows instantly gives the space a polished look.

3. Window Decor

Apartments with standard mini blinds often give the property a bland and routine appearance. The great news is, it's very easy to pop those standard blinds out of their brackets and replace them with elegant Roman shades or honeycomb blinds. Another alternative to drab blinds, is covering them with elegant curtains. Design experts recommend getting a tension rod to mount inside the window frame to prevent drilling a hole in the wall. There are endless amount of stylish curtain options, include long Parisian curtains which drape elegantly on the floorboards.

4. Garden Wall

Beautiful plant walls are an overlooked trend used universally. Although plant walls offer a dramatic change in the design aesthetic of your home, they do not require you to make any large-scale changes to your rental unit. Popular style plant walls include shelves full of leafy greens, hanging plants on ropes and pullies, or a wall of succulents planted in salvaged frames.

5. Renter-Friendly Wallpaper

If your rental walls are bland and unappealing, design experts recommend decorating with removable wallpaper. As removable wallpaper is becoming more popular, the designs are becoming even more refined and affordable. 

Sell Your Home Fast: 5 Expert Staging Tips

If you are planning to put your house on the market soon and selling your property quickly, you need to profoundly commit to marketing your home. To successfully market your home, you need to transform your home into a place that potential buyers can easily imagine as their own. Staging a home for sale is not a new concept, but it is a practice that has gained popularity with a more challenging market. Set the stage for success with these 5 expert tips for marketing and enhancing your home, and watch the results pour in.

1. Start With Your Floors

Before selling your home, ideally the floors should be freshly refinished throughout your home. At the bare minimum, all the floors should be thoroughly cleaned, and carpets should be steam cleaned. Beautiful homes are often overlooked by potential buyers who are distracted by shoddy hardwood floors and grimy tiles. If you cannot afford to invest in refinishing your hardwood floor, stylish area rugs strategically placed throughout your home can boost appeal.

2. Boost Curb Appeal

You never get a second chance at a first impression. If you want to sell your home quickly, ensuring your home looks attractive and well maintained before stepping inside is a necessity. Many potential buyers thinking of touring your home will often do a quick drive-by first, often deciding on the spot if the home is worth looking at. Ensure your home is enticing to potential buyers by following these tips:

• Plant beautiful flowers and attractive greenery 
• Power wash front windows
• Repaint the porch and ensure the porch is in excellent condition
• Hang easy-to-read house numbers
• Refinish the walkway 
• Mow the lawn, and reseed or add fresh mulch as necessary 
• Power wash the siding and walkways

3. Get Your House Sparkling Clean

This is one of the easiest yet most overlooked staging tips which entices potential buyers. Every surface in your home should sparkle, from shining floors and gleaming windows, to meticulously cleaned counters and scrubbed grout. Hiring professional cleaners for a large home is often necessary.

Furthermore, all clutter needs to be cleared away. This step is not easy, and often requires utilizing offsite storage, but it is extremely important. Clean and luminous surfaces, floors, cupboards and closets create more space in the eyes of potential buyers. Clutter is unattractive and distracting; expert stagers recommend removing everything nonessential or unappealing.

4. Style Your Dining Room Table

The dining room is often overlooked when decorating a home. A large and empty dining room table often looks unappealing and dull. Oversize arrangements often appear excessively regal and proper, so try lining up a series of smaller arrangements down the center of the table instead. 

5. Choose Sophisticated Neutral Tones

Rich, mid-tone neutrals like Mocha and Beige are universally appealing and create a calm and inviting mood in any room. Expert stagers recommend ditching the bright and trendy colors for something more timeless and refined. Neutral tones make an elegant backdrop which beautifully pulls everything together.

Fire Safety Recommendations for Property Owners

Shut Your Bedroom Door Before Falling Asleep

Closing your bedroom door before sleeping at night can powerfully impact the spread of a potential fire by halting the spread of smoke and heat. According to the National Fire Protection Association, 25% of home fire deaths occur from fires that originate in sleeping rooms. Consequently, closing the door before sleeping at night can provide protection against fire danger. Furthermore, the Educational Messages Advisory Committee has stated that the combination of a closed bedroom door and an adequate smoke alarm system provides powerful protection during a fire. A closed bedroom door can slow the spread of heat, smoke, and fire.

The Importance of Smoke Alarms

Smoke alarms should always be installed inside and outside of bedrooms throughout your home. The U.S Fire Administration recommends following the recommended room locations suggested by the specific manufacturer of your smoke alarm system. The highly regarded alarm system company First Alert recommends installing a smoke alarm in every bedroom throughout your house, one on every level, and one at the top of each stairwell for adequate fire preparedness. It is also recommend that fire alarm systems are replaced at least every ten years. The National Fire Protection Association also recommends that tenants and homeowners know the age of installed smoke alarms, and information about the specific manufacturer.

Property Management & Fire Education 

Property managers should always ensure their tenants are educated on proper fire procedures and precautions. A diligent property management company always protects the safety of tenants and educates tenants on fire safety knowledge. Professional property management companies provide tenants with fire safety recommendations, procedures, and tips, from fire safety professionals, along with providing properties with up-to-date fire alarm systems and fire protection devices.

Here's Why Apartment Sizes Are Rapidly Shrinking

Average apartment sizes have been rapidly and steadily shrinking the past few years. Recent research published by RCLO analyzes the basis for decreasing unit sizes and soaring renting costs.

Boston, in particular, is a city affected by the trend of decreasing unit sizes. Newly built studio and one-bedroom apartments across the country are seeing a decrease in average unit size and an increase in unit quantity.

Studies published by RCLO show that the average unit size between 2010 to 2016 was 917 square feet. The average size of apartment units from 2000 to 2009 was 988 square feet, therefore the average unit size has decreased by 7%. 

Unit size has been drastically decreasing across the country. RCLO studies surveyed the real estate market by region, and found the Midwest to face the largest percentage decrease. Out of the 20 markets studied, the only two markets which saw an increase in average unit size were San Diego, California, and Riverside, California. The rest of the markets analyzed, including Boston, saw an average unit size decrease by a whopping 25%.

What is the reasoning behind this drastic dive in unit sizes? There are several reasons for the decrease, starting with affordability. With rents rising faster than wages, many renters are forced to find more affordable, and less spacious dwellings. Renters are seeking more financial balance in their lives, and are compromising on larger living spaces and excess spending.

Another contributing factor towards the diminishing average unit size is the increasing quantity of studio and one-bedroom apartments, and the shrinking quantity of larger units. Two-bedroom units have been particularly decreasing in quantity, while there has been a heavy emphasis on constructing studio and one-bedroom units. From 2010 to 2016, two-bedroom units accounted for only 35% of newly developed units. This change is likely geared towards the millennial generation. Prime urban location is proving to be highly valuable to millennials, who are sacrificing spacious living spaces for unbeatable locations. By working, living, and socializing in the same area, millennials are saving precious time avoiding a long commute, and bringing more convenience and flexibility to their schedules.

The good news – property developers have been attempting to compensate for the decreasing unit size by providing tenants with more amenities, like gyms, movie theaters, and expansive communal lounges. Unit space may be decreasing in prime Boston locations, however these modern micro-units are providing renters with maximum convenience and deluxe amenities. 

Benefits of Spring Cleaning Your Boston Rental Property

The Boston winter with its snow, ice and frost is over and done with. Now is the time to clean up the mess!

As soon as you, a Boston landlord, see daffodils blooming, it’s time to think about what damage the winter may have caused to your rental property.

In this article, learn why it's to your benefit to pay attention to spring maintenance and cleaning both outdoors and indoors.

While you are paying attention to the common areas of your building, also learn how to encourage your tenants to report any problems in their individual apartments so that these can be taken care of in a timely fashion.

Why Spring Cleaning Will Benefit Your Property

Implementing sound inspection and cleaning practices each spring keeps your tenants safe and happy and increases the value of your property. Why? Happy tenants are less likely to seek alternative accommodation.

A Boston spring is the beginning of the turnover season in Boston apartments, so by encouraging your residents to stay, you will reduce the wear and tear on your building caused by people moving in and out.

And, don’t forget about curb appeal. Well kept outdoor landscaping and a clean, well-maintained building are what prospective new tenants will immediately notice. An attractive exterior appearance will help to keep your units fully rented.

Tips For Landlords In Boston and Other Cities

Spring Cleaning Exterior Checklist

• Inspect your building’s roof and look for any signs of damage.
• Remove debris from gutters - water damage can result from clogs. Repair any breaks.
• Remove tree branches that have grown too close to the roof.
• Inspect your building’s walls and patch any cracks.
• Check your exterior paintwork. Make any necessary repairs and maybe go for a new look to increase curb appeal.
• Note any damage to windows and doors. Seals may have cracked in extreme cold and caused water damage and drafts. Clean the window panes.
• Repair broken or rusty hinges, ensure that doors latch, and replace old locks that might cause security risks.
• Check swimming pools for damage and give them a thorough cleaning.
• Clean up common spaces like garbage and picnic areas.
• Examine driveways, fences, decks and patios then thoroughly spray to get rid of salt, sand, and de-icer residues. Fill any holes, cracks, or gaps.
• Trim bushes and replant flower beds.
• If you have lawn areas, check that your mower and weed cutter are clean, gassed up and ready for the first spring cut.

Spring Cleaning Interior Checklist

• Inspect interior paintwork. Make any necessary repairs or try a fresh new color.
• Steam-clean all floors and carpets.
• Hire a professional to clean and service your HVAC system to ensure that it’s running efficiently and that you are saving on energy costs.
• Replace burnt-out light bulbs
• Inspect electrical breaker boxes and replace smoke and carbon monoxide detector batteries.
• Look for drainage blockages in laundry areas and check that coin-operated washers and dryers are operating normally.
• Search for signs of rodents, termites, fleas, and other insect infestations.

Involve Your Tenants

Of course, while you are spring cleaning your Boston property, you would also like to remind your tenants that spring cleaning season is here and maybe provide them with an incentive to spring clean their individual apartments.

For instance, you could offer to pay half the cost of a cleaning service. This will help to ensure that your rental property apartments stay free of dust, mold, and bugs. One problem you don't want is bedbugs.

Before the cleaning service arrives, you might even send tenants a helpful checklist. Some ideas for this are:

• Vacuum underneath and behind the refrigerator. Give the interior of the refrigerator a thorough cleaning and toss out expired foods or foods that have been in the freezer for more than a year.
• Go through closets and set aside clothes that haven’t been worn for several years. These items can be collected for a building wide garage sale, the proceeds from which will go to a local charity.

Need Help With Your Annual Spring Cleaning?

If you are feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the work involved in spring cleaning and maintenance, the best property management company in Boston is here to help you before the hot Boston Summer arrives and year round.

Contact us to see how we can assist you to beautify and manage your property year round.

What Millennial Renters Want in Boston, MA

Boston property managers regard millennials as desirable tenants because they tend to be long-term renters who are not looking to buy a home soon and move out.

But how do you attract millennials to live on your property? What do millennials want from an apartment?

If you are you a Boston landlord looking for millennial tenants, you need to know what millennials are looking for so that you can meet (or even exceed) their expectations.

If you are millennial renter looking for a modern, technologically up-to-date apartment, it’s helpful to know what amenities to look for so that you won’t find you’ve made a mistake after moving in.

Who are Millennials?

Millennials are young people of the 21st Century and desire high connectivity to the internet and environmentally-conscious ways to live their lives.

They are born between 1977 and 2000. They make up 25% of the population.

The Future of Millennial-Style Apartment Complexes 

Millennials own fewer cars than previous generations, so millennial complexes are ideally situated for walking or taking public transportation to shopping, dining, and entertainment.

Millennials are comfortable with efficiently designed studios and one-bedrooms. Micro kitchens are also ok as long as they contain the latest in kitchen technology.

The ideal apartment complex for millennials will include the following:

• A social room for hanging out. 
• An entertainment space with a big screen for watching movies. 
• Wellness facilities with fitness on demand videos. 
• Ground floor commercial space such as a coffee shop. 
• Digital programs that make life easier. An example is LaundryView, enabling the user to note how many washers and dryers are available and to receive a text alert when the laundry is done. 

Boston’s Millennial Villages 

For millennial renters finding an affordable space in Boston is not easy. One solution that Boston has come up with is the millennial village.

The city is proposing to build 10,000 or more small units of housing close to public transportation with shared common spaces and ground floor amenities.

Technology: The Number One Requirement for Boston Property Managers 

Property managers absolutely must be online to connect with millennial renters. A “modern” property manager understands that millennials prefer to communicate with texts or emails rather than via phone calls.

The internet is the millennials’ first-choice tool for everything from finding an apartment to ordering food delivery.

They do not look through newspapers and circle apartment listings with a magic marker so don’t place rental ads that way; instead, make use of real estate websites that can connect a searcher with your website where millennials can look at and apply for your available units online.

Once millennials become your tenants, you must make it possible for them to pay their rent and make maintenance requests online.

It’s also advantageous to showcase everything about your property that is eco-friendly on social media as millennial renters care about their environmental impact.

A Checklist for Landlords and Millennial Renters 

The following is an ideal list of what property managers need to have in place and what millennial renters should look for in an ideal apartment.

• Cable and internet accessibility, complex-wide Wi-Fi, and a multitude of indoor and outdoor electrical outlets for charging mobile devices. 
• Low-flow, water-conserving toilets, and shower heads. 
• Energy-efficient appliances and programmable thermostats. 
• Solar panels, wind power, or other sources of renewable energy. 
• Energy-saving light bulbs. 
• Good insulation to slash utility bills. 
• Recycling and composting services on site. 
• Laundry facilities and dry-cleaning drop-off/pick-up. 
• Pet-friendliness – the majority of millennials own pets. 

Why Modern Rental Units are Good for Both Landlords and Millennial Tenants 

If you are landlord interested in upgrading your rental property to attract millennials, the initial expense of modernizing your complex will pay off over time by increasing the value of your property.

Your investment in improving your building will result in happy tenants who keep renewing their leases and reducing apartment turnover.

Find a Good Professional Property Management Company 

As an experienced property management company in Boston, Premier Property Solutions understands how to manage a property with millennials in mind.

We will take over the responsibility of managing your property so that both you and your tenants are happy in a modern, well-functioning building. Please contact us to see how we can help you.