The weather is warming up and the days are longer, and your apartment complex’s tenants are looking forward to spending more time outdoors. It’s important to ensure that you’re taking steps to clean and prepare your property for summer fun. Below are some summer property management tips you need to know about to prepare your property for this time of year.
Maintenance
Regular maintenance of your apartment complex property needs to be an ongoing process, and it’s wise to adjust the schedule to include seasonal-specific tasks:
Decks and Playgrounds: Regularly inspect and clean the furniture and grills that are located on the outdoor decks on your property. Look for mold, signs of insect infestation, and any repairs that need to be done so tenants can enjoy the outdoor areas for longer.
Pools and Hot Tubs: Don’t overlook the importance of regular pool maintenance. Test chlorine levels and change filters, and make sure you take care of saltwater pools or hot tubs based on suggested maintenance recommendations.
Landscaping: Keep grass trimmed, bushes and trees pruned, and eliminate weeds and leaves promptly. Fix any other landscaping elements like walkways, sprinklers, lighting, or retaining walls to keep them well-maintained.
HVAC System: Create a schedule that allows the maintenance team to check each unit’s HVAC or AC systems to ensure that they are in proper working order before the hot weather hits. Make it a habit to change each unit’s air filters at least once a season.
Pest Control: Several pests love the summer season and set up shop in your apartment complex without proactive pest control. Fleas, ticks, roaches, rodents, and ants are pests that are seen in large numbers in the summer.
Administrative
Summer is a busy season for multifamily properties, and it’s a smart idea for property managers to take advantage of this increased interest in rentals. Several projects can be undertaken by leasing office administrators to improve marketing and decrease vacancy rates.
Community Events: Now that your outdoor spaces are cleaned and repaired, get the community together for a barbeque. This is a great tool to improve tenant satisfaction and keep them as renters for longer.
Lease Audit: Don’t put your property at risk by not following legal guidelines that protect the landlord-tenant relationship. Go through leasing documentation to ensure it’s all in order before you find out the hard way.
HR Audit: Extend your documentation audit to HR paperwork for your leasing staff, maintenance crew, and other team members that are a part of the property management process. It’s only fair to protect your best assets — your employees.
Project Planning: Some property repairs and upgrades are best completed during the warm summer months, so now’s the time to reach out to contractors and collect bids for work done on the grounds.
Marketing: If you’ve been waiting to try the latest and greatest apartment marketing strategies, summertime is a great season to try them. This is traditionally a season where complexes see higher demand, especially in family-friendly locations.
Research Property Managers
Working with a property manager you can trust to tackle these seasonal tasks will help get them done the right way. Now’s a great time to look into summer property management options for your apartment complex.
Our process entails appraising multi-family residential projects to determine their best use and conducting market analyses and fractional interest appraisals for estate valuation purposes. We collaborate with investors interested in buying properties and property owners looking to either sell their assets or have them professionally developed and managed.
Once we acquire a property, it is completely managed by our team and we make significant capital investments in it to enhance the quality of life of our tenants as well as the local community as a whole. We do not outsource our management, but instead, choose to fill these positions with highly vetted individuals with prior experience in property management we know we can trust. Furthermore, we continuously train and develop our staff to ensure that they remain at the forefront of the industry.
Our current portfolio includes properties in St. Louis, MO and Springfield, MO. If you are in the market to buy or sell apartment complexes or are interested in leasing an apartment at one of our multiple properties, please contact us.