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Practical Asset Management Strategies with Cyndee Harding · The Academy Presents podcast

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You're already taking the first step. just by
1:00
joining us here today. We had a guy that every
1:06
time he sat on his toilet it rocked. I don't
1:08
know if you've ever sat on a toilet that rocked,
1:10
but they do at times. And he basically said,
1:14
I will renew if you will replace my toilet. Well,
1:17
you know what? It's about a hundred dollars to
1:20
buy. They're 98 dollars at Home Depot. And they're
1:23
the the, actually the larger toilets than what
1:27
has been installed in these. And so he got a
1:30
new toilet and guess what? He signed his lease.
1:34
He renewed. Nice. That's, that's awesome. Cause
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it also shows you're listening. And I think that
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that's really important. Um, especially with
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like C class. I think that a lot of times your
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C class residents feel like nobody's listening
1:50
to them. Exactly. And so I feel like when he
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said, I need a new toilet, you got him a new
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toilet. He was like, well, heck yeah, I'm signing.
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These people hear me. They listen to my concern.
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Yes, we do have a 24 hour policy on our maintenance
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that if a call comes in, it has to be completed
2:10
within 24 hours. If not, we need to know why.
2:15
Is it because they're ordering a part or, you
2:17
know, what is the circumstance? So we look at
2:19
those work orders and we make sure that they're
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done within 24 hours. Because the one thing you
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don't want is someone's up for renewal and the
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faucet is dripping in the kitchen and they're
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sitting on the couch watching TV and they hear
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that dripping and they're like, no, I'm not going
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to I'm not going to renew this drives me nuts.
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They have not fixed that faucet and we just we
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don't want that. We don't want any barriers to
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them. We're doing. Yeah. So on the maintenance
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piece of it, cause I won't lie. I was looking
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through our staff. We've, we've got some things
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that have been there for a bit. Um, the property
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is, you know, a bit of distress. So there isn't
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maybe the funding to get everything done right
3:02
on time, but knowing why it hasn't been done
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yet, especially since I know that now we're using
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Elise, um, Which if friends, if you're not implementing
3:13
AI and what you were doing, you're going to be
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left behind. It's not that AI is going to take
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jobs, but it makes us way more productive and
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it makes us able to do a lot more with the time
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that we have. So yes, I'm putting that plug out
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there. Your on sites are much more efficient
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because the lease has already gone through, has
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talked about what the rents are. They've even
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scheduled a tour. We've had people that the first
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time. And I don't know if they know this or not,
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but the first time they've actually talked to
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a human is when they show up and they meet the
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leasing agent for the tour. That is the first
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time they've talked to a human. Wow. So it's
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called a Lease AI. I'll put that there. Yeah,
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it's spelled with an E. One of the things that
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we have implemented as well, I don't know if
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you have used it, is cosine. Now, cosine, it
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It's not like getting your parents to co -sign
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your lease. Co -sign is a whole separate company.
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And so if you have someone that is, you know,
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five, 20 points below what they need to be able
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to sign the lease, you can send it over to Co
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-sign and then they will take a look at it. And
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then if they want to take it on, then they take
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the lease. And so we have found that CoSign has
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helped with a few people that are just, I mean,
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there has to be a cutoff somewhere. You know,
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you have to say you have to have, you know, this
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point, you know, to be able to rent. And so that
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has helped us quite a bit by having CoSign. And
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so someone fills out an application and they
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turn that into CoSign and then CoSign decides
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whether They turn it into our leasing agent and
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then they run the report and if it's within you
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know a close amount of them having the points
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that they need because it's all based on a point
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system. If they're close then they'll send it
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over to COSIGN and COSIGN will decide whether
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or not they'll back that lease. Now is that a
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fee to you or a fee to that resident? of the
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resident. Okay. All right. I did want to back
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up and look at a couple of other things. I've
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got like four pages of notes here. Holy moly.
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When you said that you want expenses at 50 %
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or less. Is that also the same for all those
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paid properties or do you even have all those
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paid properties? Oh, all bills paid. I'm sorry.
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I'm sorry. I didn't catch the all bills paid.
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I'm thinking all properties. Yes, 50%. That's
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OK. We can back that out if we need to, because
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it's just a matter of utilities. So I wouldn't
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necessarily. The objective with all bills paid
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though is that we are covering the bills with
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the rent. So yes, we would like it and all bills
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paid because that means we're covering it with
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the rent. We haven't had to back it out. We only
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have one property that's all bills paid. And
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yeah, they still run pretty lean. So, but we
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do make sure that we're able to cover that bill.
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Yeah. So it's gotten a little out of hand for
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us recently, just because it's the cost of water
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and the cost of electricity like change. And
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we happen to have our contract renewal on electricity
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during that period of time. And it went up. And
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the thing is when those things go up, if you're
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doing a good job with retention, you don't get
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to push anything until leash renewal. Unless
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you've got another, I've heard of some places
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doing like, it's not a utility fee, but it's
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like another fee that they are able to add in.
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Amenity amenity fee. Yeah, I don't understand
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how that works, but I'm willing to listen and
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learn. We don't have any properties right now
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that we use that on, but I do know that they
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have where you can do an amenity fee. So it's
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like $100, $125. And basically that covers like
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if you have a pool, a gym. So one of the things
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that we do offer is an internet package. So we
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try to get with an exclusive company. And for
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everyone that is on their system, we get commission.
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And so that is one way that we're able to increase
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our income is by doing that. We also found that
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we made a lot more money if we rented the washers
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and dryers ourselves for our laundry. and then
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all the money we make after we pay for the rentals,
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we have 100 % of that. We don't have to split
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that with anyone. Who are you renting the washers
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and dryers from? CSC? No, Coldwell and Gregory.
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Coldwell and Gregory. I do have another property
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that we use, CSC, and for that one, we actually
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They have washer and dryer hookups in the units.
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So we offer a washer and dryer for $50 a month.
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They charge us $35. So we make $15 for everyone.
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The beauty of them is that they deliver them,
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even upstairs. They hook them up. If there's
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any problems, that is not our maintenance problem.
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That is the CSC problem. And so they take care
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of all of that. And we've really not had any
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issues with it at all. We've just made money
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on it, honestly. I've never heard anyone even
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talk about that. So to be able to reach out direct
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and rent the washers and dryers, then those could
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even be in our laundry facility? Yep. We're going
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to have to look into that. You just make more
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money. When you're in a contract with a laundry
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company, what they do is they have a minimum
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that you have to have every month. And then once
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you hit the minimum, then they split it with
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you like 60 -40, and you are 40, you are not
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60. And so we have discovered that we make a
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lot more money if we don't have a contract. except
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for the rental units. We rent the units and then
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we pay the rental fee and then all the money
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above that is 100 % profit for us. Have you ever
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done like a vending machine in the laundry facility
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where you have like little soaps and dryer sheets
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and all that stuff and maybe some snacks too?
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Well, two things. One, you cannot have snopes.
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Snopes. You cannot have soaps and snacks in the
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same machine. Yes. So it has some sort of hazard
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thing because we wanted to do that. We are at
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one property. We do have a soda machine and that
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one we just get commission on, but we do not
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stock it. We don't do anything with it. They
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do everything and we just get a check in the
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mail. Right now, it's funny, we had a GP call
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today because we are getting ready to buy a refurbished
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machine that will do snacks and drinks so it's
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cold. And then we, when I say we, I mean my onsite
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team will be responsible for filling it. But
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that we want to make sure that we have our security
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system and really fine -tuned because we want
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security on that. And this particular machine
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does all of it. So it will take a card. It'll
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take a tap from your phone. It will take quarters.
12:02
We are going to put a big sign up that says,
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smile, you're on camera, to hopefully deter anyone
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trying to, you know. break the glass. It's probably
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going to happen. The other option would be to
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get a cage that goes around it. But we're going
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to start out with that one. We'll see. Wow. I
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literally like one, two, three, four, five, six,
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and going onto another page of notes. Thank you
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so much. You're very welcome. I could sit here
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and listen all day long for ideas because Like
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I said, everybody has a struggling property right
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now. If you don't praise, whatever you worship
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that, but you don't because it sucks. And like,
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I know that we're looking at other properties
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and to be quite honest, I'm nervous of like,
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who to even talk to. Because if you've been in
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this space for any length of time, you know that
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over the last two, three years, most properties
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are not paying out anything. Um, and if they
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have been paying us, I think they're all restructuring
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and recapitalizing and doing all that fun stuff
13:15
right now and restacking. And so people are still,
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um, potentially not going to get their money
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back. Um, we are LPs and a property like that
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right now. Um, and so this is just, it's one
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of those times where you've really got to have
13:30
the skillset necessary to run the property most
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efficiently and optimally to be able to keep
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things tight. and still keep it an enjoyable
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experience for your residents but also keep your
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investors happy too because it's a really fine
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line to walk. It is but I do find that happy
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residents stay so that does help. Now we meet
13:55
with our property managers every week until they
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have had the property for a year and if we are
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where we want to be in a year then we go to every
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other week. But if we're not where we want to
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be, we stay weekly until we're where we want
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to be. I'm writing that down to you. It makes
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a difference, you know, and then we do have access
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to Elise AI. So we're able to go in, look at
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our own reports, you know, look and see what's
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happening during the week. If I have a property
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that's struggling with leases, they know that
14:35
every Friday I get to call and I will have a
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talk with the onsite and just say, how many leases
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did you get this week? That's the whole question
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and they say whatever they're going to say. I
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just really think communicating with the onsite,
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what your expectations are, definitely help.
14:57
Then they know what you expect them to do. And
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then you give them ownership. You know, it's
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their property. So when we get on the call, we
15:07
say, how is your property doing? I mean, it reinforces
15:11
that it is their property. So I wasn't even,
15:16
I'm going to sound really ignorant here. I was
15:18
not aware that Elise had like reports that went
15:20
with it or that I could look at those. Like,
15:22
yes, ask them for the login. Just ask them for
15:25
the login and then you can get in there and look.
15:29
Okay. So friends, when I say having never been
15:39
anything other than a lead sponsor on a property
15:41
and it being baptism by fire, like we're three
15:43
years in and I'm still learning new stuff every
15:46
day. Um, and not just like new stuff though.
15:49
Oh, that's neat. New stuff that like is game
15:51
changing. Um, and so just, if this is something
15:56
you're looking at getting into, just know that.
15:59
it's, you're going to be learning some pretty
16:00
substantial stuff each and every day, each and
16:03
every week. And, um, don't discount it, um, because
16:08
you never know when you're going to need to pull
16:09
those things out of the bag. And it's really
16:12
awesome to have all these tools. So Cindy, I
16:14
can sit here and talk all day, um, because like,
16:18
thank you. I'm at my wit's end. And so to hear
16:22
ideas that I can implement today, today is too
16:27
huge. Yes. Yep. That's my whole thing is I'm
16:30
not into like, you know, in six months, like
16:33
what can you do today to make a difference? So,
16:37
well, I really appreciate being able to chat
16:39
with you. If anyone ever needs to have a conversation
16:42
and has questions about asset management, please
16:45
contact me. I'm sure you'll have my contact information
16:48
in the show notes and I'm always willing to have
16:52
those conversations. It's my passion. I do this
16:55
every day. So it's what I live and breathe. You've
17:02
also got a webinar coming up. Did you want to
17:04
talk a little bit about that? Yeah, we have a
17:07
webinar that's going to be free. It's going to
17:10
be about 30 minutes of a presentation and about
17:13
15 minutes of questions and answers, basically
17:16
a really like a 10 ,000 foot overview of asset
17:21
management. And we will talk about complex to
17:24
community and how that really drives your referrals
17:29
and your retentions because if you can save money
17:32
on that, all the better. So yeah, that'll be
17:36
in July, July 9th. It starts at eight if you're
17:43
on the Pacific and then just add an hour for
17:46
every time. Yeah, no, all the way across. So
17:50
I wrote them down. That's 10 a .m. Central or
17:55
11 a .m. Eastern. And then other time zones like
17:59
you'll have to guess at those. I don't know.
18:01
8 o 'clock Pacific. I only know that because
18:03
that's not what I meant. But I will send you
18:06
the Zoom link. There we go. I'll send you the
18:10
Zoom link, and you can pass that on to any of
18:13
your listeners that would like to learn a little
18:15
bit more about asset management. Absolutely.
18:18
And just thank you so much for being here today.
18:20
You're welcome. I mean, I learned a lot from
18:22
Sandia, too. Sandia is one of my best friends,
18:24
and I've learned a ton from her. And so she can
18:29
be very helpful, too. everybody's got different
18:32
ideas. And so like just having all of the notes
18:36
together, like, I don't even know how much stuff
18:38
I have on asset management, but I can still be
18:40
a better asset manager, a manager, like we can
18:43
all get better. And so just be open -minded about
18:46
that and realize that what's worked for you in
18:48
the past is probably not working for you right
18:50
now. You can be open to change and redirection
18:54
and pivoting because you have to be open to it
18:57
in order to keep your residents happy, keep your
18:59
retention high. Um, and to keep your, your onsite
19:04
people happy, um, they began to feel neglected
19:07
also. Um, so actually before I say goodbye, do
19:11
you have a way that's easy to figure out? Like
19:14
what's your onsite people like? Cause I've been
19:17
asked, I'm like, what's your favorite song drink?
19:18
And so somebody will tell me, but like, how do
19:21
you, do you have like a sheet you, you have them
19:23
fill out so that you can bring them snacks and
19:25
bring them things that, that let them know that
19:27
they're seeing too. I don't. When I'm there,
19:32
I make notes about, you know, just different
19:35
things that I see. We actually have a big calendar
19:38
on this wall and their birthdays are all listed.
19:42
And so I have Crystal, who's my just she's she's
19:48
amazing. And she actually puts together boxes
19:52
for them. So on their birthday, they get a box
19:55
and it has all the stuff. that we've talked about,
20:00
because I'll let her know, you know, I noticed
20:02
this, this, and this when I was there. And so,
20:07
yeah. But we do, we recognize them on their birthdays.
20:12
Sometimes it's as simple as flowers. But I know
20:16
we kind of switch, like we'll do one year of
20:18
flowers and then one year of boxes. We're on
20:20
our box year this year. What kind of stuff do
20:24
you put in the boxes? So we have one on site
20:28
that just recently had a birthday. Her favorite
20:30
color is purple. And she's a girly girl. And
20:34
so we put in there like a face mask, bubble stuff,
20:41
a scrub. Do you remember what else was in Ashley's
20:44
box? A throw blanket. Oh, no. Yeah, like a mug.
20:53
Yeah. Oh, super sweet. That's awesome. I like
20:57
to know those things too, because just like we
20:59
want our residents to feel seen and heard, your
21:03
onsite people begin to feel super neglected because
21:07
they don't always receive the best treatment
21:09
from residents when things are not going pleasantly.
21:13
Or ownership when occupancy is down. Again, looking
21:19
for any tips. pointers to just keep everybody
21:23
happy. Yeah, I know our time's almost up, but
21:28
one of the things that we do is we do ask them
21:30
to set goals. So like one of our properties,
21:35
the goal was for her to have 85 units rented
21:39
by the end of June. And right now she will have
21:45
88. Now I know that she loves plants and so what
21:51
we're going to do is we're going to get a gift
21:53
card for the nursery in the town that she lives
21:56
in and she will get a hundred dollar gift card
21:59
and we will celebrate her hitting her goal. So
22:05
that's one of the things that you can do is you
22:07
know hit work on the goals that you want if you
22:10
have very specific things that you want done.
22:13
set that goal and when they hit it, you know,
22:16
it could be, you know, but even if it's something
22:18
with maintenance, like we need all of this done,
22:21
you know, when it's all done, order a little
22:23
Caesars and our dominoes and have it delivered
22:25
and you provide lunch for them and it's just,
22:28
hey, you hit your goal. We appreciate you. Wow.
22:32
So are those monthly goals or weekly goals or?
22:36
It just, it depends. You know, if it's a big
22:40
project, you know, then it would be, you may
22:42
be a little bit longer. This particular, like
22:45
I was talking about with the nursery, it was
22:47
a monthly goal, like a particular month, like
22:51
this month, we needed her to hit 88 units. I
22:56
mean, I'm sorry, 85 units. We needed 85 units
22:59
rented. And when I talked with her yesterday,
23:03
she has 88, signed leases that are moving in
23:07
by the end of the month. That's cool. We don't
23:12
do it every month like I wouldn't say okay what's
23:14
your goal next month and then you know reward
23:16
her but when you have something you're really
23:18
pushing and you really something that you need
23:21
to get on top of I would say set those small
23:25
benchmarks and just do simple things. I mean,
23:28
send them a $50 Amazon gift card. Everybody orders
23:32
off at Amazon, or even a $25 Amazon gift card
23:37
if it's something pretty simple. But I think
23:41
that just rewarding those small wins really go
23:46
a long way. Now, that's awesome. Again, I said
23:51
we could talk all day, but I know value your
23:54
time and I don't want to make you sit here with
23:56
me all day. So just thank you so much for being
23:59
here and I think that's going to be really helpful
24:04
to people too. So again, if you are an asset
24:07
manager that still has on some training wheels,
24:09
or even if you think you are like full fledged
24:12
and know what you're doing, go to the webinar.
24:16
And just be open to hearing what there is, like,
24:19
even if it's just something that can enhance
24:21
something you're already doing. Just be open,
24:24
come with open ears and be ready to listen to
24:27
do whatever you can to help your property because
24:29
we're all feeling the same pain right now. Yep
24:32
and even if you're an operator you know if your
24:35
job isn't specifically asset management just
24:38
operators it just gives you more it gives the
24:41
asset manager more resources because you know
24:44
on gp calls i always want to hear like what what
24:46
are they talking about what do they want to do
24:48
so i would say operators and asset managers well
24:52
i'm definitely more of an operator than an asset
24:54
manager but i still hope you'll be there I still
24:58
like to hear everything. So thank you again.
25:02
You're welcome. Thank you. I don't even know,
25:05
this has been awesome. So thank you again. You're
25:09
welcome. It was my pleasure. Oh, awesome. And
25:13
guys out there, until next time. Thank you.