By: Goldline Research as published in Entrepreneur Magazine – 2007 & 2008 Most Dependable in Central Region
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The Inside Story on Industry Benchmarks
NAA Session June 29, 2007
Speakers: Tracey Hopkins (www.jumpstartonline.net) and
Lisa Trosien (www.apartmentexpert.com )
The speakers told the group up front that they were not allowing their powerpoint and information to be distributed…..and these are personal notes taken by Spherexx.com who was in attendance at this session. We wrote as fast as we could to gather this information – but we are in no means standing behind 100% accuracy in what we transcribed.
The speaker’s source was from a few large property management companies and a few vendor companies that track statistics.
Everything they provided was compared between the:
Property Management Viewpoint & Industry Vendor/Partner View
To abbreviate the Spherexx transcription below will abbreviate “property management view” with “PM” and “industry vendor/partner view” with “VV.”
Average length of leasing call:
PM reports 2:47 minutes based on recorded call data
Call Tracking source 2:43 minutes
VV reports 2:06 minutes (this is non-call center ILS’s)
Call Centers 5:24 minutes
What does this prove?
>> Call centers focus more time with callers
>> Longer calls are always more productive than shorter calls
Percentage of call duration = more appointments
2 minute call equates to 8% conversion to an appointment
5 minute call equates to 40% conversion to an appointment
PM’s estimate 28% is converted to an appointment
VV’s estimate 35% is converted to an appointment
46% of leasing people ask for a general appointment
23% only set a “specific time” appointment
Online – only .06% of online prospects set an appointment and this proves that online shoppers are still in the info gathering stage. So when online shopper calls the leasing agent MUST get an appointment before ending the call.
Call centers report that 40% of callers schedule an appointment the same day. Leasing agents must be trained to ask for a same day appointment.
Busiest times for appointments:
Saturday thru Friday
Preferred tour times: 1 – 2 pm & 2 -3pm
How are you staffed to cover preferred appointment and tour times?
% of appointments turn into leases
PM’s report 43%
VV’s report N/A (partners didn’t track this and Lisa said this is to not track)
Almost 80% of internet leads often come in via phone.
Busiest day for internet and phone leads: Mon, Tues & Wed
Monday is the highest then drops lower on tues and then even lower on Wed
Busiest Days & Hours
Phone leads being received – Mon 10am to Noon
Email leads being received – Tues 1pm to 3pm
% of prospects who inquire online after hours: 50%
Average # of calls per source per month:
PM reports: Print 28 Internet 27.6 Blended Media 24
VV reports: Calls 26.26 calls per source per month
Evaluation a media source: Litmus test is that is generate 20+ phone leads per month
Qualified Leads:
Call center and tracking companies do not qualify leads
# of sources used by the average prospect to make a leasing decision:
PM reports 2.17 sources
VV reports 77.5% using more than one source
Are you training your leasing team to ASK how many sources did the prospect use to find the property?
Average # of visits before leasing: PM report 1.9 visits (from high rise to tax credit)
Can we lease on the 1st visit?
* same day leasing bonuses or signing bonuses can be helpful to motivate
* reality is that prospects want to make informed decision
What is the average closing percentage for leasing staff on stabilized assets? 34.7%
Improving this closing % means:
* training
* better tracking (fair housing reason why we should also)
* realistic goals
* determine your market
* property availability plays into this
Average closing percentage for leasing staff assets in lease-up and under rehab: 38.1%
To improve this percentage means:
* Higher % for rehab
* more tire kickers in new construction
* greatly affected by inventory or stage of leaseup
* PM’s report this as hard to track and benchmark
Average # of leases: print vs online
PM’s report 54.5% of leases come from the internet
PMs’ report 52.9% of leases come from print media
Internet & Print must work together!
Average cost per lead (not lease) per source:
$ 162.00 PM reports this as a combination of printer & internet
$ 76.54 PM reports this as a report from all blended media
Average cost per lease per source:
$ 264.00 PM reports this from the internet sources
$ 429.00 PM reports this from print sources
Average Industry Response Times on Internet Leads
0 – 2 hrs 45.76 %
2 – 4 hrs 11.72 %
4 – 6 hrs 4.83 %
6 – 8 hrs 3.44 %
8+ hrs 10.0 %
No Response 24.24 %
Note: This does NOT include autoresponders
Is a phone call really 4 times better as a prospect than a walk-in:
PM reports the internet is presumed the best prospect walk-in because they are
more qualified.
VV reports a walk-in is twice as likely to rent as a phone caller.
Does a real-time availability really make a significant impact on leasing and marketing?
If the PM’s have the function then they reported as “yes”
Inevitably real-time availability will be a prospect expectation.
% of prospects who lease online, site unseen:
PM’s report 8.5%
89% of prospects surveyed would not lease sight unseen. (Spherexx did not record a source for this item, but it has to be from Satisfacts because they are the only company we know of that survey’s residents.)
Necessary ad “inclusions” and how they positively impact the advertisement:
PM’s say: Photos, Floorplans & Pricing as well as community features
What consumers are looking for in advertising:
#1 |
Prices |
80% |
#2 |
Amenities |
60% |
#3 |
Real Time Availability |
55% |
#4 |
Photo |
51% |
#5 |
Floorplans |
47% |
#6 |
Map |
36% |
#7 |
Proximity to work |
34% |
#8 |
Length of lease term |
32% |
#9 |
Demographic Info |
19% |
#10 |
Crime Rates |
17% |
#11 |
Video |
12% |
They encouraged the group to ditch the 360 tours where you spin around in a circle in a room and go with guided video tours.
Community/Unit Features Deemed Important by Renters:
#1 |
Trash Pickup |
74% |
#2 |
Strong Reputation |
64% |
#3 |
Pet Allowed |
51% |
#4 |
Easy communication options with leasing team (i.e. email, text, phone) |
48% |
#5 |
Pay rent electronically |
44% |
#6 |
Complete lease online |
39% |
#7 |
Community website |
37% |
#8 |
Property staff professionally dressed |
34% |
#9 |
Pay rent with credit card |
34% |
#10 |
Car Wash area on the property |
23% |
#11 |
Clubhouse |
22% |
#12 |
Free DVD |
21% |
#13 |
Community social gatherings |
18% |
#14 |
Saunas |
13% |
#15 |
Tanning Bed |
11% |
# of Apartments Visited by Prospects Before Leasing:
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# of Community Visits |
19% |
1 community visited |
16% |
2 communities visited |
20% |
3 communities visited |
13% |
4 communities visited |
5% |
12 communities visited |
15% |
6 to 10 visits |
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Follow-up After Initial Visit:
If you follow-up on the same day, your chances of renting to that prospect is 65%.
After the same day it drops to 10% chance and day two is 8%.
Note; Fair housing issues mean we need to be sure to follow-up with EVERYONE.
It takes the average leasing agent 7 minutes to compose an email. Who knows what that output will do or how it will represent your community??
What % of property phone calls are actually leasing calls?
PM’s report 39.6%
VV’s report 15%
This is a big discrepancy. Call centers report that 85% of calls are not related to
leasing and some of that 85% are existing residents with questions.
What is the effect of staying late on leasing?
PM’s say that isn’t not as much for marketing to prospects as much as it is to serve
as a retention effort for existing residents.
VV’s report that 36% of leads come in after hours.
Average days to turn a unit:
PM’s report 5 to 7 days
National average is 9 days
Average vacancy loss on national base is $ 669 with the average rent of $867.00 on that
same unit.
Total cost to turn a unit: $2,940
* this included rent/concessions/vacancy/marketing/etc.
Application Quality Saferent has a new benchmark index called MARI Index
MARI = Multifamily Applicant Risk Index (MARI)
Derived from the SCOREX registry
Lower MARI value equates to lower quality (riskier) applicant pool
Two (2) bedroom leases stay one (1) month longer than one (1) bedroom leases