Student Housing Insight

SHI 0409 - The TRUE Cost of the Resident Experience

It's well understood that a student housing staff who is successful at creating a positive experience for their residents will reap the rewards of earlier lease-ups, more referrals, lower marketing expenses, and potentially stronger rent increases.  But the cost of creating a positive resident experience is hard to track because it's not just an expense related to an event, but it's a top-down, day-in day-out, living, eating, & breathing way of doing business.  The real cost spreads beyond marketing line items to recruiting, training, and even maintenance expenses.  In this episode Wes & Gretta sit down with Adam Yarber, the Director of Resident Experience at Campus Advantage, in front of a live audience at the SHI Regional Summit in Cincinnati to breakdown what it takes to create consistent and positive experiences for our student residents.

This episode is sponsored by Unilodgers.  Make sure you are getting your property in front of more international students by listing your property at Unilodgers.com . For more information, go to www.Unilodgers.com/contact-us

For comments or questions, email us at contact@StudentHousingInsight.com 

 

SHI 0408 - Finish Strong

The academic year is coming to a close and so is your leasing season.  Move-outs are days away and Summer Turn will be in full swing.  And you are already thinking about move-in day and starting your renewal campaign.  The best way to ensure a strong start to next year is to finish strong this year.  In this episode we go through a laundry list of things you should be thinking about in order to ensure a strong finish.  Additionally, we sit down with Josh Renberg from Entrata, Steve Carter from Carter-Young, and JoAnn Orrell with Unilodgers to discuss leveraging their companies' services and their tips to ensure a strong finish.  Even if you are an experienced site manager, maintenance manager, or oversee a portfolio of properties, this episode is a great reminder of things you should be focused on as move-out day approaches.

This episode is sponsored by SimpleBills!  Check them out at www.SimpleBills.com

For questions about this episode, email us at contact@studenthousinginsight.com 

For more information on the SHI Community and our upcoming Regional Summits, visit our website at www.StudentHousingInsight.com .

SHI 0407 - Summer Marketing

Regardless if you are trying to grow a waiting list or if your property still has a long way to go in reaching your pre-leasing goals... everyone is trying to figure out how to get in front of students during the summer months.  In this episode, Gretta Dare sits down with our newest co-host Victoria Enchill of Enchill PMC.  They cover everything from finding students on campus to your digital and social advertising.

This episode is sponsored by Unilodgers.com.  If you want to reach more international students, you must list your property with Unilodgers.  For more information, email hello@unilodgers.com and include the title "SHI Podcast."

Have questions about this podcast?  Contact us at contact@StudentHousingInsight.com. 

SHI 0406 - The Summer Turn Board

Turn is less than 2 months away for most off-campus housing and it's already underway for on-campus.  Outside of regular inspections throughout the academic year, the one best tool for organizing the process and to ensure what needs to be done gets done... is the TURN BOARD.  Turn boards, have evolved over the years.  PM Software has even tried building it but have left a lot to be desired.  But 3 years ago our co-host, Lincoln Ogata, set out to create not just a turn board application but a complete platform that addresses the short falls and inefficiencies of managing turn.  That platform is called EZ Turn.  In this episode Wes and Lincoln talk about the evolution of the turn board and the processes for both on and off-campus and why EZ Turn solves so many problems for the industry.

This episode is sponsored by SimpleBills!  Regardless if your residents pay utility providers directly or if it is billed through the property, SimpleBills can provide residents and property managers an easier way to handle the process and provide insight to managers and residents on how they can save on their utilities.  Contact them today at www.SimpleBills.com

2018's Turn Episode can be found here: https://studenthousing.podbean.com/e/shi-3006-2018-summer-turn-episode-with-lincoln-ogata/

Do you have questions about this episode or anything in regards to the student housing industry?  Send us an email at contact@studenthousinginsight.com .

SHI 0405 - Ancillary Services w/Andrew Smith

In this episode, co-host Ken Miller sits down with Andrew Smith, President of Ancillary Services Management, to discuss how student housing managers should be thinking about both expense savings and opportunities of other revenue sources for their properties.  Budget season is on the way, and this episode is the perfect tool to jump start the process and begin thinking of ways to boost NOI.

This episode is sponsored by SimpleBills!  Regardless if your residents pay utility providers directly or if it is billed through the property, SimpleBills can provide residents and property managers an easier way to handle the process and provide insight to managers and residents on how they can save on their utilities. Contact them today at www.SimpleBills.com .

Find more information about Andrew Smith and ASM, go to www.asmadvantage.com 

For questions or comments about this episode, please email us at Contact@StudentHousingInsight.com 

SHI 0404 - Beyond Our Borders

As purpose built student housing grows in popularity as an asset class, investors are looking for opportunities beyond the US borders as well.  However, those countries typically lack the operational expertise that we have in the US.  This has allowed US operators the opportunity to expand management services to those countries.  In this episode, Wes sits down with a panel of operators from the US and the UK who are operating beyond their borders.  We discuss the challenges, the opportunities, and the similarities in operating student housing in other countries.

Special thanks to our panelists who participated in this episode:

Scott Duckett, Campus Advantage

Jake Jarman, Redstone Residential

Chris Richards, Greystar

Beth Pinder, CA Ventures

Dan Smith, Unilodgers

 

Want to stay up to date with everything regarding Student Housing Insight, join the SHI Community at www.StudentHousingInsight.com

SHI Special Announcement Episode - Introducing the SHI Community

In this episode Wes & Gretta sit down to give a sneak peak at what SHI has been cooking in the kitchen since the beginning of the 2019.  We're talking about the new website and the virtual community we have created at StudentHousingInsight.com.  With this new website, you can become a member of the SHI Community and be a part of a network that is doing everything from sharing ideas about making student housing better as well a posting jobs.

 

For more info & questions, email us at contact@studenthousinginsight.com 

SHI 0403 - How to Create Harmony at the Site Level

He doesn't respect me.  She doesn't get it.  The office staff plays around all day.  WTF is maintenance doing now!?!

Ever heard this from your staff?  Ever said it yourself?

There are a lot of dynamics that make up any work team, but especially a site level team at a student housing community.  In this episode Lincoln Ogata interviews his previous manager, Corey James, about the tactics they put in place and the general mindset that a manager and a maintenance supervisor must have in order for the team to work in harmony.  Additionally, Jackie Pingel joins us to talk about the obvious gender and age differences that are common struggles for site teams to rise above.

This episode is sponsored by LEAP Insurance.  Contact them today to find out more on how they can increase your prospect pool by deploying their Institutional Co-Signing product today.  Go to: www.LeapEasy.com

Behind the Biz with LEAP

Is your student housing property losing leases because of the guarantor and approval process?  Then LEAP has an insurance product you should consider offering to your prospects.  LEAP is working with student housing managers in the US to help students get the off-campus apartment they want while eliminating the risk of bad debt and mid-term economic vacancy.  Find out why this company will help you secure more leases and will keep you from wasting valuable time on the approval process and collection calls so you can concentrate on generating more traffic and creating a home for your residents.

SHI 0402 How to Market & What to Focus on During Spring Break

The leasing season has been tough and you are as ready for a break as the students are.  But Spring Break is not a time to tune out.  Regardless if you are 100% pre-leased or struggling to get to 50%, it's time for an assessment and a strategy on how you are going to finish out the semester.  In this episode, Gretta and Wes lay out strategies to ensure your social and digital advertising remain relevant to students who are focussed on anything but school, and Wes provides a tool for helping you and your team understand what course of action to take in order to finish the semester focussed on what is going to make you successful.

This episode is sponsored by uForis.  Are you interested in how Virtual Reality tours can gain you more leases.  Go to uForis.com

To request the Spring Break Assessment Matrix mentioned in this episode, send an email to contact@StudentHousingInsight.com and include the subject, "Send Me The Matrix."