Five years ago at the start of the pandemic lockdowns, the multifamily industry adapted to better serve people—both its renters and its workforce. Some of the biggest changes to come out of that include a greater focus on technology, resident satisfaction, and the new work-from-home renters.
“During the pandemic, we confirmed our belief that our staff is our most important and valuable asset, and today we have a 73% employee retention rate, which is impressive in the industry,” says Diana Pittro, executive vice president at RMK Management, a leading property management firm in the Midwest. “Our firm is growing but at a measured pace where our teams feel supported, celebrated, and encouraged to hone their skill sets through educational programs or training. When our teams are happy, our residents are happy, which shows through our high satisfaction marks with residents at all of our communities.”
According to Pittro, despite the push for virtual communication during the pandemic, the site teams have found that residents appreciate and want face-to-face interactions.
“Our property managers are available on-site and encourage in-person lease renewals. In addition, our managers do three-, six-, and nine-month check-in phone calls and follow up on all work orders,” she says. “These steps are considered going above and beyond, but we find they are valuable touchpoints with residents.”
When it comes to resident and employee satisfaction, technology has played a key role.
Tim Kramer, vice president and director of operations at Draper and Kramer, says the multifamily industry, which had been conservative in the past on technology, was forced to adopt new technology at a rate he had never seen to be able to meet residents’ needs and create better customer satisfaction.
“In these five years, so much has changed, with technology coming and going,” he says. “It was more than I saw in my previous 25 years in the industry.”
While self-guided touring was present before the pandemic, with Draper and Kramer starting the efforts pre-2020, the pandemic accelerated the technology.
“I’m not sure we would be anywhere near as far along with that type of technology if COVID didn’t force it on us,” he says. “We have always believed it’s the leasing agent and the person-to-person contact you make that sells the apartment. There’s no doubt that that’s important, but what has become apparent to us is people like to choose their own adventure. Not every prospect wants to deal with a person, some prospects just want to talk at a certain point.”
Kramer adds that this technology is the long-lasting part of it, with 65% of its showings being through self-guided tours today. “I know we wouldn’t have been that far along,” he notes. “It opened our eyes as an industry in changing how we create the prospect experience to fit them where they are.”
Technology has also helped free up the on-site teams.
“While we are a customer-facing business, we have to have people on-site, such as property management and maintenance,” he says. “We have been able to centralize a lot of operations. We have centralized a lot of the admin functions—collections, report writing, the tracking of receivables. It wasn’t by a workforce reduction, but it has occurred when it has been convenient to do so. We are much more productive centrally. As a result, the people on-site are more available for residents. And I would like to think that it’s because our people on-site are freed up for the important stuff.”
Pittro concurs that RMK Management’s use of technology has changed, with tools being delivered in many different and new platforms.
“We started utilizing virtual maintenance work orders during the pandemic, which we still use today,” she says. “However, because of all this new technology, there is a lot of new learning and support needed for our teams, but utilizing these new tools and features helps us to provide faster responses and more efficient service to our residents.”
Marketing tools also have advanced since the start of the pandemic, according to Pittro and James Love, vice president of marketing and brand at Draper and Kramer.
According to Love, Draper and Kramer accelerated its property websites with more photography, videography, floor plans, and mapping technology to provide an in-depth experience to help prospects nail down the shopping experience much quicker.
“As dark and scary as the pandemic was, it ended up really waking up our industry and making the investment to take marketing to the next level,” Love says. “Our firm really believed in it and pushed it forward, and we are still seeing that impact five years later.”
Pittro adds that RMK Management has elevated its use of artificial intelligence and increased its frequency of video and photo postings to social media.
“Over the past few years, we are less reliant on Internet Listings Services sites for leads, instead opting for more digital marketing,” she says.
Responding to Residents’ Evolving Work Needs
Another interesting twist was that residents weren’t typically home during the day pre-COVID, with residents now continuing to work from home daily or on a hybrid basis. Before, it wasn’t as essential to notify residents of a water outage during the day or other maintenance work going on in the building.
“It has forced us to up our communication game because people are working from home a lot more. It has definitely made us better communicators,” says Love.
Hybrid work also has impacted unit layouts and amenity spaces at many multifamily communities.
“Many people throughout the country have remained in some sort of hybrid work arrangement, so the work-from-home accommodation or need for a desk space in the unit is very much a pandemic trend that has continued,” says Brad Lutz, managing principal and multifamily practice leader at Baker Barrios Architects. “On the amenity front, we saw much more of a movement toward wide-open and flexible common areas—think less of a need for closed-off separate rooms and functions and more of a hotel-like open area that has a variety of seating types and separate zones so that people can be ‘separately together.’”
Lutz says he has noticed a bit less square footage being allocated to coworking spaces compared with designs during the pandemic; however, it’s still a common part of any community’s amenity space.
He also notes a heightened focus on wellness and fitness in general when it comes to multifamily design.
RMK Management’s amenity spaces also evolved and changed as a result of the pandemic, with buildings’ underutilized areas being reimagined as well as connectivity and socialization becoming a focus.
“Properties now include more remote workspaces, with areas like podcast rooms and Zoom rooms. We retrofitted a number of seldom used spaces, such as theater rooms, to provide more work areas and smaller conference rooms for groups,” Pittro says. “And with the rising popularity of pickleball, we have repurposed outdoor tennis courts and indoor racquetball courts into pickleball courts. We also see the need for more socializing spaces, like indoor game rooms and outdoor game and activity areas for residents to relax and meet neighbors. Residents today are ready to be social and connect with their community.”
