Ready, AIM, Tweet
There’s no way you can accuse this year’s Apartment Internet Marketing Conference of not being on the cutting edge of the social/viral e-scene. As part of a last-minute promotion for the 2009 event, which is being held next week in Denver, AIM event planner Steve Lefkovits and Mynewplace.com held a “Twitter Length Writing Contest.” Limited to only 120 characters, entrants had to compose an essay on the importance of tracking marketing results. Carmel Partners’ national director of revenue management Erik Rogers took home the best-in-show honor for his Haiku-style response:
Traffic, we must know How to get it back, and now
Else winter won’t end.
Rogers won a complimentary registration to AIM 2009. For more information on the event, visit www.apartmentinternetmarketing.com.
Buttercreamed Concessions
New York City-based multifamily and commercial real estate firm Jack Resnick & Sons is getting some sweet-toothed payback from concessions offered to the Crumbs bakery in a lease drafted last fall. During construction, the company Crumbs a per-square-foot discount as well as a free month’s rent. In return, Resnick & Sons requested that one dozen of the famous Crumbs cupcakes be delivered to the firm’s monthly sales meetings. Crumbs owner Jason Bauer told the New York Daily News that the cupcakes clause was likely meant to be cute but added that the Crumbs staff still gets an order e-mailed once a month for the sales meeting. Bauer, for one, thinks the give-and-take approach is an excellent way to negotiate leases in difficult economic times. “I wish all landlords took an interest in our business,” Bauer told the Daily News. “Most landlords, you pay your rent and that’s it.”
The Color of Money
Still looking for proof that going green pays off? Look no further than Apartments.com, which unveiled survey results this week proving that residents care about—and will pony up premiums for—environmental amenities. In a follow-up to a 2007 survey of nearly half a million American renters, Apartments.com found that more than 60 percent of renters say they search for apartments that offer green amenities such as recycling programs, energy-efficient light bulbs and windows, low-flow water fixtures, and paperless lease and rent payment options. What’s more, 25 percent of renters indicated that they are willing to pay higher rents to live at an apartment community that considers the environment in their day-to-day operations. Time to start considering.
Editor’s note: Send your offbeat multifamily news leads to [email protected].
