Does ApartmentGrade Make the Grade?

Last month, a new website called ApartmentGrade.com lauched with a big announcement on Multifamily Insiders. According to the site:

ApartmentGrade is a new site dedicated to providing renters with high quality unbiased reviews of apartments. We conduct independent research to find out who does the best job; from the leasing agent to maintenance requests we help you find the right apartment.

Leigh Curry and Lucas Haldeman are behind the site, and I had a chance to talk with them about it shortly after the announcement was made -- here are my notes from that conversation:

First, it's important to understand what ApartmentGrade is trying to do, as well as what it's not trying to do. AptGrade isn't competing as an alternative to Apartment Ratings or Yelp -- visitors can't go to the site to post a review of any given community. Instead, AptGrade is trying to become something of a "Good Housekeeping" seal of approval for apartment communities.

Rather than relying on comments from current or past residents, the ApartmentGrade team conducts a simple seven-question survey to judge how the property is doing. (They are currently working with at least two large multifamily operators.) They can conduct the survey for you, or you can add their questions into your existing survey program. Once the surveys are collected and validated, AptGrade lets the property owner choose which grades they would like to have featured on the site. There's no way to tell when the last survey was conducted at a property, but Leigh promises me that they'll soon have the survey dates posted.

Once the owner has selected the properties they want to feature, AptGrade sets up a profile page for the property. Any requests for more information are directed to the owner's ILS of choice. AptGrade makes money by referring these leads to the ILSs. It's unclear whether an owner could elect to send the traffic to their own website rather than an ILS, but I would have to imagine this shouldn't be too difficult to do.

ApartmentGrade will provide property marketers with special "badges" to indicate their high grades on their websites and ILS listings. To encourage marketers to post as many of the properties in their portfolio as possible, AptGrade will also provide badges for those companies that post a very high percentage of their properties' grades to the site. (I'm not sure this is enough incentive, but at least they realize the potential issue and are trying to address it.)

There is no way for readers to leave comments on individual properties at this point, although Leigh acknowledges that this is something that they made add later. As an alternative to comments directly posted to the site, they may also choose to include existing comment feeds from social media sites related to the property.

They plan to drive traffic to the site by focusing on search engine optimization and through several partnerships with apartment listing sites (ILSs).

So what do you think? Would you use ApartmentGrade? Do you think prospective renters will use it? I'd love to get your comments on this one. And if you can, check out the FIVE pages of comments on the entire subject of apartment ratings and reviews on the MFI discussion board.

Here's the full text of the announcement posted to Multifamily Insiders:

Finally there is a solution for owners and managers that are fed up with sites like ApartmentRatings.com and ApartmentReviews.net!

Announcing ApartmentGrade.com -- http://www.apartmentgrade.com -- the first web site dedicated solely to providing prospective renters with professional, credible, objective, and accurate reviews of apartment communities based on the current resident’s feedback. When prospective residents view a multifamily community at ApartmentGrade.com, they will see a review based on expert, professional, unbiased ratings of the existing residents of the community.

Who better to rate your community than your current residents?

ApartmentGrade.com:
-- Provides high quality, unbiased data from current residents to prospective residents
-- Promotes the positive aspects of apartment living
-- Highlights outstanding apartment owners and managers
-- Works with the multifamily industry, not against like other rating sites

How Does ApartmentGrade.com Work?
Using a proprietary scoring model, ApartmentGrade.com works with owners and managers that provide "internal" resident surveys or work with resident survey companies including CEL Associates, Satisfacts, J Turner Research, Kingsley, etc. We take that survey data to provide an unbiased and definitive "grade" of each apartment community based on the ratings of that community's residents.

This rating service is also free. That's right -- absolutely free. ApartmentGrade.com will also post your grade to its web site for no charge. On top of it, if the owner or manager of the community is uncomfortable with the grade assigned to your property, then we will re-rate that property for free if desired. Also ApartmentGrade.com will only post those communities that the owner or manager has authorized to be posted. You don't like your rating, we don't post it!

What do prospective residents see?
When prospective residents do a city, zip or state search on ApartmentGrade.com, they see all pertinent communities in that search parameter that are currently rated by ApartmentGrade.com. Each community listing also has a Google map, physical address, phone #, rent ranges, and bed and bathroom options. However to get more information on the property, if a user clicks on "Check Rates", "View Photos", "Get Driving Directions" or the photo of the community, the prospective resident is directed to the owner/manger's ILS of choice

To see some live examples of properties that have currently been rated and are posted live on the web site, please type in the following city searches:

-- Rochester Hills, MI
-- Bloomingdale, IL
-- West Chester, OH
http://www.apartmentgrade.com/search

Why should your multifamily company be involved?
Positive ratings drive engagement and demand. A prospective resident looking at two buildings side by side, similar in many aspects, rent, size, neighborhood, now have a reason to pick your property. A positive rating will not only give you a means to increase closing ratios, it can also help at renewal time.

Why leave an apartment with award winning customer service for some place unknown? ApartmentGrade.com is a partner to the multifamily housing; unlike current rating sites we are not trying to drive traffic through salacious anonymous gripes.

At ApartmentGrade.com our core goals are to provide high quality data while promoting the positive aspects of apartment living; rather than call out under performing properties and managers, we seek to highlight and promote the best operators and the best run properties.

By being a part of ApartmentGrade.com you are gaining a powerful tool -- independent confirmation that you provide a great place to live. We guarantee no other web site offers objective reviews and ratings of apartment communities like ApartmentGrade.com

To learn more:
Please feel free to contact me directly at lcurry@curryconduit.com or 609-882-3868 for more information on how your company's communities can participate immediately for absolutely no cost.

Best regards,

Leigh Curry
lcurry@curryconduit.com

A Look at ActiveBuilding's New iPhone App

There was a lot of conversation surrounding mobile at the NMHC Technology Conference, mostly related to marketing via SMS, websites optimized for smartphones or iPhone apps from companies like Apartment Guide and UDR.

I recently had the opportunity to interview one company that's taking a different approach to mobile -- here's the transcript of my interview with Kobi Bensimon, CEO of ActiveBuilding, about their recently released iPhone app, which is targeted to residents living at properties that use the ActiveBuilding resident portal software. Here's what Kobi had to say about their app:

MT: What is ActiveBuilding?

KB: ActiveBuilding is a platform that provides best-of-breed resident portals to residential properties. The offering includes a service component in which the resident portal is customized and tailored to perfectly fit the unique needs of every property. On-site teams are trained by the ActiveBuilding team and are being guided on how to best utilize their resident portal to achieve maximum effect on the property and residents

.
MT: 'Resident portal' is a loosely-used term these days ... can you be more specific?

KB: I was hoping you'd ask this question. In a nutshell, we automate and streamline all the processes and services at the property level; we also help residents fully realize the social potential in the property they live at. With over 70 different modules and a prominent social media component within our Resident Portal, Rent Payment and Maintenance Requests are just a couple of components, and not the entire resident portal.

MT: So you guys released your iPhone app. Why is that important for a resident portal?

KB: 1. Reach 2. Convenience 3. Cool factor

You see, at residential properties not everyone is connected to the web, and even if they are, it's easier to do stuff on the iPhone; and it is way cooler. We’ve seen registered residents download the ActiveBuilding iPhone app, and more so, residents that register to their property's resident portal because of the iPhone app. We have seen a surge in new registrations since the launch of the iPhone app.

MT: What does your iPhone app do?

KB: We focus on a combination of social and utility value. On the utility side, you will find the usual suspects, such as maintenance requests, package tracking etc. On the social front we enable residents to communicate with their on-site team and neighbors, without the need to have their neighbors’ contact info (such as email, or phone number).

MT: How is that achieved?

KB: We let residents send messages to their neighbors using only a unit number; if you know your neighbor's unit number, go ahead and communicate. It's that easy.

MT: And it works?

KB: Oh yes. You could have always done that through our Resident Portal, but this functionality is now enabled through the iPhone too; and thus makes it easier for people to communicate with their neighbors with greater convenience and freedom.

MT: Are there any privacy risks with this mechanism?

KB: Not really; at the end of the day, residents living in the same property can still stick notes on their neighbors' doors; except in that case they're anonymous. In our case, when you send a note to a unit number, they can see which unit messaged them; they can block messages from certain units, or become friends, and so it goes and the in-property social network is born.

MT: Can you tell us how many downloads you’ve had thus far?

KB: We just launched our app a little over a month ago, and we are already in the hundreds of downloads.

MT: What are the features residents use the most on ActiveBuilding’s iPhone app?

KB: Messaging and package tracking.

MT: Is your iPhone app free?

KB: It certainly is; but, you have to be a resident at a property that is using ActiveBuilding's Resident Portal for the iPhone app to work for you. Otherwise, it'll just be a waste of space on your iPhone.

MT: Any plans to expand the application to other platforms beyond the iPhone?

KB: Yes, both Android and Palm are things we need to do.

MT: Are they works in progress, or future goals?

KB: We’ve done some initial research and experimentation, but they are still in the future.

MT: What's next for your iPhone app?

KB: Version 2.0, of course: guest authorization, community marketplace and more. Somewhere between ground-breaking to revolutionary; we'll let our clients decide.

For more on the ActiveBuilding iPhone app (and a link to download it in the App Store), check out the ActiveBuilding blog.

Have you tried ActiveBuilding? If so, what has been your experience?

Are you using a resident portal at your properties? What are the features your residents use most? What are the most features that aren't yet available?

Is Internet Access Just an Expectation?

Last week, Apartment Guide released a list of the highest ranking apartment features and community amenities that consumers searched for on ApartmentGuide.com over the past six months (from February 2009 to August 2009). Here are the results:

1. In-Unit Washer and Dryer
2. Pets (allowed)
3. Air Conditioning
4. Some Paid Utilities
5. Washer and Dryer Connections
6. Dishwasher
7. Balcony
8. Garage
9. Cable Ready
10. Furnished Available
11. Swimming Pool
12. Short-Term Lease Available
13. Fitness Center
14. Gated Access
15. Oversized Closets
    

Here's what surprised me most: Wi-Fi, or even wired Internet access, didn't even make the list. (To be fair, it did make the list over at Apartments.com.)

Over 74% of the U.S. population is online, yet renters don't need Internet in their apartment? (About 85% of the population pays for TV service from a cable, satellite or telco provider.)

This doesn't make sense to me, unless Internet access has finally become an expected utility, rather than an amenity. Heat didn't make the list. Water didn't make the list. Electricity didn't make the list. Now, Internet access doesn't make the list. (Just a couple years ago, Wi-Fi was touted as a "must-have amenity" ... I would argue it still is.)

What do you make of this? What are you seeing in the market? Is Internet access not as important, especially if apartment hunters are "being mindful of their budgets," or has it become such an expectation that searchers don't even think to list it as a requirement?

MHN Announces Their Technology Choice Award Winners

Multi-Housing News has announced the winners of their 2009 Technology Choice Awards, as selected by their readers.

I'll echo the comment in the article:

Now, more than ever, your technology choices are critical to efficient operations—the bonus is retaining and attracting satisfied residents.

I'm not going to write much more about this, primarily because I'm not a fan of the selection process employed by MHN. When some of the companies on their original list aren't even categorized correctly, I can't agree with their emphatic statement, "please confidently use this list as your reference."

I would also love to see a study of residents'/prospects' impressions of some of these same services, if for no other reason than to see any possible differences in the results.

Don't get me wrong ... there are many outstanding companies on this list. Congratulations to all of the winners. I've taken the work out of searching for you (where possible) by linking directly to the website of each winner:

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
AMSI
Intuit Real Estate Solutions
One Site by RealPage
Yardi Systems

RESIDENT SCREENING SYSTEMS
First Advantage SafeRent
One Site Screening (LeasingDesk) by RealPage
On-Site.com
Resident Data

INTERNET LISTING SERVICES
ApartmentGuide.com
Apartments.com
ForRent.com
Rent.com

RESIDENT PAYMENT SYSTEMS
NWP Services Corporation
One Site Payments (Velocity) by RealPage
PropertyBridge
ResidentPay by Property Solutions
Yardi Portal/Yardi Checkscan

TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROVIDERS
AT&T
Comcast Cable
Time Warner Cable
Verizon Enhanced Communities

SECURITY
KeyTrak, Inc.
Kwikset
Saflok (Now KABA Multihousing)
Schlage/Ingersoll Rand

UTILITY MANAGEMENT
American Utility Management
ista North America
NWP Services Corporation
Velocity

LEAD MANAGEMENT
CallSource
Lead Tracking Solutions
Level One
Resite Online

RESIDENT PORTALS
Crossfire by RealPage
Property Solutions
Resite Online
Yardi Portal

MARKETING WEBSITES
Crossfire by RealPage
Ellipse Group
Property Solutions
Resite Online

What do you think? Do you agree with these picks? Are there companies (or whole categories) that you would add to the list?

Are Electronic Locks Right for Your Property?

This is a guest post written by Yvette Felix from Saflok. For more information, please visit their website or contact her at yfelix@saf.kaba.com.

Why Choose Electronic Locks?
Choosing an electronic lock system for your property does more than secure access control and enhance safety and life security. Selecting the right system for your building’s unique needs could mean increased operational efficiency and a significant return on investment, not to mention serve as a unique selling point for potential residents. Here are some critical considerations to keep in mind.

Choose a stand-alone lock. Installing a hard-wired system is a significant investment. Battery life in a typical stand-alone lock is approximately two to three years under normal use — a long time to be sure, but it's best to incorporate a battery change into your maintenance schedule at turnover to alleviate any confusion and to ease record keeping.

Streamline Operations
If electronic locks are deployed site-wide (both in the common spaces and at the apartments), the residents only require one key to get anywhere on the property, whether it's the parking garage, the fitness center or there apartment.

Electronic locks also help eliminate lost-key related issues and streamline the move-out process in all types of multihousing properties. A new key should automatically re-key a lost or stolen key by canceling the old key. You shouldn’t have to hassle with the use of a re-keying device on the locks. Especially in situations where the master key is lost, there is no need to re-pin all the locks on your property.

Protect Yourself
Electronic lock audit trails are an important feature to consider. This use-history report details exactly who has been in and out of an apartment or restricted areas throughout your community — this becomes an especially useful report in the event of theft, giving you better control over your liability.

With an electronic system, you also can program various access levels on a key. For example, a visiting contractor could be given a key that gives him access to only one room on the property and the key could be programmed to work only during a specified time.

One Size Does Not Fit All
Don’t forget, one lock sometimes doesn’t fit every door requirement. So choose a provider with a complete lock line-up with unique products for different applications such as common access locks, and locks with unit and suite configurations.

Also, make sure that the locks are ANSI/BHMA-certified. Certification speaks to the fact that the lock has withstood appropriate testing, and adheres to usage parameters and safety criteria as defined by nationally accepted standards.

Do you use electronic locks at your property? What has been your experience? If not, what is preventing you from trying them? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Rent.com and PadZing Cook Up a Tasty Data Buffet

Start with the massive database of vacancy information that drives VaultWare. Then take all the rental rate data from the largest consumer apartment search website. Throw it all together and you have one serious market research tool.

This week, Realty DataTrust and Rent.com today announced an agreement to do exactly that -- they'll integrate the rental rate data from Rent.com's 25,000+ property listings into the site RDT built to analyze apartment market data and trends, PadZing.com. VaultWare, the keeper of the data that currently drives PadZing, is already the leading online apartment availability and reservation system, so the Rent.com data should easily make PadZing one of the most comprehensive sources for current rent and vacancy data in the industry.

If you're not already familiar with PadZing, it's a subscription-based tool that allows users to obtain up-to-date competitive information ... it includes some pretty cool mapping and customization features. (It's a free subscription.)

Both Mike Mueller, CEO of Realty DataTrust, and Peggy Abkemeier, General Manager of Rent.com, are all smiles about the new partnership -- you can check out their happy quotes in the Padzing Pressroom.

Have you tried PadZing previously? What did you think? What data resources do you use most when doing your market research?

Retrofitting Your Property: Taking a Different Approach

I'm late posting this, but I wanted to share the presentation I gave last week at the NMHC's Apartment Technology Conference.

The topic was "Voice, Video, and Data Infrastructure: Retrofitting Existing Properties" -- I sat on a panel with Mike Kolb of Cautela Solutions and Scott Skokan of Bozzuto. Mike knows a heck of a lot more than I do about the nuts and bolts and dollar figures that go into the actual upgrade of a property's network, but my job was to frame the conversation in terms of what residents expect when it comes to technology today.

Here are the slides:

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: nmhc apartment)

The basic premise is that our residents see advancing technology all around them ... except in their apartment, in many cases. When you're considering the retrofit of a property's wiring, make sure you are asking the right questions, considering your residents' expectations and most importantly, thinking about how long you expect the upgrades to last.

Wi-Fi and cellular coverage were major concerns throughout the conversation, and measuring the return on any investment in infrastructure is always a question. It also seemed as if there is a groundswell developing for a technology rating standard (similar to the LEED system) for apartment communities.

Of course, there's a whole lot more that goes into it than just these few items. Feel free to post your questions, comments or horror stories about property wiring retrofits in the comments, on the Multifamily Technology discussion boards, or contact Mike Kolb or me anytime.

Thanks to Larry Kessler and NMHC for giving me the opportunity to speak.

Multifamily Technology at the NAA Education Conference

I'm excited to be moderating a panel at this year's Education Conference, held at the end of the month here in Orlando. The session is titled "Tech-Savvy Residents Expect Tech-Savvy Homes."


My job will be easy, primarily because I'll be sitting next to some fantastic panelists: Henry Pye from JPI, Steve Sadler from Post Properties and Dave Hanchette from Russound. Henry and Steve are multifamily veterans that do nothing but eat, drink and sleep technology, and Dave is a home technology expert who brings great perspective from the electronics industry. These guys will cover the latest trends in apartment technology – focusing on real examples and strategies that will attract tech-savvy residents. Between the three of them, they've seen it all and will be able to share incredible opinions and insights that we all will learn from.

That said, I'm officially recruiting the help of the MT 360° community... If you have a question about all things technology that affect our industry, I want to hear it. Send me an email or a tweet, or just leave it in the comments below -- I'll give credit where it's due for any questions I'm able to use during the session. And if you'll be in Orlando for the event, please let me know -- it's always great to meet new folks and share ideas.

Now let's hear those questions!

Dallas in Review: Emerging Technologies

Day Two of last week's Apartment Technology Conference started with a packed room anxious to hear about "Emerging Technologies."

Web 2.0:
Mike Mueller of VaultWare focused on the sharing and collaboration opportunities presented by 'Web 2.0' sites -- such as Facebook -- and SMS text messages. (Personally, I think Facebook and now Google's OpenSocial are huge opportunities for the apartment owners who get them right...)

Mike talked about viral marketing and the importance of making your online marketing interesting and easy to share. As an example, he used the most popular landlord in the world -- Pearl from FunnyorDie:



Pearl is a viral success ... Over 48 million people have met her in the last seven months!

There are all kinds of places online where your apartments should be listed: MySpace, Craigslist, Facebook, Google Maps, Google Earth, ApartmentRatings.com and so on. Mike asked the question: Is your apartment on Web 2.0? I'll take it a step further: Are you controlling the conversation about your community? In addition to these websites, a property blog gives you a great place to drive all of that traffic and show prospects what your community is all about.

IPTV
Steve Winn of RealPage talked up his company's latest offer: IPTV. Steve calls it a "potentially disruptive technology," especially considering the fact that the average consumer spends over 27 hours per week watching TV.

Already available throughout Europe, IPTV presents the possibility to offer some completely new services: converged platforms, place-shifting, and two-way TV for gaming and video conferencing. Steve made the point that residents don’t go to the property portal online, so IPTV could be used to integrate community services into the TV channel guide.

The RealPage IPTV solution looks promising, but it will be interesting to see if gains any traction in a multi-provider environment. Steve did note that bandwidth needs are inevitably going to grow, and many existing networks will not support the bandwidth necessary for tomorrow's services.

Dynamic Bandwidth:
Dave Daugherty of Korcett talked about the need not only for more bandwidth, but also for better bandwidth management to improve network performance. Money quote: "Kids don’t practice safe Internet."

Dave's company enables service providers to offer dynamic bandwidth services and give residents online tools to edit their account and handle their own issues. Residents can turn services up or down as you need to, and property staff can utilize a private messaging platform that's built into the system (ex: “Pay your rent now.”).

Korcett's next plans are to extend messaging to campus-wide events via email or text messaging, and also to enable more two-way communication opportunities between residents and staff.

In the panel Q&A, property infrastructure became a clear concern. Steve encourages a flexible network that enables expandable bandwidth needed as technologies evolve. Wi-Fi is also a requirement, as residents don’t want to be tethered to a desk. Dave would like to eventually see "dynamic provisioning" of service providers, and Mike pleaded for property managers to make it easier for residents to find properties and interface with staff.

Final Thoughts:
I'm a software and 'Web 2.0' guy, but I think that there's way too much focus on software as the savior. In an industry that is focused on building community and increasing resident retention, it's counter-productive to focus entirely on TV and Internet services that keep residents cramped in front of a screen in their units.

While these guys are all clearly experts in their fields, it's disappointing that an hour-long talk about 'emerging technologies' didn't offer a single mention of any opportunities to incorporate technology throughout the common areas of a community … and maybe more surprising, there wasn't any mention of sustainable technologies.

What are some unique 'emerging technologies' that you've seen recently in apartment communities?

Social Networking Comes to Apartments

Resident portals are a hot industry trend, and social networks are a hot consumer trend... so it was only a matter of time before someone decided to combine the two, right?

AptConnect is a new resident portal that adds social networking and a host of other features for apartment management and residents. The site builds on the portal with an online network that keeps residents involved in their community, potentially improving resident retention.

The site offers all the usual tools for property management: an online newsletter, online rent payments, maintenance requests. Unique features include an events calendar, a "meet the staff" page, community photo galleries, an FAQ section, community polls, and move out surveys.

The portal's messaging system allows residents to send messages to each other or to the office. There is also a mass messaging tool that allows management to contact all residents at once.

Getting Involved
Many features of AptConnect focus on communication and resident interaction within the community. Residents are encouraged to create, publish, and contribute, using the site as a place to meet others and get involved.

Resident can search other user profiles, create their own events, add photo galleries, chat in community forums, and post classified ads. They can set up their own clubs and volunteer committees, and even post their own content, such as recipes, jokes, or poetry.

The site includes a statistical analysis package that features real-time reporting of site usage and activity, but does not yet comply to the MITS data-transfer standards.

Pricing for the entire package is a subscription fee based on the size of your community.

The Right Site for You?
As a portal, AptConnect is as functional as most others.

However, the site faces a major obstacle in achieving a critical mass of users and fresh content that online communities thrive on. Because the site is built to reinforce resident retention, most of the site is currently designed to give residents access to information and user profiles exclusively from their apartment community. It would seem that the network could be much more useful if residents could also connect with other local people and businesses. Partnering with other locally-focused social networks like Meetro and Insider Pages, or sites focused on local businesses, such as MerchantCircle or Judy's Book, could make it a very handy tool for getting to know the neighborhood.

AptConnect has the potential to become an interesting tool for property managers, although it leaves many new questions, and it remains to be seen if it actually has any effect on resident retention. Considering the trends in online communities, it is a step in the right direction for portals, but leaves much to be desired in comparison to many of the robust functions available through more mainstream social sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, or even LinkedIn. Pay attention though... what you see here could be the future of resident communications.

Have you tried social networks or other online tools in your community? Let us know what works and which sites you like best!

Top 10 Questions to Ask Your Architect: Part II

Let's wrap up our list of questions that you should discuss with your architect as an early part of the design process for any project:

5. Is this design suited for any in-unit electronics upgrades I may want to offer?
Reliable technology and sophisticated fulfillment centers make offering HDTVs, home theater systems and other upgrades easier than ever, without putting property owners in the electronics business. Upgrades installed prior to move-in show residents you appreciate both their lifestyle and their time, but require some forethought to ensure you're providing the appropriate level of pre-wiring.

4. Will I have to allow individual satellite dishes on residents’ balconies?
Regardless of the terms of the lease or HOA bylaws, the FCC gives residents the right to mount a dish on their balcony, unless a central satellite TV system is already distributed to each unit. Your architect should plan for a 12’ x 14’ climate-controlled room in the clubhouse or basement to accommodate the necessary equipment.

3. How will access control be managed? Can I pull regular reports from each entry?
Properly managed access control to common areas and resident floors is possibly the best security feature a developer can offer, especially in mixed-use projects. However, as fewer residents use traditional landline phones, be aware of how this trend affects your building's access control systems (as well as burglar alarms, satellite TV and other building systems).

2. How can I use technology in the leasing office and clubhouse to create a vibrant community atmosphere and a lasting impression on my prospects?
You know it’s important to create a powerful impact that entices prospects and encourages a sense of community among residents. Multimedia theater rooms, distributed audio, custom lighting, gaming centers, wireless hotspots and digital signage are all ways to make your clubhouse the main attraction.

1. Can I provide the high-quality telecom services that my residents expect?
Residents are more connected than ever before. Although technology isn’t often the primary reason a prospect chooses to live at a given location, poor services can frustrate residents and increase turnover. Telecom industry standards dictate the distance that signals can travel between connections. Ask your architect to include small rooms for distribution equipment that are typically no more than 150’ from the further point of any unit – this will enable your service providers to meet these standards and provide quality phone, video and Internet services to your residents for years to come.

As with all the other materials and resources used in a project, there are always more questions to be asked and more considerations that can be given to the technology that goes into today's buildings. Above all, it's important to understand the needs and expectations of your residents - as well as those groups that represent your next wave of renters - to give your team the best gauge of which technologies might not yet be the best fit for your business versus those that have become absolute essentials.

Top 10 Questions to Ask Your Architect: Part I

Consumer technology is getting more exciting, more compelling and more complex than ever before. The choices that you face as a developer or property owner are increasingly confusing, but cannot be avoided. Here are a few questions to ask of your architect before you get started that will help get your project off on the right foot:

10. Do my property's technology needs change if my project is for rent, for sale, or some of both?
Condo associations might not want their telecom services from the same providers that you may contract with to provide service to renters – understand that you might need separate provisions (and contracts) for each. Also, buyers may expect more choices to be available - think multiple provider and in-unit upgrades.

9. How can residents select the phone, TV and Internet provider of their choice?
Multiple providers means more choice for residents, but it also requires a more thoughtful approach to structured cabling networks. In any case, caution the architect or MEP against using any proprietary service provider designs. Also, consider cellular network amplifiers as many residents will rely solely on their mobile phones.

8. Does the leasing office design consider how our staff will utilize technology?
The onsite staff has technology needs that are very different from those of the residents. What does the leasing staff need? Will there be terminals for residents to access the property's web portal? How can maintenance staff become more efficient? Security is also a huge issue; residents or other unauthorized folks should be on a separate network to keep them from accessing private data.

7. How will residents access wireless Internet services with minimal interference? Residents like the freedom of wireless Internet access, but it gets messy in a high-density environment if it’s not properly managed. You should consult an Internet service provider that can automatically authorize accounts and remotely manage wireless Internet access in each unit.

6. What in-unit entertainment options do you expect our residents to use most?
Walk through a Best Buy – flat-panel TVs, audio in every room, and iPod docks are quickly becoming the norm. Planning for your residents’ lifestyle will give them greater flexibility, reduce damages to your units (a poorly hung plasma can wreak havoc on drywall!) and enable you to offer electronics upgrades.

Pay attention to the gadgets that you see people using, and keep an eye on the unique experiences that other industries offer to their customers. Think about the options you would want available to you if you were a resident. Offer something new and different, but take the time to test it for yourself - a new service won't do you any good if it doesn't offer a great resident experience.

We'll have five more questions next week... by then, at the rate things change these days, we'll probably be asking ten completely new questions.

Thursday Think Tank

I want to expand on an idea that I touched on in my last post... I think we've only scratched the surface of the possibilities for technology in multifamily communities, primarily because these buildings have never truly been considered as a separate, unique market from single-family homes. Let me explain.

Don't get me wrong... developers of luxury condos and apartments have gone to great efforts to improve the technology systems that go into their buildings, both to increase appeal to potential residents and to improve operational efficiencies. These include access control systems, video surveillance, burglar alarms, intercoms, posh lounges and theater rooms, business centers, "state-of-the-art" exercise facilities, and so on. Features such as these are common today in most newer communities.

:: New Possibilities

There still seems to be a real lack of creativity when it comes to technology services that are truly designed specifically for the urban, high-rise lifestyle. For now, let's just focus on what the audio and video services could look like at a property that's optimized for community connectivity. (Communectivity, perhaps...?)

For example, I've mentioned previously about how so many people can't live without their TiVo. Verizon has introduced a multi-room DVR that will give users the opportunity to access saved shows, as well as music and photos, from anywhere in their home. Great news for the 4-bedroom house in the suburbs... but if it's for my studio in the city, then who really cares? Let's take that idea a step further though, and apply it more specifically to a multifamily environment. Let me access my personal content in the clubhouse lounge or theater room, and now we're talking. My 42" plasma is great for watching Jack Bauer on 24, unless I can watch those same saved programs with some friends on the six-foot screen downstairs! The network is already there - one screen to enter my unit and a PIN number, and there are my shows. And if people start leaving and I need to get some work done back upstairs... no problem, I hit pause and finish the episode later from the comfort of my own couch. Seems simple enough, but that's not how service providers, or property owners, think... yet.

But I'm not a huge TV buff... music is my thing. Whether it's from my iPod or Pandora, I like being able to access my music when I want it. I recently saw a video profiling a high-rise in mid-town Atlanta that has CD/DVD players at each piece of equipment in the fitness center, so residents can bring their own discs to watch. This makes no sense to me, because I would guess that most residents are not going to carry a case of DVDs or music down to the gym. Heck, I don't even like having to bring my keys! So why shouldn't a resident be able to access their personal music and playlists from the fitness center, or the lounge, or at the pool? These are just a few examples - properties today have robust networks that could enable a lot of great new services with only a little creativity and a user-friendly interface.

:: Any Drawbacks?

I suppose that most content producers, not surprisingly, would contend that this would somehow go beyond the user's allowed usage rights. I agree that digital rights is a issue that needs to be reasonably addressed, but content that I purchase or select, that is only accessible at my command, seems like it should pass muster. We'll have to see how things play out with Cablevision's network DVR, although I think distributing content throughout a building is significantly different than content that is stored on a service provider's centralized servers. (Engadget, Multichannel News)

The greatest obstacle that I see is that there would be a perception that there is a lack of demand for these types of capabilities. I would argue that services like these will become a regular part of life for the typical 20-something urbanite. They already understand the capabilities that today's electronics enable, and their homes should be places that allow them to embrace the lifestyle of their choice.

So what else is possible? What happens when we throw wireless in the mix? Bluetooth? Social networking? Building amenities could get a lot more interesting, don't you think?

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About Multifamily Technology 360°

Multifamily Technology 360° was created to start a conversation about the issues pertaining to technology and telecommunications services in apartments, condos, student housing, mixed-use developments and master-planned communities. MT 360 is brought to you by InfiniSys -- our goal is to bring you the best in new technologies, general news, service provider updates and analysis about the future of multifamily communities.

It is an exciting time in the world of technology -- be it tangible or online -- and it is our job to cover all of it as it relates to multifamily communities. If there is anything that you think we should feature or that we should change, please do not hesitate to get in contact with us. Remember, this is a conversation, and we want you to be a major part of it.