Apartment Blog

In 2008, Site Selection Magazine ranked Dayton the #1 medium sized metropolitan area in the nation for growth and expansion. This in important to know, because you surely want to move to a place city that is growing, but will also help you grow along with it!  Whether you are single, newlywed, or a family you will find Dayton to be an exciting and safe place to live. Dayton has a rich history of invention and innovation . Dayton is also known for its many patents, inventions, and inventors that have come from the area, most notably with the Wright Brothers’ invention of powered flight.

Imagine your kids growing up in an area known to encourage imagination and propel dreams to full fruition. They may grow up to take care of you one day with the money they make from one of their inventions or patents.  However, it doesn’t have to be just your kid’s dreams and goals, it could be the fulfillment of your own.    The environment in Dayton and the constant reminder of past achievements will serve as a natural motivational tool to help you continue on your path to greatness. This is a perfect location to call home!

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton,_Ohio

Isn’t Halloween for the kids?  Adults may never want to grow out of the Halloween costume phase; but, this holiday SCREAMS kids. Here are two main activities they can get involved in on Halloween night:

• 1. Trick or Treating- Kids love candy and their supply of candy will be increased exponentially on Halloween night. Trick or treating allows kids to dress up and walk around the neighborhood to collect candy. Once they bring it home, do your best to inspect the candy. If you’re have kids are participating this year, make sure you are with them at all times during this activity. There are too many things that can happen to just let your kids roam around, even if they are borderline teenagers. You don’t necessarily need to hover at every door, but make sure you can see them as they walk around. This activity is also a good way to meet neighbors and have your kids meet the neighbor’s kids.
• 2. Harvest Carnivals- Not everyone celebrates Halloween, but they don’t want their kids to be left out of the fun either. Organizations will hold Harvest Carnivals on Halloween night to celebrate Harvest instead of Halloween. Harvest carnivals usually have lots of candy and games for kids to enjoy. Even if the kids do a little trick or treating first, they may want to end the night at a harvest carnival where they can meet and have fun with other kids in the community in safe environments.

Make it very clear to the kids what your intentions are before they get excited to do one or the other.  Their friends will surely start making plans early, and you don’t want to thwart their fun altogether.  Let them know what the rules are now.  Have any other ideas of activities for kids?

Do you know why Tucson is dubbed “The Greenest of Deserts?” Well, that would be because of its eco-friendly stage. There are a variety of farmer’s markets, hundreds of miles of bike paths and smart water usage like xeriscaping. Did you know that in 2007, Tucson was named one of 13 “Solar Cities” in the United States, and awarded a half-million-dollar grant to better implement solar energy? Yup! It was also ranked the 17^th lowest carbon emitter in a list of 100 largest metro cities in the country, according to the Washington DC thinktank The Brookings Institution!

And that’s not all! They also host many ‘green’ events throughout the year to help reinforce the green living lifestyle.  And how could we forget the numerous ‘green’ parks that fight to conserve and protect Southern Arizona’s resources.  They really are a community taking it to next level in protecting our environment.

If this “green” place seems like the location for you, we’d recommend you taking a look at these apartment communities on ForRent.com:

Shadowtree Apartments

Dorinda Vista Apartments

Sandstone Apartments

Mission Sierra Apartments

For the information listed above or more information on this great city, check out VisitTucson.org

To best describe the impressions made on your community and how they impact your brand, it’s easiest to explain it as a circle. Certain key factors such as appearance; residents’ perception of the property; how residents talk about it and the way former residents talk about it are all impressions that impact your brand.

Let’s start with the first part of the circle, overall appearance. Appearance and landscape of your community impacts the prospective residents’ first impression. You can greatly influence how the outside is perceived using little finances, such as hanging plants by the leasing office, community center and laundry facility. Making sure the grass is green and the trees/bushes are trimmed. Continuous upkeep on your property’s exterior will help make prospective renters’ minds after your leasing office is closed.

The next part of the circle would be how residents perceive your community. After a prospective renter becomes a resident of the community, why should they continue to fancy the community they reside in? Offering programs such as health and wellness events, programs on the environment, family safety and financial planning are all ways you can make the property feel like home. These initiatives will also help the way current residents perceive the community which will help for the remaining portions of the circle.

Keeping current renters happy by providing great programs they would be interested in and providing stellar customer service will generate a sense of pride within residents for their community, which in turn will influence the way they talk about your property to their friends and family. As many marketers know, word of mouth if a very powerful tool. It can be used for good or evil, your choice! So long after the first impressions, make sure residents continue to view your community as the destination they hoped for. This piece of the circle is really crucial as it not only helps develop relationships with your current residents, but also helps your image to prospective renters too.

And finally, the last piece of the circle that loops the cycle around is the outcome of impressions. When it comes to renewal hopefully renters will decide to stay with your community. Or in the case when they must move on, former renters’ opinions of the community can either encourage or impede others to visit. If it encourages, which we hope based on efforts we’ve previously mentioned, then the impressions cycle can start all over again.

As you know, you only have one chance at first impressions. Once you make it appear that your community is where the prospective renter wants to live, or that your company is one they want to do business with, really drive that notion home with a positive renting experience. Doing so will bring it in full circle for your business with current and present customers.

If you’re like me you know the benefits of going green. We preach it all the time in our Apartments Going Green articles; it helps save the earth’s resources and the green in your wallet (money). But what are some unique reasons, perhaps some you didn’t think of before, for going green? Well, I turned to my favorite place for answers, Yahoo Answers and Google, to find some. They require some creative thinking, but I think you’ll like the reasons we’ve come up with…

1. It’s fun! You can totally make a game of recycling with a group of your friends or even a competition to see who the best is.
2. It’s empowering. Can you imagine the kind of high you’ll feel from helping the environment? You will have a since of pride that you are helping change the world for the better!
3. You’ll resemble your favorite celebrity! Many celebrities are taking the world by storm to try and get people more involved in environmentally friendly ways.
4. You’ll be viewed as stylish and trendy. The ‘hot’ thing right now is to ‘go green’. Many stores are printing t-shirts with phrases about going green, making recyclable bags with fun slogans, etc. You’ll be ‘in’ to your friends & family.
5. Green is a cool color that looks good on you! Many going green items are in fact green in color. When you think of going green, you think of Mother Nature, which is green. And, as we mentioned earlier, it helps save you some green in your wallet. This fabulous color will be all around you, and why not? You look good in green!!

Last year I wrote about the Bottled Water Debate and the stats about how consuming water from packaged water bottles was bad for the environment, you can read it here. When I was sitting on my plane from Miami to Atlanta, delayed from my glorious vacation in Key West, Florida, I stumbled on an article in the Delta Sky Magazine regarding American’s love affair with water bottles. It goes through the trends of Americans and their water bottle consumption.

We went from drinking from water fountains at schools, homes and parks to spending almost $6 billion in water bottles alone in 2007. It all started with beautiful green French water bottles that arrived to the United States in 1976. From there the trend materialized. Many more makers started entering the field and sleeker designs appeared; sales skyrocketed and our landfills have increased in size.

Though there was a ripple in water bottle sales in the mid 80s, sales didn’t actually take a decline until last year. I’m pleased to say that according to The Nielson Company, total U.S. sales (excluding Walmart) in bottled water from 2007 to 2008 dropped 3.6%.  This can be attributed to many things such as the economy; no one wants to spend money on bottled water when there is perfectly safe drinking water at home! The ‘going green’ movement is also another motivator. Americans have become much more concerned with the environment and the ‘carbon foot print’ we leave on it. In response, companies are coming out with ‘eco-shape’ bottles, reducing emissions in their manufacturing processes as well as with home purification systems.

Even with a drop in sales, water bottles will always have a presence in America.  According to Tom Lauria, vice president of communications for the International Bottled Water Association, this leeway extends for emergencies like Hurricane Katrina and the need of joggers. Or, “You’re on an airplane. You can’t just go to the tap.” There is a time and place for everything and the key is always moderation! In places where tap is accessible, it should be used. And when it’s needed, bottled water is an option.

So for my flight back home, my bottled water is suitable. But when I return home to Norfolk, Virginia tap water it is!

Source: “Has Our Love Affair with Bottled Water Gone Tepid?”By Jennifer Vogel. http://www.deltaskymag.com/ May 2009