How To Better Understand Your Multifamily Residents

Property management 101: attracting and retaining residents means giving them more of what they want. That much is relatively easy.  

What’s less easy is that, in today’s competitive market, you need to understand their desires in even more depth to be able to deliver a community experience they’ll love.  

To help you, we’re taking a look at modern multifamily residents’ desires before considering how you can provide a more personalized service using multifamily management software.

Modern  multifamily  resident  expectations 

Taking a broad view of modern resident experience, we can see that people expect the following:

• More community: A NHMC/Kingsley Apartment Renter Preference study showed that  60% of residents want their community space to reflect their identity,
• Amenities focused on remote work: As over half of Americans are working from home at least one day a week, different spaces need to be created in multifamily properties. 
• Use of property management technology as standard: Research shows that millennials are willing to pay 20% more to live in a property with technology integrated.

How  investigate  what  your  residents  want

To understand in more depth what your multifamily residents are looking for, you can: 

• Distribute formal surveys annually to pinpoint specific areas of improvement. 
• Use data about service requests and resident interactions provided by property management software such as FORTRESS. 
• Analyze online reviews by checking out Yelp, Google Reviews, or apartment rating sites.
• Conduct exit interviews or surveys.
• Use your PMO to send texts for regular feedback sessions. 

Measuring  KPIs  that  actually  matter

These metrics help you understand what works, what doesn’t, and where opportunities lie:

Tracking  resident  satisfaction

• Resident surveys: Conduct short, regular surveys. Ask about general satisfaction, specific amenities, maintenance response times, or community events. 
• Annual reviews: Once a year, have a comprehensive review. Unlike regular surveys, these cover broader topics like safety perceptions, overall community feel, and future expectations.
• Direct feedback: Sometimes, the most valuable insights come from casual conversations. Encourage residents to share their thoughts while texting them.

Engagement metrics

• Participation rates: Monitor how many residents participate in community events, use amenities, or attend meetings. 
• Online interactions: Track engagements on resident portals such as FORTRESS. 

An integrated hub like FORTRESS offers a centralized approach for key data and processes while allowing you to seamlessly integrate accounting, leasing, and CRM functions.

What you get is a streamlined, easy-to-use dashboard with full access to the exact best-in-class tools you need. This not only simplifies your current operations but provides a scalable solution that adapts as your property management business grows.

Ready to learn more about attracting and retaining multifamily residents? Read our recent e-book.