Apartments for Me

High Resolution Pricing: Agents and Broker Edition

One of our Y Combinator batch mates way back in Summer 2009 was a company called InstantQ, founded by Dana Levine and Jeff Shi. They were an early version of Groupon, allowing restaurants to fine tune pricing specific to certain customers, day of week, time of day, etc.

At the time, Paul Graham called it High Resolution Pricing. I’ll confess, I didn’t get it back then – I was just interesting in getting discounted pizza. Only later did I realize a meta-theme in PG’s philosophy on how the world was changing, even in the traditionally opaque world of fundraising. Markets CAN be more efficient when prices are allowed to adjust to match supply and demand.

In the low resolution world, restaurants have a lunch menu and dinner menu. Vegas buffets have weekend and weekday prices. Unfortunately, some hours the restaurant is jam packed with a long line, while other times many seats are empty. Hotels figured this out a long time ago – higher resolution pricing, meaning the manager can zoom in and adjust the price every single day, based on upcoming demand, events, and seasonality.

Now we apply the high resolution tweaking to finding apartments for rent with a broker! In the low res world, landlords have all generally decided a broker will receive 1 month of OP.

Say an agents know she needs to show on average 10 apartments to close a deal (honestly, for many price points it’s MUCH more). That’s a lot of appointments, time, and money gone to previewing, sourcing, and scheduling the tours. It’s even more frustrating when each showing requires a significant amount of travel and preparation.

In a high resolution world, the same agent realizes there is an incredible deal that won’t last the day. In fact, she is confident the first reasonable, qualified client who sees the listing would jump to take it. She could easily offer to rebate $500 to the renter as a vote of confidence that the apartment is worth seeing. What she loses on this deal, she makes up for in volume of deals closed.

Rebates can also help an agent specialize efficiently. An agent is much more willing to show apartments in a neighborhood close to where they live or already have other showings. By becoming a neighborhood expert, it’s much less hassle for an agent to batch and group multiple clients for the same area in one day, and therefore they can deliver better service at lower “cost”, hence the OP rebate to the renter.

Published at Wed, 27 Nov 2019 01:16:00 +0000

If you are in search of apartments for rent Boston, then you
will probably find an apartment that will be suitable for you.However, prior to
making your final decision on a certain apartment, it is highly recommended
that you visit the apartment and inspect certain things.This will help reduce
the potential issues that may arise from renting an apartment.Here are some of
the things that you should be looking at when you inspect an apartment. The
overall cleanliness of the building Take a look at the hallways, lobby, stairs,
elevator, etc.Do they look clean and well maintained? A clean apartment
building is a good sign of an owner or management company that really care about
their renters.Luxury apartments Bostonare generally well maintained and have
cleaning and maintenance staff that are always available on site. The condition
of the apartment Check for the presence of mold, which can pose a health hazard.Inspect
the water faucet, showers and toilet to make sure that they work well.Also take
a look at the various appliances provided like the stove, fridge and the
heaters to make sure they are fully operational and working as they should.Check
for cracks along the windows and baseboards.While they are not a major problem,
it is preferable that they be sealed, as they are a point from which various
pests can enter the apartment.It is also good if a professional pest control
company has been hired by the building management to apply a preventative
treatment prior to you moving in. Make sure the locks were changed Unless the
apartment building you are moving into has an electronic door opening system
such as a magnetic card or proximity card, make sure that the locks on the
doors will be changed prior to you moving in.Otherwise, even if the landlord
has collected all the keys from the previous tenants, you really have no way of
knowing how many keys are out there and who actually has them.Also, make sure
that all doors of the apartment close completely and that the locks work well,
otherwise, ask that they be repaired or replaced before you move in. If renting
a furnished apartment, take a look at the furniture It is not uncommon to find
Apartments for Rent Boston,that are furnished.If you do decide to rent a
furnished apartment, be sure that you have inspected the provided furniture.Check
to make sure that it is clean and that everything works correctly.Also, the
mattress should include a cover which will prevent infestation of bed bugs,
which are a common nuisance in places where there is a relatively high turnover
of residents, such as in hotel establishments and in short term stay
apartments.

CallAssist24/7: a Modern Solution to Your Maintenance Problems

31 Jul CallAssist24/7: a Modern Solution to Your Maintenance Problems

The key to running a successful apartment community is quality residents. Obtaining quality residents may be easy, but how do you retain them? CallAssist24/7 from Central Media Solution helps  apartment communities across the country do just that.

CallAssist24/7 was built specifically for the multifamily industry to meet the needs of your busy on-site and maintenance teams. Our solutions manage your calls, automate your call routing, easily create schedules for your emergency on-call maintenance team, and provide intuitive tools to manage resident and leasing inquiries so you capture every call.

Now that you know what it is, let’s talk about some of its features.

CallAssist24/7 Features

• Photo sharing between the resident, the leasing office, and maintenance. This feature allows your maintenance team to assess the issue before going to the resident’s home, allowing them to arrive prepared and eliminating waste when it comes to service call time and materials. Your maintenance shows up prepared and your resident knows who to expect on their doorstep, providing a sense of security.
• Work Orders. You can schedule work orders right from your mobile device, see who is on duty in the maintenance department, and make adjustments to the schedule.
• “Morning Coffee Email”. When the property manager arrives at work each morning, they can review the communication log, maintenance requests, and work orders while sipping on their morning coffee. No need to track down the maintenance supervisor or comb through paper work orders.

CallAssist24/7: How it works

The best way to learn about CallAssist24/7 is to schedule a demo with your Central Media Solutions rep. They’ll be happy to walk you through the process. But, for now, here’s what you need to know.

• CallAssist24/7 is not an app, it’s a mobile solution.
• No need to download anything on your phone, it is as simple as sending a text message.
• The resident calls in their issue.
• The maintenance technician on duty receives a text message with the resident’s voicemail embedded. From there, the team creates a work order, and gets started.
• Photos are shared back and forth, ensuring the maintenance team knows what they’re facing and the resident feels comfortable letting them into their home.
• The work order is complete.
• The property manager gets a concise email in the morning relaying the activity from the previous night.
• The resident is happy with their service, happy with their community, and refers a friend.

Resident turnover is costly. Keep the great residents you have by utilizing all the tools in your toolbox. Schedule a demo today. Consider making these “smart” upgrades to obtain and retain quality residents.

Published at Wed, 31 Jul 2019 15:04:43 +0000

My Next Dream Kitchen

If you don’t follow Apartments in Bala Cynwyd, than you might have missed the exciting announcement that official This Old Victorian – aka my five year renovation saga – is about to come its close. Domino Magazine announced its first ever Renovation Issue and I’m thrilled to announce that office tour of our house is included. If you want your first sneak peak into the our before & afters (and they’re rather dramatic), click here.

But I think once you try your hand at renovations, you catch the bug. And so I’m already designing my fictional future dream house in my hand. And I think I already found my dream kitchen.

This epic kitchen is another product of design savant Amber Interiors. She has figured out the magic mix of California casual, old world grandeur, and what I like to call elevated rustic style that combine to create warm, welcoming but also dramatic spaces.

Obviously, the architecture of this space lends itself to its awesome dramatic feel, not to mention all that stunning natural light. But that is probably one of my biggest leanings from our renovation – that a space’s bones are everything. If you happen upon some a home with some good architecture, jump on it! You can be confident that even the ugliest of toads can be transformed.

The use of various both refined and rustic materials offers really beautiful juxtaposition in this kitchen. Honed Calacatta marble counters and backsplash feel sleek and fancy. But then the reclaimed French limestone looks as if you could be in a farmhouse in Burgundy. The mix and match continues with smooth plasters walls abutting a white brick pizza oven. Brass hardware offsets the custom white oak cabinetry, but the cup drawer pulls reinforce the more country, rustic feel. Finally, a rustic beam holds residence above a sophisticated Lacance range. Yet it all works.

This space would feel fitting should it be in middle of wine country, in Europe or in downtown LA. In fact it resides in Malibu, CA but you certainly wouldn’t say it has a beachy feel.

I love how Amber switched the far counter’s top to a dark limestone to anchor the space and mirror the dark range across the room.

If I could get my hands on this space I might have thickened the countertops (I still love that fat look), selected more modern cabinetry hardware and swapped out the antique pendant lights for something more minimalist and refined. But that’s fun thing with renovating. Once you get to play with the details, you just want to play more and more and more and more.

Good thing I have my yard project to keep me busy at the moment, because I’d be rather tempted to start housing hunting again! Don’t tell my hubs.

design by amber interiors, photography by tess neustadt 

Published at Thu, 21 Nov 2019 22:29:54 +0000

The trick to staying away from holiday snacks

Published at Sat, 01 Dec 2018 20:52:20 +0000

Ways to make your space feel bigger when you meditate

• Facebook
• Pinterest

In a world that moves at a breakneck pace, finding time to slow down and quiet your mind is difficult—and it’s also essential. Many people turn to meditation to help. The practice guides the mind to a calmer place using breathing techniques, mantras, and imagery. It can be as simple as breathing deeply and repeating a phrase or as complicated as traveling to a different plane tucked away in the recesses of your imagination. Either way, you need a quiet, calm space to do it in order to really reap the benefits of meditation. Here’s how to make your apartment feel bigger when you meditate.

1. Oust any clutter.
   One of the most obvious ways to make your space feel larger is to rid it of any stuff that’s non-essential. Purging extra clutter is a good habit to get into, whether you meditate or not. Donate any knick-knacks, furnishings, and decor that you don’t really need in order to open up some space for your meditative practice. This will make it even easier to get into the zen zone.
2. Welcome natural light.
   When sunshine comes streaming into your home, it makes your world a bit brighter and bigger. Harness the power of natural light and pick a corner for meditation with ample windows. The sunny rays, and the view visible through the windows, will make your meditation nook feel instantly more spacious.
3. Enlist neutral hues.
   While dark colors tend to make a room feel smaller, light and neutral tones do just the opposite. Whites, creams, and shades of beige create the illusion of extra space. So when you pick furnishings for your meditation area (or for any room in your home, really), opt for these lighter colors instead of dark, bold hues. If you already have darker furniture in the area where you intend to meditate, there’s no need for a full makeover. Just add some lighter elements, like a whitewashed throw blanket or set of pillows.
4. Just add mirrors.
   Mirrors instantly add square footage to your home, almost in the same way that a window does. The reflection seemingly doubles the size of any space. Affix a mirror to your wall or find a small stand-alone mirror that you can incorporate into your meditation nook.
5. Strategically place your pillow.
   One essential that every meditation space must have is a cushy pillow for you to perch on. Pick your pillow and then arrange it strategically to make your space feel larger. Instead of pushing it up against the wall, pull it out at least six inches. This is an old trick for arranging furniture. When you let your furnishings float, the room feels bigger. When they connect with the wall, that seems to suck up space—or, at least, make a room look smaller. You can use this tip with any piece of furniture or decor in your meditation area.

How to Make a Small Room Look Bigger: 25 Tips That Work [StyleCaster]

5 Steps to Creating the Perfect Home Meditation Space [Yoga Journal]

10 Sneaky Ways to Make a Small Space Look Bigger [The Nest]

Published at Sat, 01 Dec 2018 20:53:45 +0000