SPECIAL FOCUS: IMMIGRATION
APARTMENT FINANCE TODAY • APRIL 2008
It's All In the Name
Integrity Asset Management builds
relationships with new immigrants that
lead to referrals.
By Bendix Anderson
El Paso, Texas—Some
of the residents at the
San Marcos
Apartments, a 468-unit
apartment property here,
working in the United
but have another
Mexico. Others are
Mexican students who
the border to study
University of Texas,
others are immigrant
families beginning
lives here.
all of them require a little
and sensitivity, said Melanie
president for Integrity
Management, the manager of the property.
“Choosing a home is one of the most
stressful things that a person does,” she
said. “You [the property manager] are
their first connection to doing business
in this country.”
Integrity manages more than
10,000 apartments at 45 communities
concentrated in Dallas and El Paso.
The El Paso-based company specializes
in renovating Class B and Class C
properties that house recent immigrants.
It takes sensitivity to manage these
communities well. Integrity makes
sure at least one person in each property’s
management office speaks the
primary language of their tenants. At
Integrity’s 34 El Paso properties, that’s
Spanish, but at a few of its 11 Dallas
communities, in which nearly all of the
residents are from West Africa, the language
is French.
“You’ve just got to do your homework,”
said Bailey. She visited the embassy of one of the West African
home countries of her tenants to educate
herself. That extra sensitivity
helped Integrity get its West African
residents more comfortable with the
property management staff. “Women
weren’t as strong in their communities,”
said Bailey. “They [the tenants]
had to become used to the fact that
most of the managers in their office
were female.”
This sensitivity has clear benefits:
“If you can establish trust, [tenants
will] refer everyone that comes from
their town or their village to your
property,” said Bailey.
Integrity’s apartment portfolio has a
93 to 95 percent occupancy rate. Rents
vary, ranging at the San Marcos from
$430 to $585 a month, which is strong
for El Paso, said Bailey.
Like many landlords that house
immigrants, Integrity accepts forms of
identification other than driver’s
licenses, such as foreign passports and
consular IDs. However, Integrity does
not accept cash payments, mainly
because of the risk of gathering and
moving thousands of dollars in rent.
Instead, residents without bank
accounts use money orders.
Community activities help Integrity
keep its residents happy. The tenants at
the San Marcos can take classes to
learn English as a second language,
work with a weight trainer, and attend
dance lessons in addition to attending a
long list of other events.
Integrity typically doesn’t have to
pay for these services. Organizations
like the local Kiwanis Club put on a
free Christmas party for the many kids
at San Marcos. Other providers charge
the residents $5 to $10 per person for
admission.
Most of the time, the dance instructors
or speakers will come to the San
Marcos for no charge at all, said Bailey.
Instead, Integrity offers these service
providers ad space in the property’s
community newsletter. “I tell them we
have 45 communities,” she said. That
usually does the trick.
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