Filling Vacancies: Temporary Leasing Services Provide Top Guns
In today’s market, managers turn to consultants to help fill vacancies
As the economy began to soften in 2001, many apartment owners realized
that they needed help keeping their complexes full–-or at least attempt
to reduce the number and length of vacancies.
Facing a sudden increase in turnover, more and more owners are turning
to temporary employee agencies that specialize in apartment leasing
for help.
The services have been around for years, usually responding to the
needs of owners who simply could not find qualified leasing personnel
in their project locations.
But as the economy faltered in late 2001, they were busier than ever.
For example, when Sally Tidey, a regional property manager for Palms
Associates in Durham, N.C., needs fresh faces and new ideas, she sometimes
uses temps. In the past two years, she’s enlisted temporary leasing
agents from four different agencies.
Like many property managers, Tidey initially considered temps because
unemployment is low in the southeast, where Palms owns and operates
4,840 apartments. “We can’t find any people,” she said. “Lately, [several]
of my properties have been new construction in a pre-lease phase. I
didn’t need [to hire a full-time employee], but I needed extra help.”
Sharon Burkey, executive vice president of residential management for
Roseland Property Co. in Short Hills, N.J., also turns to temporary
leasing agents for new lease-ups and in areas with tight labor markets.
“In markets where employment has been high, it is hard to find great
people who can do the job. If we don’t have time to train [new hires],
it is always good to have a temporary service to go to,” she said.
Mary Wessler, assistant vice president of JPI Cos., sometimes gets
temporary lease-up help, too. “JPI is a merchant builder, which means
we mostly just do lease-ups. It is vital to us not to have anybody missing
from the leasing team, because we spend so much money up front to get
properties leased up. Every person who comes through that door is important
to us. It is difficult to find the caliber of people we look for, because
our properties are high-end. [We need leasing specialists who] portray
a certain image, are good closers, and provide incredible customer service,”
she said.
Wessler also resorts to temporary help when a lease-up isn’t going
well. “If we aren’t getting as many leases as we would like, it is nice
to be able to bring in a hot-shot leaser who can motivate the team,”
she said. Other reasons for hiring temporary help include targeting
a different type of resident or increasing occupancy in anticipation
of selling the property.
Calculating temp agency charges
Temporary agency charges vary. Some charge by the hour; others operate
on a pay-for-performance basis. Hourly temp wages often seem high, but
temps often cost no more than regular employees when their payroll expenses
are factored in. Tidey said the last temporary she used cost her $23
an hour – roughly double what she pays her employees.
The pay-for-performance arrangement works well for owners and managers,
said Carol Levey, CEO of Levey Enterprises, one such agency. She said
hiring a temporary on a per-lease basis is cost-effective if the leasing
agent’s learning curve is short. Her agency charges a percentage of
the first month’s rent for every lease the specialist closes.
“A person who is able to lease like crazy and outperform everyone else
is worth every dollar. A person who doesn’t lease at all is getting
paid what he or she is worth,” Wessler said.
Paid-by-the-lease temporaries tend to be highly motivated and results-oriented,
Wessler said. That can spur permanent employees to close more leases
as well. “[Temporaries] have a new spark. They rev up my employees and
get them back on track with leasing,” Tidey said.
Wessler encourages such single-mindedness by employing an assistant
who handles the paperwork and computing for a team of six leasing specialists,
freeing them to interact with prospects.
Property managers say they’ve had good overall results with temporary
employees, although some pitfalls must be anticipated. Tidey said one
temp wasn’t well-qualified or even minimally familiar with the local
apartment market. “The services of one national company didn’t meet
my expectations. I think they were having the same problem I was having;
that is, they didn’t have qualified staff. Some of the bigger operations
don’t have people who know local markets,” she said.
A small local company was more successful in satisfying Tidey. She said
the company sent out a temp who had excellent marketing skills and was
able to share new door-to-door marketing techniques and valuable cold-calling
techniques with the full-time staff.
Burkey believes disappointment results more often from factors beyond
the leasing service’s control than from difficulties with the leasing
agents themselves. “I have not used a service where I have been disappointed
with the people who were provided. Nine times out of 10, they will give
you the advice you need to meet whatever objectives you have set,” she
said.
An example of success
A case in point is a 283-unit high-rise that Roseland Property opened
in Jersey City, N.J. A team of four temporary leasing agents closed
42 leases in the first weekend, and had the property 95% leased in less
than four months. “When I consider the bottom-line financial impact,
it was impressive,” Burkey said. The key to success was a cohesive team
of temporary leasing agents who had previously worked together and “were
already united as a foursome,” she said.
One obvious disadvantage is that temporaries are just that – temporary.
When they depart, the full-time leasing staff may be unable to retain
new residents who had leased from the temps.
That can be overcome by having the permanent staff work hand-in-hand
with temps. “We have tried to integrate our management office with the
leasing team, so we can start to create resident retention [early on].
When you bring in [temporary staff], you have to be on top of it, because
if you’re not, the back door will kick you on the [residents’] way out,”
she said.
Another risk of bringing in a temporary leasing hot-shot is that full-time
employees – who may be overtired, and working at their full capacity
– may feel alienated or demoralized. Wessler suggests emphasizing the
benefits of getting “that shot in the arm” from temporary help and explaining
that getting the property leased up quickly benefits everyone.
The temporary’s lack of familiarity with the company’s leasing policies
and procedures can be a pitfall as well. Wessler advises supervisors
to prepare written guidelines.
Levey agrees that the temporary’s willingness and ability to work as
part of the leasing team is important. “My people blend in with the
team by taking service requests, accepting packages, and generally being
more involved as a team member. That is less threatening to [the permanent
employees],” she said.
If a temporary isn’t satisfactory, Levey sends out a replacement –
even if she doesn’t wholly agree with the customer’s assessment. Occasionally
a temporary “doesn’t click” with the full-time staff or the property,
and in that case, the agency needs to send someone else.
What to ask when hiring a temporary agency
There are some important questions for apartment managers to ask agencies
they are considering for temporary leasing help:
- How long has your company been in this business?
- What can your leasing service bring to my company that we don’t
already have? What specifically can your company do for me?
- What types of reports will be prepared to help me track the effectiveness
of marketing and advertising efforts? How often will those reports
be prepared?
- Does your company hold marketing meetings and provide advanced training
opportunities for the temporaries?
- How many leasing specialists do you have available in my area?
- How are the leasing specialists compensated? What motivational incentives
are offered?
- What types of marketing and closing techniques are the leasing specialists
trained to use?
- What other types of relevant training and experience does the leasing
specialist have?
- Is the leasing specialist well-informed about fair housing laws
and other leasing-related laws and regulations?
- Does this individual specialist function best as a superstar leading
the way or as a member of the leasing team?
- How much local market knowledge and experience does the leasing
specialist have?
- How long has the leasing specialist been working in this market?
What is his or her capture ratio in this market?
- How well does the leasing specialist incorporate long-term resident
retention goals into the short-term goal of leasing the units?
- Does the leasing specialist report directly to me regarding scheduling
and duties, or does the leasing specialist report to you?
- How are payment and compensation handled if more than one person
has contact with the prospective resident? Suppose a full-time employee
shows the apartment unit, but the temporary leasing specialist closes
the lease. What is the basic guideline for determining who gets credit
in those types of situations?
- Has the leasing agency conducted a background check on the leasing
specialist? Has he undergone a drug screening test?
- If the leasing specialist is coming from out of town, who is responsible
for paying his or her travel costs and living expenses?
- What is the minimum time a temp may be retained?
- If I want to hire the temporary as a permanent employee, how much
is the fee?
- If I’m not happy with the leasing specialist for any reason, what
is your policy on providing someone else?
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