Hi there! Hope you're all having a marvelous Monday.
In our office, we have a plate of cookies that we make fresh each morning for our prospects. We offer them after a tour, kind of like a "sweet" goodbye (you see what I did there?) I crack myself up sometimes.
The past two weeks, I have become very frustrated with a mother and her two children. The gym is across the hall from our office, and they visit our gym each day. About half an hour into the mother's workout (she runs A LOT), her two kids take turns darting into the office and taking 3 or 4 cookies at a time. Today, it only took them two trips to clear the plate of 14 cookies.
The best part? The mom encourages it. I was using the gym on my day off and she must not have recognized me because, let's be honest, everyone turns into a sweaty beast when they work out. She turns to one of her kids after they attempted to jump onto the treadmill I was using and said, "Go get cookies! For every cookie you give me, you can have two!" And with that, the girls took off into our office.
Don't get me wrong, I love those cookies as much as anyone else. But isn't eating cookies while working out a little counter productive?
Thanks all, folks.
Monday, December 12, 2016
Friday, December 2, 2016
This is why we take your IDs
Before a tour, you will most likely be asked for an ID that the office will hold onto why you check out your potential new home. This is usually no problem, but you get the occasional, "Um, why would you need that? I don't want to give that to you."
What many people don't understand is how potentially dangerous our job is. We take a person we don't know into an empty unit to show them around. While I would say 99% of tours are very honest and good people, there is always that 1%.
Months ago, I had a couple come in. We go through the usual "what size are you looking for, what price range, can I hold onto your ID, let's show you around" and head out.
They don't look like they can afford the place, but this job quickly teaches you to not judge someone's ability to pay rent by what they look (or smell) like. They seem normal as we talk, and everything is going well until we get to the apartment and the door is shut behind us. The man asks, "So I have a criminal background, is that going to be an issue?" Red flag. I proceed to tell him it depends on the crime and how long ago it was committed.
He walks closer to me and calls me naive, and then proceeds to tell me him crime. I don't imagine it's legal for me disclose the gruesome details he told me, but I can tell you that he is on the sex offenders list.
I quickly ended the tour, gave him back his ID when we got to the office, and told him he would not be approved with his background.
Please be patient with us as we ask for your ID. It is simply a safety precaution.
-K.
Parent drama
This is not student housing. This is "grown up, got a job, pay-for-the-unit-not-the-room" living.
Yet that is how it's being used. We expected roommate situations since we are located close to a university so this is not a surprise. But if you are here to avoid student housing, we do expect you to act like an adult.
A group of students are splitting a townhome (6 students to be exact, yikes). Because there are so many of them, we told them to set up automatic rent payments for their portions to avoid one person paying late and having it affect everyone. This worked out dandy while there were only 5 of them, and then the 6th person joined.
The first two months came back with non-sufficient fund notices for this 6th person. This then meant their rent was late and the unit was charged late fees.
The adult thing to do would be to come to the office and correct any incorrect bank information, but that would make my job less dramatic, and we can't have that!
The parents of the student call to whine and complain over the fees and tell me that it's my fault (obviously I control the banking system, which is why I make $13/hr).
This happens each month for the next 4 months. At this point, it has become such a problem that we have cancelled all automatic payments and the students have to bring in a check for their portion.
Parents called again today. I tell them we are only taking checks, and they complain that I have not reversed the bank charges. These complaints continue for 20 minutes. I finally tell them, "Sir, I am very sorry but unfortunately you are not a lease holder and am unable to disclose further information. Your child will need to bring a check from now on, and we have cancelled auto payments. Have a good day." Queue parent freaking out for my rudeness.
These are clearly the moments that we, property management employees, live for.
-K.
Yet that is how it's being used. We expected roommate situations since we are located close to a university so this is not a surprise. But if you are here to avoid student housing, we do expect you to act like an adult.
A group of students are splitting a townhome (6 students to be exact, yikes). Because there are so many of them, we told them to set up automatic rent payments for their portions to avoid one person paying late and having it affect everyone. This worked out dandy while there were only 5 of them, and then the 6th person joined.
The first two months came back with non-sufficient fund notices for this 6th person. This then meant their rent was late and the unit was charged late fees.
The adult thing to do would be to come to the office and correct any incorrect bank information, but that would make my job less dramatic, and we can't have that!
The parents of the student call to whine and complain over the fees and tell me that it's my fault (obviously I control the banking system, which is why I make $13/hr).
This happens each month for the next 4 months. At this point, it has become such a problem that we have cancelled all automatic payments and the students have to bring in a check for their portion.
Parents called again today. I tell them we are only taking checks, and they complain that I have not reversed the bank charges. These complaints continue for 20 minutes. I finally tell them, "Sir, I am very sorry but unfortunately you are not a lease holder and am unable to disclose further information. Your child will need to bring a check from now on, and we have cancelled auto payments. Have a good day." Queue parent freaking out for my rudeness.
These are clearly the moments that we, property management employees, live for.
-K.
Saturday, September 24, 2016
The Price of Being An Adult
Let's face it - independence from the parents comes with a price. Moving out means you'll need to pay rent, and rent costs money. Money you actually have to have when you make a payment. Whaaaaa?
We've all been through financially hard times (well, at least most of us), so I can sympathize to an extent. Bu unfortunately there is nothing I can do when the bank charges a non-sufficient funds fee because a tenant pays rent without having money. I cannot reverse a charge made by a financial institution, and no, I will not credit the dollar amount of the fee to make up for the charge. After being yelled at for 30 minutes, I calmly said, "I am truly sorry about the frustration this has caused. I unfortunately have no say in what the bank decides to charge, and would recommend speaking with them to see if they can do anything for you." Yes, I can see how that made me seem like a condescending bitch.
Three days later....
"No, I still can't reverse anything or pay you back."
Two days after....
"No, I cannot credit anything."
The next day...
"I appreciate the apology. If there is anything we can do for you, please let us know."
Just another day in the life of property management.
We've all been through financially hard times (well, at least most of us), so I can sympathize to an extent. Bu unfortunately there is nothing I can do when the bank charges a non-sufficient funds fee because a tenant pays rent without having money. I cannot reverse a charge made by a financial institution, and no, I will not credit the dollar amount of the fee to make up for the charge. After being yelled at for 30 minutes, I calmly said, "I am truly sorry about the frustration this has caused. I unfortunately have no say in what the bank decides to charge, and would recommend speaking with them to see if they can do anything for you." Yes, I can see how that made me seem like a condescending bitch.
Three days later....
"No, I still can't reverse anything or pay you back."
Two days after....
"No, I cannot credit anything."
The next day...
"I appreciate the apology. If there is anything we can do for you, please let us know."
Just another day in the life of property management.
Hello from the office staff
Hello Internet.
Where do we start.
This little blog is simply to share the stories of those in property management. You will find many of the stories are ridiculous, similar to those in customer service.
We will always keep those involved confidential, to avoid people doing what the world does best: get offended.
Let the venting begin.
-M. & K.
Where do we start.
This little blog is simply to share the stories of those in property management. You will find many of the stories are ridiculous, similar to those in customer service.
We will always keep those involved confidential, to avoid people doing what the world does best: get offended.
Let the venting begin.
-M. & K.
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