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3 TIPS TO DITCH THE SLOW RENTAL SEASON

Sep 18, 2019
TPhoto taken by John Talbot. Flikr

People don’t like moving, especially in the winter. It’s cold, it’s wet, the sun sets before people get home, and the rental economy goes into hibernation in general. If you, a residential property owner or a management company, are at capacity, then the slow rental season is no problem for you. No one wants to move for 3 to 4 months and you’re collecting on a max capacity facility. For those who have a multitude of vacancies or dealing with late fall move outs heading into late November, you are starting to sweat.

But there are ways to avoid the heartache and anxiety of slow season. Through promotions, enhanced marketing, and a fine tuned lease strategy, you can stay high-and-dry while other management companies are left in the cold.

Promotions

You walk into your local grocery store just for some simple groceries. Your list has eggs, milk, lettuce, cheese, deli meat, and cereal. But along the way, something catches your eye…

Buy One, Get One Free!

So your list adapts to eggs, milk, lettuce, cheese, deli meat, cereal, and that promotional offer that you just had to have. People love their special offer promos and rentals are no different. Giving prospective tenants something tangible like a free TV or gift cards will increase leads in low times. Losing the value of a full month’s rent in special offers doesn’t sound ideal, but having a paying tenant for the remainder of that lease is better than a unit sitting vacant for 3 to 4 months without the incentives.

Marketing Efforts

In a time of higher vacancy or slow season, spending more money sounds counter-intuitive, but ramping up your marketing efforts will pay off. Using your standard advertising medium only reaches a certain demographic. By reaching out to new mediums, you are exposing your property to a whole new target audience that may be searching for what you’re offering.

Not too long ago, Graystone Properties was stuck in days long gone. The two advertising mediums used to advertise vacancies were local paper ads and Craigslist. We ditched the paper and have moved on to larger online mediums and are witnessing a significant uptick in prospective tenants compared to past winter seasons.

If the fish are not biting, don’t change the pole, change the bait. In other words, it may not be the property itself that isn’t catching renters’ eyes. It’s your advertisements that need to be adjusted. Sometimes all you need to attract interest is a change in your ad in a way that will captivate the viewer. You’ll limit the spectrum of possible renters if your ads have poorly lit rooms, blurry phone pictures or pictures taken a decade ago. Updating the pictures, freshen up the text, and/or reformatting the unit information can make a world of difference.

Leasing Strategy

You know the winter months are an extremely slow time of year for leasing, so why shoot yourself in the foot? As you create leases, try negotiating the date terms. If a 12 month lease ends at the end of December, see if you can get them locked into a 13 or 14-month lease. If they decide to leave at the end of January or February instead, you’ll have the unit ready to rent as everyone starts their apartment/house search again and you won’t be left with a vacancy for multiple months.

Overall, the slow season is only as sluggish as you make it. Through creative strategies and enhanced marketing, you should have no problem filling up your space.
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OKC RANKED AMONG THE BEST CITIES FOR SERIAL ENTREPRENEURS

18 Sep, 2019
Oklahoma may be known for their livestock, oil, and a Broadway musical, but the state’s capital city might be gaining a new reputation. According to Small Business Trends , Oklahoma City is one of the best cities for serial entrepreneurs. Small Business Trends looked across the country to find cities where you can find large concentrations of serial entrepreneurs— those who have started three or more businesses prior to the one they run today. By weighing factors like “the percentage of serial entrepreneurs to the overall population in the metropolitan areas of the United States with over 50,000 people… industry clusters, lifestyle, infrastructure, costs and workforce availability,” OKC climbed all the way up to #4 for serial entrepreneurs! Oklahoma City’s ranking sits behind Salt Lake City, Miami and Denver, while beating out Dallas, Tampa, Raleigh, Orlando, Seattle and Portland. Oklahoma City has 2,422 serial entrepreneurs, which makes up .18% of the population. If you’re an entrepreneur looking for a professional office, check out our availability at Wilshire Gardens Office Park , or jump on our waiting list for Smartsuite Executive Offices!

NEW ADDITION TO THE GRAYSTONE FAMILY

18 Sep, 2019
On July 31st, Graystone Properties added the Wilshire Gardens Office Park, located at 425 W Wilshire Blvd., to our office portfolio. This property will be a key component to our future growth and we are excited to engage with our new tenants. Wilshire Gardens is a 4 building office park located between Nichols Hills and Broadway Extension on Wilshire Boulevard. From individual executive offices to large company suites, Wilshire Gardens is capable of hosting companies of multiple sizes. Graystone Properties plans to update the building’s facade, landscaping, office common areas and office suites. Nick Gray with Kevo Commercial represented Graystone Properties, while Amy Dunn with CBRE represented the seller, Rodger & Rodgers Living Trust. The property was purchased at $1,749,000 and was closed at The Oklahoma City Abstract & Title Company. More information about Wilshire Gardens can be found at www.wilshiregardensokc.com.

WALLETHUB CALLS OKC THE BEST LARGE CITY TO START A BUSINESS IN

18 Sep, 2019
If you asked everyone you know which large cities are the best for startups, you would probably hear plenty of mentions of San Francisco, Boston, Seattle and New York City. Despite those cities’ reputation as hubs for innovation and tech startups, those cities didn’t make the top 30, according to a new report from the personal finance website, WalletHub. WalletHub analyzed 182 U.S. cities across 19 key metrics, such as cost of living, office space affordability, startups survival rates, and quantity of investors. So, which city could possibly be No. 1? Oklahoma City took the top spot for the second year in a row. From the rise of coworking spaces to the resources provided by our chamber of commerce, it’s no surprise to see our startup community thriving.
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