Upgrading Your Community, Part V

by Chrissy Jackson

How to keep your residents happy and personally engaged during the disruption caused by your community upgrade program

Retain Residents by…

During any major upgrade program, it is generally desirable to retain as many of your current residents as you can. They provide, on a regular basis, the cash flow that helps finance the daily operations as well as the turn-around efforts on your property. They will also serve as your marketing partners in bringing new residents in, once the upgrade process has progressed to the point of visible improvement. In addition, your current residents are the very ones who can help you make the upgrades more visible.

Upgrades are disruptive. They are stressful. Rarely does a project such as this get done at the projected cost. There always seems to be something else that needs done that was not noticed when you started, or an additional system or area that is faulty. Communication is of the utmost importance. Once you have a major plan, let your residents into the loop. Tell them of the plans and the approximate time line involved. Some owners have even shared some of the costs so residents can more fully appreciate the expense involved in bettering their neighborhood.

No matter where your master plan dictates that the improvements begin, be sure to do something very visible that makes a huge difference near the beginning of the upgrade project. For example, consider the entrance sign and landscaping, or the common areas or the street surface. This sends a message loud and clear that things are changing – for the better. Begin to be more diligent about enforcing the Guidelines. End any and all lax attitudes about clutter in yards and cars parked where they should not be parked. Get tough, get firm, get your community looking better and get your residents on your side!

This is also a time to schedule more get-togethers if you have a clubhouse. You don't need to spend a lot of money, but have coffee and donuts twice a week instead of only once. Have a potluck every week instead of once a month. Share updates on the progress. Watch your pennies – if you used to provide the meat for the potlucks, you don't have to continue. You can provide the beverages, and have a sign-up sheet for covered dishes. The important thing is to have an opportunity to share the progress and excitement of the upgrade program with those people who will be directly affected by these changes. Another good idea is to put a timeline chart in the clubhouse to map your progress. It also makes a handy place to post the newest pictures as work is done. Be sure to get lots of residents in the pictures; that's what makes them so interesting and valuable.

This is also a time to pay attention to small improvements made by your residents. Send Thank You! notes to those who take time and make an effort to improve the appearance of their homes and/or homesites. Work with those who need to make improvements to help locate contractors or materials within their budget. Sometimes simply because of the total volume of work available in one area, a contractor will allow a discount on the price of each job. This can translate to huge savings for your residents.

Even though there will be a million things going on and at least several thousand going wrong, this is also the time to focus on your resident relations program. Take time to talk with residents at the coffee and donut hour. Address their concerns about the overall upgrade project. Make sure you talk to them about their WIIFMs (What's In It For Me). Focus your conversations on the areas of the upgrade program that are important to them; how the changes and improvements will benefit their quality of life in the community.

Be honest when discussing disruptions in their life that will also be part of the upgrade program. Major alterations of the physical asset do not come quickly or easily or without some pretty huge inconveniences to those who are living in the midst of the construction. Spending the money for some drawings of the projected finished look will help make it worthwhile. Since not all residents can easily "see" planned improvements, drawings will make it easier for them to get excited about the upcoming changes.

Compile a scrapbook of the improvements as the work progresses. Personalize your collection of pictures by being sure plenty of residents are included in those snapshots. For instance, instead of showing a picture of the street light at 1213 Wildwood Lane being replaced, take the shot with the resident in the yard, and write the caption to include their name. It might read, "Russ and Mary Harrigan of 1213 Wildwood Lane are the first residents on Wildwood Lane to get a new streetlight." Throughout the project and over the coming years, this scrapbook will be the source of endless conversation and memories for everyone to share.

Keep rent increases in line during this improvement phase. Yes, you are certainly making improvements to the community, and yes, that certainly does make it worth more. And yes, you are certainly entitled to a fair return on your money. But not all of it comes from rent increases. Part of your return will come from the appreciation in overall value of the parcel of real estate that you are improving. If your state law permits unequal pricing of homesites, you might consider raising the rent on vacant sites once a site or an entire street has been completely improved. This will create a new market rent figure for your community. It will also help make rent increases easier when you do a general increase for all the residents, as you will simply be bringing them up to the rate the new residents are already paying.

Improve the Infrastructure . . .

When a major upgrade is planned for an older community, the infrastructure system generally gets the lion's share of the work and allocation of money. This also causes the most disruption to the individual routines and lives of your residents. Therefore, the systematic plan for improving the infrastructure needs to be shared – along with a projected time line – with the residents.

No one likes to have their routine interrupted, and no one likes to be surprised by waking up one morning and having no water. However, these inconveniences and more can happen with no one becoming irate if you help your residents plan ahead. When you look at the master plan, look at it from the resident's point of view. What will it mean to Sarah to have electrical pedestals on her street upgraded this week? How long will she be without electricity? What time and what day will it go off? What time of the day will it go back on? What about food in her refrigerator and freezer? What else in her home is electric? Does she have a battery-operated clock? Can she prepare meals ahead of time if her stove is electric? Can she come to the clubhouse to watch television if her favorite show is on during that time? These may seem to be petty concerns, and not very important in the overall scheme of things, but if you are dealing with a community of older residents – as most older communities have – these are extremely important life issues that need to be discussed.

Indeed, at some points of the upgrade, you may feel more like a public relations or communications expert rather than a turn-around specialist. And that is exactly what you will become if this upgrade is successful. Not only should you share exactly how and for how long the residents will be inconvenienced, but the same time, written notice and ensuing conversation should also ask for their patience and understanding as you together work toward having a better community in which to live. Provide them with suggestions to help ease the inconvenience to their life.

At times, things will not go as planned. Something will go wrong. It may not be the direct "fault" of anyone, it just happens. Share the good, the bad, the progress, and the setbacks with your residents. They will appreciate being part of the "inside" knowledge of the progress of the community.

Encourage the residents to help you spread the word of improvements by bringing in new residents as areas of the community are completed and newly renovated with vacant sites becoming available. This might also be a time to continue creating resident pride through rewards given to your current residents for finding new residents. Rather than giving them free rent, give them something that will continue to improve the appearance of their home or homesite. Consider shrubbery, flowers or other landscaping, railings for a new deck, shutters for a window or two on their home, or some other aesthetic prize that will create a win-win situation for everyone.

Wording is very important in sending notices to your residents. It must convey your concern for their inconveniences, yet it must also provide the overriding thought that all will be worth it when the upgrade is finished and that you appreciate their help – no matter how small – in keeping the project on track.

Most of the older communities also have a list of deferred maintenance. This is a compilation of things that need to be done that you and your staff have noticed over time, but have not done due to budget restraints, lack of manpower or lack of time. Just because you have written them down in the office and not discussed them publicly, don't allow yourself to believe that your residents don't know about them also. This list can be another tool to work in your favor during the long and arduous undertaking of a major upgrade.

Make the improvements personal. When the roof is repaired or replaced on the maintenance shop, rather than just showing pictures of the work and noting that it has been completed, make it a personal victory for the residents. Write a special notice to be sent to them thanking them for their patience as they watched – along with you – as the roof continued to deteriorate. Make it seem as though the roof and ensuing unsightly appearance were as important in their life as if it had been their own shed roof. Then, the joy at the finished new roof will also be more important to them. Invite them to come on down and see it. Have coffee and donuts at the shop in the open area rather than at the clubhouse one morning to share the excitement.

Your notice may say something like, "Finally! The roof on the maintenance shop that has looked bad for so long has been repaired! No longer will you be ashamed of the ugly building that is so important in providing storage for the community equipment. Join with us as we celebrate this latest improvement by having coffee and donuts on Friday morning in the grassy area near the shop. Bring your lawn chair!"

Chrissy Jackson is President of Chrissy Jackson & Associates, Inc. chrissy-jackson.com, President, Florida Writers Association, Inc., floridawriters.net and Vice President, Florida Writers Foundation, Inc. Contact her at her website or via This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or by writing P.O. Box 66069, St. Pete Beach, FL 33736-6069.
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