An Open Letter to Boise Apartment Managers: These Little Things Matter A Lot
While we have no experience in the field, we can only imagine that working in any property management role can be challenging.
There are certain aspects of the job that you can expect like clockwork, like collecting rent checks on the same day every single month. But dealing with multiple tenants that have all sorts of complaints and problems? We're sure the job never gets boring and you encounter a new challenge every single day. Heck, this author knows that her family has presented the front office where she lives with some extremely ridiculous situations including but not limited to:
- Idiot husband threw a grill off the balcony and broke our downstairs neighbor's window
- Inept wife managed to break both of the apartment's toilets in 12 hours in two completely different ways
- There's a bird flying around inside of and pooping on everything in our apartment
We've also watched the office staff handle a difficult situation when a tenant literally dropped dead next to a dumpster. They exhibited grace while dealing with the paramedics and naturally curious tenants that wandered out to the lawn.
We're sure there are some days that make you question why you have this job and have tenants that drive you absolutely crazy. That's why we wanted to take the time to write this open letter and tell you that the small things you do to brighten your tenants' day are noticed and appreciated.
We've lived in the same apartment complex for eight years, but it was only recently that the management office started offering special activities for residents like a pumpkin painting party (those who RSVPed got a free pumpkin,) a community Easter Egg Hunt and most recently, bringing in the Rusty Dog food truck.
The text we got about the food truck ended with an enthusiastic "Come get your corn dog on!" We couldn't say no to that and found an incredible amount of joy in buying a fair-style corn dog in our own parking lot!
We shared this photo of the corndog experience on social media and were blown away by the amount of positivity it generated. Over 150 loves and ikes and love and comments like "NICE!" "Fun!!" and "Super cool enjoy." The power of the corndogs managed to generate smiles outside of the intended community.
A few folks chimed in with cool things their own apartment complex has done for residents. Food trucks are a popular choice. Complexes have also offered a free gift wrap station during the holidays, hosted a wreath-making ladies night, put together holiday parties for kids and treated each unit to a pie on Thanksgiving and Pi Day.
People were so grateful for these small, but kind gestures! They can really brighten up a boring, ordinary or stressful day! If you work in property management and have done something like this for your residents, THANK YOU! You probably don't hear those words enough and you deserve to for being so thoughtful!