It is evident in my industry that apartment living is growing rapidly. I get the opportunity to interact with many residents of Lancaster County because I am also a School Board Director. The conversation of my profession always tends to come up. I had a very respectable public figure say to me, “Isn’t the perception that all apartment communities house undesirable members of our population?”
While I was floored that this person asked me such a question, it caused me to really sit back and look at how apartments are perceived throughout Lancaster County and also around the Country. I am only 28 years old and factor right into the Generation Y demographic that seems to be cornering the rental market. I speak with many “Gen-Y’ers” and most feel that renting provides them with much more financial security. There are ways to break a lease without impacting your credit worthiness—same can’t be said for breaking the terms of your mortgage.
Flip the coin and you will see the bigger picture from our senior citizen population…Many seniors are planning ahead because the thought of nursing homes pushes them to sell their homes and downsize into a housing solution.
While I can’t change every person’s perception of apartment communities, I can tell you that what we do for our residents is beyond customer service and what we do for our surrounding communities is equally as impressive.
Not only do we spend countless dollars on renovations and upgrades, we tend to our lawns like award winning golf courses. We don’t work off a budget, we work off a need! If it needs to be done, we do it. Period!
We offer a complimentary shuttle service that transports our Seniors to the grocery store, movies, shopping, restaurants and extra-curricular activities. We hold monthly resident events where we invite the entire community and offer food, fitness and fun.
Our seniors don’t take their trash out, we do! When I say, “we” I mean any staff member. We have maintenance changing light bulbs for our residents if that is what their need is and even as the Vice President of Operations, I take trash out or clean an apartment if that is what is needed to move a resident in or keep a resident happy.
In our community it is typical to see a 70 year old senior citizen sitting with a newborn so his/her exhausted mother can take a shower! Or, a college student helping his elderly neighbor with their groceries. We don’t promote “apartment living” we promote “community involvement!”
We partner with outside agencies that offer free transportation, food or recreation activities to try to promote a feeling of well being for all of our residents. We offer complimentary swimming & tennis lessons. We bring outside personal trainers into our fitness centers to teach residents how to properly use our equipment. In addition, we offer complimentary fitness classes to get our residents moving and living healthy lifestyles.
Our Managers are constantly searching and promoting Lancaster/York, PA events, fairs, activities, etc. to keep our residents spending their time and money in their respected counties.
The most important thing to our company is the overall experience of our residents. We send out so many surveys and information to respond because we want to hear about what we do right and we quickly want to correct what we do wrong or could improve upon.
When we purchase a home, we have no control over the behavior of our neighbors. If they pay their mortgage not much can be done in terms of their behavior, cleanliness, upkeep of property, etc.
When we rent an apartment, it is the landlord’s commitment to their reputation and pride in what they built and own to maintain a quality standard of living for all.
“Isn’t the perception that all apartment communities house undesirable members of our population?” I would say that this is unfortunately the perception. But, I would encourage our community leaders and members to do some research. Apartment living offers an affordable & flexible alternative to many members of our community—from various walks of life.
EDITOR: The above was excerpted from a note to a local journalist, a copy of which came into our hands. Modesty prevents us from mentioning the company for which the contributor works.
