Time To Raise The Bar

We have all heard the cry – “ The Absentee Landlord is to blame”.  The cities, towns and villages, the neighbors, businesses and community groups, are all blaming the income property owner for their problems.  This needs to change.

We need to get all of these groups to work with us, not against us.  We need to convince them that we are professionals. We invest great sums of money in the community when others won’t. Rental real estate is one of the capital regions largest businesses.  WE pay the property taxes.  WE pay the school taxes.

It’s time to Raise the Bar.  All rental property owners know the keys to success.  Good tenants, low turnover, rising rents.  The Howard Group/Sunrise Management and Consulting’s Market Study bears out that the better operators get higher rents for similar product.  Higher rents mean money for improvements,  higher returns, and growth of equity.  For the communities this means better neighborhoods and growth of the tax base.

The Howard Group/Sunrise Management and Consulting’s Market Study is the first step in a long process.  Large property owners, rental property associations, municipalities,  management companies and small property owners must work together to keep the real estate market healthy and growing.

The Howard Group, Sunrise Management and Consulting, Interclaim Worldwide and others have joined together to provide information and education for Landlords of all sizes.  The next market study will include the smaller properties  smaller geographic breakdowns, unit breakdowns, vacancy information and trends in the market.  To participate or receive a survey  please go to our website at:   HYPERLINK http://www.sunrisemc.com www.sunrisemc.com and click on market survey., or call us and we will mail you one.  If you participate, we will send you a copy of the survey at no cost.

The time to Raise The Bar is now when the market is strong.  Don’t hesitate, Do it NOW!

SUNRISE MANAGEMENT AND CONSULTING
An affiliate of THE HOWARD GROUP – TCN Worldwide

1735 Central Avenue
Albany, NY 12205
518-452-1881
hcarr@howardgroup.com
jholland@howardgroup.com
rdolins@howardgroup.com

Good times or Bad
Leasing prowess makes a difference

When was the last time you shopped for an apartment.  As senior management it is easy to get away from the front lines.  “I don’t have to do that anymore” echoes threw the corporate office.

In the course of generating the Sunrise Multifamily Market Report we literally talk to thousands of front line rental agents.  We request the same information in the same way from each, so the comparisons are easy to make.  Most interactions fall into a few categories.

The “newbie”: This person just started as a rental agent.  They have received no training and very little information.  We even had one person who did not know what an amenity was.  At best they can give you rental rates.  How they ever manage to rent an apartment is a mystery.

The “can’t be bothered”: This person doesn’t want to give any information about the community as if it was a secret.  They try and get off the phone as quickly as possible, won’t volunteer any information unless asked directly.

The “professional”: This person has the information they need at there fingertips.  They have been well trained and rehearsed there sales presentation so it is flawless.  They are a pleasure to talk to and you feel that they want your business.

The “nobody out there”: This person doesn’t seem to exist.  Nobody answers the phone or returns messages that are left.  The office never seems to be opened or staffed.

The collateral paperwork also seems to match the phone experience.  Some properties have nothing, some provide copies of copies of copies, and some provide professionally prepared marketing pieces that look great.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression.  In today’s fast paced environment that usual means the first impression of your property is either on the phone or the Internet.  So if the rental experience at your property is not up to par, you will never see the prospect.

Take care of your Management Staff and they will take care of you

An apartment is an apartment is an apartment.  Every one has walls, floors, ceilings, kitchen ,bathroom and bedrooms.  In the grand scheme of things there is very little that separates one apartment from another or one community from another.  Yet communities, even right next to each other, are vastly different.  The one thing that makes the biggest difference is the staff.

Why is it that one management team can make a property a great place to live, receive top rents and fantastic financial results, while another management team can run it into the ground.  The key-determining factor always seems to come back to the staff.

Let’s take a look at two different methodologies.   I have seen the first happen over and over again.  The staff at property A have all been there for a very short time.  The owner has very little involvement other than in setting the budget.   Staff turnover is high at this property, they are constantly having to hire.  The hiring process is disorganized at best.  Pay is low, benefits are non-existent.  So a new rental agent is hired.  On his first day he is given a set of keys, a list of vacant apartments, and barely legible employment paperwork.  He is told to answer the phone and rent apartments. The manager is out sick today but do the best that you can.  Is it any wonder he can’t rent any apartments. The staff at this property as a whole is demoralized.  They are never given positive feedback, only yelled at for doing things wrong.

Employee Training Programs: Investing In Your Biggest Asset Will Yield Favorable Returns

We have all heard the expression “employees are your biggest asset”. For this reason, many employers today are investing substantial resources in employee-development programs. Especially in today’s competitive marketplace, it is important for workers to be equipped with more than just the technical know-how.  They must also have the ability to think resourcefully, implement plans strategically, and interact effectively with others. Employee training programs can be a key investment in the success of your organization, as they increase workforce productivity and improve your bottom line. Without proper training, you run the risk of employing an underachieving staff and, thereby, losing money in lost productivity.
So, how do you determine if the training cost is justified?  You need to consider the Return on Investment (ROI), a mathematical comparison of benefits to cost expressed as a percentage of the original investment, according to Ben Worthen of CIO Magazine. The ROI formula is expressed as ROI = (savings/costs) x 100. In simpler terms, it is a way of determining if the benefits received from training justifies the investment cost.
To complete an effective ROI on training programs, you would identify the critical areas in your property management operations that need improvement, establish goals you wish to achieve from the training, then analyze the results. In order to calculate the ROI, the results must be converted to monetary values to come up with the savings amount. In the case of increased productivity, it can be measured in terms of employee compensation saved.  You would simply multiply the hours saved by the employee’s hourly wage.
For example, ABC Company has two similar properties requiring improvement in closing ratios and tenant retention, managing customer complaints, and problem solving. ABC Company decides to send property managers and frontline staff for training on effective selling, customer service skills, and strategic planning at a cost of $600 per person.  The goal is to have fewer vacancies, fewer customer complaints, and less maintenance time.
In order to complete an effective ROI analysis, ABC Company sends the six employees from Property A, but holds off on sending the staff from Property B until it has assessed the impact of the training. The success of the training program is evaluated in the 30 days following the seminar by tracking: a) the vacancy rate, b) the number of customer complaints received, c) the number of problems solved at the frontline staff level, and d) the completion time on projects.
The Results: Property A spent $3600.00 on training for six employees. The Property B staff received no training, therefore incurred no additional expense. During the evaluation period, Property A increased their closing ratios by 25%, received fewer customer complaints, resolved problems quicker, usually without management involvement, and maintenance staff was called ten hours less for the month. The decreased vacancies and the increased productivity, converted to a monetary value, produced a savings amount of $7250.00. In the same time period, Property B’s numbers remained flat, showing that the training had a measurable impact. Did the training produce a positive ROI? To calculate, the measurable improvement is divided by the cost and multiplied by 100. ABC Company’s training ROI is ($7250/$3600) x 100 = 201%.  This is a valuable 201% return on their investment for employee training.
Can you afford the lost productivity of an underachieving staff by NOT allocating resources toward training? Your company’s investment in training can be one of your biggest competitive advantages. It will result in a more focused, results-driven organization that will ultimately improve property performance.

Training – How can we afford that now?
Recently one of our clients questioned the size of the training budget for their property.  A fairly large client with assets throughout the country, the executive was comparing what we were planning to spend against what managers of other properties were proposing.  Our training budget was less than one tenth of one percent (.01%) of the operating budget, and much less than the allocation for maintenance of the physical asset.  Apparently our colleagues were cutting training.  Given the challenging economic times, and the need to control spending, the executive wanted to know why we had not cut the training budget.
My answer, can you afford to cut training in challenging times?
Everyone’s budgets are tight this year.  The pressure is on to cut expenses whenever and wherever possible.  The training budget is an easy target.  It’s certainly not like paying the water or utility bill.  But I would argue it is one of the most important items in the budget.
Yes, we are facing some of the toughest economic times on record.  We have all been pounded daily by the bad news, the foreclosures, layoffs, and financial scandals.  It is doom and gloom all day, every day.  Yet, while upper management tries to figure out “what to do”, the front line staff still goes into battle each day.  Rental staff is told to “rent more apartments” and “find a way to generate more traffic”.   Maintenance staff is told to “cut expenses” and “only buy it if you absolutely need it”.  We tell our vendors “I need a lower price” and “do it for less”.  And during all this, our property managers continue to deal with the residents who “want more, want it now and want it for less”.
So, why does training matter?  A better question is, does poor customer service matter?  Do material waste, workplace injuries and low morale matter?  Does high turnover matter?
The front line staff is the critical interface with our customer, our profitability depends on them.  They are just like everybody else.  They have fears and needs and are just as tuned in to the economic doom and gloom as everyone else.  Many people, including site staff, are becoming virtually paralyzed by the dire news.  It is a negative spiral, one we must address.  Only with our full support and proper tools will the site staff be able to stop that bad news at the door, and get the job done.  With training we can reinforce skills, develop best practices, and motivate a professional staff.
Reinforcement
Training provides process and procedures.  Regular training reinforces the behaviors.  A well trained staff member knows how to handle an upset resident.   They don’t spend their time fixing errors; they prevent them and spend time on creating relationships.  They apply the rent payment the right way, the first time, every time.  They make sound decisions.  They know how to spend the owner’s money wisely.  Knowing what to do, they feel more confident.  They know that they are important to the success of the operation, because the upper echelon has spent time and money on them.
Best Practices
Workshops and classes are also a time to share ideas, problems, and solutions.  Participants not only learn about the specific topic, but learn what their colleagues are going through.  Pitfalls can often be easily avoided if you know about them.  A shared solution at one property often works at another.  And, especially in a small town, knowing about the nightmare tenant about to be evicted from one place can prevent the mistake happening at another.   With knowledge of best practices our staff develops the skills necessary to think outside the box.
Motivation
Another by product of the training experience is people get excited.  I have yet to go to a training program or conference and not gotten excited about something.  New ideas get developed, problems get solved, your spirit is uplifted and you get ready to go out and fight another day.  Too often in our industry the top management goes to conferences, and the front line gets left home.   Train staff to motivate and succeed.
Can we afford to cut training?
At the end of the day, an apartment is an apartment.  It has four walls, a floor, a ceiling, kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms.  What make our assets a special community is our people.  It is the front line staff that is in charge of selling, fixing and controlling our properties.  A well trained staff resolves problems before they happen.  They make an apartment a home.  They make our customers feel special.  They reduce turnover and increase revenue.  They protect us from lawsuits.  They make a hard job look easy.
Training is that ounce of prevention that saves a pound of cure.  It is the investment we can least afford to cut in tough economic times.

Where Wall Street meets Elm Street
or
Financial models don’t rent apartments
The investors, analysts and portfolio managers of Wall Street use data reports and financial models to make assessments about the viability of multifamily investments.
But multifamily real estate investment isn’t about the value of bricks and mortar, the journal entries, or the financial analysis.  Using cash flow models, understanding net present value, or calculating internal rate of return doesn’t make investments profitable.  Financial statements cannot predict the future nor do they contribute to value; financial statements only tell the story of the past.
Elm Street is where the feet of multifamily investment meets the street; where the tenant lives, the frontline staff works, and the real engine of results resides.
Multifamily real estate investment is about people; the people who live in the property, the people who manage it, the people who maintain it, and the people who own it.  Each has their own needs, concerns, desires and emotions.  None of which can be found in the numerical entry of a financial model.  Financial modeling cannot predict how people will behave or perform.

The most important people to a profitable real estate investment are the ones who pay the bills, the tenants.  Unless someone is willing to occupy the space and pay the rent all the rest is meaningless.  Without tenants real estate is worthless.    The tenant is our customer, and we need to remember that we are here for them, not the other way around.  All of our policies and procedures must be designed around the service concept; “the customer is king”.  While we fulfill one of the most basic needs – shelter, our investment is much more to our customer.  Beyond safety and security are tastes and desires, amenities, and service.  It’s not just someplace to live, but the entire experience of living.  A 15 minute chat in the clubhouse will tell you more about the economy, rental market, competition, staff and attitudes than any model, chart or market report.  We need to listen to our customers.  Google has become the champion by listening to theirs.  Detroit and the car industry crashed because they didn’t.

Our front line staff is the most important interface with our customer.  We expect staff to run everything perfectly; seven days a week, twenty four hours a day, 365 days a year.  And if people were perfect maybe they would.  Typically though, front line staff is younger, inexperienced, barely trained and not well paid.  Yet we expect them to run our multi-million dollar assets to perfection.  These people need our support and appreciation.  They get hit with the problems first hand.  They are screamed at by irate tenants, deal with rude and obnoxious people, attend to endless details and problems.  And often, barely asked their opinion, no less thanked.  Unless we properly support, train and care for our front line staff, the apartments won’t get rented, the work orders won’t get written, and the accounting won’t get done.  The financial models won’t compute and the investment will suffer.

Last is the Owner, who often has toughest pill to swallow.  Investors want their returns.  Auditors want their reports.  Lenders want their payments.  Everybody wants something.  When you’re the guy putting up millions of dollars and taking the risk it’s easy to feel you should come first.  But losing sight of the customer will ultimately be our undoing.  Wall Street collapses with huge foreclosure numbers.  401K’s are now 201K’s.  The customer has spoken – they won’t pay the bill.

Capitalism works fine – we have just stopped focusing on what’s good for our customers.  Those who do will be rewarded in these tough times with stability and affluence.  Those who rely on financial models and lose sight of the customer will perish.

We are all susceptible to employee theft

In real estate management we deal with huge sums of money, handled in many locations by both front office and support staff.  This presents seemingly countless opportunities for fraud and employee theft.

The best way to avoid fraud, according to Joseph Hanlon, CPA with Teal Becker & Chiaramonte in Albany, NY, is prevention.  Real estate managers need to understand where fraud and theft weak points are, and address them with internal controls and preventive procedures.

In a typical property management office we have numerous processes where an ounce of prevention can be effective in reducing fraud opportunity.

A point of greatest risk is accepting cash for rent.  Cash has a funny way of being able to disappear with out a trace.  Prevention here is easy, don’t accept cash, period.  Most people have checking accounts and everyone has access to money orders or bank checks.  Even better from an internal control stand point is accepting credit or debit card payments.

Security deposits are another key area.  Often these involve extra accounting and keeping funds to segregated accounts.  The constant turnover in large apartment complexes can make keeping these accounts balanced a moving target.  Keep things under control with regular proactive reconciliation of accounts and segregation of duties.

Vacancy and accounts receivable can also be targets.  A rented unit shown as vacant or a move in that doesn’t make it into the computer until the second month can result in diverted funds and add up quickly.  Write downs on accounts receivable and unresolved receivable items can mean dollars are being stolen.  Keep things honest with weekly vacancy and move in reports and random inspections.

Reserve accounts which typically have large sums of money are possibly one of the scariest areas of potential fraud.  These accounts get little action and usually are in CD’s or savings accounts that provide only quarterly or annual statements.  Many a condo association has come up on the short end of this stick.  Be sure to monitor and reconcile every Reserve Account statement.

And theft doesn’t happen only with funds.  Most complexes keep some level of inventory for maintenance items and appliances.  Look for out of the ordinary purchases and spikes in certain supplies.  If you usually use 5 smoke detectors a month, how come all of a sudden you bought 25?  It could be buying at a discount, but asking the questions will keep people on their toes.  Regularly review inventory and supply reports, and let your staff know you are looking.

It is also important to provide owners and investors with accurate monthly financial reports.  We have taken on many a client whose past property manager has failed to give them accurate or timely financial statements.  These reports enable informed decisions and serve as a preventive control.  If you are not preparing regular reports someone could be stealing you blind, and you would never know it.

While all this can be somewhat scary and daunting, a little effort and a few simple guidelines can help prevent fraud from happening to you.

Background Checks – know who you are hiring and doing business with
Internal Controls- controls keep honest people honest
Inspect what you Expect – the perception of detection is great deterrence
Set a good example – if you take things your staff will justify why they are entitled.
Watch for “red flags” – do things look like they should or is the story just not right
Watch the cash – Open all bank statements and check for unusual items, forged signatures and vendors you don’t do business with.

With preplanning and due diligence you can reduce fraud and theft opportunities and prevent potential losses.

We have all heard the expression “employees are your biggest asset”.  These “assets” are the basis of a company’s success, and as such, business gurus advise companies to “treat them well” and “groom them for success”. For this reason, many employers today are investing substantial resources in employee benefit packages and employee-training programs.
Employee training programs are a key investment for increasing productivity. Essentially, employees are a business investment just like computers.  Just as you would invest in software and upgrades to increase productivity, investing in employee training will do the same. It will empower your staff with the knowledge to make significant contributions to the overall profitability of your company. In today’s competitive marketplace, workers must be equipped with more than just the technical know-how.  They must also have the ability to think creatively, implement plans strategically and interact effectively with others. Without proper training, you run the risk of employing a workforce that is ill-equipped to handle these ever-changing demands of the industry.
While skimping on training might seem like a way of cutting costs in the hope of improving your bottom line, how much are you losing in lost productivity, paid in wages to underachieving staff? To determine if the training cost is justified, you need to consider the Return on Investment (ROI).
ROI is a mathematical comparison of benefits to cost expressed as a percentage of the original investment, according to Ben Worthen of CIO Magazine. The ROI formula is expressed as [ROI=(savings/costs)x100]. In simpler terms, it is a way of determining if the benefits received from training justified the investment cost.
Training ROI analysis helps determine whether or not training programs add productivity to an organization. To complete an effective ROI on training programs, identify the critical areas in your property management operations that need improvement, establish goals for the training, then analyze the results.
Let’s consider, for example, that ABC Company has  two similar properties requiring improvement in performance. It hopes to improve soft skills such as listening, problem solving, and managing customer complaints. ABC Company decides to send property managers and frontline staff for training on customer service skills, effective selling, and strategic planning at a cost of $600 per person.  The goal is to have fewer vacancies, fewer complaints, less maintenance, and less staff turnover.
In order to complete an effective ROI analysis, ABC Company sends the six employees from Property A, but holds off on sending the staff from Property B until it has assessed the impact of the training. The success of the training program is evaluated in the 30 days following the seminar by tracking: a) the number of customer complaints received, b) the number of problems solved at the frontline staff level, and c) the completion time on projects.
The Results: Property A spent $3600.00 on training for six employees. The Property B staff received no training, therefore incurred no additional expense. During the evaluation period, Property A received fewer customer complaints, resolved problems quicker (usually within one phone call), and maintenance staff was called ten hours less for the month.  The increased productivity produced a savings amount of $7250.00. In the same time period, Property B’s numbers remained flat, showing that the training had a measurable impact. Did the training produce a positive ROI? To calculate, the measurable improvement is divided by the cost and multiplied by 100. ABC Company’s training ROI is ($7250/$3600)x100=201%.  This is a 201% return on their investment for employee training — well worth the investment.
Ultimately, you need to ask if you can afford NOT to invest in training.  Can you afford the lost productivity of an underachieving staff? Your company’s investment in training can be one of your biggest competitive advantages. It will result in a more focused, results-driven organization that will increase productivity and property performance.

Most people feel that property management is easy. How tough could it be to collect the rent, pay the bills and fix the toilets.  But that is like saying driving a car is easy, just turn the key and step on the gas.  What’s so hard.
Today, the property management aspect may be one of the single most important factors in the success of the real estate investment.  The proper property management team will bring organization, expertise, experience and consistent systems to the operation of your real estate.  The “anybody can do it” property manger can bring financial problems, liability, customer service nightmares and all out disaster.

What’s in today’s property management.  Your team needs to be an expert on many issues.
First is real estate investment theory.  If your manager doesn’t understand how it’s supposed to work, how to calculate your return, the general principals of real estate they can’t even help you enumerate the goals.
Next, accounting.  Accounting is the root of all decision making.  A 200 unit apartment complex may have upwards of 1000 transactions per month.  Being able to create accurate financial statements is key to making proper managerial decisions.  If you don’t have proper accounting, how do you know how your doing.  In addition, these need to be up to date accounting systems.  Hand ledgers are a thing of the past.  If you can’t even use Quickbooks at a minimum you shouldn’t be in the game.
Even if your accounting is not computer based, you need to be computer literate.  So many of today’s operations are computer based.  Web based advertising, communications(email), record keeping (accounting), materials ordering, tenant screening,  just to name the simple ones.  Larger firms include payroll, scheduling, cash flow analysis, work order tracking, even emergency dispatch is all computer based.
But these items are only some of the tools.  Let’s talk regulations.  There are more and more everyday.  Fair Housing Law, Civil Rights Law, HUD Regulations, State Building Code, Local Building Code, Environmental law, Title X Lead Paint regulations, Air Quality Standards, 
Rent Control, Rent Stabilization, and the list goes on.
How about liability- insurance is part of our everyday lives.  Your manager needs to know about insurance as well as risk management. Just understanding how the insurance industry prices and sells their product has allowed us to save client $50,000 in one year.  A properly  handled claim can mean thousands of dollars difference in your pocket.
Then there is disaster planning – and recovery.  Natural and man-made events have been ever present in the news.  How do you handle a flood, a fire,  an accident, heaven forbid another terrorist event.  When something happens it is the property manager who will be center stage.
Then there is the everyday stuff.  There is marketing – brochures, newspaper ads, web pages.
There is actually taking care of the customers – the life blood of our industry, that we are notoriously behind the curve.  In no other industry is the customer (tenant) treated with such animosity by the service provider(landlord).  Where other industries will bend over backward to make a client feel important, many of us treat our tenants as a number – 3b has another problem.
But the list goes on.  Your management team also needs expertise in contracts and contract law, negotiations, construction, maintenance, Human Resources, Employment law, Landlord tenant law.
So how do we make sure that  all of these things are happening with our real estate investment?  The key is having a system.  The most difficult thing in property management is consistency.  What investors are looking for is a consistent cash flow.  By having a system of planning, executing and evaluating the results you can achieve that goal.  Tried and true procedures, best practices, and education all working together in a proven system is the secret to long term success.

It’s the wireless revolution (wireless fidelity, or WiFi, lets users connect to the Internet at high speeds without cables) and everyone’s getting behind this high-tech phenomenon.  But, we’re not just talking laptops and PDA’s anymore.  “Wi-Fi compatible” is starting to become a common description in more product specifications – like appliances, cell phones, printers, and stereos – as the technology is also used to connect such devices remotely.  Therefore, it’s no surprise the astounding number of businesses, such as Starbucks, that are becoming public Wi-Fi hotspots as a means to attract customers. Sunrise Management & Consulting, a third-party property management company headquartered in New York’s Capital Region, is one of these businesses embracing this hot commodity by adding wireless access to its amenity package.
For Sunrise Management & Consulting, the idea of creating a wireless community for its residents was spawned by several contributing factors.  Although the accelerated popularity of wireless technology played an important part, there were other factors that sparked the idea over a year ago.  The initial idea was to add some sort of high-speed Internet access since the Capital Region was quickly growing into a high-tech area, commonly referred to as “Tech Valley” by national business publications.
The initial idea originated from the various practices associated with Sunrise’s customer-driven, value-added philosophy.  The company constantly looks at the needs of the market and its existing residents for ways to enhance its properties.  According to Sunrise Management’s President Jesse Holland, it’s important to know who the renter is. The demographics of the typical apartment renter have changed so it’s not just college students and singles anymore.  There are a growing number of affluent professionals in the mix now. “The high-tech companies in this area are grooming tech-savvy employees so it’s important to keep pace with them,” Holland said.
Sunrise Management & Consulting also has an intimate understanding of the multi-family rental market in the northeastern part of the United States through its bi-annual market reports.  The company researches multi-family rental markets for competitive analysis and publishes the data for public use.
“Because of our Sunrise Rental Market Reports, we have an excellent understanding of what we’re competing against, as well as emerging industry trends,” Holland said.  “Our last report revealed an increased use of concessions, which could indicate that potential residents are shopping around more – all the more reason to be competitive with amenities.”
During discussions with different Internet service providers, Sunrise Management & Consulting was approached by Tech Valley Wireless, a wireless Internet service provider that provides wireless infrastructures to residential communities.  Tech Valley Wireless is a subsidiary of WiFiFee, LLC, which created the WiFiFee billing software that enables users to use their WiFi accounts at over 400 locations nationwide.
“Tech Valley Wireless’s presentation really opened our eyes to wireless,” said Sunrise Management’s VP of Operations Keith Flores.  “The wireless option had much more to offer than the traditional wired broadband connections.”
First, the cost to residents for Internet service is less expensive than competing broadband providers.  Plus, subscribers have access at over 400 WiFi hotspots in the U.S. with no roaming charges.
Secondly, with a wireless infrastructure, the benefits go far beyond just high-speed Internet access.  It creates a wireless community where residents can have wireless connectivity with their devices free of charge, or to the Internet with a paid subscription, in their kitchen, by the pool, or anywhere on the property.  With the proliferation of a new breed of wireless products in the marketplace, this was an important benefit to Sunrise Management & Consulting so it could accommodate residents who owned such WiFi compatible devices.
Furthermore, the wireless infrastructure is added with minimal physical change to the property. It entails an antenna connected to an ISP, which is mounted at a high point, usually on top of a building. The antenna beams a signal on a Federal Communications Commission radio spectrum to a user’s antenna that feeds it to a computer.
And lastly, with this specific Tech Valley Wireless program that Sunrise Management & Consulting chose, there are no out-of-pocket costs and Sunrise will receive 5% of the revenues generated from the Internet subscriptions.  Tech Valley Wireless customizes every contract according to the needs of the property owner or manager. Some of the other options presented included a higher upfront cost with a higher percentage of revenues received, or including Voice over IP, an inexpensive way to route phone calls over the Internet.  In the end, this is the program that suited Sunrise’s goals the best.
“Our primary goal from this partnership is to add another amenity as a benefit for our residents and differentiate the property with a competitive edge,” said Holland.  “We’re excited about this venture and look forward to continuing our efforts to provide new and innovative ways to meet the demands of the rental market.”