Smart Apartment Solutions, a marketing company that supports the apartment industry with occupancy solutions, is proud to announce the successful lease-up and re-positioning of the Cascade Ridge Apartments in Jackson, Michigan. Cascade Ridge Apartments, a twelve-year old, 216 unit community, had struggled with sluggish occupancy for a couple of years before making the investment in change with the Smart Girls of Smart Apartment Solutions. "The client came to us frustrated with an asset that had previously performed but was bleeding each and every month with a 20% vacancy factor" says Smart Girl, Dawn Ford. "With our assessment, we determined that the site team was doing a whole lot right, but they were doing the same things they had done for years and their market demographics for people who had rented apartments had changed". Jackson, Michigan leads the state in one of the highest unemployment levels, well over 11% unemployment. The property had been positioned for one specific type of renter and the Smart Girls recommended and implemented the changes necessary to reposition the community to a different demographic group. "Our plan consisted of working with the leasing staff to hone their leasing skills, implementing marketing pieces and events that were much jazzier, appealing to the demographics of the baby boomers and rolling out our Second Chance program that reaches out to those individuals facing the foreclosure of a home, in combination, these items gave the property a much different appeal", says Paige Perry, Executive Vice-President of Client Services for Smart Apartment Solutions. "Probably the simplest change was the addition of WI-FI in the community club house and marketing it as a cyber-cafe. Almost immediately, this addition starting attracting a whole different crowd" says Ford of Smart Apartment Solutions. The end result is 61 applications and 52 move-ins over a period of September to February of 2009 taking the occupancy to 98% while maintaining market rents and no additional concessions resulting in a half of million dollars of lease revenue. "I told the Smart Girls that I am making a large investment in their abilities, and my investment has been worth every penny" says the owner of the community.
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