Top Challenges for Multi-Family Properties

Apartments, condominiums, and other multi-family properties remain popular housing choices, especially in urban areas. Maintaining and managing these properties can quickly become overwhelming for owners and property managers. Owners and managers must deal with these challenges appropriately for their tenants' comfort, satisfaction, and safety.

The top challenges for multi-family properties can be extensive, from tenant relations to maintenance, repairs, and legal compliance. The following represent some of the top challenges for owners and property managers.

Tenant Turnover and Related Issues

While tenants are the lifeblood of multi-family properties, managing them comes with several challenges. Multi-family dwellings may experience higher turnover than other rental properties, which creates more work sourcing new tenants.

Screening new tenants can become complicated unless owners or managers streamline it to an organized process driven by industry best practices. A more informed and thorough screening process can result in tenants that pay on time, stay longer, and take better care of their units.

Existing tenants may have repair requests, complaints, and other issues. Owners and property managers need a system to respond promptly and address requests effectively and efficiently to keep tenants satisfied.

Maintenance and Repairs

As the number of units managed increases, so does the amount of maintenance and repair work. The workload can become a significant challenge, and property managers must be responsive to resolve any issues quickly. Keeping tenants happy requires regular maintenance and staff that can make repairs promptly.

Repairs and maintenance involve the entire property, not just the housing units. For tenants with a flooded front or back yard, water can seep into the unit and damage belongings. Tenants don’t generally appreciate having to wade through a few inches of rainwater to get to and from their car on the property.

Standing water on the property after a rain storm can become a breeding ground for mosquitoes, creating a nuisance and potential health hazard for tenants. Regular maintenance of the property’s stormwater management system, including catch basin maintenance, can prevent water-related damage and keep paved areas of the property safe and functional.

Collecting Rent

Collecting rent each month from multiple tenants can present challenges, especially if you have tenants that regularly pay late. Late or missed rent can create cashflow problems for the property owners, negatively impacting tenant relationships. Tenants may want to make their monthly rent using various payment methods, and owners and managers may need to be flexible to ensure they can receive payments reliably and timely.

Many requirements dictate how owners and property managers must collect rent payments, establish security deposits, assess late fees, and evict tenants. Staying up to date on the requirements and any changes, and staying in compliance with each, can become challenging.

Security

Top challenges for multi-family properties include vulnerability to various security threats, even more so than single-family homes. Multi-unit properties attract burglars and thieves who attempt to steal valuables from common areas, individual units, and tenant vehicles.

Vandalism, malicious destruction, and other property damage may occur and can deter prospective tenants if not prevented or immediately addressed. Examples include graffiti, building damage, broken windows, trampled or otherwise damaged landscaping, and other forms of damage to common areas. Buildings with inadequate security, especially in high-crime areas, can expose tenants to more violent crimes, such as robbery, assault, or worse.

One of the more recent challenges is cybersecurity threats. Owners, property managers and tenants can experience hacking, data breaches, and other forms of cybercrime.

Marketing and Advertising

High competition is just one of several top challenges for multi-family properties when marketing and advertising their properties. Standing out requires some differentiation, which can be challenging.

Tenant priorities change over time as renter demographics evolve, and owners and property managers might struggle to keep their property’s amenities and features relevant. Younger renters may value an on-site gym or co-working space, while an older renter demographic might desire accessibility and medical facilities within the immediate area.

Building Renovations and Upgrades

To maintain value and appeal to renters, multi-family properties require regular upgrades and periodic renovations. The cost of the improvements presents one challenge, while the need to balance the costs with the ability to keep rents affordable presents another challenge. If rents are too high, owners and managers risk having vacant properties. In contrast, too-low rents can negatively impact cash flow and provide insufficient funds to maintain the property adequately.

The mode of advertising and marketing presents another challenge, as younger renters rely on something other than traditional channels like radio or print rental ads. Social media and other digital marketing and advertising are the mainstays that appeal to younger renters. Property owners and managers must know which marketing and advertising types appeal to their renter demographic and prepare to invest time and money into digital and social media strategies.

Community Management

To create and maintain a positive living environment, multi-family properties must engage in effective community management. A diverse tenant population, poor communication, and other issues can contribute to problems between tenants and with tenants and owners or the property manager. It is essential to balance the conflicting needs and priorities of various tenants. Owners and managers must communicate well with tenants to manage maintenance and repair work effectively and minimize tenant disruptions.

Tenants may become involved in conflicts requiring sensitivity and professionality while still maintaining community policies and rules. Management may need to use tools and services such as online portals to efficiently handle tenant requests, online rent payments, and other tenant needs.

Environmental Sustainability

Tenants today place more importance on environmentally sustainable housing. Property managers and owners may need to perform repairs, upgrades and audits to improve their properties to meet these preferences. Older buildings present challenges in reducing energy consumption without spending on updated lighting fixtures and energy-efficient appliances and equipment.

Water management and usage is another challenge, which may require drought-tolerant landscaping and water-efficient fixtures in each unit. The choice of environmentally conscious building materials that do not have significant environmental impacts to create or dispose of can become an important feature for some tenants.

Catch-All Can Help Manage the Challenges

As demand increases, top challenges for multi-family properties mean it’s more important than ever to recognize and address the management and maintenance challenges. Staying on top of it all can become highly challenging and complex.

When you need assistance to create a safe, sustainable, and compliant living space for your tenants, contact CatchAll Environmental to find out how our catch all system can provide effective, innovative, and cost-effective solutions. We help owners and property managers bring poorly maintained or ineffective stormwater systems into high-performing, environmentally protective, and compliant systems.

Our team at Catch-All Environmental will show you how to get the results and expertise you need at a price that doesn’t hurt your bottom line. Contact Catch-All today!