5 Questions Relocation Specialists Should Ask a Leasing Agent

As a relocation expert, you’re always looking for ways to solidify your relationship with your clients, and to help them do the same with their new hires. Part of that is to find the right apartment home. Doing a walkthrough of an apartment community is critical if you’re to address transfers’ needs for square footage, number of bathrooms, proximity to work and school, etc., but truly satisfying them goes beyond what you see; it’s about management’s attitude toward residents that is perhaps the greatest predictor of resident satisfaction.

Here are the questions to ask the leasing agent to help determine if the community has the kind of management approach that will ensure a positive living experience:

1. Do you have flexible leasing terms?

Your client company may want a lease term of 6 or 9 months, and not all communities offer this. A flexible term could also be important to transfers who may eventually be taking on their own lease; this makes it even more important to select an apartment community that, if the employee isn’t planning on moving to a house, transfers will want to call home well beyond the company’s initial lease obligation.

2. Do you allow pets?

Employers know that, especially with more established employees, a pet is critical to the family’s contentment with a move. Many accept cats, but fewer accept dogs – especially large breeds. Look for a community that embraces pets and makes accommodations (like leash-free fenced play areas and pet bathing equipment) for them.

3. Do you have an “above and beyond” approach to serving residents?

Ask most apartment dwellers and they’ll tell you that their management team is “invisible” at best and, worse, unconcerned with their issues and needs. Even the most beautiful apartment can’t make up for a lackluster team. Have a conversation with the leasing associate to get a sense of how issues are handled, how eager they are to please, and how genuine they are in their ability and willingness to go the extra mile for residents.

4. What steps do you take to create a friendly, interactive community?

Feeling welcome in a new city and a new residence is very important to an employee’s initial (and, often, long-term) satisfaction with the city itself – and their job. The Workforce Mobility Association says that the cost of a U.S. domestic transfer of a new hire renter is $22,493, so taking the right steps to ensure the new hire is content is time and money well spent. Be certain the community you place your next transfer into makes a regular effort to create fun situations that foster friendships and connections.

5. Where are you located in relation to nightlife, schools, shopping, sports-related and other attractions?

No transfer new to the area wants to feel stranded miles from activity and services, no matter how nice the community is. The ideal community has both privacy and proximity to the places they’ll use most often. Gated communities with home-like grounds, landscaping and amenities and are near the best the city has to offer will be the most attractive to transfers wanting a home that provides easy access to all a city provides.

Ask these questions of the leasing agents you talk to in order to learn more about the factors that can “make or break” a resident’s satisfaction with their living situation (and their employer). If you’re currently working on finding transfers, a community that makes its residents feel welcome every day and whose management team takes a “whatever it takes” approach to serving its residents, we encourage you to visit Springs Apartments at any of our 21 locations across the country. See our Locations tab to learn more about each community and what it has to offer.