Ashley Jenkins Career Background
What is your biggest career achievement?
- My greatest career achievement to date is when I was approached by the President of the Permian Basin Apartment Association to give a lecture to a room full of my peers, colleagues, and other industry leaders on the topic of Hoarding Disorder in the Multi-family housing industry. It was not about the topic itself that makes me feel proud of this milestone, it was about the milestone itself and all of the hard work and sacrifices it took to be recognized by someone else as a industry advocate, leader, and educator. After 4 years, I had become a person that I looked up to when I was first getting started in the industry.
When I first entered this industry I was only 19 years old, but I knew very early on that this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. If I was not leasing, I was learning; learning from my property manager who had 20+ years of experience, and due to my hunger for knowledge, my coachability I was promoted to an assistant within my first 6 months. I soon realized that I wanted to become more and use what I learned to impact more people so I took a leap of faith and applied for my first manager position. All I wanted was for someone to take a chance on me and in May of 2020 that is exactly what happened. The property I was now responsible for had an occupancy below 80%, the reputation was 1.9 out of 5, cash flow and NOI were negative, and the team did not work well together. I obtained an EPA certification to further educate myself in regards to maintenance and after a year and a half of fighting for this property, I did what I set out to do. On my last day, occupancy was 95%, we had zero work orders, collected 100% of rent, and we were ranked #1 in the city of Odessa for reputation.
After I successfully rehabilitated this property I pivoted to a new company who specializes in exactly that! I was told in my first meeting with the regional that this property was a beast and that it had gone through 5 managers in only one year. I built a strong team, and after the first 4 months, my team and I made so many improvements I was asked to oversee another asset for the same company which promoted me to multi-site property manager.
During this time, I wanted to impact more people in this industry so I joined the Public Relations Committee for the Permian Basin Apartment Association and was soon thereafter elected to the Board of Directors. It was a blessing and an honor to be chosen by this organization to provide education, and I believe the challenges and setbacks were the road map to success.
In Summary,
- Property manager at 20
- Earned EPA Certification to advance knowledge in regards to maintenance.
- Rehabilitated asset in Odessa, Texas which achieved #1 ranking in the city.
- Pivoted to new company and became a Multi-site Community Manager
- Joined the Public Relations Committee for the Permian Basin Apartment Association
- Elected to the Board of Directors
- Asked to give lecture to fellow colleagues on industry issues
Given your past experiences, what event/ project or moment would you revisit and how would you go about it differently based on your current frame of mind?
- When I was first starting out as a leasing agent, I made the mistake of deciding what other people saw value in. I thought to myself, there is no way someone would pay $1,500 for a one-bedroom apartment! I realize now, that was a limiting belief and value means more than just the price of an apartment. Renting an apartment is more than just a transaction, but an experience for the renter and the actions that we take dictate if the experience will be positive or negative. I have learned a lot about creating value in communities, and if I could go back in time as a leasing agent, here is what I would do differently:
1. Ask BETTER questions and be a problem solver. Every good leasing agent asks the basic "what size? What are you looking for in an apartment home? Why are you moving?" But, I learned that if you go just a litter bit further you can uncover their true "why". For example if someone is adamant that they only want something over 1,000sqft but all you have is 955sqft, by asking a simple question like "Why is that important to you?" they may tell you that their last apartment was less than 1,000sqft so the living room was too small. Most people would stop there, but a great leasing agent would keep going. "Tell me more?" and the prospect may tell you they could not fit their sectional and their Christmas tree in the living room, so this year they didn't get to put up a tree and Christmas is their favorite holiday. Now you know there is a problem and you have an opportunity to solve it. Show them the apartment with the largest living room, take a tape measure so they are confident everything will fit, help them visualize what the next holiday in their apartment at your community will look like, and as a move in gift, get them an ornament to celebrate their new home. Not only does this build good rapport, but it shows that you care about finding them what THEY want as opposed to what you want rent to them.
2. Believe in yourself and your product. There is something that your community has to offer that sets you apart from your competitors whether it be: price, location, reputation, customer service, amenities, or something completely different. From working on older properties when I was first starting out I was I was not confident that someone would choose our property as opposed to a newer build. I quickly learned that there is a market for all communities and being confident in your product begets confidence from your renters.
3. Follow up. As a brand new leasing agent and a being a young person in the industry I didn't realize how every action has a subsequent negative or positive reaction. I learned later on that a renter typically decides if they are going to renew within the first 45 days of living at a community. After a resident moved in I never called them except when there was an urgent or important matter. Looking back, if I would have taken the time to call my residents more often to check in on them or simply thank them for being a part of our community, it may have led to higher retention and resident satisfaction.
From your perspective, what is the industry lacking to support the modern renter and how do you plan to help supply that need?
- Working on rehabilitated properties built in the 1980's has posed it's own set of unique issues. Keeping up with the ever evolving trends over the years means that most apartments have some remnants of the past decades "in" products. One item that comes to mind is when a unit has a mix of different appliances that have been installed at different times throughout the years. A fridge from 1990 that is almond in color but it will probably last another 10 years, and a stainless steel dishwasher that was installed 2 months ago. Imagine a prospective resident looking at your property online and they see the description that the apartment has "updated appliances." What does this actually mean to the prospective resident? Are all of the appliances updated? Does it have a glass top stove? And how long after they have been installed does that amenity fall off because there is a newer model out there? These are issues that the modern renter is facing when they are looking for their next apartment and some have said that they felt like they have been mislead or even "catfished" in the past because their apartment looks nothing like the model that was shown. A lot of people in our area lease sight unseen. Now how do we fix this? It would not be a wise decision financially to replace every appliance during every turn simply for aesthetic purposes, however, it is our responsibility to ensure our renters are confident that they chose the best apartment for them. This is what I did to fix this exact issue at my property.
In September of 2022 I designed and starting working with a team of developers to create a web app called "Appliance Manager". The purpose of the website is to track and maintain the appliances in any given apartment including color, date of install, model number, PO number, and if it was ever transferred from another apartment. It will also have a function to list all appliances by it's identifying features such as the install date so that maintenance can make informed decisions about preventative maintenance. At my property, the water heaters are up in the attic, if one goes out it can be catastrophic to the residents who live in the unit below it.
Not only does this provide a positive renting experience, it also allows the owner to know undoubtedly where their money for capital items have went, price apartments more accurately, and project appliance replacements more accurately.
While this may be an issue excusive to older properties with a plethora of mismatched trends, in due course, every property will eventually have this same experience. The only difference is that by implementing a system for their property sooner they can maintain the most accurate records and be proactive in providing transparency to future renters.