Resident Complaints & Respecting Building You Call Home

I’ve been in property management my entire career, which is now exceeding 15 years.  The majority of my career has been spent working at Class-A (aka high-end/luxury) buildings.  The rent for Class-A buildings are the highest one would find for that general area.  In addition, there is a thorough application process involving but not limited to a detailed credit/background check and income/employment verification to live here.

I’ll admit that I’m quick to critique buildings that I’m not employed at.  For example, I have a friend that lives in a high-end building located in Edgewater, NJ.  Every time I enter his building my eyes automatically start to scan the entire area ranging from the slightest detail to major renovations.  Over the last 12 months, his building renovated the lobby, amenities, and hallways; all of which don’t impress my friend as he believes that money should be spent on renovating apartment interiors.  When he tells me how much the monthly rent is, I have a difficult time disagreeing with him.  He’s been a resident since the building opened in 2004 and LOVES sharing his opinions on the management company with me.  However, over the last 12 years, every opinion has been negative.  If I feel he has a valid point, I’ll advise that he shares his opinions with the manager.  His response “there’s no point because they won’t respond.”

All of my friends and family that rent apartments will call me to complain about something going on with their apartment.  Similar how a doctor or lawyer in the family is entitled to give free advice to those they know.  One of the audiobooks that I listen to over and over is “The Success Principles” by Jack Canfield.  In the audiobook, Mr. Canfield makes a valid point when he talks about how people love complaining, but say it to the wrong people.  These are people that can’t do anything to fix their problem and the complainer will get the same result if talking to the wall.  I always tell my friends and family that come to me with their complaint to find the person in the management office that takes the time to hear your problem.  Therefore, if my friend listed above is telling the truth about getting no response after numerous attempts, he needs to take it to the next level of management.  TRUST ME, managers in customer-focused industries, DO NOT like hearing from their direct boss in regards to a customer complaint.  Although bypassing will always happen, with that “same” customer, it’s best to control the complaints that you do have the first option to fix.

Last week, back at my friend’s building in Edgewater, I saw something that really aggravated me while walking to his apartment from the elevator.  It was located outside one of the apartment doors and caused me to stop dead in my tracks.  I took pictures with my phone as “evidence” to show my friend, assuming this had to be driving him crazy each time passing it.  Here they are:

However, he knew NOTHING about the emblem and he passes this apartment every single day.  Furthermore, after showing him the pictures, his exact words were “yeah, so what’s the big deal?”  I didn’t want to get into a heated debate and dropped the subject, but deep down I felt it wasn’t right.  Am I wrong to believe that hanging something on the wall OUTSIDE your apartment is classless???  Where is the common sense of this resident?  It’s safe to assume that management has no idea about this, because you’ll find this against the community rules no matter where you live.  Imagine if every single resident decided to hang something outside their front door….   This newly renovated, peaceful hallway would become a major eye soar for current residents along with those looking to move there.  The only way I might find something like this acceptable was seeing it hung on the actual door for maximum of 3 days during 4th of July holiday.

Here is another situation that I have difficulty seeing at luxury buildings:

Again, what makes someone believe that putting your shoes outside your door is acceptable in a rental building?  I remember going to my sisters apartment years ago and seeing her shoes outside the front door.  “They are wet because of the snow” she said.  I had her look down the corridor and imagine everyone having their shoes outside the door.  She agreed that it would definitely make the hallway look TACKY and brought the shoes inside.  I’m extremely thankful to have never been in a situation where a resident left their shoes outside which were then stolen.  Watch it now happen soon and with no surprise they blame management for it……