Multifamily Women® Podcast
The Multifamily Women® Podcast explores insightful discussions on the importance of not only elevating women in leadership but also becoming mentors and helping shape the future of the Multifamily industry. As technology advances at rapid pace, you will hear from top experts on the ever-evolving roles women play in multifamily organizations, how they got started in the industry, roadblocks they’ve faced along the way, and what they’re doing now to build and strengthen their current organizations.
Multifamily Women® Podcast
The Digital Transformation of Apartment Listings with Marcia Bollinger
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On today's episode of the Multifamily Women® Podcast, Marcia Bollinger, Senior Vice President of Apartments.com, takes us on a captivating journey through her remarkable four-decade career in the multifamily housing industry. Marcia reveals how she accidentally discovered her passion for the field right out of college and played a pivotal role in shifting apartment listings from print to digital.
This episode explores the evolution of consumer behavior and how online information empowers potential renters to make more informed decisions. Marcia's story illustrates the dynamic changes in the industry and the continuous need to adapt to meet consumer demands.
We delve into the multifaceted paths to success within the multifamily industry, with a special focus on the importance of empowerment and community. Marcia and I discuss the unique challenges women face and the invaluable support that comes from a collaborative mindset, especially highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We share personal experiences and emphasize how horizontal growth—gaining knowledge across various roles—can be just as fulfilling as vertical progression. This discussion underscores the importance of continuous learning, embracing change, and fostering a supportive network for women in multifamily leadership.
Marcia also gives us a sneak peek into the innovative developments at Apartments.com, including the integration of the build-to-rent space and Homes.com. We talk about the importance of providing detailed unit-level information to prospective renters, making their decision-making process more efficient.
Learn about the strategic efforts and forward-thinking leadership at Apartments.com, which dedicates significant resources to research and identifying emerging trends, ensuring that both consumers and industry professionals are well-supported and informed.
Connect with Multifamily Women®:
Multifamily Women® Summit: https://multifamilywomen.com/
Carrie Antrim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrieantrim/
Be a Guest on the Podcast or at the Summit: https://apps.multifamilywomen.com/speakingrequest
Multifamily Women® Leadership Series: https://apps.multifamilywomen.com/join
Welcome back to another episode of the Multifamily Women's Podcast. We are so excited to have Marsha Bollinger, senior Vice President of Apartmentscom, here with us today. Marsha, it's so good to see you.
Speaker 2Thank you for having me. As always, it's a pleasure with this group of fabulous, smart people to share some insight and talk about what's going on in the multifamily industry.
Speaker 1Yeah, we're so excited, and so tell us a little bit about yourself. I know a lot of people already know you, but tell us about your career, where you started and how you got into multifamily.
Speaker 2Oh, gosh, you know I love that question, thank you, it's always interesting and I ask a lot of people that same question. It seems like almost everybody that's in multifamily didn't really plan on that in their life. You know. They thought who knows what I'm going to be, or I tried something else. But once I landed in multifamily I ended up sticking with it and staying there and it's kind of one of those things where you think, well, what's the bottom line, what does it boil down to? And I always say you know, we house people, we house Americans, we provide housing, which is kind of one of the things everybody needs, right? You got to have food, you got to have a place to sleep. So I got into multifamily very young.
Speaker 2I've been in this business, as I say, this fun and amazing business, over four decades, so 40 years. I got into it right out of college and was one of those people who said, okay, I need a job. I got my degree, what am I going to do? And I went to work for a property management company that built properties and leased them up and then sometimes kept them, sometimes sold them. That has remained kind of the same in our industry.
Speaker 2When I was really young, I was approached to come up with a way to try to connect an apartment community with a consumer Like how can we get information out there to consumers to rent our apartments and went to work back in the day for a publication it was apartment guide and we just started putting them all across the country. We started in the central part of the United States in the 90s and put these publications out that consumers would pick up and look up information about their living situation. You know, what do I want to have? What's important to me? Do I have a pet? Do I need to be close to work? And it has evolved through the years to more of a digital basis, to more of a digital basis, and I was actually part of the very first internet listing service in the United States.
Speaker 2Wow, moving, yeah, content and information to what was called in the 90s. Let's put our information about these apartment communities on this thing called the World Wide Web. Right, we don't really know what it is, but people are talking about it and they're going there for information. We want to put apartment information on this World Wide Web and literally we sat down around the table and said what should we put on there?
Speaker 2Like you know driving directions to get there, information about our floor plans, what are our office hours, what's a little bit about our community. Back in the day we called it the romance paragraph, but it was what do we have that's different or what do we do at this property that is maybe different than one two miles down the road? So we basically put all that information on the web and it was with a company that I had a great running career in print and publications and then went to what was movecom. Back in the day it was called an apartment Spring Street home store. We had a lot of different names back back then. We could change stuff a lot. It didn't affect.
Speaker 2Yeah, back then we could change stuff a lot. It didn't affect, yeah, but we started this internet listing service and literally put content up on the web and learned how to monitor it, learned how to change it, learned how to get it outStar, which is apartmentscom, after having, I think, 14 years at Apartment Finder, where we had print and we had digital and we worked both of them in tandem so that we could, you know, improve the way and the methodologies that we share content with consumers and then just to share at apartmentscom. We've taken it to many, many levels and it's been quite a journey. A lot of times people ask well, how in the world did all this start? How did we really get started making sure that a consumer knew information about our property? And it was. It was literally a group of people who had a passion for it and an interest in that journey. And just to share a little bit more about apartmentscom and why, I feel like you know the 15 years. Well, let's see 2015. Yeah, it's been 10 years. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2When they came in, they said let's move it to a whole nother level. We want to really study consumer behavior. We want to do these sessions where we sit around a table with some on-site managers and ask them what really helps you get a prospect from walking in the door to actually leasing an apartment. And I would say one of the biggest things that has made a difference is keeping up with the consumer demand of what they want. Keeping up with the consumer demand of what they want make it easier for them to get information about a property and they will in fact go there and lease. And I'll share kind of an interesting fact that I've seen through the years is really trying to change and facet the information that's on the web where a consumer can actually grab it, look at it, figure it out and go.
Speaker 2And the fact is, in the day, back in the day, 20 years ago, a consumer might look at 5, 10, 15 properties before making a buying decision. Now that has narrowed down to one, maybe two. They'll look at one or two because they've already looked at all the information and they know what they want in the place that they live. They know if they have a cat or a dog right, do I have a pet? Do I want my car in a garage? Do I need a stainless steel sink? Am I going to go to the pool? And they really kind of help pre-qualify themselves on their journey of looking for information about an apartment community. And it's actually been better right for our on-site teams because they don't have to work as much at sifting through the prospects. Now they can focus on their own resident retention, their own customer service and things like that. But that's one of the things I wanted to make sure and share today, because it's one of those things that really is totally different than it was 20 years ago.
Speaker 1Yeah, and that's so awesome, and I feel like having been one of the first to really think about how do we market on the web, right, I feel like that's put you in a space where you can be on the forefront of anticipating what's next, which is really awesome. It sounds like you've been doing that for apartmentscom.
Speaker 2Oh for sure, and it comes from well. I'll say two places. A, we've got to do what consumer demand is, what the human person, the people do, but then the technology that has to go in underneath it. We have to build it so they will show up right. You have to build what they want to see, so the technology goes in tandem with what you know the person, the human demand is. We've got to make sure the technology can merge in and fit so it takes well, it takes a village. One of my favorite sayings in multifamily is it takes all facets of areas of expertise to really make it a successful experience.
Speaker 1Absolutely. And what is Apartmentscom working on for that future forward kind of thinking, innovative space that you're excited about?
Speaker 2Well, there's several things, a couple of things that I will say have evolved over the last oh I don't know 18 months to two years is that there's, and we know this and we've worked towards it. But there's different types of apartment living in the world today, and I want to start with the fact that nine years ago we had Jeff Goldblum, who's known as Brad Bellflower, on our industry, but we had him come in and take information about living in an apartment, whether you're a student or you're a senior, or you're a young married couple or you're a family with kids. He's gone out to the world and we've kept him around now every year after year. He originally was just going to come in for a year, but he said I love these apartment people. You're all so nice and you house Americans and you make it kind of cool to live in an apartment. So he stuck it out with us and said, yeah, let's, let's continue to to show what has changed and what has evolved over time.
Speaker 2And it's really kind of taken our entire apartment industry from you know, just the plane, whatever, to it's a lifestyle by choice or it is. You know, it could be a full life circle. You start when you're in college, then you get your first job. You move up to a one bedroom and then you have a family and a pet, you may get a two bedroom job. You move up to a one bedroom and then you have a family and a pet, you may get a two bedroom and maybe you go into home buying. You come back when you're a senior to multifamily living.
Speaker 2So it's this life cycle and I feel like the credibility factor of living in an apartment has risen substantially due to how we market it and how he handles it. So I put that as one thing in there that I will say is commanding change and stuff that we all have to keep up with. Yes, other thing is, I think, just to hats off to the onsite teams in America. They really drive the financial health of all of our industry because if they can get a hat on a bed, so to speak, they get that rent roll going. Then everybody gets paid, as that's why I put it in there, they are really the financial health of our business because owners and managers get paid, asset managers get paid, the bank and financial institutions get paid, on-site teams, the management companies, headquarters, supplier partners and if there's success at that very first point in our industry, then it really helps for the betterment of the entire multifamily business.
Speaker 1Yeah, we talk about that a lot here at Multifamily Leadership. We talk about the importance of that sales role, that on-site team, as being the front runners. You know the face of everything that kicks off exactly what you just said. So I love that you see that and you see the benefit for that group as well. So being as successful as you've been in your career for that group and for any group really of our listeners what is some advice that you have for women who are trying to escalate their career or grow in this industry? What would you say would be the best advice you could give them?
Empowerment and Support in Multifamily
Speaker 2I'd love that question too. You know there's a couple of things I'm a big believer in. There's more than one way to get at any result, so it used to be. There's more than one way to skin a cat, but it's that there's multiple ways or journeys or methodologies that people use, or step-by-steps, day-by-day, and as long as it gets you what you need in your career or your day-to-day job, I think that's good. So I love the fact that there's multiple kind of journeys that different people can take and still reach success, because everybody's got a different story and it feels like since COVID it's become more and more apparent. Everybody's got their own way to do things. Everybody's got a different story to tell. Everybody has a different challenge. So that's one of the things that I think is important.
Speaker 2I also believe it takes a village that it takes multiple people to get a job done, not only at the property level, but every level of multifamily. One person we're not a one man team right, it takes multiple people. So I say be open to the fact that there are many different strategies to get something done, and you have to open up your mind to new ways, especially in the world today. We don't do it the same way we did it 10, 15, 20 years ago. So you know, stick to the fight.
Speaker 2Even if you don't like the way something's going on right now, stick to the fight. It's going to change. And be open to adapting to changes on the fly, because you can be in the business a long, long time and still learn new things. I love it that almost everybody I know now all the conversations are leading to change. And how can we adapt to the changes? How can we just turn on a dime with all this crazy new stuff that's going on in our business? And I think if you're open to it and you're not, you know, intimidated or scared of it, but you're more embracing, so to speak, of that, I think that that's really some good advice as well.
Speaker 1I think that's really good advice and I think one of the reasons people stay in multifamily for so long is that adaptability I feel like a lot of us that's been my journey personally too is how, you know, we've tried the management side, We've tried the supplier side, We've kind of dabbled in all the different spaces and we see where we fit, and the fact that our industry really allows for that and you know, I've never burned a bridge along the way. Everybody's been completely thrilled to see that I've found my space. And, you know, I just think the way that we all support each other, regardless of where we end up, I think that's why people stay in this industry.
Speaker 2No, you're right, and it's been a passion of mine, I'd say for probably 20 years, of helping other women in our industry with whatever journey they're on, and so much so that I speak to it, I talk about it. I'll help host a breakfast or a luncheon or moderate a panel on women in the business, mostly just to help build their confidence and build their repertoire of take all these experiences you have, take the positive of two or three of them and use it every day, execute on it every day and don't be afraid of it, because I mean, this is a scary industry sometimes. You know, we house people. A lot goes on at the property. Go ahead and pound on in there, go after it, go get it and don't sit back.
Speaker 2And there's several women in this industry who have gotten this same thought process is how can we help other people now that we've taken the journey? How do we help others come up that same ladder and feel comfortable? Or even if you're not comfortable one day, that's okay. You're learning something. And one of the things I always tell women in this business is there's certain things we do to grow vertically, and we do it, and we we've all been there to help each other.
Speaker 2But also it may be a time in your career where you're you're bolting on information or knowledge horizontally.
Speaker 2Maybe you're, you know, trying something different and it's it's's not up the ladder, it's expanding horizontally to put knowledge into your head, knowledge into your experience, bank um information and knowledge into what you know or what you can present to somebody. And when it goes that way, then if you're in a stall moment or you're in a challenging time, don't worry, just bolt on whatever knowledge you can get or garner from an experience, and then in the end you don't forget it, you remember it and you can reach back and go oh, I remember one time that I was really challenged or scared or had a situation that happened, and I remember that somebody on the stage said oh, don't worry about that, this too shall pass right, this is going to go on, this is going to move. So, and I think it's hard on us sometimes as women, because we're we're fixers, we want to fix everything, we want to make sure everything is done right on time, right, right for that day, and sometimes it might just take a little longer, and that's okay.
Speaker 1I think that's really smart advice and I think you're exactly right that we pull from the experiences that we get and I've had the exact same. So I was smiling when you said that, because I'm like that's absolutely my experience. I spent some time in HR, I spent some time in training, I spent some time in HR, I spent some time in training, I spent some time on site, and having that very well-rounded experience has served me so well in my career. What felt like I was flailing at the time a little was actually the most integral part of my career, because I learned every aspect to be able to pull that information and say, okay, now I can really do my job, you know information and say, okay, now I can really do my job.
Speaker 2You know, yes, no, I love it, and thanks for being open that I think that one of the things of helping each other is when we're able to be open and honest about it or admit it. Other people will swoop in and say, you know, let me help you with that, because I've experienced the same thing and it's one of the reasons I love multifamily leadership for women in this whole group, because it is women helping women. Women helping each other feel more confident, women helping each other take the next step or stay on the same playing field a minute and then plan for your future. It's I always say, and I love Carrie and Patrick, and they offer this opportunity for us to get together and be able to share in what I call a safe environment.
Speaker 2Right, you can come there and you can talk to people about something that may have happened to you, and two out of three of them will say, oh, same things happened to me and here's what I did, and you're like good, yes, and it feels like this group of women.
Speaker 2Not only are we learning from each other, but we're sharing our knowledge with each other. Right, it feels good when you hear from somebody oh my gosh, they've been through the same thing and this is what they did and it worked. Or you're sitting there and I can remember last year learning two or three new things from people that I'd never even heard of and I thought, oh, I love the fact that this person just shared how they got into being in multifamily but also starting to get into politics, I think, was the topic and I went, wow, everybody's learning something here, even some of the crew that's been around for many, many years. So that's you know. I always put that shout out on this multifamily women's group because it fills you up knowledge-wise and multifamily, but also personally and internally, it gives you some confidence or experience or exposure to things that you might not get at other places. So it's always a must attend right, must attend the women's event every year.
Speaker 1Well, thank you for being such a supporter, and how many years have you been going to the Women's Summit?
Empowering Women in Multifamily Housing
Speaker 2Every year. I think I missed the first year so I didn't know about it. But even when it was small and it was a small group of women, I can remember we get all of us in one photo. Was this big? Now our photos is big right, yeah, but it's always been an experience of and I just go back to that twofold, professionally and personally, and you don't always get that and that I think, especially in the world today with how many crazy things are going on, it's kind of good to fill up your own personal cup too. Right, I want to. I want to feel a little bit about not so much balance, but how do I continue to add things on a personal scale while I continue to develop my, my career set and my skill set?
Speaker 1Right, and those connections that you talk about. I've heard that from a lot of attendees that have come on and told us this exact same story. They're like I've developed my go-to connections for every single thing I might need help with in my career, in my personal life. These connections are you know, you just can't get that in a lot of different spaces, and I love how. I love how multifamily women we do it a little differently, where everybody is in a room together. There's not a trade show. Where you're over here, we're over here. You know everybody's an attendee, everybody's equal. We're all innovating together. It's just. It's such a healthy space for women to, just like you said, be themselves.
Speaker 2It's just, it's such a healthy space for women to just, like you said, be themselves. Yes, no for sure, and I did. I wanted to circle back on a couple of other things, just to capture it, on what things are going on at apartmentscom that are new, because one of the newest, latest and greatest, well, there's a couple of things. So the build to rent space is in our world, a build to rent space is in our world, and then, you know, leasing in a single unit or like homescom is our newest venture out there and there's a rental component of homescom. So if people want to rent a different type of property, because the world has expanded, there's a lot of different things out there. Because the world has expanded, there's a lot of different things out there we CoStar, our parent company, has put forth a lot of energy and effort and millions and millions and millions of dollars around the home space in real estate and it's been quite a great experience for us and we are making sure that if you're one of our customers, you're also going to get some exposure on homescom and people go oh, you know, some homes are for sale, some are, some are for rent. So putting you know content is king in the in the Google world. So content is king and I'm just. I'm always proud of how our company approaches something like this and make sure that it's for the good of the world or the good of consumers or the good of people. And our latest homescom initiative has just taken off rocket fire to help consumers out there, so I didn't want to forget that.
Speaker 2Part other thing is yeah, the other big thing is and our ceo is brilliant he makes sure that we do a lot of surveys and research studies to get it right and one of the more recent things has been around what the consumer wants on unit level details.
Strategic Focus in Multifamily Industry
Speaker 2So I want to live with this property because I like their pool, I like the garage or whatever, but the unit level details like what's the view from my unit or is there connectivity in the unit? Is there specific things on a corner unit versus a non-corner? And we're really on the hustle hustling to get more unit level information out there for consumers or your prospects that are looking, and it has been extremely dynamic, fast moving and really put, I think, help or assistance to the onsite people because the consumer gets more of that information online on apartmentscom. They don't have to spend as much time looking out, amongst other things, that when they actually get to that property they're like no, I know I want the unit on the third floor, if I can, that unit that's available in the left corner. It's been brilliant, it's been great. It's a lot of work, right, we're all out there working to make things better.
Speaker 2But those are a couple of things that I'll just share, that we see and that we've spent, you know, a lot of money to research, to know what our industry is looking at next. And you know you don't want to take a wild shot, guess at it. You kind of want to know. So I give huge kudos to our leadership and our organization. Our president, our CEO, our senior VPs Everybody's always hunkered down trying to say what should we really spend time and money on this year, Like what makes a difference and what will help our customer. So I'm just putting that in there.
Speaker 1I think it's. I think it's brilliant, both of those. I'm sitting here again smiling because I'm like there's that forward thinking again, because I've worked in the world of marketing. Floor plans are that when anybody mentions it, your head just kind of like your anxiety levels spike a little. I know how much work it is to get access to that unit level information, so I can't even imagine how much work you are doing and I just think it's really incredible because not a lot of people are willing to put in that work. So one, I commend you on that. Secondly, the homescom is really interesting too, because I've spent some time in single family and multifamily and the lines are getting a little blurrier, especially with those kind of hybrid product types, stuff like that. So I feel like having a product like Apartmentscom, like what you guys are working on, I think it's really smart because when those lines get a little blurry, you offer both services right.
Speaker 2Right, absolutely yes, and to help, so it makes the process easier. And you know in and I love it, because I've been in the space my whole life Almost my entire career has been spent finding ways to connect a consumer or a prospect or a renter to their next home and with that kind of a journey and a whole lifetime of it, I've seen it come a long, long ways. But the future, yes, definitely is going to take more strategy, more, I will say, finesse, because people are more demanding. I need it, I need it now, I want it the way I want it. It's got to be right, not only for the consumer but our on-site teams. They're busy now handling their renewals and their customers and they have more client servicing, resident servicing, places to spend their time, and being a part of being able to help those onsite teams across America has been very rewarding, not only personally but to many of my friends and people out there, because we work together right. It's like it takes a village as a matter of fact I'll share.
Speaker 2There's a hashtag apartment teams day.
Speaker 2During COVID, you know when everything was going on, we said we've got to honor these onsite teams.
Speaker 2In America we have hot dog day and root beer float day and chocolate chip cookie day.
Speaker 2We need apartment on-site teams day and a group of us went together and got a charter through the National Apartment Association, which is our governing body, and we have apartment on-site teams day every year in August now and it's to say thank you to apartments who have on-site teams that work hard every single day to make sure that their residents have a good place to live. And you know to play, you know they work live and play all in the same place. So once a year, on-site teams day and it's an honor that I was able to work with a group of people to make that happen and kind of one of those feather in the cap things for me, because at the time we didn't know what we were dealing with with COVID, right, but we embraced it and said, no, we need to do this for our on-site team stay. So I'll put that up there as a good chalk mark for many, many people in this industry who have helped to make a difference with it.
Speaker 1I love that so much and the appreciation for anyone on site. You know they do so much on a daily basis and I think having the eyes and having come from on site you certainly have you know eyes into what that looks like for me especially, so I think that's really awesome that you did that for everyone. And so where can people find out more about apartmentscom, about CoStar, and how would you like our audience to reach out?
Speaker 2Sure, I mean go to apartmentscom. It's got it's a great URL. You can get on there and look at different things, different ideas. People use it to look for an apartment, but people in our industry also use it to get new ideas themselves. And you can always reach me, marcia bollinger, m bollinger, b-o-l-l-i-n-g-e R at CoStarcom, and I'm one of those open book people who say come on, if you've got a question, you need something, shoot me a note, I'll ping you back or connect you with somebody who can help you. That's one of the things that I would say. Some of the more tenured people in our business almost everybody's willing to try to help someone who has a question. Connect them with the right person. If I can't answer, I'll get somebody that can help you. So please, yes, always feel free to reach out. And I'm on LinkedIn. It's Marsha Bollinger at Marsha Bollinger on LinkedIn too.
Speaker 1Amazing. Well, I'm sure a lot of people are going to hit you up for mentorship or connection. Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2Amazing Now that we have our iPhones I mean right, every day we're on our iPhones and I carry it with me everywhere. So if somebody needs something evening or night or weekend, if I'm checking it a couple of times, I don't mind shooting you a note or pinging you back. So Amazing.
Speaker 1Well, thank you so much for the conversation today. You really are just an inspiration to women and I know the summit's coming up around the corner and we're just you're going to be on stage, which is exciting, so everybody who's coming, and you know we're just so excited to have you there. So, and thank you again. Thank you again for joining us today.
Speaker 2You are welcome, lauren. It's been a pleasure to visit with you a little bit. You have such a good energy and spirit yourself. I love it. Another great, smart lady in our business helping other people and you know, together we all achieve more. I always I'm still a big believer in that that there's so many things that we can help each other do If we stick to the fight. You know, just hang in there and stick to it. But thank you for having me today and letting me share a few things, always happy to do it and make sure that this multifamily industry of ours is in the best condition that it can be. So thanks again for having me.
Speaker 1Absolutely. Thank you so much, and to our listeners, thank you again. Reach out to Marsha. She's amazing and we will see her on stage at the summit. And if you haven't gotten your tickets yet, visit multifamilywomencom. You can get your tickets for the summit and we will see you on.