How Do You Turn Hundreds of Student Units in Just Days?

We break down how a student housing team plans months ahead to turn hundreds of units in just days while keeping quality high and residents informed. We also share what really happens on the ground during turnover, from vendor coordination and final inspections to the weird surprises that only show up after move-out.

• What “turnover season” means in student housing and why timelines get extreme 
• Why planning starts in December and tightens in late winter 
• Pre-turnover inspections and checklists that drive ordering and speed 
• The step-by-step workflow from maintenance to paint to cleaning 
• Managing student turns plus conventional lease endings 
• Vendor scheduling realities and how long relationships help 
• Morale tactics that keep teams going
• Prioritizing safety then function then high-visibility finishes 
• Quality control through repeated walkthroughs final punch lists and staging 
• Practical tips for a first turnover season and what owners should look for 

Conversations and insights on property management across the real estate industry, including apartment rentals, student housing, manufactured housing, and commercial properties.

Questions or topic ideas? Contact us at podcast@rentpmi.com

Transcript

Crystal 0:00

You're listening to Pro Talk Property Management, the podcast where we talk all things real estate. Today I'm joined by Kristin Swanichak, Vice President and Division Manager of Property Management Inc. State College Office. She's a licensed associate broker, a certified property manager, and also serves on the Patton Township Planning Commission and the Downtown Improvement District Board. And she's got a lot of experience with today's topic. How do you turn hundreds of student units in just days? Kristen, thanks so much for taking the time to speak with us today.

Kristen 0:32

Thanks, Crystal. I am really excited to talk about this topic because it is actually something I really enjoy, which sounds a little bit crazy because most people dread turnover, but I actually love it. So I'm excited to talk about it.

Crystal 0:49

Absolutely. And I'm excited to have you here. Student housing is such a unique part of property management. I want to start out with the question I think everybody wants to know, which is what are the craziest, strangest things you've seen in these student apartments?

Kristen 1:06

Well, to be honest, most of those things would be probably super inappropriate to share. So since I can't really go into a specific, I would say one of the things that I'm always baffled by is when we come into a unit and we're we're curious if the person even left. So, you know, we'll try to call them or the parentor and be like, did you move out? Because it looks like someone got up, made breakfast, and walked out the door. So it's really that always baffles me. And there's always a couple of those during turnover. You're like, Am I the wrong apartment? Did this person actually leave? What is going on?

Crystal 1:56

The amount of ramen noodles and ramen noodles packages you see must be insane.

Kristen 2:01

Absolutely.

Crystal 2:02

Absolutely.

Kristen 2:04

Not some of the things you like to see because trust me, some of them you just would like to, you know, block from your brain some of the other things you see. Not them to eat lunch and go out and do inspections. Let me put it to you that way.

Crystal 2:17

That's a good way to put it.

Student Apartment Surprises

Crystal 2:19

For those that don't know what a turnover season is, could you explain it?

Kristen 2:24

Sure. I think the simplest way is it's a time of year where there's a large number of rental units that become vacant at the same time and have to be prepared for new residents. So essentially it is the busiest time of the year for us because you are under very tight timelines. And because we manage undergrads and grads, we are fighting a couple of different timelines. So some of our apartments have to be turned in three to five days. Some we are really fortunate and we get seven to ten days. But when you're doing hundreds at a time, it's it's a lot.

Crystal 3:00

This sounds incredibly stressful for people that aren't there just talking with you.

Kristen 3:05

Yeah.

Crystal 3:06

You enjoy this process.

Kristen 3:08

I do, which is funny because I honestly, every time I tell anyone else, you know, in the student industry and we talk about it, a lot of peers are like, what is wrong with you that you like turnover? But I like it because it is the only time of the year that the entire staff is really together, the office and the maintenance. I mean, we have lots of situations where maybe some of us are overlapping, but at this time of the year, every person is rowing the same direction. We are all working in turnover together. And it's you long hours and it gets silly, and we just spend a lot of time together and it's really great bonding, you know. And I don't know, on some level, I think I also enjoy the pace. You know, I spend a lot of time working behind the scenes and I'm, you know, working on budgets or things that kind of keep me chained to my desk. So I really enjoy being out on the properties and just dealing with the madness.

Crystal 4:06

So the pressure really brings the whole team together, you'd say.

Kristen 4:10

Absolutely. Yeah. And I've been very, very fortunate because I have amazing, an amazing team and they really just jump in. I mean, sometimes we're working, you know, depending on what the lease dates, how they fall, sometimes we are working seven days a week, and that that can be for three weeks straight. And no one complains, you know, everyone is we get a little slap happy and kind of silly at some points because we're tired, but but we're just getting to know each other on a different level, and we're all really working towards the same goal. So it's it's fun, it's strangely fun.

Crystal 4:46

So Formula One drivers and other athletes say they live for high pressure situations and they're just built to be in pressure.

Kristen 4:54

Is that you? Maybe. Maybe I have a new career to be thinking about. Maybe my next career will be driving race cars. I don't know. Maybe I do. I never thought about it that way, Crystal, but you might be on to something. Maybe I do strive in pressure.

What Turnover Season Means

Kristen 5:09

You have to be a little bit crazy, you know, to get through this. So I guess it works in my advantage right now.

Crystal 5:15

You mentioned that the turnover time is like three to five days, or depending, seven to ten days. But when do you start actually planning for that?

Kristen 5:24

So believe it or not, we will start planning for turnover in December, the year before. So we move all of our students, everybody's moved in in August. And then typically during their winter break, we do our first set of walkthroughs through a lot of our student buildings. We start identifying units that might need more upgrades than others. So they're already earmarked that way. In case this, you know, unit doesn't renew and we want to be able to put a new kitchen in it, we can, we are already prepared ahead for that. So we start those types of things early, like in December. But the actual sitting down and really, really planning is done between Sean Coral and I. And we typically start that at the end of February. And then we actually have a meeting scheduled next week with the whole staff where we're going to start already going over the timeline. We have already engaged the vendors that we need to work with, you know, to get everything done. And we'll just kind of continue working on that list right up until turnover starts. So it is something I feel like you're you're focused on almost all year, you know, on some level, some, some, even if it's something small like that beginning in December, but it's an all-year process, really. If you want, at least in my experience, to make it as smooth as possible and make sure that we're not missing anything. We just we have to be thinking about it all of the time.

Crystal 6:53

How many properties do you handle at once?

Kristen 6:57

So this is very unique here. I I would say we could be dealing with up to 40 properties at a time during turnover because we have student buildings, we have townhouses, we have some singular apartments inside of a building. You know, we have like the gamut of things. So we could be dealing with 40, 40 different properties at the same time in that little window.

Crystal 7:27

Wow. And do you stagger those? Are you like, okay, we're property A for this week, property B for this week? No.

Kristen 7:33

No, because there's no time. So basically, so the process, once we kind of get going, once we're out of the planning stage and boots are on the ground and we're working, in April and May, we do what we call pre-turnover inspections. So the maintenance team goes in to every unit that's going to be turning over, and they have a checklist that is designed for each property's unique needs, and they're looking for certain things and they're replacing things that are maybe common that we know we're gonna replace. Like they're looking at aerators or you know, just some common things, and then they're making a list of things that we know we're gonna we're going to need when it's time to get into the real turnover. So that helps Sean because he can get sure make sure that he's ordering the appropriate inventory. We're getting all the things that we're gonna need to effectively get this unit completely turned. And then as the students start to move out, we go in and maintenance goes in first, painters go in second, cleaners go in third. You know, there is a process, but you we can't stagger it because everybody has to be ready in five days. So yeah, so maintenance guys will typically just on the first day will work until they're done. I mean, it's it's rough, but they will just work until everything is complete.

Crystal 8:59

I'm honestly in complete shock right now. One week to turn 40 properties. Yeah, yeah. I think anybody outside of student housing would not have thought that. I mean, I mean, even if you're in apartment rentals and commercial, just the extent of no matter how much you organize and you prepare, one week to turn all of those units.

Kristen 9:20

Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I think this year, I mean, right now we are my numbers are the we'll turn 350 student units this this summer. So, I mean, that's pretty hefty. This is one of our higher ones. We seem we seem to average around 300, but this year we're at 350 because we have added some properties. So this will be our our biggest student turn so far. And then, and something just fun to throw like a little wrench in there. We also have conventional housing and we have a lot of leases that end in June and July. So we'll have all of that conventional stuff too, which usually same thing, those have about a five-day turnaround. And if I had to estimate, we'll probably have about 150 of those. So overall, we'll end up doing 500 individual units for turnover.

Planning Starts Months In Advance

Crystal 10:12

Wow, that's that's impressive within a week. No matter how much you plan, that's still a lot to do in a week.

Kristen 10:19

Well, because the kicker is, Crystal, no matter how much we pre-plan or when we do an inspection, there is always, always something crazy that pops up. Like it's it is we just have learned to live with it and wait for it to come because we have tightened our policies, we've tightened our procedures, you know. We've we every year we evaluate like how can we make this more efficient? What can we do? But you can't plan for the unknown and turnover, there is always something that happens.

The Turnover Workflow From A To Z

Kristen 10:55

We had a building flood on move-in day once, which was really fun. We had something, we had actually just inspected a unit maybe three weeks before the move out, because we knew it was going to need a lot of work. And then when we got in there, I don't know why, but the person had decided that the best thing that they could do would be use some sort of magic marker and draw and write all over the walls. So we weren't really prepared to activate everything top to bottom. I don't know if it was a parting gift or what, but yeah, so it just strange things happen. You just can't account for them. You know, sometimes they're like the biggest problem I think that we have, which is this isn't, I guess, totally undercrazy, but one of the largest problems that we have is everybody is all of our residents are struggling with the same thing, right? They their lease is ending with us, and maybe they're moving somewhere else and they're they're on such a tight time frame. So we get so many requests asking us, can I just stay two extra days? You know, or and that is very hard because we want to, we want to be accommodating to people, but it's just sometimes unfortunately just not a possibility. And we do try to work with people when those things come up, but it's hard for people to understand, you know, the cleaners can't just come back to another unit, you know, because we're they're moving on a time frame. So I would say that's probably one of the biggest challenges is trying to to be helpful or accommodate people that want to move in early or people that need to stay an

Vendors Morale And Long Turn Days

Kristen 12:28

extra day. And you always feel, you know, like a jerk when you're saying, Hey, I we just can't do it. But I think it's because people don't realize how much is going on on the back end.

Crystal 12:39

Right. And, you know, talking about that, are there any other uniquely challenging issues you've run across during this turnover season?

Kristen 12:49

I think that it's really just the timing and the fact that we are, you know, we can't do everything internally. We are depending on vendor partners. Counting on our vendors is really important and we do work really hard to build long relationships. A lot of the painters and the cleaners, and even some of the outside maintenance folks that we'll bring in, we've had long relationships with. But if we are, say our maintenance guys are expected, they're going to be done on Tuesday. So we've already scheduled the painter for Tuesday, but somehow we're really fortunate and we got done on Monday. Sometimes the painter, you know, can't accommodate coming early because their schedule just doesn't allow for that. And so sometimes that's that's a struggle because for us, we're just working so hard to be done. You know, we've we want everything done, and we can't control the schedules of other folks. But so that part can be a little bit challenging from time to time.

Crystal 13:46

Right. You've been through this process many times, and so have so many members of your team that you've kind of formed a well-oiled machine, if you would, a very efficient practice. And maybe not everyone else is as efficient as you are or can accommodate what you're doing. Right, right.

Kristen 14:03

I think that too, it's nice because our like the staff I was telling you earlier, I mean, we really we try to keep everybody's morale up. So we do, we feed everybody a lot, which you know that makes everybody happy, right? So we're always feeding everybody. And in the last couple of years, we started a we play a game called Turnover Bingo. The bingo cards are crazy because they have the most outrageous things you've ever seen on them. Then the people, as they get bingo, they can they win a prize. And so that's actually been really, really fun. And last year I added these spaces that were if you saw something outside of the bingo card that was really crazy, and then we, as a staff, voted on what was the craziest thing someone saw, and they got an extra prize. So it was really, really fun. And some of them I was like, someone is making this up, but they weren't actually. So, and this is also great. If you would see our group text during turnover, I always remind everybody, especially new staff. I'm like, if you're eating lunch, do not open any of the photos that someone texts you because people are only texting each other a picture if it is something you would not really want to see. Oh my gosh.

Crystal 15:17

Listen, Crystal, this is how we get through, right? That's it. Just have fun with it.

Kristen 15:23

This is how we keep our this is how we keep our morale up, you know, just each other with crazy things we see.

Crystal 15:30

But what kind of hours are are the staff pulling?

Kristen 15:34

So maintenance guys are typically working 6 or 7 a.m. they'll start. And they they during like the the real height of turnover, they could work from 6 a.m. till seven or eight at night. You know, so they they are they're really cranking out a lot of hours. But again, I'm really lucky because they they just do it, they understand that it's you know part of the the job. And unfortunately for us, we can't really hire temporary staff. It just doesn't, it doesn't really work, to be honest. So we find that it's a lot better for us. We partner with vendors. We have some folks that do some sort of handyman stuff for us and they'll come in to support maintenance when we need it. But but overall, because of how we're working with so many different apartments and different owners and different needs at each property. The kind of tough part is it's almost easier in a way for our staff to do a lot of that self, a lot of that ourselves because we are aware what works at building B is slightly different at building C. So trying to bring in temporary people or people that just aren't familiar with what we're doing, it almost would actually slow us down.

Crystal 16:42

Actually, it makes a lot of sense. Do you set quotas or expectations like per person or per property or by day?

Kristen 16:50

Yeah, so we we have the turnover schedule is sort of our guide. You know, we know that maintenance has to complete, you know, each building by a certain day so that we can stay on the schedule. So I think that's that's pretty well how we focus. You know, it's not necessarily a quota of per person. It is just we know this building has to be done by Tuesday because the painters come Tuesday afternoon. This building must be done by Monday night because painters are going to start at 9 p.m. You know, so that's really how we kind of measure our timeline, I guess, if you will. And then, you know, when the guys get in there, you know, there's a lot of things that are prioritize. Anything that's safety is first, anything like major functionality, like plumbing, appliance is second. And then we're looking at the high visibility items like the paint, the floors. And again, because we do a lot of pre-inspections, we're usually really prepared for that stuff. So we know we need to replace a floor. We've already, we've already talked to our floor vendor and we've already scheduled these.

Furniture Logistics And Standard Choices

Kristen 17:52

But occasionally you do come in and maybe the person when we did the inspection, they had so much furniture we didn't notice that the floor was separating, or you know, so those things do come up and we always, always sort of keep a buffer for those.

Crystal 18:04

We started talking about a lot of the staff and morale and things like that. So continuing with that, has turnover season ever helped you identify potential leaders or like the next wave of managers?

Kristen 18:16

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. To be honest with you, turnover is the time where you really see people's skills because it because there is no choice, right? We're all out together. We are moving on a timeline. You really can see how people handle pressure, how they handle adversity, you know, how how they handle when things just totally go off the rails. And again, I've been very fortunate because I think only I think we've lost like three people during turnover over the last 10 years. So I think that says a lot, right? They mostly everybody has really been able to do it. And honestly, I really attribute that to the team. There's been multiple times with our maintenance guys where you know they've been working days and days, and together they notice, you know, so and so looks like he really needs a night, like he needs to rest. They will say, Hey, so and so, why don't you go home tonight? Like you leave at five, and we'll pick up the rest, you know. And this happens a lot. So I I feel very, very fortunate because I I have such a great group of people that really look out for each other and know sometimes you need a break, you know. Sometimes people just go home at five instead of eight, and no one's angry about it, you know. They just do it. I mean, that's incredible.

Crystal 19:36

Yes, yeah, everywhere at once, and the fact that everybody is just working together and collaborating like that is amazing.

Kristen 19:44

No, I agree. It is, I'm very, very fortunate for that. I I can't I tell them all the time. I tell them all year, but especially during turnover, I am so grateful for a team that just doesn't quit. Because at the end of the day, I mean, you know, our success is getting these apartments in in moving ready shape, looking really good, so that when our new residents move in, you know, they're not complaining. I have a light bulb out, like my floor is cracked, this isn't done. When we move people in and they have very little complaint, we we know that we did a great job and it serves all of us. It's it's beneficial to the guys, the more you know, the maintenance team, the more they get done. Because then coming off of that really exhausting time, the last thing you want to do is move people in and then get tons and tons of work orders of things that need to be done, right? Like that was okay. That was because they need a break, they're tired. Everybody really understands that that finished product speaks volumes to PMI and it's also beneficial to our team. So they they do not stop, Crystal. I'm telling you, they go and go and go.

Crystal 20:57

Oh my gosh. And during this process, are are you out there like lifting furniture and using rent?

Kristen 21:04

Furniture is probably, if I am being honest, furniture for some reason is always our problem child. I don't, I don't know why. Well, I do, I have some suspicions. One is because none of our buildings have elevators, so it always has to be carried up flights and flights of stairs. And I think last year Sean said to me, Will there ever come a time where you're seeing the fourth floor or the fifth floor of every building? Because it feels like we're always carrying furniture to the to the tip top. And furniture is the thing that drives us all nuts. Actually, the only argument Sean and I ever had during turnover was over furniture because I insisted that we could bring this couch somewhere that he said it would not fit. And unfortunately, he was correct and it did not fit. And then I got so mad I just climbed over the couch and left it like wedged in the hallway because I was really frustrated. And after that, I told Sean I would trust his input from the future. If he says it won't fit, then I will I will no longer ask him to bring things up. So other than that, you know, it was pretty good. But furniture, yeah. We I don't know, that is just it feels like Groundhog's Day in some weird way because you're just carrying like the same love seat and the same chair and the same table all over the place.

Crystal 22:32

So it just Yeah, and then you're probably removing a lot of furniture as well that's left there.

Kristen 22:37

Yeah, yeah. And that I will say the one thing that also I find funny is towards the end of turnover, you definitely start to get a little bit of brain frog. So I can't count how many times I have come out of the Americana, like I did a final inspection on a unit. I get back up here and I'll think, did I did I go in B5 or was it B6? Like I I literally can't remember what I did. And I literally and Americana is you know steps away from our office, but I will walk back up here and be like, did I go in that unit? Did it have a couch? Like I I forget. So towards the end, you probably don't really want to ask us for much, you know, brain power because it's pretty much sapped.

Crystal 23:26

You mentioned a lot of the same furniture and carrying furniture. So when you go to do all of these units, do you take like a big truck full of furniture with you?

Kristen 23:38

No, we have so we store all of our furniture off site, and then we will, Sean or someone who else who has like a pickup truck, they we you know stack it in there and we bring it to different locations downtown. So it's a long process. That part is a little bit challenging. A lot of our buildings downtown don't have sufficient storage for things like that. So that also adds a little bit of a wrinkle, and probably why the furniture just feels like a never-ending process because we're hauling it out of a basement of somewhere else, loading it into a truck, bringing it to a different location downtown. And we're doing that on multiple buildings. So that I would say furniture is probably ironically is one of our biggest challenges just because the logistics of it is not great.

Crystal 24:27

Right. And if anyone knows anything about downtown State College, Pennsylvania, those parking is difficult.

Kristen 24:33

Yeah, and then imagine during turnover because it's not like it's only PMI doing it. You know, everybody is their stuff all over, you know, there's painters everywhere, cleaners everywhere, foreign companies everywhere. I mean, it's it is busy down here during that time.

Crystal 24:49

We're all in the same race, you know. So talking about furniture and and just the turnover in general, do you standardize things like paint colors, finishes, and materials?

Kristen 25:00

Four kind of core buildings, what we consider our core buildings downtown, they're all standardized, which is a huge help. But any everything else is standardized inside of its own community. So, you know, each townhouse community has its own. We've we are trying to continue standardizing some of that stuff, but it's really at the owner's discretion. So some of them prefer, you know, a different paint color or you know, different finishes depending on the type of property. So that part is is hard. If, and like I was saying earlier, why a lot of times it's easier for us to do so much internally because we are already used to the fact, because we're working on these properties all year. So we already know Townhouse X only uses Delta faucet. And we've been very fortunate that you know, we've had lots of folks, even from the home office, offer to come down and help. But sometimes again, just bringing up to speed on how much you have to change gears, that is that is a learning curve. So it is easier just to do a lot of that stuff ourselves for that reason.

Crystal 26:04

How do you prioritize which buildings get done first? Is it by size or by location?

Kristen 26:10

So, no, it is really it's based on lease date, right? So the move out dates on our undergrads, one of our properties actually has a May move out, May 21st. And so those obviously are done right away on the 21st. Then our grads typically move out 731. So those are all started on 731. And then the rest of the undergrad portfolio moves out usually between the 7th or the 9th of August. And as I was explaining earlier, we as soon as people move out, as soon as keys are coming in, the inspection sheets are already ready to go. And the guys they're getting them as the keys are coming in. As soon as people are surrendering the apartments, they're they're off and running. And because of that tight time frame, that's where they will just they will work until everything is done so that we can move on to step two, step three, you know, and so on.

Crystal 27:04

So it's not really by by building or property, it's more by move out date and then by by the apartments themselves when you have kids.

Kristen 27:14

So we have a team that's dedicated. There's a couple of guys that are dedicated to be downtown because that is very helpful. And obviously, if we get, you know, 20 move outs at the Americana and 20 at Foster Arms, they're going to stay at Americana, bust through those first, then move on to foster arms. So, you know, obviously we're trying to be as efficient as possible. But sometimes, you know, again, it's just really dependent on when keys come in. You know, the leases technically end at noon, but if we're fortunate and people start bringing in keys early, you know, 8 a.m., 9 a.m., 10 a.m., we start cracking right away, getting a jump on anything that we can.

Quality Control Before Move-In

Crystal 27:54

In this fast-paced time frame, how do you ensure quality control when everything is moving so quickly?

Kristen 28:01

So quality control is met by a lot, lot, lot of inspections. So Jess and I are typically out in a lot of these units repeatedly over and over and over and over again. And then when they're all done, everything is done, everyone is out of them. We strive for that to happen the day before move in, you know, because obviously the time frame is really short. So we have a schedule where they should all be done the day before. And sometimes that could be at four o'clock in the afternoon or five o'clock. And then what we do is the office staff and myself and Jess, we go and do a final walkthrough and we make any notes of things that need to be corrected, adjusted, and the maintenance are typically kind of following in behind us, or they they Sean has them stationed at certain areas and we are just handing right off a final list to them. I mean, it can be something small, like the kitchen light bulb is out, or a blind fell down, you know, things like that. We're also staging the units before someone moves in because typically after painters and cleaners have been in, you know, they've pushed a lot of the furniture right into the center of the room. So on that last day, we're we're setting it up so that it looks a little more inviting. We don't want people to come into furniture all piled up in the living room. So we stage it, you know, we make sure that it smells good. We make sure everything is clean, all the light bulbs are working, you know, we just do that last check. So, so that last day is often, I mean, that's probably like the hardest day because we're all really, really tired. But this is the most critical moment. This is where we have to be looking for anything that could be missed because we we want our new residents to move in and be and feel really good about their choice with PMI, you know, that we we have they've walked into what they expect, which is a great apartment ready to go.

Crystal 29:59

That's amazing. And the care you take for these students and their families when they come in and they see an apartment and know that it's well done. Yeah. From everything that you're saying, in this week, you're handling maintenance, um, major repair maintenance, inspections, styling the furniture, and painting. Is there anything else I'm missing?

Kristen 30:21

Well, you know, the other thing is during that week, I mean, we send out a lot of communication, you know, to our new residents, right? To tell them, you know, what to expect and what they're doing. But we're also our phone is ringing off the hook because people are maybe they're move, this is the first time they're moving off campus, you know, so they're they they have questions, you know, where where can we unload? Well, I know it says that we can pick up our keys at noon. Well, we're flying in at 10. Can we come at 10? So, on top of all this chaos in the back side, we are also fielding a lot of phone calls of people that are needing some answers. Like, I don't know how to get into my portal. Um, I'm trying to figure out did I pay my security deposit? You know, there's so many things are going on. And so we also have to have someone forward-facing that is ready to answer all those questions and guide people with what they need to be ready to move in.

Crystal 31:19

Right, because customer service is still the highest priority there is, and you're still having to offer that while doing all of these things I listed. Plus cleaning, I didn't even mention cleaning in there, which is probably and we do.

Kristen 31:33

That's the other thing too. Our staff, like we bring, we have cleaning caddies and we bring them around because obviously we have a third party that does the cleaning. But you know, if we get in there and maybe the maintenance had to come in and fix something afterward, you know, a lot of times rather than calling the cleaning company back, like we'll just do a quick sweep of something, or we'll, you know, wipe a counter down if we see like a tool maybe left a little mark there. So when I say my staff is all in, I mean they are all in. They are putting furniture together, they are cleaning something up if they need to. You know, they're they're driving to Lowe's for the 37th time to pick something up that we couldn't get the day before because everybody is at Lowe's buying everything in town. It's just like it is a I feel like during turnover, you just you just do whatever it takes. Like there's whereas like the job description is like everything.

Crystal 32:26

That's what that's what I'm learning from this conversation is that everybody working there in certain housing during this time is really a jack of all trades. Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

Kristen 32:40

And special people to do that. And I think that's why I mean back to me being a little crazy for enjoying it, but I think it's what I like

Success Metrics And Tips

Kristen 32:50

because for the most part, you know, we're all working inside of our lane, right? And it is property management, so things do come up. But you know, if you're a leasing agent, most of the time you're you're touring, you're talking to residents, you're processing applications, you know, you're you kind of have your normal day-to-day. And so I do feel like during this time, getting the opportunity to sort of see everything from every side is very beneficial for employees like our for our co-owners to grow. And I think it creates a serious appreciation for each other because it's very simple when you're sitting here in the office to be like, man, I can't believe you know, the maintenance guys didn't get all 35 work orders done today. But then when you're out in turnover and you're working with them and you're seeing the challenges that pop up, I think it gives both sides of our team, the the maintenance side and the office side, to realize there's a lot more going on in our lanes than we know. So it creates a lot of appreciation for each other, that is for sure.

Crystal 33:53

I'm gonna shift gears a little bit more and talk about the apartments themselves. Okay. What are the most common types of damage that you see?

Kristen 34:03

Common damage would be probably like scuffs on the walls. I would say it's probably the biggest would be like damage on the walls because of people hanging things maybe that they shouldn't have or don't know how to hang. Blinds are a big thing. I don't really know why, but we see a lot of damaged blinds. I mean, overall, uh, knock on wood, I feel like most of our residents take really good care of the property. So it just sometimes it's just things that have just worn out, like uh maybe flooring that needs to be replaced. And again, if residents aren't telling us, hey, this spot's like separating, you know, we may not know. So this is also something why we always encourage our residents, you know, even if it's something small, just let us know what's going on inside your apartment. And it's also why, especially with the students, that we try to do full unit to unit inspections twice a year prior to turnover because that are a concern to us. Maybe the average runner isn't really that worried about it, you know, but but it's stuff we want to make sure that we're staying on top of. It's it's pretty wild. It is. I mean, it is just something it's it's interesting because it is I like I find myself that we are talking about turnover all the time. And I think the key truly, Crystal, to our success is the fact that we are communicating about it a lot. We don't just wait till it's arrived and then you know, kind of jump in with our plan because we do have a plan that we stick to and we kind of follow, but we every year, you know, we've had growth. And so every year we we look at how is that growth going to impact our schedule? How does that growth impact how we work? You know, so we're always trying to stay in front of it. And I truly think that the key to our success, beyond the fact that I have a literally awesome team, is that we do a lot of pre-inspections. And our guys, when they're doing preventative maintenance, for example, we're always teaching them like, think about when mass turnover comes. So if we we see something wrong during preventative maintenance that maybe isn't a big deal, but we don't want to be dealing with it during turnover. So if we need to preemptively fix something so that it's off of our plate in July or August, those are decisions that we we will be making throughout the year. You know, we're always thinking about the big push, you know.

Crystal 36:32

You have to be, it sounds like so. After all this is done, how do you know that the turnover season has been a success?

Kristen 36:42

Well, I think first and foremost is what comes back on the move-in checklists or what types of calls we get when people move in. So if we don't get a lot of calls saying my apartment is a mess or this is wrong or that is wrong, I that's that's a success. I always laugh and say that we still like each other. That is a success. We're still speaking to each other, that's success. But no, ultimately it is measured by the move-ins, you know, and that is something too that after all the move-in checklists come in and they're they go through the process like they normally would at the with the leasing staff, then Sean and I review those and we look for any common pattern. So if we see that at the Americana, seven people said their doorknob was sticky. I'm trying to think of something, then we know, okay, that's a high touch point that wasn't getting enough attention. So we write that on our our list. Like we we start creating a list based on the move-in checklists that we then incorporate into the turnover. So, and I actually use doorknobs as an example because we did have that one year. One of our buildings were complaining, and it turned out because we had done a lot of painting and it was they were, they were like a little bit sticky on some of them. So, again, now it's like we recognize that's a really like a high touch point. And so a lot of times on that last day, someone's like walking through with a wipe and just wiping off doorknops because high touch points are important to people. You know, that if they see dirt on this first switch that you, you know, flip on when you come into an apartment, that little bit of dirt is gonna cause a resident to think, well, shoot, if that's dirty, what else is dirty? They're really gonna start examining everything. So we just we really learn from the movins. You know, we take the feedback and we make sure, you know, we improve on whatever that looks like. So you're always adapting. Yes, always. We have to.

Crystal 38:52

What are some top tips you could give someone for managing their first turn season?

Kristen 38:57

Okay, so managing their first turn season, I would definitely say that you need to be organized. I think you have to build a tight timeline because honestly, time is money during turnover. So you can't say, oh, we'll inspect these ones on day one and we'll do this on day. Like you have to know, day one and two, inspect every everybody that has moved out, assess damage. Day, you know, two through five, getting all those repairs done, getting painting done, getting cleaning done, you know, just really sticking to that tight time frame because inevitably, no matter how organized you are and how much you plan for, something is going to go wrong. There's going to be something comes out of left field that you didn't prepare for at all. So get yourself really good partners, vendor partners that can jump in in a pinch and just take it day by day.

Crystal 39:55

Switching perspectives for my next question. How important is student turnover for a management company? And what should an owner or investment group look for when hiring management?

Kristen 40:05

I mean, I think turnover is incredibly important for a management company and for ownership. I mean, if it's not done well, it can be more costly. Even again, for us, we get those, do those pre-inspections so we can get a very solid inventory of what we need. And then typically Sean is ordering those from suppliers where we can get a better price because we don't want to be going to lows, especially in a community like ours where everyone is doing turnover. Sometimes the thing that you need wouldn't even be in stock, or you're going to find some stuff that's a little more expensive during that time because everybody needs it. So, so preparing ahead, getting a partnering with a property management company that is planning and preparing, making those smart financial decisions, I think it's really critical because if you're not doing that, turnover could cost you a lot of money.

Crystal 41:00

Oh, yeah. We and we haven't really touched on that much. What your team is able to do in a week must be saving a fortune.

Kristen 41:08

Oh, yeah. And that's again, that we're really fortunate because Sean, you know, our he's our director of maintenance and he has a very strong construction background. So there's a lot of you know, little things that pop up that he can take care of where so we don't have to hire an outside person to come in and do that. I mean, last year, for example, we had a problem where we came into a unit and the countertop was cracked. It hadn't been cracked before, but it was literally cracked in half. And Sean was able to replace that during turnover. We actually upgraded a unit in one of our buildings downtown last year, and Sean did almost all of the upgrades himself. We had pre-planned for this, and the the residents in this case, we were very fortunate because they were moving out a week earlier. So we had that extra week, but he did everything but the floors himself, you know, well, with his team. But but because we have some of that flexibility and we have that skill, that is also a really big help. Anything that we can do in-house definitely saves our owners money. That's great. I'm sure our owners like hearing that too. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. But I do think honestly, it is really just comes down to a lot of planning and not getting too off the rails when something pops up that you just didn't expect. Because, you know, I used to in the early days, you know, I've been here almost 10 years. And I remember in my first turn, I felt so stressed out. I remember thinking, like, we will never get all of this done. Like, how is this gonna happen? And now I now it's I keep telling everybody, like they'll call me, like, Chris, I have to tell you something. I'm like, okay. And you know, it'll be like that, like the counters crack. I'm like, oh, no problem. I'm like, like I'm waiting to get shocked because I'm sort of getting to this level where it's like nothing anymore. Although I did back to the where we started with some of the crazy, I will tell you, a couple of years ago, just FaceTime me from an inspection, and I thought, well, that's that's probably not good, you know. It's not a feeling in my gut. This is not a good sign. And what she wanted to show me was in the bathroom, the bathtub was full of water, and there were chicken bones in the tub, around the tub, in like little butter containers. There was just chicken bones everywhere. And interesting. He was like, Do you think I should be concerned about this? And they no.

Crystal 43:43

I was like, drain the tub, drain the tub, mark it on the sheet, mark it on your bingo card. Yeah. That is not something I would expect.

Kristen 43:56

Very weird. Like it was very strange. I'm like, but it is, I will. Tell you, Crystal, anytime someone FaceTimes me during turnover, I'm like, okay, well, there goes lunch.

Crystal 44:07

What's the problem? But you're ready for it. You sound so ready for it. It's almost scary when you get the call that you're not ready for. Yeah.

Kristen 44:21

If that happens, I will be, I don't

State College, PA

Kristen 44:25

even know. But that is the stuff, honestly, that keeps us going.

Crystal 44:28

Well, it sounds very tired. It sounds interesting too. And fun to open up that door and not know what's behind it. Absolutely. Absolutely. So we're about out of time, and I want to change the conversation over to you a little bit more. I went into some of your backgrounds a little bit. Yeah. And from kind of your resume, it seems like you really love the state college area. So, how important is it as a property manager or leasing specials or maintenance person doing student housing? How important is it to know and enjoy the community you work in?

Kristen 45:01

I think knowing the community and enjoying the community is beneficial all year round. A lot of our students, you know, this is their first time in state college. And so the experience that they have with us, it's going to shape what they feel about this town. And I grew up here, I was born here. I I love State College. I think it's a really unique space. We are so fortunate with the university to have such a diverse group of people that come through this town. And I really think that again, because a lot of folks, this is it, this is their first time here. And your property manager, I mean, you're going to come to them for a lot of things. Like they'll come to us and ask, like, hey, where's the best place to buy pizza? Where do I, where's the closest grocery store? I know it seems silly, but being able to just help people navigate a new town and I think how much we love the town will radiate. And then hopefully people that come here will feel the same.

Crystal 45:58

Yeah, I agree. I mean, I'm not from State College. I've ventured there a few times. And I have to say it's a very welcoming. It doesn't have that, like, oh, we're locals, we're better than everyone else atmosphere at all. You guys just welcome everyone, no matter if they're there for a day, school season. It doesn't matter.

Kristen 46:17

No, that is very true. And I think, you know, obviously that is with the university, you know, we're used to that kind of transient aspect of people that are only here for so many years. So that is that's just the nature of living, you know, where there's a large university. And to your point, I feel like from the locals, everyone really embraces that. I mean, we see the value in what the university brings to our community. And it's great to have all these different people come through. Now, you can't get the label as a townie unless you are actually born and raised here. So we do hold that a little bit close. We're not going to give you that. Although I was talking to one of our residents who's lived here for 25 years, and I did tell her that she could be an honorary townie because she's been here for 25 years. I think that counts.

Crystal 47:05

Kristen, thank you so much for joining us today.

Kristen 47:08

Oh, thank you, Crystal. I really, really enjoyed this. I love to talk about what we're doing in state college, and I'm I'm grateful to have this opportunity to share about the beast of turnover. So thank you.

Crystal 47:19

The beast sounds very appropriate. I think anyone listening has a whole new level of appreciation for what you all and and other student housing teams go through during this process. I know I certainly do. And if you would like to follow Kristen, she is on LinkedIn, as well as Property Management Inc. is on LinkedIn. You can also visit PMI's State College website at rentpmi statecollege.com. And I'm happy to say that we're already planning on having Kristen coming back for an upcoming episode. So if you have any comments or questions for her, please send them to podcast at rentpmi.com. And as always, thanks for listening.