By Stan Phelps, Project Manager with Nexus 5 Group
I remember the days of pet discouragement by a great percentage of apartment owners not wanting to incur pet damages or deal with complaints from tenants about pet owners and picking up their poop. While the "picking up the poop" complaint hasn’t changed, the way apartment owners market to pet owners sure has.
Marketing 20 years ago for pets was easy, all you had to say is yes, we take pets and boom you had a lease. Now, you must market to the prospect and his or her pet. (Sometimes the pet can be the decision maker so have your pet treats ready.)
Apartment amenities are catering to pets and it’s a race to see who can market the best pet amenities. New apartments are building pet parks and pet washes as a standard amenity and older complexes are building and marketing them as fast as they can get them built. We've built as many as ten pet parks and five pet washes in less than a year. And we receive continual requests for pricing to build pet parks and pet washes all over the country.
Some apartment communities have started their own in-house pet daycare centers and pet walking services. It seems like the sky is the limit for pet amenities. Maybe we've just touched the surface on what can be provided and marketed to prospects. Now if someone could invent some disappearing poop spray, everyone would be happy!
