http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204409904574350432677038184.html
By THOMAS J. SUGRUE
Suburban sprawl in Placer County, Calif.
'A man is not a whole and complete man," wrote Walt Whitman, "unless he owns a house and the ground it stands on." America's lesser bards sang of "my old Kentucky Home" and "Home Sweet Home," leading no less than that great critic Herbert Hoover to declaim that their ballads "were not written about tenements or apartments…they never sing about a pile of rent receipts." To own a home is to be American. To rent is to be something less.
Every generation has offered its own version of the claim that owner-occupied homes are the nation's saving grace. During the Cold War, home ownership was moral armor, protecting America from dangerous outside influences. "No man who owns his own house and lot can be a Communist," proclaimed builder William Levitt. With no more reds hiding under the beds, Bill Clinton launched National Homeownership Day in 1995, offering a new rationale about personal responsibility. "You want to reinforce family values in America, encourage two-parent households, get people to stay home?" he said. George W. Bush similarly pledged his commitment to "an ownership society in this country, where more Americans than ever will be able to open up their door where they live and say, 'welcome to my house, welcome to my piece of property.'"
Surveys show that Americans buy into our gauzy platitudes about the character-building qualities of home ownership—at least those who still own them. A February Pew survey reported that nine out of 10 homeowners viewed their homes as a "comfort" in their lives. But for millions of Americans at risk of foreclosure, the home has become something else altogether: the source of panic and despair. Those emotions were on full display last week, when an estimated 53,000 people packed the Save the Dream fair at Atlanta's World Congress Center. Its planners, with the support of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, brought together struggling homeowners, housing counselors, and lenders, including industry giants Bank of America and Citigroup, to renegotiate at-risk mortgages. Georgia's housing market has been devastated by the current economic crisis—6,605 homes in the Peachtree state went into foreclosure in May and June alone.
Atlanta represents the current housing crisis in microcosm. Since the second quarter of 2006, housing values across the United States have fallen by one third. Over a million homes were lost to foreclosure nationwide in 2008, as homeowners struggled to meet payments. The number of foreclosures reached an all-time record last month—when owners of one in every 355 houses in the country received default or auction notices or were seized by creditors. The collapse in confidence in securitized, high-risk mortgages has also devastated some of the nation's largest banks and lenders. The home financing giant Fannie Mae alone held an estimated $230 billion in toxic assets. Even if there are signs of hope on the horizon (home prices ticked upward by 0.5% in May and new housing starts rose in June), analysts like Yale's Robert Shiller expect that housing prices will remain level for the next five years. Many economists, like the Wharton School's Joseph Gyourko, are beginning to make the case that public policies should encourage renting, or at least put it on a level playing field with home ownership. A June 2009 survey commissioned by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, found a deep-seated pessimism about home ownership, suggesting that even if renting doesn't yet have cachet, it's the only choice left for those who have been burned by the housing market. One third of respondents don't believe that they will ever be able to own a home. And 42% of those who once purchased a home, but don't own one now, believe that they'll never own one again.
A family house-hunting
Some countries—such as Spain and Italy—have higher rates of home ownership than the U.S., but there, homes are often purchased with the support of extended families and are places to settle for the long term, not to flip to eager buyers or trade up for a McMansion. In France, Germany, and Switzerland, renting is more common than purchasing. There, most people invest their earnings in the stock market or squirrel it away in savings accounts. In those countries, whether you are a renter or an owner, houses have use value, not exchange value.
For most Americans, until the recent past, home ownership was a dream and the pile of rent receipts was the reality. From 1900, when the census first started gathering data on home ownership, through 1940, fewer than half of all Americans owned their own homes. Home ownership rates actually fell in three of the first four decades of the 20th century. But from that point on forward (with the exception of the 1980s, when interest rates were staggeringly high), the percentage of Americans living in owner-occupied homes marched steadily upward. Today more than two-thirds of Americans own their own homes. Among whites, more than 75% are homeowners today.
Yet the story of how the dream became a reality is not one of independence, self-sufficiency, and entrepreneurial pluck. It's not the story of the inexorable march of the free market. It's a different kind of American story, of government, financial regulation, and taxation.
We are a nation of homeowners and home-speculators because of Uncle Sam.
It wasn't until government stepped into the housing market, during that extraordinary moment of the Great Depression, that tenancy began its long downward spiral. Before the Crash, government played a minuscule role in housing Americans, other than building barracks and constructing temporary housing during wartime and, in a little noticed provision in the 1913 federal tax code, allowing for the deduction of home mortgage interest payments.
Until the early 20th century, holding a mortgage came with a stigma. You were a debtor, and chronic indebtedness was a problem to be avoided like too much drinking or gambling. The four words "keep out of debt" or "pay as you go" appeared in countless advice books. As the YMCA told its young charges, "If you can't pay, don't buy. Go without. Keep on going without." Because of that, many middle-class Americans—even those with a taste for single-family houses—rented. Home Sweet Home didn't lose its sweetness because someone else held the title.
In any case, mortgages were hard to come by. Lenders typically required 50% or more of the purchase price as a down payment. Interest rates were high and terms were short, usually just three to five years. In 1920, John Taylor Boyd Jr., an expert on real-estate finance, lamented that "increasing numbers of our people are finding home ownership too burdensome to attempt." As a result, there were two kinds of homeowners in the United States: working-class folks who built their own houses because they couldn't afford mortgages and the wealthy, who usually paid for their places outright. Even many of the richest rented—because they had better places to invest than in the volatile housing market.
The Depression turned everything on its head. Between 1928, the last year of the boom, and 1933, new housing starts fell by 95%. Half of all mortgages were in default. To shore up the market, Herbert Hoover signed the Federal Home Loan Bank Act in 1932, laying the groundwork for massive federal intervention in the housing market. In 1933, as one of the signature programs of his first 100 days, Frankin Roosevelt created the Home Owners' Loan Corporation to provide low interest loans to help out foreclosed home owners. In 1934, F.D.R. created the Federal Housing Administration, which set standards for home construction, instituted 25- and 30-year mortgages, and cut interest rates. And in 1938, his administration created the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) which created the secondary market in mortgages. In 1944, the federal government extended generous mortgage assistance to returning veterans, most of whom could not have otherwise afforded a house. Together, these innovations had epochal consequences.
Easy credit, underwritten by federal housing programs, boosted the rates of home ownership quickly. By 1950, 55% of Americans had a place they could call their own. By 1970, the figure had risen to 63%. It was now cheaper to buy than to rent. Federal intervention also unleashed vast amounts of capital that turned home construction and real estate into critical economic sectors. By the late 1950s, for the first time, the census bureau began collecting data on new housing starts—which became a leading indicator of the nation's economic vitality.
It's a story riddled with irony—for at the same time that Uncle Sam brought the dream of home ownership to reality—he kept his role mostly hidden, except to the army banking, real-estate and construction lobbyists who rose to protect their industries' newfound gains Tens of millions of Americans owned their own homes because of government programs, but they had no reason to doubt that their home ownership was a result of their own virtue and hard work, their own grit and determination—not because they were the beneficiaries of one of the grandest government programs ever. The only housing programs prominently associated with Washington's policy makers were underfunded, unpopular public housing projects. Chicago's bleak, soulless Robert Taylor Homes and their ilk—not New York's vast Levittown or California's sprawling Lakewood—became the symbol of big government.
Federal housing policies changed the whole landscape of America, creating the sprawlscapes that we now call home, and in the process, gutting inner cities, whose residents, until the civil rights legislation of 1968, were largely excluded from federally backed mortgage programs. Of new housing today, 80% is built in suburbs—the direct legacy of federal policies that favored outlying areas rather than the rehabilitation of city centers. It seemed that segregation was just the natural working of the free market, the result of the sum of countless individual choices about where to live. But the houses were single—and their residents white—because of the invisible hand of government.
But by the 1960s and 1970s, those who had been excluded from the postwar housing boom demanded their own piece of the action—and slowly got it. The newly created Department of Housing and Urban Development expanded home ownership programs for excluded minorities; the 1976 Community Reinvestment Act forced banks to channel resources to underserved neighborhoods; and activists successfully pushed Fannie Mae to underwrite loans to home buyers once considered too risky for conventional loans. Minority home ownership rates crept upward—though they still remained far behind whites. Even at the peak of the most recent real-estate bubble, just under 50% of blacks and Latinos owned their own homes. It's unlikely that minority home ownership rates will rise again for a while. In the last boom year, 2006, almost 53% of blacks and more than 47% of Hispanics assumed subprime mortgages, compared to only 26% of whites. One in 10 black homeowners is likely to face foreclosure proceedings, compared to only one in 25 whites.
During the wild late 1990s and the first years of the new century, the dream of home ownership turned hallucinogenic. The home financing industry—at the impetus of the Clinton and Bush administrations—engaged in the biggest promotion of home ownership in decades. Both pushed for public-private partnerships, with HUD and the government-supported financiers like Fannie Mae serving as the mostly silent partners in a rapidly metastasizing mortgage market. New tools, including the securitization of mortgages and subprime lending, made it possible for more Americans than ever to live the dream or to gamble that someone else would pay them more to make their own dream come true. Anyone could be an investor, anyone could get rich. The notion of home-as-haven, already weak, grew even more and more removed from the notion of home-as-jackpot.
And that brings us back to those desperate homeowners who gathered at Atlanta's convention center, having lost their investments, abruptly woken up from the dream of trouble-free home ownership and endless returns on their few percent down. They spent hours lined up in the hot sun, some sobbing, others nervously reading the fine print on their adjustable rate mortgage forms for the first time, wondering if their house is the next to go on the auction block. If there's one lesson from the real-estate bust of the last few years, it might be time to downsize the dream, to make it a little more realistic. James Truslow Adams, the historian who coined the phrase "the American dream," one that he defined as "a better, richer, and happier life for all our citizens of every rank" also offered a prescient commentary in the midst of the Great Depression. "That dream," he wrote in 1933, "has always meant more than the accumulation of material goods." Home should be a place to build a household and a life, a respite from the heartless world, not a pot of gold.
—Thomas J. Sugrue is Kahn professor of history and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. He is writing a history of real estate in modern America.
Corrections & Amplifications:
Home mortgage lenders acquired 6,605 properties in Georgia through foreclosure in May and June 2009, according to RealtyTrac, a real estate data provider. An earlier version of this essay incorrectly said 338,411 homes went into foreclosure in Georgia in May and June.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Sunrise
"Live as if you were to die tomorrow." - Latin proverb
Enjoy every day from Sunrise to Sunset. In the end that is what counts more than any paycheck or balance sheet. Love your job or find the one that inspires you. Life is too short.
Below please see a link to Steve Job's Stanford Commencement Speech 2005. The following speech articulates how one must go after what brings them true joy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc
Make It Happen
-Nick
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Reinvent
"Most of the important things in the world have been
accomplished by people who have kept on trying
when there seemed to be no hope at all."— Dale Carnegie
I am a firm believer that 10% of success is due to market conditions and 90% from how you deal with it. This past weekend I spent time with some friends who run small to mid size businesses. Like every other company, their businesses have been significantly affected by this horrible recession. I spent and entire day listening and learning about how they are adapting their businesses to these changing times. I am encouraged to see that success really has little to do with market forces and much more to do with how you deal with it.
It's obvious in times of turbulence that what worked before, doesn't always work in the future. You have to be willing to change course quickly or the market forces will swallow you. I saw that this weekend, when I heard friends talk of completely repositioning or re-engineering their companies because the old models just didn't work in this new economy. Jack Welsh often said if GE doesn't change faster than the outside environment then it will no longer exist.
We have significantly revamped our acquisitions process, management team, accounting systems over the past 10 months and more changes will occur in the coming months. Our goal is to stay ahead of the market. The only way that is going to happen is by changing quickly, often, and being fully committed to succeeding in these challenging times.
Keep pushing to make it happen.
-Nick
accomplished by people who have kept on trying
when there seemed to be no hope at all."— Dale Carnegie
I am a firm believer that 10% of success is due to market conditions and 90% from how you deal with it. This past weekend I spent time with some friends who run small to mid size businesses. Like every other company, their businesses have been significantly affected by this horrible recession. I spent and entire day listening and learning about how they are adapting their businesses to these changing times. I am encouraged to see that success really has little to do with market forces and much more to do with how you deal with it.
It's obvious in times of turbulence that what worked before, doesn't always work in the future. You have to be willing to change course quickly or the market forces will swallow you. I saw that this weekend, when I heard friends talk of completely repositioning or re-engineering their companies because the old models just didn't work in this new economy. Jack Welsh often said if GE doesn't change faster than the outside environment then it will no longer exist.
We have significantly revamped our acquisitions process, management team, accounting systems over the past 10 months and more changes will occur in the coming months. Our goal is to stay ahead of the market. The only way that is going to happen is by changing quickly, often, and being fully committed to succeeding in these challenging times.
Keep pushing to make it happen.
-Nick
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Value brands vs. Cheap
We hear the words "value brand" all the time, but what does it really mean? Does it mean cheapest? No. Is it a commodity that is priced a few pennies below its competitors? Not always. Could it be an apartment priced $50/month more than the building next door? Could be. At the end of the day, value is in the eye of the beholder. What one person sees as a value alternative, others may see as too cheap, or too expensive The job of every good brand in these recessionary times, is to make their brand, an affordable value proposition for as many people as possible.
McDonald's advertisement reads - "$4 is stupid". A direct hit against Starbucks and its premium brand pricing model. Does that mean McDonald's is the value brand in the coffee business? Not really. In order for the customer to derive value they need to feel that they are getting something more than just caffeinated water. Starbucks goes the extra mile training their employees to add value by creating a sense of community, a welcoming environment. Employees are even trained to learn customers names. Has that ever happened to you at McDonald's? Probably not. Obviously in this economy price is a factor, but Starbucks and other great retailers have done a tremendous job of cutting costs, reducing prices but more importantly offering a customer centric experience to their customers. That is the ultimate value opportunity. At the end of the day people will pay more to hear their name.
At Signature Community, we always strive, to provide the highest level of service in our product class. We do that with the customer in mind every day. Some of the offerings have been tweaked in this economy, but the experience has stayed the same. A good safe home in a community you can be happy in. Week after week, the economy has made things tougher and tougher for Signature, and our residents. However, our employees impress our residents with true WOW experiences every week without failure.
The results show. Our resident retention rate this year will be close to 75% (approx 50% better than average). Referrals from existing residents is one of our main sales vehicles and market place brand recognition seems to have taken off this year.
We have never positioned ourselves as a luxury brand and we are definitely more focused on being a value brand, but not by way of offering the cheapest or lowest service levels. We are doing it by offering a quality product at a reasonable price then overlaying with the greatest service level our industry has ever seen. That to me is value!
Thanks for making it happen.
Nick
McDonald's advertisement reads - "$4 is stupid". A direct hit against Starbucks and its premium brand pricing model. Does that mean McDonald's is the value brand in the coffee business? Not really. In order for the customer to derive value they need to feel that they are getting something more than just caffeinated water. Starbucks goes the extra mile training their employees to add value by creating a sense of community, a welcoming environment. Employees are even trained to learn customers names. Has that ever happened to you at McDonald's? Probably not. Obviously in this economy price is a factor, but Starbucks and other great retailers have done a tremendous job of cutting costs, reducing prices but more importantly offering a customer centric experience to their customers. That is the ultimate value opportunity. At the end of the day people will pay more to hear their name.
At Signature Community, we always strive, to provide the highest level of service in our product class. We do that with the customer in mind every day. Some of the offerings have been tweaked in this economy, but the experience has stayed the same. A good safe home in a community you can be happy in. Week after week, the economy has made things tougher and tougher for Signature, and our residents. However, our employees impress our residents with true WOW experiences every week without failure.
The results show. Our resident retention rate this year will be close to 75% (approx 50% better than average). Referrals from existing residents is one of our main sales vehicles and market place brand recognition seems to have taken off this year.
We have never positioned ourselves as a luxury brand and we are definitely more focused on being a value brand, but not by way of offering the cheapest or lowest service levels. We are doing it by offering a quality product at a reasonable price then overlaying with the greatest service level our industry has ever seen. That to me is value!
Thanks for making it happen.
Nick
Monday, July 27, 2009
The Wall
In a marathon somewhere between the 18-20th mile it is considered the wall. This is typically the point at which first time marathoners are exceeding their training runs. For a seasoned runner it is at this point when you start thinking more about how hard the next few miles are going to be (they have come out of the zone). When I run marathons or do an Ironman (which ends with a marathon), I know that physically and mentally the toughest part of the race is miles 20-22. Getting to mile 20 never seems to be all that difficult, I just plug away and I am there. But once I am at mile 20 I start doing this calculation in my head that shows I am running slower and that I still have a good bit of the race left. My head starts taking over and as a result it's taking me the wrong way.
I have been competing marathons for the past 7 years and have found a few workarounds for “the wall”. First off, since I am not the only one dealing with this issue, the race sponsors do a great job helping people over the wall with signs that read "Pain is Temporary, Pride is Forever" or "First 20 miles legs, last 6 heart". I strategically place my cheering squad (the last place you need someone to cheer for you is at the finish) at mile 20. Fellow runners are great support also. They are going through the same challenging thought process and need to get their heads back in the game. And the last thing I do, is remember why it is I am out there on that either hotter or wetter than usual day of the year. I remember that I set a goal for myself to complete the race and not end at mile 20, and that when I set goals I finish them. I remember that the race is always won at the finish line. It's these workarounds that have gotten me through some pretty tough races and it's what is getting our company through a marathon of a recession.
Our team is out there changing away towards the finish line. As with most marathons the end is still nowhere in sight but it will come. When it does, it will be a glorious sight. Until we finish this race, we must each conquer every mile and breakdown the walls that hinder us.
This weekend I witnessed something right out of a textbook on overcoming the wall. I saw our leasing team reach goals this weekend and accomplish what was unthinkable in past years DESPITE OUR CURRENT RECESSION. I see individuals performing as a team like I have never seen before at Signature. I witnessed a sense of pride and commitment to success that can only result in great success.
I have attached below a sample of the email banter that crossed the country this weekend, which is a clear example of why Signature Community is such a success.
Thanks for making the impossible happen every day for our residents and for Signature Community.
Nick
----------
Nick Jekogian:
All Hands on Deck!
This weekend is going to be our biggest of the summer.
So far our busiest 3 day period produced 150 leases. We can beat that!
This Friday through Sunday we will set a new record. Let's get out and have some fun. No time for cleaning it's Deal making time!
As encouragement I have $1000.00 to give away!
Yes I will be giving you $1000.00!!!!!!!!
The categories are:
1. Earliest lease signing or deposit.( you may have to wake up early for this one)
2. Latest lease signing or deposit. ( for the night owls)
3. The largest leasing team. (take a picture) You may get help from your residents, friends, kids, parents, whatever it takes. Everyone should wear blue shirts so you look like a Signature team.
4. Most leases signed
5. The best party. ( judged by Management, photo evidence required)
6. The most showings
7. Highest conversion rate.
8. Craziest marketing gimmick
9. Most money saved ( lease "as is" units )
10. ???? The Surprise?????
Plan and execute as many resident/prospect events as possible. Serve up more lemonade than a KANSAS barbeque. Drum up more traffic then an Eagles tailgate party. Make more noise then the Indy 500. Flyer every corner of the city. Call back every prospect. Let's top fire spinning. I want fire breathing giants!! I want to see how big you can go!
HOW BIG CAN YOU GO?• Resident referral weekend 1/2 off next month for any resident who can bring in a new approved lease. Use Yardi to email every resident.
Michele Antonopoulos:
If anything your a south park maniac!!! I guess the rest of the world has gone to sleep and are going to let you take the prize!!! Keep going Kyle!!!
Nick Moos:
WAHOO KYLE AND DT INDY!!!!!! Off and running with Crazy Kyle and the I team, make it happen!
Michael Jekogian:
I'm waiting to see the wine come out. what happened to wine and winks? or what was it? I also had a question would a midnight lease be both the earliest and the latest? So I hear there are some properties who have really set the bar high for some of the categories.
Don't go quite we all need our cheering sections as we push through this wall, and you guys have been the best. I could be watching TV but I think this is better.
Next season I will have to see if we can make a reality game show out of Signature leasing.
Help me with the script we can all be famous.
You are the best! Keep it up! Let me hear you roar!
Tom Scott:
Sorry for the radio silence out of KC....we've been too busy LEASING!!!!!!!!!!!
Just to give you an update- Kellen just had a lease just signed at
5:35 CT- unit 708 at the Plaza! I attached a pic below of the lease
and the clock here at Plaza Towers.
Here are some numbers from plaza (last 24 hours) -
4- Apps Taken
3- Leases Signed
2- Days to go this weekend
1- Unified Goal- (taking home bonus $$$)
I know its hard to believe, but in-between all of the madness here at
PT, Lorrie and the leasing office got a great gift from one of our
residents who is transferring units in the building! She brought a
fresh blueberry pie! (pic attached)
Customer Service and Exemplary Salesmanship? I smell green coming to KC!
More to come tomorrow!
Michele Antonopoulos
GOOD MORNING SCM! This is so true! Now everyone needs a redbull!
Haven't heard much since last night any late night leases? Or early risers?
Charlene have a great party today. Send pics and updates. She may come up from behind and swoop the into the game?
Tom Scott
Greetings from KC!
Michele I hear you about the red bull- I'm moving over to coffee
though now at the plaza b/c coffee is for closers, and we have had a
busy morning here.
So far we have a 100% Sunday conversion rate at the Plaza!
2 Showings = 2 Applications + 2 Deposits
More to come... I will keep you updated.
Michele Antonopoulos:
We are all past the days of the big game, or are we? Maybe the game just changed?Think about it. I've heard we can only get 89% or 92%, what I can't understand is why can't we get to our end zone? From this point on we are all blindfolded. " I don't want you giving up at a certain point when you can go farther"Don't look at our occupancy and say we are good enough. We can rest with pride knowing we made it every bit of the way after August 18th. Will you be one that goes beyond the point they thought they could. Or will you be the one sitting the bench?We all need each other to make this goal of nationally sold out! Can we count on you to carry your teammate into the end zone?Let us know if you are going to be in the game or have you already admitted defeat. Hit respond all and tell your team.
Tom Scott:
It aint over till its over! Last time I checked the weekend was over at midnight on sunday!
Kc is not done! We are gamers, and champions!
We will be in the office tomorrow while our competition is not.
Already have 3 appointments tomorrow. 1st one at 11am for the studio over at the seville.
I'll keep you posted. I will be sharing our youtube updates from today tomorrow morn.
Kyle Benner:
Dt indy is in it till the end giving it our all. We still have time to make it. We have taken our over all goal and broke it down to a daily goal. With an overall goal of 51 all we need is 1 a day to make it. We did the bus stop tour today in the rain and within an hour the flyers we taped to the bus stop bench and to the glass walls of the bus stops were getting picked up. Horns were honking making noise for us because we were doing something differant. Being differant being flexable to do a tour or sign a lease (renewal or a new lease) at what ever hour is making noise. We as a national team stand out let's keep it up and make some noise. We as a team can make it happen.
Tom Scott:
It was a beautiful Saturday here in KC. We have alot of great Flicker
footage that is currently uploading so look for it later today or
tomorrow morn!
All I can tell you at this point is that it involves Me, Michele, a
hot Dog Costume, Signature Community Flyers, and lots of amused people
in the Plaza!
We had a great day over here. Kellan just went over to Cambridge for
the last showing.
We had good traffic, 2 lease signings, 2 applications and 1 move in.
Human Hot Dog footage to follow.
Nick Moos:
Fantastic, keep dry Kyle and Shana!!!! I wonder what the reaction is when people get off the bus and see Crazy Kyle sitting at the stop. Midwest ROCKS!!!!! We even have recuited some New Jersey "guns of steel" to wow the ladies on the Plaza in KC
I have been competing marathons for the past 7 years and have found a few workarounds for “the wall”. First off, since I am not the only one dealing with this issue, the race sponsors do a great job helping people over the wall with signs that read "Pain is Temporary, Pride is Forever" or "First 20 miles legs, last 6 heart". I strategically place my cheering squad (the last place you need someone to cheer for you is at the finish) at mile 20. Fellow runners are great support also. They are going through the same challenging thought process and need to get their heads back in the game. And the last thing I do, is remember why it is I am out there on that either hotter or wetter than usual day of the year. I remember that I set a goal for myself to complete the race and not end at mile 20, and that when I set goals I finish them. I remember that the race is always won at the finish line. It's these workarounds that have gotten me through some pretty tough races and it's what is getting our company through a marathon of a recession.
Our team is out there changing away towards the finish line. As with most marathons the end is still nowhere in sight but it will come. When it does, it will be a glorious sight. Until we finish this race, we must each conquer every mile and breakdown the walls that hinder us.
This weekend I witnessed something right out of a textbook on overcoming the wall. I saw our leasing team reach goals this weekend and accomplish what was unthinkable in past years DESPITE OUR CURRENT RECESSION. I see individuals performing as a team like I have never seen before at Signature. I witnessed a sense of pride and commitment to success that can only result in great success.
I have attached below a sample of the email banter that crossed the country this weekend, which is a clear example of why Signature Community is such a success.
Thanks for making the impossible happen every day for our residents and for Signature Community.
Nick
----------
Nick Jekogian:
All Hands on Deck!
This weekend is going to be our biggest of the summer.
So far our busiest 3 day period produced 150 leases. We can beat that!
This Friday through Sunday we will set a new record. Let's get out and have some fun. No time for cleaning it's Deal making time!
As encouragement I have $1000.00 to give away!
Yes I will be giving you $1000.00!!!!!!!!
The categories are:
1. Earliest lease signing or deposit.( you may have to wake up early for this one)
2. Latest lease signing or deposit. ( for the night owls)
3. The largest leasing team. (take a picture) You may get help from your residents, friends, kids, parents, whatever it takes. Everyone should wear blue shirts so you look like a Signature team.
4. Most leases signed
5. The best party. ( judged by Management, photo evidence required)
6. The most showings
7. Highest conversion rate.
8. Craziest marketing gimmick
9. Most money saved ( lease "as is" units )
10. ???? The Surprise?????
Plan and execute as many resident/prospect events as possible. Serve up more lemonade than a KANSAS barbeque. Drum up more traffic then an Eagles tailgate party. Make more noise then the Indy 500. Flyer every corner of the city. Call back every prospect. Let's top fire spinning. I want fire breathing giants!! I want to see how big you can go!
HOW BIG CAN YOU GO?• Resident referral weekend 1/2 off next month for any resident who can bring in a new approved lease. Use Yardi to email every resident.
Michele Antonopoulos:
If anything your a south park maniac!!! I guess the rest of the world has gone to sleep and are going to let you take the prize!!! Keep going Kyle!!!
Nick Moos:
WAHOO KYLE AND DT INDY!!!!!! Off and running with Crazy Kyle and the I team, make it happen!
Michael Jekogian:
I'm waiting to see the wine come out. what happened to wine and winks? or what was it? I also had a question would a midnight lease be both the earliest and the latest? So I hear there are some properties who have really set the bar high for some of the categories.
Don't go quite we all need our cheering sections as we push through this wall, and you guys have been the best. I could be watching TV but I think this is better.
Next season I will have to see if we can make a reality game show out of Signature leasing.
Help me with the script we can all be famous.
You are the best! Keep it up! Let me hear you roar!
Tom Scott:
Sorry for the radio silence out of KC....we've been too busy LEASING!!!!!!!!!!!
Just to give you an update- Kellen just had a lease just signed at
5:35 CT- unit 708 at the Plaza! I attached a pic below of the lease
and the clock here at Plaza Towers.
Here are some numbers from plaza (last 24 hours) -
4- Apps Taken
3- Leases Signed
2- Days to go this weekend
1- Unified Goal- (taking home bonus $$$)
I know its hard to believe, but in-between all of the madness here at
PT, Lorrie and the leasing office got a great gift from one of our
residents who is transferring units in the building! She brought a
fresh blueberry pie! (pic attached)
Customer Service and Exemplary Salesmanship? I smell green coming to KC!
More to come tomorrow!
Michele Antonopoulos
GOOD MORNING SCM! This is so true! Now everyone needs a redbull!
Haven't heard much since last night any late night leases? Or early risers?
Charlene have a great party today. Send pics and updates. She may come up from behind and swoop the into the game?
Tom Scott
Greetings from KC!
Michele I hear you about the red bull- I'm moving over to coffee
though now at the plaza b/c coffee is for closers, and we have had a
busy morning here.
So far we have a 100% Sunday conversion rate at the Plaza!
2 Showings = 2 Applications + 2 Deposits
More to come... I will keep you updated.
Michele Antonopoulos:
We are all past the days of the big game, or are we? Maybe the game just changed?Think about it. I've heard we can only get 89% or 92%, what I can't understand is why can't we get to our end zone? From this point on we are all blindfolded. " I don't want you giving up at a certain point when you can go farther"Don't look at our occupancy and say we are good enough. We can rest with pride knowing we made it every bit of the way after August 18th. Will you be one that goes beyond the point they thought they could. Or will you be the one sitting the bench?We all need each other to make this goal of nationally sold out! Can we count on you to carry your teammate into the end zone?Let us know if you are going to be in the game or have you already admitted defeat. Hit respond all and tell your team.
Tom Scott:
It aint over till its over! Last time I checked the weekend was over at midnight on sunday!
Kc is not done! We are gamers, and champions!
We will be in the office tomorrow while our competition is not.
Already have 3 appointments tomorrow. 1st one at 11am for the studio over at the seville.
I'll keep you posted. I will be sharing our youtube updates from today tomorrow morn.
Kyle Benner:
Dt indy is in it till the end giving it our all. We still have time to make it. We have taken our over all goal and broke it down to a daily goal. With an overall goal of 51 all we need is 1 a day to make it. We did the bus stop tour today in the rain and within an hour the flyers we taped to the bus stop bench and to the glass walls of the bus stops were getting picked up. Horns were honking making noise for us because we were doing something differant. Being differant being flexable to do a tour or sign a lease (renewal or a new lease) at what ever hour is making noise. We as a national team stand out let's keep it up and make some noise. We as a team can make it happen.
Tom Scott:
It was a beautiful Saturday here in KC. We have alot of great Flicker
footage that is currently uploading so look for it later today or
tomorrow morn!
All I can tell you at this point is that it involves Me, Michele, a
hot Dog Costume, Signature Community Flyers, and lots of amused people
in the Plaza!
We had a great day over here. Kellan just went over to Cambridge for
the last showing.
We had good traffic, 2 lease signings, 2 applications and 1 move in.
Human Hot Dog footage to follow.
Nick Moos:
Fantastic, keep dry Kyle and Shana!!!! I wonder what the reaction is when people get off the bus and see Crazy Kyle sitting at the stop. Midwest ROCKS!!!!! We even have recuited some New Jersey "guns of steel" to wow the ladies on the Plaza in KC
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Fwd: On the Tunney Side of the Street-No quit
Nickolas W Jekogian
www.NWJCompanies.com
917 763 3500
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jim Tunney <jim@jimtunney.com>
Date: Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 2:01 PM
Subject: On the Tunney Side of the Street-No quit
To: jekogian@nwjcompanies.com
![]()
From: Jim Tunney <jim@jimtunney.com>
Date: Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 2:01 PM
Subject: On the Tunney Side of the Street-No quit
To: jekogian@nwjcompanies.com
|
Jim Tunney Associates | P O Box 1500 | Carmel-by-the-Sea | CA | 93950 |
Monday, July 20, 2009
Doing the Impossible
Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.
John F. Kennedy
40 years ago today, the first man walked on the moon. An unbelievable accomplishment for the US and our relatively new space program. It's said that the simple act of walking on the moon, has fostered the can do and innovative spirit that makes the United States the world's leading economy.
When President Kennedy announced that the US would send a man to the moon in four years, many (if not most) thought that he was crazy. He was proposing to do the impossible. 4 years later it didn't look so impossible.
So much of success is created by envisioning the impossible, selling the impossible and then relentlessly pushing forward to do the impossible.
NWJ/Signature Community is based on the basic premise that has guided my life, from when I was young. Nothing is impossible.
NWJ/Signature has done the impossible many times in the past and will do it again in the future. We have closed deals that everyone said would never happen, created a brand in a commodity business, successfully expanded into markets when others had failed. We seek out and do the impossible, year after year.
My personal life is no different. This weekend with little preparation I represented the Signature Community team in a 24 hr 128 mile relay race to fight homelessness. www.Backonmyfeet.com. I along with 4 other team members (Michael Jekogian, Steve Wissak, Uncle Nick) including my 85 year old uncle, ran for 19 continuous hours to reach our goal. When we first realized we were doing this race with 2 men short, we thought it would be impossible. But when I was out there, finishing the last lap at 4 AM with the only source of light being the crescent moon and a AAA battery flashlight, I knew that we had accomplished the impossible.
As we push to the final weeks of our leasing season, I see that same spirit I felt out there on the race course. The attitude of accomplishment, the attitude that nothing is going to stop us and that nothing is impossible. Same with our acquisitions group and their goals. We may be short a few people but the goal is still the same and we will reach our goals. Our finance and accounting teams have reiterated too that they are going to make it happen.
It's the "we can make the impossible happen" attitude, that made this company a success and will make us one of the greatest lifestyle brands of the 21st century.
I have attached below a few links to some of my favorite motivational videos. Every once in a while when I feel that something isn't possible I take a look at one of these and remember that nothing is impossible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RahJz54Untg&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSM1mvMypWU&feature=player_embedded
Thanks for Making the Impossible Happen!
Nick
John F. Kennedy
40 years ago today, the first man walked on the moon. An unbelievable accomplishment for the US and our relatively new space program. It's said that the simple act of walking on the moon, has fostered the can do and innovative spirit that makes the United States the world's leading economy.
When President Kennedy announced that the US would send a man to the moon in four years, many (if not most) thought that he was crazy. He was proposing to do the impossible. 4 years later it didn't look so impossible.
So much of success is created by envisioning the impossible, selling the impossible and then relentlessly pushing forward to do the impossible.
NWJ/Signature Community is based on the basic premise that has guided my life, from when I was young. Nothing is impossible.
NWJ/Signature has done the impossible many times in the past and will do it again in the future. We have closed deals that everyone said would never happen, created a brand in a commodity business, successfully expanded into markets when others had failed. We seek out and do the impossible, year after year.
My personal life is no different. This weekend with little preparation I represented the Signature Community team in a 24 hr 128 mile relay race to fight homelessness. www.Backonmyfeet.com. I along with 4 other team members (Michael Jekogian, Steve Wissak, Uncle Nick) including my 85 year old uncle, ran for 19 continuous hours to reach our goal. When we first realized we were doing this race with 2 men short, we thought it would be impossible. But when I was out there, finishing the last lap at 4 AM with the only source of light being the crescent moon and a AAA battery flashlight, I knew that we had accomplished the impossible.
As we push to the final weeks of our leasing season, I see that same spirit I felt out there on the race course. The attitude of accomplishment, the attitude that nothing is going to stop us and that nothing is impossible. Same with our acquisitions group and their goals. We may be short a few people but the goal is still the same and we will reach our goals. Our finance and accounting teams have reiterated too that they are going to make it happen.
It's the "we can make the impossible happen" attitude, that made this company a success and will make us one of the greatest lifestyle brands of the 21st century.
I have attached below a few links to some of my favorite motivational videos. Every once in a while when I feel that something isn't possible I take a look at one of these and remember that nothing is impossible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RahJz54Untg&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSM1mvMypWU&feature=player_embedded
Thanks for Making the Impossible Happen!
Nick
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