IRVINE, CA—From USB outlets to keyless entry systems, the technology you choose for apartments should depend on the demographics of your renter base, Western National Property Group's VP of business development Nick Alicastro tells GlobeSt.com. We spoke with Alicastro exclusively about the newest trends in property management that are driving the bottom line for owners and investors.

GlobeSt.com: Your firm has been in the industry for more than 50 years. Can you tell us a little bit about your revenue-management strategy and how you integrate revenue-management software to optimize efficiency and increase profit?

Alicastro: We use Rent Maximizer, which is the Yardi platform for the pricing models. We've hired a dedicated, full-time pricing analyst whose only job is to monitor Maximizer; work with communities, and regionals to make sure it's doing what it needs to be doing; and making sure the data going into Maximizer is input correctly. It's best to have one person doing this, although inputting is still necessary to update the pricing. Once that's done, we meet weekly to go over Maximizer floor plan by floor plan for every single building and make tweaks where we need to make them. One thing that takes time is finding the sweet spot for the model, finding that point of equilibrium or neutrality where it literally is priced at the optimum level. It takes time to get to that. We find the best results when comps are on some kind of revenue platform. The marketplace is much more stable and not as volatile as it used to be. Most of us years ago probably would have agreed that it was very difficult to do this, but now it works out great.

GlobeSt.com: How does your company cater to the Millennial and Gen Z generations by integrating more tech-focused amenities into apartment communities within the properties it manages?

Alicastro: Yes—particularly on the newer product. It just depends on the properties and our target demographics. There's only so much you can do that everyone will accept, but we're putting combo outlets that include a USB jack in strategic locations in all of our new assets, and we're retrofitting our older assets with them as well. Everything for charging is USB driven, so that's one of the bigger things. We're also exploring Wi-Fi thermostats, and we're using Honeywell on some of them—they're easier to program and $100 cheaper than other brands. We're doing a few different features, but ring.com, where there's a camera in the doorbell, is ideal for some of our properties with residents who want to see remotely who's at the door. We're also considering using Sonos wireless speakers in some of our buildings, but we're looking at other options to stream music since Sonos is very expensive. Most of our units are tech friendly. We're exploring keyless entries in some of our communities, including a keypad, Wi-Fi, bluetooth and even optical scanners—but we're not there yet. Some of the demographics aren't ready yet to let go of that key. It's different when someone can just beam your lock and get in, so most of our newer communities use fobs—particularly for common-area access like to exercise rooms, business centers, clubhouses, pool houses, barbeques and laundry facilities. They're all electronic on our new construction, and they have been for years.

GlobeSt.com: What types of outdoor spaces and amenities are you integrating into your properties, and how do these amenities/spaces help to drive the bottom line for owners and investors?

Alicastro: It's regionally based. For example, land costs and the cost of construction, particularly in Southern California, still continue to drive higher rental rates for newer construction, so in order to build it, you're going to have to perform at larger rents. We're not building 10 units to an acre here like in some other parts of the country. In addition to interior amenities, we're obviously focused on creating more of a home atmosphere and more of a neighborhood feel within the community—we don't want it to be viewed as an apartment, but as a home. These are not residents—they're your neighbors. So we focus on building more social gathering areas, and in some cases multiple social gathering areas. Some places have everything in one hub, but we're also decentralizing some of the social areas to build smaller areas scattered around the community. These will have seating, an outdoor fireplace, TVs. The premise is to try to build an environment that brings the community together. It's harder to move away from a home than an apartment.

In Colorado, there are areas with a huge pet population, so we'll focus on serious dog parks with fake fire hydrants and artificial turf to facilitate cleanliness of the area. We have also explored dog-grooming facilities on site, bike-repair workshops—a lot of it has to do with what your target demographic is and what you think is going to appeal to that demographic. Everything from playgrounds to gathering areas for parties, clubhouses and different rooms that appeal to different ages, and massive, multiple TVs with built-in ports so a kid can plug in their Xbox.  It's market specific, but in the long term it creates more of a solid resident base.

GlobeSt.com: What else are you doing to keep residents happy and retention rates up?

Alicastro: We pay attention. We survey all 60,000 of our residents and our employees annually about the quality of living and working at the community. We outsource it to a third party so there's no chance of the information being manipulated. Then, we compare the results to the previous year and trend that. Then we write an action plan for each property on the areas we need to improve on, from either a perception or a reality basis. There can be a disconnect between what employees think and what residents think—what's important to one may not be to the other. In some cases, fixing a situation may be doable, but in some cases it's not. For example, if residents want a gated community, but the fire code won't allow it, there's not much we can do about that. We address any dissatisfaction and set up action plans with measurable goals and objectives and work toward improving those scores year after year.

We also believe in points of contact. In some other communities, the only time a resident hears from management is 30 days before their rent increase is coming, which is not idea. We try to “touch” all residents every month, so that every resident has contact with a community manager. We ask if there's anything we can do for them, fix for them or improve upon for that specific resident. Some community managers go out of their way and call each resident on his or her birthday. We try to start about 120 days before that lease expires so there's specific and documented contact. We increase the communication little bit. In this day and age, apartments are cheap, and there is a certain level of expectation people have from a customer-service basis. It's not five-star hotel type, but they don't want to feel like one of 500 residents. Our staff knows their name, knows their dog's name, and it goes back to building a sense of community and belonging.