The days of just passing the new tenant a move-in packet and a friendly smile are gone. Luxury living definitely has risen the bar on expectations and standards.
I remember my first apartment lease was just a packet and that’s it. Some communities are choosing to do value-added gifts for their new tenants.
Move-in gifts are great to start your relationship with a positive fit. You will also find that moving gifts can also lead to referrals and improving future relationships. I’ve seen everything from branded swag to coupons for local retailers.
If you have thought about doing move-in gifts and are stuck on ideas, I hope that this blog gives you inspiration to change things up. It’s important to keep track of the performance indicators with doing move-in gifts to make sure you’re getting your return.
Let’s dig in!
Move – In Gift #1: Dinner to local restaurant or entertainment
This option is great for communities that typically have transient new prospects. If you find that your tenants are normally not familiar with the area, treat them to a free dinner or event from a local business.
You may think that can be costly. If you are going to offer this, I highly recommend making an alliance with that business and seeing about a discount. It’s a win-win opportunity with your community and the local business.
Move-in Gift #2: In Home Massage
For higher-priced units, a massage service makes a ton of sense. The service can be arranged through a partnership for an onsite chair massage. It can cost anywhere from $75-125 a hour. This gift will surely make the resident feel special and separate your community from their past experiences.
Move-In Gift #3: Gift or Treat basket
The key to doing a gift basket is having them specially curated for your community and demographic. It can include items from local retailers, restaurants, home goods, and some branded swag. You can have those items put together nicely into a box.
For cost savings, it may make sense to put the boxes together by the community staff. Another option is to have a gift box company to create your curate the box. The best part about it is once you put it together that is easy to continue. You can even add a “snap a photo on Instagram” card to encourage sharing and social media marketing.
Please keep in mind to choose usable and realistic branded items. The purpose of a branded item is for free advertising. Branding something that your new tenant will not use is a waste of money and marketing efforts.
Move-In Gift #4: Home chef experience
Lastly, I love the idea of a personal chef cooking dinner in your new tenant. Granted this may not make sense for every rental. It may make sense for your penthouse rental or a drawing for new tenant move-ins in a month. This extra touch will definitely separate you from the others. If you have an existing relationship with a chef, you can work out the price.
I hope you liked all of these recommendations for move-in gifts. This can be used for property management to condo associations to homeowner association to new home sales. All of these ideas can be implemented between $50-$200.
The way to save money on the gifts is to build a relationship with vendors on special agreements. Some of the best practices for move-in gifts are around us supporting local businesses and retailers. The best part is the resident can actually take a vantage of the services after their free gift.
I would love to hear back from you. What are some of the ways that you say thank you to new tenants and prospects? What is your budget usually like for your gifts?
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