Don’t fret about whether to brine your turkey or not, or where to seat your grumpy  uncle at dinner: you’ve got bigger decisions to ponder this time of year. For example: how to share with tenants as the holidays fast approach. There are so many reasons to celebrate in December, as Hanukkah begins the night of December 6th, followed by Christmas on the 25th, Kwanzaa on the 26th, and of course, the New Year on the 31st.
You may not be big on decorations, but if you don’t decorate your building or host a party, you may be viewed as a modern-day Scrooge. On the flip side, if you add too many holiday symbols (Christmas trees, wreaths, lots of tinsel, yards of lights, menorahs, and Kwanzaa’s traditional Kinara candle holders), you might be accused of going overboard.
How can you strike a happy balance? We talked with Ginny Decker, vice president of property management for Monument Capital Real Estate Services, about the strategy her Miami  based company has honed for the 12,000 units it manages nationwide. We also touched base with Katherine Furniss, marketing manager at CFH Group, another property management group in Miami that oversees nearly 6,000 units. They’ve found that the middle ground they’ve created has helped them keep tenants happier and encouraged them to renew.
Question: What is your company’s approach to decorating so building owners or property managers show they care—without making the building look like Santa’s workshop?
Decker: We let the on-site staff at each building decide based on tenant demographics. You want to have some decorations but not so much tinsel—for example—that it makes it hard for prospective tenants to see the building and sign a lease. We encourage an “understated ” look.
Q: How does that translate into decorations?
Decker: Generally, we say you can’t go wrong with simple, classic, white holiday lights that make residents feel good when they return home from work or when prospective tenants drive up to the building. Lights always add cheer.
Furniss: We take the same approach of keeping decorations simple and using maybe one color of lighting so they look generic, and maybe light the entrance and corporate leasing office. We might also put a wreath at the front door. We refer to all the celebrations as “the holidays” rather than to specific events.
Q: Anything else you do beside lights?
Decker: Because we try not to celebrate one denomination, we like other generic symbols such as snowflakes, snowmen, silver colors, as opposed to red and green, a tree, menorah, or Kwanzaa symbols. We want to be inclusive, especially since we often don’t know which holidays our residents celebrate.
Q: Have you had tenants complain about too much or too little?
Decker: Not so far.
Q: Do you also host holiday parties this time of year on- or off-site?
Decker: We do, and they’re on-site. The specifics vary from community to community based on the resident profile. For buildings with young children, we might bring in a Santa Claus for photographs with the kids. For other sites, we might have gift wrapping parties where we supply the gift paper. We’ve also organize pot-luck suppers where we provide a ham or turkey, and residents bring side dishes and desserts. At some buildings with mostly lower-income residents, we may give away turkeys. We try to find out what residents want most by doing a lot of surveys throughout the year.
Furniss: We’ll host a party in the common area of a club house or maybe on a pool deck of a building. We might have a movie night and ask residents for suggestions, and if their movie is picked they’ll get a prize. We’ll set up “Santa’s workshop” at each building with all the supplies needed to wrap gifts–paper and bows, and make it available the entire month of December. Many of our managers have been with us for years so they tend to know what works and doesn’t.
Q: How about saying thanks with contributions to a favorite charity in your tenants’ honor?
Decker: We try to do something like that during the season, or ask tenants to donate canned foods and toys so we all give back to our community beyond the building. We also let tenants know where their community may be hosting dinners they can attend.
Q: When do you suggest taking down decorations?
Decker: Usually, by the middle of January.
Furniss: We’ll take them down right after Christmas.
Q: Do you decorate for any other holidays to build camaraderie and good building morale?
Decker: We try to do things consistently year-round and in each quarter such as Halloween decorations come fall and a pool/barbecue around July 4th or some time during the summer. Again, we ask for tenant feedback to find what they want.
Furniss: We decorate for Halloween, and sometimes the staff dresses up, often with a theme such as witches.
Q: Do you set a budget for these types of expenditures, and if so would you share?
Decker: I can’t give you a dollar amount since it varies so much by community and the number of units and occupants, which influences the amount.’
Furniss: Our buildings tend to spend between $500 and $1,000 for such events.
Q: Any parting advice?
Decker: Yes, keep decorating and hosting these kinds of celebrations and polling residents regarding what they want so they’ll take advantage. If we get 30 to 50 residents at an event, we consider that a good turnout and a success. We find that by taking time to do these things residents tend to renew their leases and remain longer with us.
Furniss: We often try to have an event that offers children an activity when we can.
Now we’d love to hear from you! What do you do at your buildings to keep spirits up through the holiday season and even into the long month of January?
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