Western Union Prepaid Products Give Renters Effective Financial Management Tool 

BOSTON and ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – April 26, 2012 – Neighborhood Pay Services, LLC (NPS), innovators in Rent Assurance for the $300 billion Multifamily Housing industry, today announced an agreement with The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU), a leader in global payment services, to offer Western Union^® Prepaid MasterCard^® products to renters across the United States.

Starting in the second quarter of 2012, NPS will offer the Western Union^® MoneyWise^™ Prepaid MasterCard^® through the NPS Rent Assurance™ payment platform, a management solution that enables property clients to effectively expand credit acceptance terms to the millions of working Americans who apply for apartment rentals.

In addition to providing renters with improved access to professionally managed apartment housing, this agreement aligns with the NPS mission to provide consumers with the opportunity for improved financial independence.  The NPS Rent Assurance™ program is available exclusively through apartment leasing offices and rent payments are reported for each enrolled resident to a national credit bureau.

“We are very excited to integrate the Western Union Prepaid MasterCard into our core product offering, NPS Rent Assurance™,” Richard Levitan, president of Neighborhood Pay Services, said.  “Our business focuses on helping property companies improve net operating income through strategic use of conditional acceptance terms for consumers with less than perfect credit, and helping those consumers gain access to housing by committing to a program that makes it easier for them to pay their rent reliably in a way that helps rebuild or establish credit.”

Levitan, added, “Through our agreement with Western Union, NPS will provide residents with access to an additional valuable financial tool and at the same time improve our operating efficiency.  We’re very excited about offering another tool to deliver on our commitment to help our customers improve their financial well-being.”

Victoria López-Negrete, senior vice president and general manager, North America, Western Union, said, “The Western Union prepaid card gives consumers options and convenience to manage their everyday finances.”

Neighborhood Pay Services offers the only program in the multifamily housing industry that enables property clients to accept prospective residents based on their willingness to put safeguards in place for reliable rent payment as a condition of lease signing.

“Rent Assurance™ links to payroll, which makes rent the top monthly payment priority for enrolled residents,” Levitan said. “Unlike an ACH or bank auto-pay services, our property clients know with Rent Assurance™ the balance that each resident has in their NPS account with each direct deposit and that rent will be paid on time. This assurance contributes to improved occupancy and reduced collection costs, and ultimately improved operating margins.”

Steven P. Rosenthal, president and chief executive officer of Northland Investment Corporation, a privately held real estate investment and management company that owns and manages more than 18,000 multifamily units across the country, said, “NPS has helped us to better reduce risk in the Conditional Acceptance category and provides the protection we need to accept applicants who have the financial resources to pay rent on time but may have had financial hardship in the past. We look forward to working closely with the management team at NPS to expand offers to our residents.”

The Western Union MoneyWise Prepaid Card was awarded two 2011 PayBefore Awards in the following categories, among other winners: Best General Purpose Reloadable Program: In-Person Sales Channel Category and Best Prepaid Program Media Advertising Category.

For more information on NPS Rent Assurance™ or the Western Union^® Prepaid Reloadable MasterCard^® contact Ellen Calmas, NPS, at info@rentassurance.net or Nathan Lemon, Western
Union, at nathan.lemon@westernunion.com, respectively. For media inquiries, please contact Jennifer Roane, NPS, jennifer.roane@104west.com or (720) 407-6065 or L’Teisha Ryan, Western Union, at lteisha.ryan@westernunion.com or (720) 332-3824.

About Neighborhood Pay Services

Neighborhood Pay Services (NPS) is a financial service provider for the multifamily housing industry. The company’s Rent Assurance program enables property companies to capture incremental occupancy by providing conditionally approved applicants with a simple “hands-off” system to assure that rent is paid on time. The proprietary NPS direct deposit platform makes rent “first in line” from a resident’s payroll, providing property companies with built-in safeguards for continually reliable resident performance.  Rent Assurance is offered exclusively through apartment leasing offices in conjunction with lease application credit approvals.

About Western Union
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a leader in global payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago Facil and Western Union Business Solutions branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, to send payments and to purchase money orders.  As of December 31, 2011, the Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services were offered through a combined network of approximately 485,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories.  In 2011, The Western Union Company completed 226 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $81 billion of principal between consumers, and 425 million business payments. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.

Prepare Employees for Holiday Parties

By Nathan Jamail

It is that time year for company parties and year-end sales events, events that leaders spend lots of money and time planning and putting together to show their employees how much they appreciate their hard work and recognize their top performers.  But you can bet many of them will have the hangover of that famous question the next morning, “Hey did you see that guy or girl last night at the company event?”  That question can elicit many answers and some may sound like, “Oh yeah, everybody did when he got on the microphone and slurred profanity for everybody to hear. Or, “Did you see that girl? She was so drunk; she was saying all kinds of inappropriate things to her boss.”

I can guarantee his or her boss remembers it and their boss remembers it and they are for sure talking about it, but not as a funny story at the coffee pot. No, they are talking to HR or legal on how they are going to handle the situation.  Many great careers have been ended at company events by someone being that guy or that girl.

I have fortunately have not been that guy or girl as far as I know, but unfortunately, I have been the boss of a few in my career.

In 2000, our area had our annual planning session and awards event.  This event was hosted by my boss, the Area Vice President and all of my fellow directors and all of our managers and sales reps were in attendance with an estimated 300 employees.  It was the first night and until then we’d made it through the first day without any major incidences, but it was still early.  Later in the evening after dinner, many of the employees went to the bar in the hotel to continue celebrating and having fun with their peers from across the country.  A few of us managers were in a room with my boss having a discussion on how the event was going and reviewing the next day’s activities when another manager walked in and said, “one of the employees is throwing up in the middle of the bar.”  With confidence I said, “I know it’s not one of my people.”  I was confident because I had a talk with my team prior to this event on how everybody needs to act.  We discussed dress code, good and bad topics to discuss in public and under no circumstance do you want to be the person that sees the bartender leave to go home.  Since I just had this conversation about the do’s and don’ts, I knew it could not have been one of my people.

Well, I have been wrong a lot in my life and tonight was no different.  The manager then looked at me and said, “Actually, it is your employee.”  I instructed her immediate supervisor to have one of the other female employees to get her safely to her room immediately.  Now, this was not a terminating offense, but it was a “that girl” event.  Needless to say, she was embarrassed the remainder of the event.  I bet she remembers the advice we gave her following corporate events. Here are a few simple company or business event rules:

1. Use the 2 drink maximum rule or if you have low tolerance, then soda is probably what you should stick with.
2. Remember no matter your surroundings, you are still at work.
3. Don’t be the last one at the bar, because you probably broke the 1^st and 2^nd rules.
4. Have fun.
5. Make sure someone else is “That guy or girl!”

Take it from the boss of that guy or girl, the story never has good ending when you are that person.

What is a company to do?

Many leaders are doing fewer events and some are eliminating them all together to help avoid the human resource and legal issues that happen so often during these events.  This is a mistake that can and will cost the company good employees and good morale.  Keep doing the events, and focus on educating the teams on the appropriate behavior ahead of time.  Know at every event there will be that guy or that girl and you can deal with them, but the good news there are those remaining hundreds of great employees talking about that person and how thankful they are to be working for a company that shows how much they appreciate them.  Events can be expensive and a pain for many leaders, but they are cheap compared to unmotivated and unhappy employees and clients. Have a great end of the year and  Merry Christmas to everybody!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nathan Jamail, president of the Jamail Development Group author of Best Selling Business Book “The Sales Leaders Playbook,” as well as radio host on CNN 1190 delivering business talk radio with an edge, is a motivational speaker, entrepreneur and corporate coach. As a former Executive for Fortune 500 companies, and business owner of several small businesses, Nathan travels the country helping individuals and organizations achieve maximum success. His clients include Radio Shack, Nationwide Insurance, Cisco, Stryker and Army National Guard. To book Nathan, visit www.NathanJamail.com or contact 972-377-0030.

We hope you’re having a great day and we’d like to make it even better! In case you haven’t heard, if you purchase your registration before December 30, you’ll pay only $225 per person! That’s even better than 2-for-1 pricing, and you don’t even have to register two people to get the price cut (but awesome group discounts are in effect on top of this; including register five and get the sixth free). Why such an outrageous deal? Because Brainstorming 2012 is all about EXPERIENCE, and we want your first experience with this particular event to be the feeling that Team Multifamilypro has your back. So register NOW at http://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=1020635 and experience big savings! No special offer code, no loopholes, no fine print. And if you don’t know whom you’re bringing or sending yet, just make the name on the regform “TBD” and tell us later. Just buy your seat(s) before December 30 and save!

Tami & Team Multifamilypro

P.S. This year’s accommodations are equally budget-friendly … only $119/night for a single or double occupancy SUITE at Rio, Las Vegas; so if you want, you can bring more of your team. And while we’re on the subject of bringing your team, reply here or call 727-940.5211 and ask how you can get even more out of the Brainstorming experience by making it the destination for your corporate conference or retreat!

Management

Idea/Theme: Incentivize behaviors you want to encourage. We filled a backpack with school supplies, bought a car wash gift card and held a drawing for our residents after switching utility billback companies. Anyone that signed up for e-bills or auto pay was entered in the drawing.

Contributed by: Victoria

Retention and Renewals

Idea/Theme: BARN PARTY

This fall, make the most of the changing leaves and cooling weather to throw an authentic barn dance, complete with hay, square dancing and foot-stomping music. You don¡’t have to have a barn on your property, nor does the clubhouse have to look like one for days afterward, to throw this sure-to-please party. Barn dances are fun to organize, easy to pick up after and guaranteed to bring your residents together for an evening they’ll be thanking you for all winter long.

Key Visuals: Props

The best, and simplest, way to create an instant barn is to place hay bales in strategic places around your clubhouse. Stack them solidly in corners and around low tables where residents might congregate to sit and chat. Or use them to create a festive boundary for your dance floor. Here are a few more easy props:

Make-shift scarecrows.

A wagon wheel.

A pitchfork.

Barn tools, work gloves, bandannas and baggy overalls.

Coils of rope.

Costumes

No need for fuss. A favorite pair of jeans, a comfortable shirt and square dancing shoes (boots and sneakers are both acceptable options) are all that are required for this shindig. However, don¡¦t hesitate to encourage residents to don their best cowboy/cowgirl clothes and accessories. Suggest red bandannas, cowboy boots, 10-gallon hats and wrangler jeans.

Refreshments

Order buffalo wings or a meat and cheese tray from your favorite local barbecue restaurant or grocery store, or if you would like to throw a full-blown picnic, ask residents to bring their own meat and dessert or a side dish and have your own barbecue on grills outside your clubhouse. Also, be sure to have plenty of beverages on hand for those thirsty square dancers… sodas, beer (if you are serving alcohol), lemonade and iced tea are instant thirst quenchers.

Music

Young country music has been tearing up the charts, so you should have no trouble pleasing your guests with songs from Clint Black, Reba McIntyre and Garth Brooks. But don’t forget the old favorites like Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. Or hire a local band and enjoy an authentic square dance.

Special Activities

Invite your residents to participate in a John Wayne look-alike contest. Be sure to warn them ahead of time so they can don their best “Duke” outfit. Ask three residents to judge the contestants according to the following criteria:

Dress.

Physical features.

Impersonation of mannerisms and speech.

Prizes

Thrill your residents by awarding prizes for the best line or square dancer or John Wayne look-alike (see Special Activities). Country music CDs or tapes and posters make great gifts, but some residents may enjoy a chance to learn some new steps. Give them a gift certificate for a free dance lesson at your local country music establishment or dance studio.

Resources

If you would like to throw an authentic square dance, contact your local musicians¡¦ union to find out what bands are available that meet your time and price requirements. Also, check with Country and Western establishments in your area to see if they can recommend a local band or square dance caller.

Media Vehicles: Promoting Your Party

From brown posterboard, cut small cowboy boots and hats and decorate them with sequins or strips of fake leather. Write your party information on the back, and slip the invitations under your residents¡¦ doors.  Don’t forget to include an announcement in your newsletter. Following is just one option for promoting your party.

Newsletter Announcement  Yeee Haaa!!!

Saddle up for a rompin good time at the Willow Brooke clubhouse this October 30th as we host the best barn dance this side of the Mississippi. Pull on your cowboy boots and faded jeans and join us for spicy barbecue, square dancing, line dancing and rip roarin country and western music.

Estimated Cost: $300

Contributed by: KC Ross

To create a sense of motivation for the apartment leasing staff, we purchased gifts to be drawn from a gift bag and set the number of net rentals they had to achieve for a chance to draw a prize from the bag. This is done in addition to the leasing commissions that are offered.

Each prize was wrapped and, in some cases, were put in larger or smaller containers so as not to expose the real prize. After the leasing consultant achieved the net rentals established in the guidelines, he or she could select a prize/gift and unwrap it. The cost varied on the type of gifts that are purchased.

This really motivated the leasing staff, as they got to unwrap a gift without knowing what is inside. It helped us get 54 rentals in one month on a new lease-up property.

Contributed by Michele Mann

Terry writes: “Moving is such an incredible hassle, so why not make it easy for new residents by helping out with their move? Instead of offering rental concessions, we arrange the transfer of all utilities AND pay the new resident’s switch charges (they are responsible for any required deposits). This has been a VERY popular program (all the needed info can be found on their rental application!) Your apartment community gains value on the Income side of the Financials, and as a side benefit, the program helps to ensure that all utilities are switched into the resident’s name (for those communities on continuous service agreements).”

Among the new media tools and topics we discussed at last year’s Multifamilypro’s Brainstorming Sessions, we talked about the new and potential opportunities in geolocation and geosocial marketing; both of which continue to get a lot of attention from forward thinking multifamily marketers. In 2012, there will be even more devices with built in GPS and  more apps than ever before with the ability to “geotag” content with the location where you created or posted it. The number of people using Location Based Services (LBS) like FourSquare, Gowalla, Facebook Places and TagWhat is increasing as are the number of “check ins” that they post to/from locations of all types, including our apartment communities.

Many people feel that geolocation has finally emerged as a real marketing opportunity. My friends and I use them regularly and I look forward to the special discounts and tips I receive almost every time I check in somewhere ( love my free chips and dip from Chili’s)! I believe that the Multifamily industry won’t be able to ignore geolocation as a marketing opportunity. Whether you have already tried some geoloaction marketing, simply “claimed your location,” or if you’re considering doing so it in the near future, it’s time now to start coming up with ideas and content to get your company or community started!

One of the concerns people have with geolocation marketing is privacy and the potential for brands to be seen as “cyber stalkers” for pushing messages that chase consumers around. The nice thing about geotagging, however, is that there are millions of pieces of content online right now that have geolocation information attached to them. Images are tagged with the exact GPS coordinates of where they were taken. Video can be linked to specific dates and events based on the metadata uploaded. This is offering a great opportunity for communities who take this content and create interesting visualizations around it.

Our residents are out there creating and sharing geotagged content already … what have tagged for your community?

See you in September!

Tami