Home Properties is a self-administered, self-managed real estate investment trust that owns, operates, acquires, develops and rehabilitates apartment communities. The company mostly focuses on apartment communities. All the developments are projects. They are located at one place and not moved during production. They buy old communities, renovate them, then they rent or sale them. All the resources that are needed for the project are brought to them including paints, cabinets, appliances, and many more. The company mostly spotlights on larger residential communities.
Home Properties expects to develop new apartment communities on raw land and on land adjacent to existing owned properties. They also plan to increase the density of units at some communities currently owned. The company has completed the development of a 120-unit apartment community in South Portland, Maine adjacent to a market-rate property the Company acquired in 1998. In addition, Home Properties is developing a 216-unit apartment community in Allentown, Pennsylvania, adjacent to a market-rate community purchased in 2000. An additional project was in the preconstruction stage during 2006. That project is Falkland Chase, located in Silver Spring, Maryland, with 450 garden apartments constructed between 1936 and 1939. The Company acquired the property in 2003 for $58.9 million.
Home Properties is planning on redeveloping the North parcel, which will be renamed Falkland North. This parcel currently contains 182 apartments that will be demolished and redeveloped into 1,020 units in four high-rise buildings with a community center, exercise room, swimming pool, convenience retail shops and a major supermarket. If this project progresses as expected, approvals will be obtained in 2007, design completed in 2008, construction started in 2009, and units placed in service in 2011 and 2012.
Since 1994, Home Properties has acquired and repositioned 190 communities with more than 52,000 units. The complete initial repositioning of a community typically takes place over a five to seven year period. The areas that have been targeted for growth are the Baltimore, Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Southeast Florida and Washington, D.C. regions. Mostly, all the communities are project foundations.
The company does use the Gantt Chart Project. The Gantt chart project is commonly used in project scheduling because they are easy to use and widely understood. Mostly, Home Properties operate with project flow. The company sometimes has complex projects at times. It becomes inadequate to use the Gantt chart. For the complex project the company uses network method. The Gantt chart project is used when the apartment community is ready for occupancy. When the apartment home is ready for occupancy the management will measure the time they need in order for a customer to rent. They have to hire the employees and maintenance staff. For the office they need furniture, arrangement for technology like telephones, internet, TV, and many more. The networks are more complex, more difficult to understand, and more costly to use than Gantt charts.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Supply Chain Management
Home Properties as a real estate service company does not have a typical supply chain process. The apartment and townhouses are physical goods which are a project process selection decisions. Turnover rates are high for the apartment communities. To make those apartments ready for occupancy, the company has to follow a supply chain system. They have to order paints, cabinets, appliances, and other various supplies. The suppliers are in contact with the contractors who are in touch with the maintenance group of apartment communities. They make sure the apartments are ready by the time new resident come in by having all materials and supplies in the stock/maintenance rooms. For some supplies they use just-in-time method like cabinets, faucets, carpet, etc. and for others they have in stock like paints, appliances, cabinets, etc.
Once the apartment is inspected and ready to occupy maintenance workers are responsible to hand over the keys of that apartment or townhouse to the manager. A manager is the middle person is acting between leasing consultant and maintenance. The manager is in charge of putting the apartment on the market and giving the availability to the leasing consultant to rent. The manager acts as the warehouse while the leasing consultant acts as a retailer in the supply chain management cycle. Leasing consultant are also sales people who are responsible to rent the apartment to the new prospects or residents.
Being a service company they also use supply chain management. The suppliers are the ones who are making sure the supplies reach the contractors or the apartment communities. Home Properties outsource to the contractor to make the apartments ready to occupy. They also outsource surrounding area contracts like landscaping, snow removable, tree cutters, etc. So the contractors are the suppliers of the communities. The maintenance staffs of the company act as the factory people who do the over all touch ups of the apartment communities. Managers operate as the warehouse people whereas leasing consultants are retailers. Customers are the last in the supply chain management chart. They act as prospects or residents.
Delivery is a very important step in measuring supply chain performance. It is everyone’s duty to make sure that the actual product is ready and available for the prospect. Home Properties makes sure that the apartment and townhouse are all set to occupy. They want to provide outstanding customer service where no one has to wait for the apartment. If it is peak season like summer Home Properties does on-time delivery to its resident and prospects. In winter the apartments are available days before the actual move in date.
Home Properties believe in providing high quality of product and service. The pledge guarantee all the residents if they are not satisfied then they can leave within 30 days without any charge. Home Properties uses best quality of the materials in making the apartment ready. Customer service is very important in any business.
Providing quality product and service doesn’t mean higher rent. The rent and services they offer are reasonably priced and affordable to the people. Apartment costs are based on unit cost which is defined as the total manufacturing cost including materials, labor and overhead divided by the number of units. It is important for company to set a goal for measuring areas with respect to its own performance.
Time can be measured not only for an individual company but also for the entire supply chain. Home Properties makes sure that the product and service reaches to all the residents and shoppers. The more time they take to turnover the homes the more they are lowering profits. Superior customers are equal to long term relationship with the clients.
Home Properties present business to consumer (B2C) in supply chain management. Increasing in internet and e-commerce business, Home Properties is also trying to reach all their customers by internet. The company presently provides services like home rentals, credit check service, rent payment, service request, surrounding area information, etc.
Once the apartment is inspected and ready to occupy maintenance workers are responsible to hand over the keys of that apartment or townhouse to the manager. A manager is the middle person is acting between leasing consultant and maintenance. The manager is in charge of putting the apartment on the market and giving the availability to the leasing consultant to rent. The manager acts as the warehouse while the leasing consultant acts as a retailer in the supply chain management cycle. Leasing consultant are also sales people who are responsible to rent the apartment to the new prospects or residents.
Being a service company they also use supply chain management. The suppliers are the ones who are making sure the supplies reach the contractors or the apartment communities. Home Properties outsource to the contractor to make the apartments ready to occupy. They also outsource surrounding area contracts like landscaping, snow removable, tree cutters, etc. So the contractors are the suppliers of the communities. The maintenance staffs of the company act as the factory people who do the over all touch ups of the apartment communities. Managers operate as the warehouse people whereas leasing consultants are retailers. Customers are the last in the supply chain management chart. They act as prospects or residents.
Delivery is a very important step in measuring supply chain performance. It is everyone’s duty to make sure that the actual product is ready and available for the prospect. Home Properties makes sure that the apartment and townhouse are all set to occupy. They want to provide outstanding customer service where no one has to wait for the apartment. If it is peak season like summer Home Properties does on-time delivery to its resident and prospects. In winter the apartments are available days before the actual move in date.
Home Properties believe in providing high quality of product and service. The pledge guarantee all the residents if they are not satisfied then they can leave within 30 days without any charge. Home Properties uses best quality of the materials in making the apartment ready. Customer service is very important in any business.
Providing quality product and service doesn’t mean higher rent. The rent and services they offer are reasonably priced and affordable to the people. Apartment costs are based on unit cost which is defined as the total manufacturing cost including materials, labor and overhead divided by the number of units. It is important for company to set a goal for measuring areas with respect to its own performance.
Time can be measured not only for an individual company but also for the entire supply chain. Home Properties makes sure that the product and service reaches to all the residents and shoppers. The more time they take to turnover the homes the more they are lowering profits. Superior customers are equal to long term relationship with the clients.
Home Properties present business to consumer (B2C) in supply chain management. Increasing in internet and e-commerce business, Home Properties is also trying to reach all their customers by internet. The company presently provides services like home rentals, credit check service, rent payment, service request, surrounding area information, etc.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Quality Control
Home Properties is in the real estate field. The company has to do the inspection of the houses and apartments before they transfer the properties to their residents. Apartment inspections are done before occupancy. The company is currently using critical control point inspection which can be measured. They have to pass certain point of codes of real estate law in order to pass the building and apartment inspection. The attribute measurement is prominent because there are a fixed number of defective items that each property can possess and is documented before the occupant enters the house or apartment.
For the building and apartment inspection they test how safe the building is at the time of any flood, earthquake, fire, or many other natural calamities. They also do ground inspection, check for flooding issues, pest problem, dry land and many more. Home Properties doesn’t use any quality control chart but they always try to maintain their properties and surrounding area near the community. They always use high quality materials. The company aims to have better quality in efficiency so that costs can be kept low.
Home Properties always wants there resident to think about high living. They are upgrading their apartment with the best quality items. When an individual plans to occupy the property an inspection must be made. The company has to pass the state inspection on all the apartments and houses every 3 years. Before occupying the apartment the inspection is done either by the maintenance team, supervisors or township inspectors. They always have to pass the inspection, if for any reason they fail they are required to fix the things before occupying. Same procedure needs to be done at the time of moving out. They also tells maintenance to inspect the apartments and houses while residents are occupying for smoke detectors, carbon monoxide alarms, electrical outlets and some other necessarily things.
Home Properties is trying to improve the quality of all the items used in the apartments, townhouses, grounds, and buildings. They also take precautions for all their communities. The continuous improvement always reduces variability in the product and process. Such changes make it possible to make a more consistent product or service with less variation from one to another.
Six-Sigma Quality is a systematic method for improvement. The company is not practicing Six-Sigma practice right now but in future it will be good decision to use it. They are improving day by day. They do define and discuss the problem they have and try to solve it. Taking precautionary measures would always lower the problem and set there goals for improvements. Sometimes the problems are not found they need to investigate and then take steps to change and for perfection. They take steps to solve the problems and make sure that same things are not repeated. The company can always take precautionary steps, improve the problems and this will increase quality control. They can check out there competitive community and learn from them as well.
For the building and apartment inspection they test how safe the building is at the time of any flood, earthquake, fire, or many other natural calamities. They also do ground inspection, check for flooding issues, pest problem, dry land and many more. Home Properties doesn’t use any quality control chart but they always try to maintain their properties and surrounding area near the community. They always use high quality materials. The company aims to have better quality in efficiency so that costs can be kept low.
Home Properties always wants there resident to think about high living. They are upgrading their apartment with the best quality items. When an individual plans to occupy the property an inspection must be made. The company has to pass the state inspection on all the apartments and houses every 3 years. Before occupying the apartment the inspection is done either by the maintenance team, supervisors or township inspectors. They always have to pass the inspection, if for any reason they fail they are required to fix the things before occupying. Same procedure needs to be done at the time of moving out. They also tells maintenance to inspect the apartments and houses while residents are occupying for smoke detectors, carbon monoxide alarms, electrical outlets and some other necessarily things.
Home Properties is trying to improve the quality of all the items used in the apartments, townhouses, grounds, and buildings. They also take precautions for all their communities. The continuous improvement always reduces variability in the product and process. Such changes make it possible to make a more consistent product or service with less variation from one to another.
Six-Sigma Quality is a systematic method for improvement. The company is not practicing Six-Sigma practice right now but in future it will be good decision to use it. They are improving day by day. They do define and discuss the problem they have and try to solve it. Taking precautionary measures would always lower the problem and set there goals for improvements. Sometimes the problems are not found they need to investigate and then take steps to change and for perfection. They take steps to solve the problems and make sure that same things are not repeated. The company can always take precautionary steps, improve the problems and this will increase quality control. They can check out there competitive community and learn from them as well.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Quality Management
In the competitive market, Home Properties strives to meet the entire needs and wants of its resident and prospects. Day by day, they are also increasing the quality of the products and services. Home Properties applies the quality of conformance process where basic needs of all individuals are kept in mind. The company is trying to focus on the small details to meet the needs of its residents by providing the best quality of products to all of their residents. They want to make sure that the apartments are gratifying their customer's needs. They use reliable, quality products so that customers don't need to call for broken items that are not working. They also get the apartments inspected before the new resident move in. This gives the reputation of Home Properties as giving more reliability to their residents to make sure that their products are safe and have the employers give the quality service the customers deserve. Home Properties performs maintenance and repairs to all their apartments and surrounding areas of the apartments to provide excellent product and service quality to their valued customers. They provide 24 hours of service to their entire community for maintenance issues as well.
The company believes that providing quality products and service will keep there valued customers happy and will increase a long term relationship with all of there customers and employees. The company strongly believes that customers always come first and they try to understand their wants. They try to be different than its competitor. The company stresses its employers to believe in the product and service before they provide it to others. A customer and sales service is also a service provided by the company. Now a days, everyone expects and wants better customer service. They try to attend all office matters to their customers in timely manner. Employees follow up with their customers by sending thank you cards, birthday cards, move in gifts and much more. They are trying to improve its service on a daily bases by taking each and every step to satisfy its resident and prospects so that they are satisfied and happy. The company is training their employee's every couple months so that they provide superior service to all residents and prospects. The company not only has a part of quality of conformance but they also have a field service quality. The company currently flows into field service quality system. They make sure that customers do not feel dissatisfied in there community.
All employees are always willing to provide service that is prompt and helpful to the customer. Employees feel proud about their area of work. If employees can’t answer a question directly from know how, they always try to find out from there manager or fellow workers. Employee's give assurance for trustworthy service: that it will be provided and will not be neglected in any way. The company strives to guarantee all their prospects and its residents to provide fairness, honesty and courtesy by all employees. Satisfactory service to all clients will give a much appreciated positive response to the company.
The company believes that providing quality products and service will keep there valued customers happy and will increase a long term relationship with all of there customers and employees. The company strongly believes that customers always come first and they try to understand their wants. They try to be different than its competitor. The company stresses its employers to believe in the product and service before they provide it to others. A customer and sales service is also a service provided by the company. Now a days, everyone expects and wants better customer service. They try to attend all office matters to their customers in timely manner. Employees follow up with their customers by sending thank you cards, birthday cards, move in gifts and much more. They are trying to improve its service on a daily bases by taking each and every step to satisfy its resident and prospects so that they are satisfied and happy. The company is training their employee's every couple months so that they provide superior service to all residents and prospects. The company not only has a part of quality of conformance but they also have a field service quality. The company currently flows into field service quality system. They make sure that customers do not feel dissatisfied in there community.
All employees are always willing to provide service that is prompt and helpful to the customer. Employees feel proud about their area of work. If employees can’t answer a question directly from know how, they always try to find out from there manager or fellow workers. Employee's give assurance for trustworthy service: that it will be provided and will not be neglected in any way. The company strives to guarantee all their prospects and its residents to provide fairness, honesty and courtesy by all employees. Satisfactory service to all clients will give a much appreciated positive response to the company.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Service Process Design
For the service product bundle there are three separate elements that comprise it. For Home Properties we have identified all three elements. The tangible, explicit, service that Home Properties provide are the leasing agreements and maintenance services provided by the company. The physical, facilitating, goods provided are the apartments for rent. The psychological, implicit service provided is the tenants term in the apartment and how the feel maintenance issues and overall environment of the leased apartment.
The cell that Home Properties operates in is the co-routed cell. In this range, it is standard but offers a moderate number of choices to the potential apartment renters or buyers. They can select number of bedrooms, if they prefer to have hardwood or carpet flooring, whether they want a washer/ dryer in their apartment and many other amenities to customize their apartment to their own uniqueness. However, the apartments still only offer only so many choices and most elements are predetermined.
Overall, the company provides high contact “front room” to their customers. Home Properties offers a 24/7 online ordering of apartment services and a 24 hour contact center should any problems arise. There is a web-site for residents to go on so they can give their feedback and see frequently asked questions answered. They are with you when you are signing agreements after they show you multiple apartments for rent. They are working their way through technology to increase customer satisfaction all through internet based services. They provide a self-service virtual tour around the apartments. Also, they are working on a virtual lease agreement through a secure web site. Rent payments also can be paid through Pay Pal another internet service.
Home Properties uses a lot of self-service technology to make things convenient for its customers. They have online rent and utility paying, offer virtual tours, floor plans, and you can find a price range that fits your needs; so you don’t even have to leave your computer to go apartment shopping. The site also allows you to put a hold on an apartment you are interested in. You can also post classified ads for free on the company web site. Residents can also to check for updates to their community on the events bulletin board, they can check the current weather forecast, and neighborhood information. All these services are available in English and Spanish as well. As you can see Technology plays a major part in how Home Properties runs things. Basically everything you can imagine is done online through the computer.
In their company focused operations gears to a low volume and a high volume of different elements. This is two different missions being mixed in operations. Actually, Home Properties does not use focused technology. As we said before they use more of a batch process where as using a focused operations would not be beneficial for their firm. If you use focus operations with this company you could easily lose sight of the service aspect of providing exceptional customer service. Some types of focus could be product, process type, technology, volume of sales, make to stock/make to order and new products and mature products. Home Properties, again, mainly focuses their concentration on service operations because combing factors when renting homes to individuals can be a costly and singular occurrence with not many times of purchase. Moreover, using service operations that focuses on assigning different types of services to the different apartment complexes would be more beneficial.
Home Properties puts high value in their employees and proves that in many ways. On major example of this is they have an employee hall of fame it is a place where they honor loyal employees and recognize their service. You can find this hall of fame on their web site. On the web site you’ll find pictures of dedicated men and women who have devoted ten or more years to Home Properties or to a company acquired by Home Properties. Home Properties offers many benefits with the job. Some of the benefits being medical and dental coverage were all full-time regular employees that work a minimum of 30 hours per week are eligible. Plus Home Properties contributes to the cost of the employee's group medical plan, and dental plan. Employees are eligible for vacation, and begin accruing vacation time as of their hire date. All employees are given ten holidays per year. They are also offered paid time off up to four days per calendar year. Home Properties offers a 401(k) plan, employees eligible for the employer match will receive $.75 for every $1.00 they contribute to the 401(k) plan, up to 3% of gross pay. Employees are offered life insurance and the cost of this insurance is paid entirely by the company. Another perk to being an employee is they receive apartment rental discounts of 15% off the base market rental rate. Home Properties offers an employee stock purchase program which allows employees to purchase Home Properties common stock through payroll deduction or optional cash payments. And lastly, Home Properties has a flexible spending plan for full-time employees. The plan allows employees to set aside pre-tax dollars to pay for non-reimbursed medical or dental charges and/or dependent care assistance. These are the many ways Home Properties gives compensation for their employee’s performance on the job.
Service Recovery is when something goes wrong during the delivery of the service and the actions necessary to compensate and restore the service requested. There is a possibility of this happening with Home Properties if say for instance a potential customer does not qualify for a loan mortgage if they are interested in buying an apartment. You go through all the paperwork when buying a home and then when you are waiting for the approval for the mortgage, the customer is not approved and therefore your service is halted. This is an example of service recovery. Home Properties would recover from this by offering the client more mortgage companies to choose from and help them to find loans best in their budget and income range. Things can also go wrong with peoples apartments things may break and Home Properties is ready for this by having a 24 hour on call center to help you with an problems that may occur any time of day or night.
The type of guarantee Home Properties offers is their pledge (To view Home Properties video pledge- See Side Panel for more details). It shows how they reinforce their commitment to quality and customer service. If they fail to live up to your expectations described in the pledge then they will refund your rent for a day. Home Properties also tries to appeal to senior their residents, which is a growing segment of their population. They do this by featuring community centers, with programs and activities organized by and for the benefit of retired residents. Home Properties has proven customer loyalty. This is demonstrated by low resident turnover. In 2006, resident turnover averaged only 45%—well below the national average of 60%. Another aspect of our guarentee system would be that you recieve your rent back if the customers are not completely satisfied.
The cell that Home Properties operates in is the co-routed cell. In this range, it is standard but offers a moderate number of choices to the potential apartment renters or buyers. They can select number of bedrooms, if they prefer to have hardwood or carpet flooring, whether they want a washer/ dryer in their apartment and many other amenities to customize their apartment to their own uniqueness. However, the apartments still only offer only so many choices and most elements are predetermined.
Overall, the company provides high contact “front room” to their customers. Home Properties offers a 24/7 online ordering of apartment services and a 24 hour contact center should any problems arise. There is a web-site for residents to go on so they can give their feedback and see frequently asked questions answered. They are with you when you are signing agreements after they show you multiple apartments for rent. They are working their way through technology to increase customer satisfaction all through internet based services. They provide a self-service virtual tour around the apartments. Also, they are working on a virtual lease agreement through a secure web site. Rent payments also can be paid through Pay Pal another internet service.
Home Properties uses a lot of self-service technology to make things convenient for its customers. They have online rent and utility paying, offer virtual tours, floor plans, and you can find a price range that fits your needs; so you don’t even have to leave your computer to go apartment shopping. The site also allows you to put a hold on an apartment you are interested in. You can also post classified ads for free on the company web site. Residents can also to check for updates to their community on the events bulletin board, they can check the current weather forecast, and neighborhood information. All these services are available in English and Spanish as well. As you can see Technology plays a major part in how Home Properties runs things. Basically everything you can imagine is done online through the computer.
In their company focused operations gears to a low volume and a high volume of different elements. This is two different missions being mixed in operations. Actually, Home Properties does not use focused technology. As we said before they use more of a batch process where as using a focused operations would not be beneficial for their firm. If you use focus operations with this company you could easily lose sight of the service aspect of providing exceptional customer service. Some types of focus could be product, process type, technology, volume of sales, make to stock/make to order and new products and mature products. Home Properties, again, mainly focuses their concentration on service operations because combing factors when renting homes to individuals can be a costly and singular occurrence with not many times of purchase. Moreover, using service operations that focuses on assigning different types of services to the different apartment complexes would be more beneficial.
Home Properties puts high value in their employees and proves that in many ways. On major example of this is they have an employee hall of fame it is a place where they honor loyal employees and recognize their service. You can find this hall of fame on their web site. On the web site you’ll find pictures of dedicated men and women who have devoted ten or more years to Home Properties or to a company acquired by Home Properties. Home Properties offers many benefits with the job. Some of the benefits being medical and dental coverage were all full-time regular employees that work a minimum of 30 hours per week are eligible. Plus Home Properties contributes to the cost of the employee's group medical plan, and dental plan. Employees are eligible for vacation, and begin accruing vacation time as of their hire date. All employees are given ten holidays per year. They are also offered paid time off up to four days per calendar year. Home Properties offers a 401(k) plan, employees eligible for the employer match will receive $.75 for every $1.00 they contribute to the 401(k) plan, up to 3% of gross pay. Employees are offered life insurance and the cost of this insurance is paid entirely by the company. Another perk to being an employee is they receive apartment rental discounts of 15% off the base market rental rate. Home Properties offers an employee stock purchase program which allows employees to purchase Home Properties common stock through payroll deduction or optional cash payments. And lastly, Home Properties has a flexible spending plan for full-time employees. The plan allows employees to set aside pre-tax dollars to pay for non-reimbursed medical or dental charges and/or dependent care assistance. These are the many ways Home Properties gives compensation for their employee’s performance on the job.
Service Recovery is when something goes wrong during the delivery of the service and the actions necessary to compensate and restore the service requested. There is a possibility of this happening with Home Properties if say for instance a potential customer does not qualify for a loan mortgage if they are interested in buying an apartment. You go through all the paperwork when buying a home and then when you are waiting for the approval for the mortgage, the customer is not approved and therefore your service is halted. This is an example of service recovery. Home Properties would recover from this by offering the client more mortgage companies to choose from and help them to find loans best in their budget and income range. Things can also go wrong with peoples apartments things may break and Home Properties is ready for this by having a 24 hour on call center to help you with an problems that may occur any time of day or night.
The type of guarantee Home Properties offers is their pledge (To view Home Properties video pledge- See Side Panel for more details). It shows how they reinforce their commitment to quality and customer service. If they fail to live up to your expectations described in the pledge then they will refund your rent for a day. Home Properties also tries to appeal to senior their residents, which is a growing segment of their population. They do this by featuring community centers, with programs and activities organized by and for the benefit of retired residents. Home Properties has proven customer loyalty. This is demonstrated by low resident turnover. In 2006, resident turnover averaged only 45%—well below the national average of 60%. Another aspect of our guarentee system would be that you recieve your rent back if the customers are not completely satisfied.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Process Design
Primarily, Home Properties uses a line product flow with their properties. With the economy of scale theory they can essentially remodel more apartments, houses and townhouses at a cheaper cost. However, each specific property can be classified as a Project process flow. Every employee put lot of effort behind each and every home.
Most times it is for individual or a family. For example, if the family is looking to rent or purchase a home or an apartment the customer order process would be M.T.O. (Make to Order). Home Properties can tailor homes and apartments which can accommodate individual’s needs.
Prospects and other companies that have come to Home Properties and want to rent a number of homes from the community, for this customer order they would used an A.T.O. (Assemble to Order) process. There are more individual orders than the corporate orders. So the Make to Order process is what they adhere to.
This company falls into batch / job shop category and Make-to-order slot on the process characteristics matrix. Every custom request is attended regarding their preference. Customers can choose from multiple characteristics for their house e.g. Number of bedrooms, kinds of facilities available, location, appliances, etc. The apartments, homes and the town houses are then rented according to individual specifications.
Primary factors influencing process selection are market condition, consumer base, and competition. The company's properties are primarily located in developed areas where there are other multi-family properties which directly compete for residents. There is also competition from single family homes and condominiums for sale or rent. The competitive environment may have a detrimental effect on the Company’s ability to lease apartments at existing and at newly developed properties, as well as on rental rates.
The Company should position itself to compete effectively for both residents and properties as a result of it’s focus on service and resident satisfaction. Using high variety at a high volume would be ideal. However, in today’s economy a mass customization method would not be feasible. However, if the market has a turn around within the next couple of months or even years, this tactic will be to their advantage because in many communities located in Central Jersey they do not provide such incentives. This differentiates the company from its competitors both for residents and properties.
They can also do corporate rentals. This will increase long term relationships with other companies. By doing corporate rentals the company doesn’t have to find the traffic to rent the vacant apartments, they will save in advertising cost and time. Corporate Companies are interested in more than one rental at a time, therefore; the mass customization method would be ideal in this situation.
Most times it is for individual or a family. For example, if the family is looking to rent or purchase a home or an apartment the customer order process would be M.T.O. (Make to Order). Home Properties can tailor homes and apartments which can accommodate individual’s needs.
Prospects and other companies that have come to Home Properties and want to rent a number of homes from the community, for this customer order they would used an A.T.O. (Assemble to Order) process. There are more individual orders than the corporate orders. So the Make to Order process is what they adhere to.
This company falls into batch / job shop category and Make-to-order slot on the process characteristics matrix. Every custom request is attended regarding their preference. Customers can choose from multiple characteristics for their house e.g. Number of bedrooms, kinds of facilities available, location, appliances, etc. The apartments, homes and the town houses are then rented according to individual specifications.
Primary factors influencing process selection are market condition, consumer base, and competition. The company's properties are primarily located in developed areas where there are other multi-family properties which directly compete for residents. There is also competition from single family homes and condominiums for sale or rent. The competitive environment may have a detrimental effect on the Company’s ability to lease apartments at existing and at newly developed properties, as well as on rental rates.
The Company should position itself to compete effectively for both residents and properties as a result of it’s focus on service and resident satisfaction. Using high variety at a high volume would be ideal. However, in today’s economy a mass customization method would not be feasible. However, if the market has a turn around within the next couple of months or even years, this tactic will be to their advantage because in many communities located in Central Jersey they do not provide such incentives. This differentiates the company from its competitors both for residents and properties.
They can also do corporate rentals. This will increase long term relationships with other companies. By doing corporate rentals the company doesn’t have to find the traffic to rent the vacant apartments, they will save in advertising cost and time. Corporate Companies are interested in more than one rental at a time, therefore; the mass customization method would be ideal in this situation.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Inventory Management
Home Properties have recently done some repositioning investments of areas including landscaping, signage, and common areas due to increased curb appeal and marketability of the property. Since Home Properties is a service industry the inventory can be based on renovations of properties.
An inventory system to use would be the Q system, continuous review system or you could also use the more practical system if J.I.T. inventory (Just in Time Inventory). Every time a tenant moves out a new inventory is ordered. Some of these inventory items include apartment interiors.
Apartment interiors are renovated when tenants move out. These renovations include top of the line improvements. Some of these improvements include dated kitchen and bathrooms including new appliances, floorings, counters, cabinets, lighting, tiles, fixtures, sinks, bathtubs and toilets.
It may include the removal of kitchen walls to open up the living area. A typical interior upgrade also includes repainting, new carpeting and the addition of six-panel doors. Where feasible, we will add in-unit washers and dryers which bring a high return on investment. A typical apartment makeover takes approximately two weeks to complete which minimizes loss of rental income.
Home Properties has decisions to make on which appropriate inventory system to use. A lot of this choice is based on timing of renovations, type of record keeping, and cost. High service levels require high investment levels for a given order quantity and deviation. Management decisions should be made after careful study in turnover between tenants and new and recent renovations. Updating to the newest level of inventory can be costly. Therefore; management decisions should be carefully anazlyed when placing orders.
An inventory system to use would be the Q system, continuous review system or you could also use the more practical system if J.I.T. inventory (Just in Time Inventory). Every time a tenant moves out a new inventory is ordered. Some of these inventory items include apartment interiors.
Apartment interiors are renovated when tenants move out. These renovations include top of the line improvements. Some of these improvements include dated kitchen and bathrooms including new appliances, floorings, counters, cabinets, lighting, tiles, fixtures, sinks, bathtubs and toilets.
It may include the removal of kitchen walls to open up the living area. A typical interior upgrade also includes repainting, new carpeting and the addition of six-panel doors. Where feasible, we will add in-unit washers and dryers which bring a high return on investment. A typical apartment makeover takes approximately two weeks to complete which minimizes loss of rental income.
Home Properties has decisions to make on which appropriate inventory system to use. A lot of this choice is based on timing of renovations, type of record keeping, and cost. High service levels require high investment levels for a given order quantity and deviation. Management decisions should be made after careful study in turnover between tenants and new and recent renovations. Updating to the newest level of inventory can be costly. Therefore; management decisions should be carefully anazlyed when placing orders.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Company Information
Home Properties, the sixth largest publicity traded apartment company in the United States, is a real estate investment trust (REIT) with operations primarily along the East Coast of the country. It is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust ("REIT") that owns, operates, acquires, develops and rehabilitates apartment communities. The Company's properties are regionally focused primarily in select Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast Florida markets of the United States.
The Company was formed in November 1993 as a Maryland corporation and is the general partner of the Operating Partnership. On December 31, 2006, it owned a 72.8% interest in the Operating Partnership – one percent as sole general partner and the remainder as a limited partner through its wholly owned subsidiary, Home Properties I, LLC, which owns 100% of the limited partner, Home Properties Trust. The Operating Partnership is a New York limited partnership formed in December 1993. HPRS is and HP Management was, prior to its merger into HPRS in November 2006, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, and as a result the accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of both companies.
The Company was formed in November 1993 as a Maryland corporation and is the general partner of the Operating Partnership. On December 31, 2006, it owned a 72.8% interest in the Operating Partnership – one percent as sole general partner and the remainder as a limited partner through its wholly owned subsidiary, Home Properties I, LLC, which owns 100% of the limited partner, Home Properties Trust. The Operating Partnership is a New York limited partnership formed in December 1993. HPRS is and HP Management was, prior to its merger into HPRS in November 2006, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, and as a result the accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of both companies.
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