Last June, the street connecting Dovetree and Hunters Chase acted like a slingshot for partner and senior director Katie Powell. When we bought our latest Dayton property, Katie drove back and forth, running the two properties for 45 days.
While most people would use this as an excuse, Katie looked at it as an opportunity. She saw the potential at Dovetree to vastly improve the bottom line. And under Katie’s leadership, Dovetree was successfully re-engineered in record time – nine months to be exact.
“What the team at Dovetree accomplished in nine months epitomizes our great, long-term opportunity as elite operators of great apartment communities that are underperforming,” Larry said in a May memo to the entire company.
Dovetree accomplished the following outstanding results:
- 64% net operating income improvement in 9 months.
- 143% return on investment in 12 months.
- $241 renewal average and $325 re-rent average.
- Significantly increased productivity and cost control.
- $106,000 monthly revenue growth.
When we acquired the property, it truly took a team effort across the Dayton market. Partner and region head Sal Gracia put a plan in place to keep all properties in the market operating at an elite level. For the first 45 days, sales associate Izabella Miller held down the office at Dovetree with Katie Powell. By August 1, the Dovetree team was fully assembled, and nothing would stop them from reaching their goals.
Lead sales associate Lisa May led the way on renewals, hitting her goals for eight months straight. Her efforts helped drive more than $50,000 of rent roll growth at Dovetree.
From a service side of the business, lead tech Avery Knight moved from Columbus to a new market and a new property. Under his leadership, Dovetree is more than $2,200 under budget for repair and maintenance year to date.
“This property has 280 units with appliances from 1995,” Katie said. “Avery’s repair versus replace mentality is huge.”
Turn tech Clay Dillon is positively impacting Dovetree and the entire Dayton market. He’s All In, helping Austin Springs and maintaining excellence at Dovetree. Clay has turned 46 units at our Dayton properties from January to April, not to mention he’s staying under budget.
“Put the five of us anywhere, any market, any leader, and we will be successful,” Katie said. “That’s just who we are. That’s the bottom line.”