One of the best ways to enjoy a stable, productive property management experience is to build up community spirit in the places you own or manage. Community spirit may be an intangible, but it builds up a reputation for your places and encourages the residents to stay and contribute to where they live. There’s always a big difference between the atmosphere and feel of a place with no community spirit versus an area where it is strong. Here’s how you can build up community spirit in your places:

Define Your Goal

Building community spirit means setting your sights on what kind of community you want to have. It’s not enough to decide, “This area should have more community spirit,” as this is a defining characteristic that will attract or discourage certain residents from coming.

For example, if you decide that you want to encourage a type of community spirit centered around the common experiences of seniors, this immediately gives you specific goals and characteristics to encourage. If you decide to build a community around family, again, this will attract certain kinds of residents while not appealing to those who want to live a family-free lifestyle for the moment.

Work Your Resources

Community spirit doesn’t just happen; you must take steps to nurture it among residents. The resources available at your residencies can be a valuable tool in helping to build it. Take careful note of what could be possible assets and see if you can turn them toward helping your goals.

For example, if you would like to build up community spirit around a concept of health and fitness and have a gym or other health/fitness facilities available, this can be a cornerstone in building up that community spirit. On the other hand, if there is a swimming pool or outdoor BBQ facilities on the grounds, this can go a long way toward becoming centerpieces of building up community spirit centered on family.

Implement Programs

The final important step is taking your goals and resources and creating plans or programs to serve these goals. Again, community spirit must be built; it doesn’t just happen of its own accord. In the worst-case scenarios, community spirit happens when people rally together for survival reasons, such as during a disaster.

However, in the best-case scenario, community spirit is built from common positive experiences together. If you want this type of community spirit for your property management ambitions, you must create those positive experiences rather than hoping they spontaneously happen on their own or bring “the right kind of people” into a residential area and hope natural interactions will create what you’re looking for.

For example, a family-oriented community should have events that bring parents and children together so they can interact with each other. If your community is centered on seniors and their needs, then events that help to maintain their health or other specific elderly lifestyle considerations are the way to create a common experience where residents are now bonding and interacting with each other.

If you’d like more help building up your community spirit for property management success, contact Occupancy Solutions and let us help.