Commercial planters easily add curb appeal to apartment
Why is curb appeal so important to renters? How much impact could commercial planters filled with colorful flowers or a shiny, clean park bench have on a prospective tenant? How can you spruce up the outside look of your apartment complex without blowing up your budget?
After all, curb appeal is basically a first impression, the first image a renter receives about your property. And we all know how important first impressions are from our interaction over the years with fellow humans.
Let's start with the psychology. The reason why first impressions are so critical is because our brains gather an incredible mass of information when trying to make a decision. Because there is such a complex amount of data processing going on, the brain looks for shortcuts.
This has evolutionary implications clear back to when people first become humans. With dangerous creatures and other calamities out there in the environment, people had to digest information fast, or they could get digested quickly (or at least not live very long in caveman years).
Just like the computerized vision in the eyes of robots in the Terminator movies and others, when prospective renters visit your property they scan the landscape in front of them and subconsciously store millions of bits of information. Imagine while they performed this function, you were able to insert images of walkways surrounded by attractive commercial outdoor planters filled with a cheerful array of bright flowers. That's adding the right bits of information you want to influence their mental databases.
Your statement has to absolutely be prominent when someone first walks up to a property. Because how fast do you think it takes for someone's mind to download a first impression when they arrive? Thirty seconds? Fifteen seconds?
According to a series of experiments conducted by Princeton psychologists Janine Wills and Alexander Todorov, people tend to calculate a first impression in just 100 milliseconds or 1/10 of a second.
Wow. That's fast. When people walk up to your apartment complex, they already processed hundreds of data points subconsciously about your property - before they even stepped in the door. Sure you might impress them with the apartment itself, but you might have lost them partially when they first approached.
Not only are they gathering information at incredible speeds, but their subconscious mind is also even making initial judgments on that data. Sorting it. Classifying it. Researchers in Psychological Science found that objects are categorized as soon as they are perceived. That means they are already lumping those first impressions into pros and cons categories - this image is trustworthy, that image seems questionable, etc.
Commercial planters do make a difference
Real estate consultant Theresa Bradley-Banta, who recommends placing outdoor planters filled with flowers on a property, said: "Curb appeal is one of the most important things in property marketing and leasing. Presenting an exterior that meets your target market's standards must be one of your biggest priorities."
She goes on to add: "You can develop incredibly creative ads that draw potential renters in droves, yet lose them before they reach your front door if your apartment community has no curb appeal."
So, now we know the inner workings of curb appeal and why it is so important. Now comes the hard part.
You could paint the outside of the entire complex. Or sandblast it. That's going to cost a few bucks.
Hopefully the grass is cut, so not much you can do there.
But what about adding outside furnishings to enhance a property? Set the initial tone?
It's a simple solution. Add some commercial planters filled with a bouquet of bright flowers. The great thing about a planter is that unlike a flowering bush or tree you don't have to grow the stuff. You don't even have to wait for the spring growing season. You can run down to the nursery and immediately add an inviting splash of color to any entrance way.
Commercial outdoor planter
The variety for commercial planters is huge: choose from concrete, fiberglass, wood, metal, stone or polymer resin. Square, rectangle or round. Decide if you need an outdoor planter than can be moved easily or is more permanent.
The environment is a big trend today with young people. Add commercial planters made with recycled materials. Put a small sign identifying them as such. That one small item could set the entire tone in a person's mind that, "Hey, this multi-family complex is pretty cool. They obviously care about the environment…just like I do."
How about adding a few benches? Use thermoplastic-coated steel benches that can be cleaned quickly when in a rush to meet new prospective renters. Same with recycled plastic benches. They can be easily wiped down with soap and water to look like new. And again, you can make that pro-green statement that is so important to millennials and other generations today.
Sounds great you might think? But I can't wait four weeks for a commercial planter or plastic bench to get here.
Need commercial outdoor planters quickly?
The Park Catalog has a solution for you. They established a new QuickShip program with some 50 outdoor site furnishings, including attractive commercial planters, that ship in three days or less. Some items in just one day! That's quick shipping!
In literally just a few days, you could spruce up a property's exterior. Create more visual impact. Improve your curb appeal. Get a better return on your marketing dollars.
To put it in psychological terms, adding a bunch of positive points immediately inside a prospective tenant's brain, such as flowers, will produce good feelings about your property. Data that is stored in there to be pulled up later when a conscious decision is weighed and made.
Obviously, curb appeal has always been important. But now that we know how fast renters are processing information about your property, you want to get your best amenities out in front of the other data those renters are gathering. And you want to greatly tilt the balance of positive versus potential negative thoughts.
As we can see, by the time a renter walks up to shake your hand or enter the unit, there's been a whole lot of information processing going on. It's certainly a good idea to embed a bunch of decorative commercial planters filled with chrysanthemums, snapdragons or begonias into that process.
Choose from a large selection of commercial planters from The Park Catalog here.
This is Theresa Bradley-Banta's website page about adding curb appeal to rental units.
For more information, see our Buyer's Guide for Commercial Planters.
Note: With our ParkExpress program, The Park and Facilities Catalog can quick ship some commercial planters in a short time frame. Call 1-866-280-9894 for more information.