100% Occupancy Isn't Enough

100% Occupancy isn’t enough because being 100% occupied isn’t something you can take to the bank!

I was working on due diligence on a property.  The Property Manager wanted to make a good impression, hoping to stay at the property and join our team. She was so proud of her high occupancy and waiting list – the highest occupancy for the longest duration in her career!  Sounds like a strong bragging point, right? She forgot one thing: the property’s receivables.

If COVID-19 and the CDC eviction moratorium only reminded us of one thing, it’s that physical occupancy shouldn’t be our prime focus. Occupancies all over the country are at record highs, but since we haven’t been able to evict people for non-payment, receivables are also at the highest levels I can remember.  Our industry needs to do a better job training our team members to look at Economic Occupancy, not just physical.  It’s nice to excel in both, but if you have to pick, choose Economic Occupancy! You can bank on it!