Apartment Inventory Management Closes The Doors

Six years ago today Apartment Inventory Management came into existence because I was asked by a couple of Realtors if I knew of an apartment database that was searchable like MLS.  I was in the middle of my Presidency with the Women’s Council of Realtors, I had rebuilt the chapter website, I had written and sold a small program for a title company so my nerd status was obvious.  I started in commercial real estate in 1997 so I was very familiar with technology available to commercial and residential agents.  My four years at CB Richard Ellis began my curiosity about software when I was on the portfolio services team and manager of the national information center.  My curiosity quickly grew into a passion and eight years later when asked about an apartment MLS I decided to write one.

The entire year of 2006 was spent in development and collecting data.  In 2007 and 2008 I brought on an investor and we gained some great traction during those years.  AIM had a staff of seven including a full-time developer and released three major upgrades to the system by 2009.  The Locator Expo was born in 2008 and although the industry wasn’t quite open to my innovative ideas yet, I began to make great friends with managers and locators who took a personal interest in my success.  The company no longer needed an investor by December 2008 since the last two years of growth had been very promising.

Any small business owner will tell you that the first five years are the most difficult but when the economy also takes a major down turn during that time, you better prepare for a rough ride. The summer of 2009 apartment AND locator clients started to cancel.  By December I had to lay off all of our staff except one and it seemed every time we added a new client we would lose one.  After six months of stagnation it was time to make a difficult decision and decide if we keep going or close the doors.

After a series of events that can only be explained as God’s intervention, during spring break March 2010 my friend BJ Farmer gave me the confidence to make the decision to grab my boot straps, scale back, give up our office space and rebuild AIM from the ground up.  I literally left every piece of code on the cutting room floor and started over with one customer service rep to keep our clients happy.  Those clients from Southhampton Management, Gables Residential, Greystar, Archstone, Alliance Communities, American Realty Investors, Nolan Real Estate Services, Marquette Management and many Individual and Private owners have sustained us through this rebuild.  There are too many locators to mention by name but there are four locators who have become brothers to me.  Ty Counts of Apartment World, Paul Murany with Apartment Living Locators, Nick Barber of U Move Free and Harold Strickland of Renters Resource who have encouraged and supported me the last year and nine months when my boot straps have failed countless times.  These clients who have become friends and family are my inspiration for this announcement…

Today, Friday December 9, 2011 at 5pm, six years after starting this venture, AIM will close the doors and pull the final plug on our old system.  

Monday, December 12, 2011 we will begin our seventh year in Houston offering the first Locator Referral System:

Apartment Locating Software and Multi Listing Service for Apartment Owners.

www.ApartmentInventoryManagement.com

Speak Loudly

Since I was little I can remember being told to lower my voice.  My mother, teachers, friends and even my daughter have told me many, many, MANY times “Your Voice Carries”.  A few years ago I had nodules on my vocal chords from the volume of my voice, until I went to speech therapy to learn how to correct it to avoid surgery that would require two weeks of complete silence. IMPOSSIBLE! So I thought it was a clever title for this blog because I certainly have a lot to say but this blog is all about you, changes in the apartment locating industry and collecting information that proves value to the locating service…..so now Your Voice Carries too!  ;-)

I have to admit that all of this blogging and twittering was a little overwhelming, even for a card carrying tech nerd like myself.  Many of you connect with me on Facebook but that is the only forum I use consistently because Facebook makes it so easy.  I finally sat down and read all of the research I had collected and made some decisions about the online presence for Apartment Inventory Management.  What I love about having an online presence is how it “shrinks the emotional distance between my company” and the people I work so hard for because I want to know each of you personally.  I also love that it facilitates recipient driven marketing, instead of outdated “push” marketing like annoying email newsletters that get pushed to your inbox.

Recipient driven marketing means I get to drive the car, I don’t have to hit you with it. LOL  This forum allows me to communicate our messages and gives you the flexibility to receive them the way you prefer.  This first blog is an invitation, to start a two-way conversation with all locators and managers by asking you to join our locator network, connect to our facebook, twitter, your email, or all of them if you like.  In my opinion, the greatest significance of online networking is that every connection is a mutually beneficial two way relationship.  When you connect with me, I am automatically connected to your online presence. My goal for future blogs is to write on topics that promote and encourage the apartment locator and property manager relationship.  I searched the internet for articles written about apartment locators and only found four.  As a real estate agent since 2000 I am troubled by the expression “locators are a necessary evil” but unless someone takes action to collect and distribute examples of your value, this expression will go on.  I am certainly not the expert of what examples need to be collected which is why I’m asking you to join this blog and give me YOUR expertise but I am an expert on distributing information so together we can be an effective team!

Thank you for reading my first blog, PLEASE feel free to join the conversation by posting your comments and don’t forget to pick one of the methods below to make sure your Voice is heard in the future!

Jodi Southwick

How can we connect?

• AIM Locator Network – Facebook for Locating!  This is the best method.  It’s free and if you have a profile you will not only receive our blog but you can write your own blog, be invited to all of our events, see a list of Referral Tips which are preferred management companies submitted by your fellow locators,  participate in survey’s and polls.  We already have 300 members…create your profile now!
• Twitter - a link to our blog will be posted here each time it’s updated.  Confused by Twitter?
• Facebook - a link to our blog will be posted here each time it’s updated
• Jodi Southwick’s Facebook - get to know me personally
• Eva Ingrum’s Facebook - my sales manager