The Apartment Department

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Most vendors never find out why they lost the deal. This episode tells them.

Anne Baum and Chris Johnson sit down with Kim Boland, a multifamily marketer with more than 18 years in the industry, for a candid look at what operators wish vendors knew and what vendors rarely hear when they lose a deal.

Kim has spent her career building vendor relationships that have followed her from company to company. Lately, her “Operator Confessions” posts on LinkedIn have been saying what operators usually keep to themselves, and suppliers keep asking for more. She explains why she looks for partners who will push back and fight to get things fixed instead of saying yes to everything, and why both sides are better off when operators give honest feedback rather than ghosting.

The conversation is practical. It covers how budget decisions really get made, how marketing teams can open doors across an organization, why no rollout is as painless as the pitch suggests, and why handing a 300-property operator a spreadsheet to fill out by hand is no longer acceptable.

In this episode:

• Why a 30-minute call with a demo and a real price beats three calls of corporate scripts
• How rigid bundles cost vendors deals they would otherwise win
• Where operator budgets actually come from, and why most new tech has to replace something already on the books
• How AI tools moving into IT budgets could free up marketing dollars
• Why marketing is often the best champion and gateway into an organization, and how vendors can make the most of that champion
• What operators want vendors to admit about rollouts, risk, and the impact on on-site teams
• How AI is changing the prospect experience, and why reviews, website data, and FAQs now carry more weight than ever

The best vendor-operator partnerships aren’t built in the pitch. They’re built on honesty, transparency, and showing up for each other long after the contract is signed.

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The renter journey is changing, but multifamily marketing does not need to throw everything out and start over.

In this episode of The Apartment Department, Anne Baum and Chris Johnson sit down with Reid Wicoff, founding partner and CEO of Digible, to explore how renter behavior is evolving as AI becomes part of the search and decision-making process.

The conversation goes beyond the usual predictions about AI. Reid shares what Digible is seeing in the data, why traditional search and ILSs still play an important role, and what happens when renters move from simple searches into increasingly detailed conversations with tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.

The discussion also explores where marketing budgets are moving, why marketers need to establish a strong baseline before changing their strategy, and how AI could help bring together an increasingly fragmented media mix.

In this episode:

• What the emerging AI-driven renter journey actually looks like
• Why LLMs may become increasingly important later in the renter decision process
• What Project Polaris is revealing about how AI surfaces multifamily properties and content
• Why continuous research and experimentation matter more as the pace of change accelerates
• How marketers can think about media mix and budget allocation without chasing every new channel
• The move toward AI-optimized marketing with human strategists still in the loop
• Why breaking down channel silos could change how multifamily marketing performance is measured
• What AI could ultimately mean for the renter experience

The future of multifamily marketing may be less about finding the next channel and more about understanding how renters actually move through the journey.

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Streaming TV has changed significantly in the past year, and the opportunity for multifamily marketers has changed with it.

In this episode of The Apartment Department, hosts Anne Baum and Chris Johnson welcome Kristi Fickert, SVP of Growth and Marketing at Kurie, back to the podcast for a conversation about what’s new, what’s working, and how marketers can think differently about streaming advertising today.

The conversation goes beyond putting an apartment ad on a television screen. Kristi, Anne, and Chris explore how streaming can build brand awareness, reach renters earlier in their journey, support sequential storytelling, and create more opportunities to connect with specific audiences. They also dig into the challenge of measuring marketing that is designed to make a brand memorable, especially when traditional reporting tends to focus on a single source, lead, and lease.

The episode also gets into:

• Why 15-second ads are changing how marketers approach storytelling
• How fresh creative can help combat ad fatigue
• Why top-of-funnel marketing should not always be expected to produce an immediate lease
• How brand searches, direct traffic, organic traffic, and overall traffic can help indicate whether awareness efforts are working
• Why video does not always need to be highly produced to be effective
• How streaming advertising can be used for more than renter acquisition
• Why experimentation and speed can matter as much as production quality
• How AI could create more sameness, or help marketers come up with ideas others are not thinking about
• Why the experiences happening inside a community can be more differentiating than the amenities themselves

A year after Kristi’s first appearance on the podcast, the technology has moved quickly. This conversation looks at where streaming TV is now and what multifamily marketers can do with the opportunities that are emerging.

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What happens when an industry becomes so focused on technology, automation and efficiency that it forgets the humans at the center of the experience?

In this episode of The Apartment Department, Anne Baum and Chris Johnson sit down with Toni Blake, a 42-year veteran of multifamily and founder of TotallyToni, to talk about what she calls The Great Human Recalibration: bringing humanity, authenticity and connection back to an industry increasingly shaped by technology.

Toni challenges the polished, scripted approach to leasing that can make interactions feel more transactional than human. Instead, she believes the next competitive advantage may be something technology can't replicate: the ability to create genuine connection, bring energy to an interaction and make people feel something.

The conversation explores:

• The Five Essential Human Roles: Advocate, Investigator, Influencer, Facilitator and Celebrator, and why these roles can replace outdated sales approaches.
• The messy middle: What happens between the beginning of a renter's search and the final decision, and why human connection matters in that space.
• Magnetic Human Resonance: Toni's perspective on the energy people bring to an interaction and how it can influence even digital experiences.
• Rethinking sales: Why Toni believes traditional sales training is dead and what changes when the goal shifts from selling to celebrating.
• Humanizing technology: How teams can bring more personality and intentionality into chatbots, floor plans and other digital touchpoints.
• License the Legend: Toni's new digitized training system designed to help multifamily organizations bring her human-centered approach to teams at scale.

As multifamily continues to embrace AI and automation, this conversation asks an important question: If technology is making everything more efficient, could being more human be what makes us stand out?

IMPORTANT CONTEXT: HUMAN VOICE, AI & CHATBOTS, Toni Blake

As we recalibrate our humanity into technology to deliver information and facilitate communication with our team, we need to be aware of changes in AI Governance.

This conversation is about strengthening human connection within an increasingly digital customer experience—not teaching Artificial Intelligence to imitate human emotion, empathy, relationships, or identity.

My intention in adding personality, a “persona,” or a mascot to a digital experience is to clearly identify branded communication and a human-created voice—not to disguise AI as a human being or program AI to simulate emotional dependency or a human relationship.

The HUMAN Recalibration encourages organizations to intentionally create opportunities for real people to contribute their knowledge, advocacy, curiosity, stories, recommendations, encouragement, celebration, and personal voice throughout the customer journey.

HUMANS HANDLE THE HUMAN.

When AI or automation is communicating directly with a consumer, organizations should clearly identify automated/AI interactions when required, maintain appropriate pathways to human assistance, and follow applicable federal, state, fair housing, privacy, consumer-protection, and AI laws.

This distinction is increasingly important as laws governing conversational AI continue to evolve.

Colorado: Beginning January 1, 2027, Colorado's Automated Decision-Making Technology Act (SB 26-189) establishes requirements involving automated systems used to materially influence consequential decisions—including housing—and provides consumers receiving certain adverse outcomes the right to request meaningful human review and reconsideration. Colorado's Chatbot Safety Act (HB 26-1263) separately establishes disclosure and safety requirements for conversational AI services.

Other states are also establishing AI disclosure and companion-chatbot requirements. California and New York, for example, regulate certain companion AI interactions while distinguishing ordinary customer-service uses from AI designed to simulate sustained human-like relationships.

The regulatory landscape is changing quickly. Examples and ideas discussed in this episode are presented as training and marketing concepts, not legal or AI-compliance advice. Organizations should evaluate their specific technology, configuration, customer journey, jurisdictions, and use cases with appropriate legal and compliance professionals before implementation.

The principle behind the Great Human Recalibration remains simple: Technology can support the experience. HUMAN connection should come from humans.

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In this episode of The Apartment Department, Lauren Turner of The Bainbridge Companies shares how brand immersion helps onsite teams understand the story behind a community and turn that knowledge into a better renter experience. The goal is to move beyond selling square footage and start selling the lifestyle, history, design, and details that make a property different.

Turner shares how Bainbridge is putting that idea into practice through:

• Brand immersion: Bringing construction, development, operations, and onsite teams together to understand the story and strategy behind each community.
• Storytelling and personas: Giving leasing teams the context and tools to connect with different types of renters and create meaningful brand moments throughout the tour.
• AI and Canva: Using technology to make it easier for teams to create consistent, on-brand content and messaging.
• Social media competitions: Encouraging onsite teams to show more personality and become more comfortable creating content.
• Influencer partnerships: Extending a property's story beyond its own channels and reaching new audiences, including prospective renters outside the local market.
• AI search: Thinking ahead about how property descriptions, FAQs, and brand content will be discovered and interpreted by generative search.

A strong property brand is not something that only lives in a marketing deck. It becomes powerful when the people representing the community understand it, believe in it, and know how to bring it to life.

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Property management is entering a new chapter, and it will be shaped by more than technology alone.

In this episode of The Apartment Department, Anne Baum and Chris Johnson sit down with Jacob Carter, founder of Nurture Boss and author of AI in Property Management, for a wide-ranging conversation about where the industry is headed. What begins with Jacob's new book quickly expands into a discussion about the evolution of on-site teams, the changing role of leasing professionals, practical technology adoption, and the rise of AI agents.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why the role of the leasing professional is changing.
• What AI agents are and why they could reshape property management.
• Why user experience matters more than another dashboard.
• What vendor accountability should look like in an AI-powered industry.
• Why managing AI agents may become part of every job.

Whether you're leading marketing, operations, technology, or an on-site team, this conversation offers a thoughtful perspective on where property management is headed next

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Apartment communities have never looked more alike. Luxury finishes, similar amenities, nearly identical websites, and now AI-generated marketing are making it harder than ever to stand out.

So how do you create something renters actually remember?

In this episode of The Apartment Department, Anne Baum and Chris Johnson are joined by Stacey Feeney, Founder and Chief Creative Director of Zipcode Creative, to discuss why brand has become one of multifamily's most important competitive advantages.

Stacey explains why branding is much more than a logo or color palette. It's the story you tell, the personality you create, and the experience you consistently deliver. The conversation explores how operators can define an authentic brand, connect with the right renters, train site teams to bring that brand to life, and use AI as a tool without sacrificing originality.

Whether you're developing a new community, repositioning an existing asset, or simply trying to differentiate in a crowded market, this episode offers practical ideas for building a brand that people remember and trust.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why multifamily is experiencing a "sea of sameness."
• What actually makes a brand beyond logos and visual identity.
• How to define an ideal resident without limiting your audience.
• Why operations and resident experience are part of your brand.
• How to use AI to scale your brand voice instead of creating generic marketing.
• Why every prospect touchpoint should reinforce the same story.
• How strong branding can influence leasing, retention, recruiting, and even future development.

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Go-to-market is a well-established business framework, but it's a concept that's only beginning to gain traction in multifamily. In this episode, Anne Baum and Chris Johnson sit down with Mike Wolber, Chief Sales Officer at Apartment List, to explore how go-to-market thinking can help organizations design better customer experiences.

The conversation begins with Apartment List's latest AI innovations, including the launch of Kaleno and Sunny, and how they're rethinking renter search and demand generation. From there, Mike shares why the best organizations don't optimize individual departments. They align marketing, leasing, operations, and leadership around one connected customer journey.

Together, they discuss how multifamily can embrace go-to-market as a framework for breaking down silos, creating alignment across teams, and delivering better experiences for prospects and residents. Mike also shares his perspective on why data without context is just noise, why clarity is more powerful than micromanagement, and how AI can strengthen the customer experience without replacing the human relationships that matter most.

In this episode:

• Apartment List's latest AI innovations and what they mean for multifamily
• How go-to-market thinking can transform the customer experience
• Why cross-functional alignment is essential for better outcomes
• The importance of using data with context
• Leadership lessons on clarity, culture, and building stronger teams

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What if renters aren't choosing communities based on amenities at all?

In this episode, Lia Nichole Smith, Chief Brand Strategist at Spherexx, joins Anne Baum and Chris Johnson to explore the rise of identity economics and what it means for the future of multifamily.

Lia argues that today's renters are increasingly making housing decisions based on identity, belonging, and community fit rather than simply comparing features and amenities. As consumers become more hyper-tribalized, the communities they choose become an extension of who they are and the lifestyle they want to live.

The conversation explores why apartment marketing has fallen into a sea of sameness, why traditional buzzwords like "luxury" often fail to resonate, and how operators can use zero-party data to better understand what truly drives leasing and renewal decisions.

In this episode:
• What identity economics means for multifamily
• Why renters are becoming more values-driven and community-focused
• The problem with amenity-based differentiation
• How zero-party data can reveal why residents choose, stay, or leave
• Why "luxury" may be one of multifamily's most overused marketing terms
• A new approach to demonstrating value at renewal
• How authentic community partnerships can strengthen brand awareness

If multifamily is going to stand out in an increasingly competitive market, Lia believes the answer isn't better marketing. It's building communities that people genuinely want to belong to.

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Andrea Taylor, Founder and CEO of Livsee, joins Anne Baum and Chris Johnson to discuss how AI is reshaping multifamily leasing, pricing, and operations by turning renter conversations into a continuous source of intelligence.

Andrea shares how operators are using AI-powered follow-up to re-engage lost leads, improve tour conversion, and uncover what prospects and residents actually care about. These signals are then feeding into decisions around pricing strategy, concessions, amenities, and retention.

The conversation explores:

• Why “dead leads” still contain valuable leasing intelligence
• How renter conversations reveal patterns that impact occupancy and demand
• The role of AI in follow-up, renewals, and leasing workflows
• Why concessions and pricing decisions are becoming more data-driven
• How operators are using conversation data to inform amenity and asset decisions
• The ongoing challenge of attribution and understanding true renter intent
• What voice AI and automation may (and may not) change in the leasing experience

Along the way, the group discusses how renters are more informed than ever, how search behavior is shifting earlier in the decision process, and why the future of leasing will depend less on isolated touchpoints and more on understanding the full context of renter intent.

This episode highlights a shift in multifamily from managing leads to learning from every conversation that happens along the renter journey.