The Manufactured Housing Forums

We own and manage a number of small (50-100 sites) manufactured housing communities in Michigan and Ohio.

We are interested in your feedback on the following questions:

1. Does it make sense to conduct a resident survey?

2. Do you have a suggested form/format?

Thanks for your help

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Thanks,

Steve Faliski
Jamison Management Co.

Thanks for the subscription! Yes, it makes sense to conduct a resident survey - especially if you have experienced an unusual amount of resistance to a rent increase, if you sense a high amount of discontent, or if you recently chanaged managers, or sense the need to change. By the same token, it can prove to be a helpful tool when things are going smoothly with no problems. I don't have a format, but will be glad to work with you on an individual basis if you desire. Most of the time, it costs less about $200 to design an effective resident survey. Some tips for you should you decide to go ahead on your own include: 1)keep the number of choices for answers to a minimum (3 or 4); 2)keep the number of 'fill-in-the-blank" questions to an absolute minimum; 3)always ask what they want to see done no matter how much it costs; 4)always ask what they want to see done that can be done for free; 5)separate the survey into areas that will be easy to analyze and compare over coming years (administration, maintenance, appearance, etc.); 6)plan on using the same survey for several years so you have an accurate barometer of progress; and 7) share the results with your residents and employees. Hope this helps to get you started. Please call me if I can help.

Thanks for the quick response -- those were great points to consider

I'll let you know what we come up with