Helping residents save by adding amenities and events

Summer is in full swing and unfortunately so is the rise of food and gas prices.  Your residents are going to be feeling the pinch like everyone else in the country. One of the ways you can help them, is to provide some money saving opportunities they may have capitalized on if they were a homeowner.

Find an area at your community where a vegetable garden will work and allow residents to cultivate and grow their own veggies.  It will undoubtably not be big enough for everyone to have their own plot in the garden, but you won't get 100% interest anyway and you can make it first come, first serve.  You can enlist the help of your landscape contractor to plan and care for the garden too.  

You could also plant tomatoes throughout the community allowing residents to pick them whenever they want. Residents may have a hard time growing tomatoes on their patio or balcony if they don't get enough sun, so this is a nice way to make it possible for them. You may be surprised at how many places you could put a tomato plant and they are actually not bad looking.  Keep in mind the amount of water they need when placing them, especially if you don't have irrigation. 

If your company hasn't started researching the power stations for electric cars, you should suggest they begin the due diligence. Every resident that is in the market for a car has no doubt allowed the thought of a hybrid or all electric vehicle to cross their mind.  There will come a day, sooner than many think, where electric cars are the most popular new car purchase. If your community isn't ready for this, people will rent elsewhere or perhaps make the leap to home ownership.

You can host potluck dinners on the weekends for residents. In the summer, many single family home communities make this a regular occurence.  You can make this an outdoor event with a few buffet length tables, paper plates, plastic wear and a few other items and avoid making a mess in your clubhouse.  Instead of doing can soda or bottled water, get the beverage coolers that are commonplace on the sidelines of football games.  Have a giant cooler of lemonade, one of iced tea and another with water.  You can even do a cucumber infused water or some other fruit to give it a little flair.  Then buy a couple big hams from your local Costco or Sam's club or another inexpensive meat and ask residents to bring all the sides.   For under $100 you can create a great community bonding event and help your residents save a little money on dinner out.

If you have any great ideas for making your residents feel more at "home", please drop us a line at blog@gracehill.com or feel free to comment here.