What I Think Is Next:
I think that the next step for Flexilease is to work on the timing of leases in addition to its flexible nature. For instance, I know that my apartment complex started leasing for the academic year of 2020-2021 in September 2019 and that ends up frustrating many students. If I can get UF and off-campus housing partnered for flexible leases, my next step would be to work on when people can actually apply for leases. My proposed solution would be to stagger the release of housing. That means that instead of making all housing available in September, allow those who want to renew do so in Fall semester and then have new people sign on in Spring semester. This would give people adequate time to figure out their plans for the next year.
Existing Market Interviews:
After listening to what these individuals had to say, I think that this would be a natural progression of my service. In addition to flexible leases, it would be nice to push out housing applications a few months in order to let students decide what they were doing the following year.
From what I understood, the interviewees had the same opinions as me about the situation and agreed that this would help them out. For instance, interviewee three mentioned that while he does not know if he will be interning next Fall yet, he would know by Spring. Therefore later housing application dates would greatly help him.
New market:
A market I have not thought about until now is students who prefer to live in houses as opposed to apartments. While it is true that most students live in apartments in Gainesville, there are students who prefer houses because they have pets, or a family, or are PhD students. My previous interviews have consisted of people who intended on living in an apartment since that is a popular choice, but it might be worthwhile to see what those who prefer houses say. That being said, houses tend to be city property so I do not know how I would appeal to these students. Perhaps they’d consider townhouses?
New Market Interviews:
These interviews confirmed some of the thoughts that I already had. For instance, I was pretty positive that those who prefer to live in a house are unlikely to want to switch to an apartment and these interviews confirmed that. Additionally, neither interview suggested any ideas as to how I could enter this ‘new’ market.
After these interviews, I might have to conclude that students that prefer living in houses might not be in my market segment. Because of city ordinances, it is not possible to expand my idea to houses.
I think that the next step for Flexilease is to work on the timing of leases in addition to its flexible nature. For instance, I know that my apartment complex started leasing for the academic year of 2020-2021 in September 2019 and that ends up frustrating many students. If I can get UF and off-campus housing partnered for flexible leases, my next step would be to work on when people can actually apply for leases. My proposed solution would be to stagger the release of housing. That means that instead of making all housing available in September, allow those who want to renew do so in Fall semester and then have new people sign on in Spring semester. This would give people adequate time to figure out their plans for the next year.
Existing Market Interviews:
- The interviewee agreed that this was a good next step. She said that even with the possibility of flexible leases, it’s hard to estimate for what semesters you’ll need a lease so early into the year. She also mentioned that for her personally, she doesn’t know when she will graduate (Fall or Spring of the following year), so that makes it hard to decide housing.
- This interviewee suggested that instead of changing the time to get housing, that I should see if you can sign for housing and get out of it later. I mentioned that currently a lot of housing communities do this so it would not be that advantageous of an idea to pursue.
- This interviewee said that looking into the timing of a lease was a natural next step for me to pursue. He said that having to sign a lease so early places a lot of stress on her, particularly this semester. He mentioned that he was looking to intern in the following Fall semester but had to sign a lease anyway because it rolled out so early.
After listening to what these individuals had to say, I think that this would be a natural progression of my service. In addition to flexible leases, it would be nice to push out housing applications a few months in order to let students decide what they were doing the following year.
From what I understood, the interviewees had the same opinions as me about the situation and agreed that this would help them out. For instance, interviewee three mentioned that while he does not know if he will be interning next Fall yet, he would know by Spring. Therefore later housing application dates would greatly help him.
New market:
A market I have not thought about until now is students who prefer to live in houses as opposed to apartments. While it is true that most students live in apartments in Gainesville, there are students who prefer houses because they have pets, or a family, or are PhD students. My previous interviews have consisted of people who intended on living in an apartment since that is a popular choice, but it might be worthwhile to see what those who prefer houses say. That being said, houses tend to be city property so I do not know how I would appeal to these students. Perhaps they’d consider townhouses?
New Market Interviews:
- This interviewee said that the only reason they prefer houses to apartments is because they are cheaper than most student apartment complexes.
- This interviewee said that they liked to live in a house so that their dog has space to run around outside and such of the like. They said that while flexible leases would be ideal, they would not be willing to move out of a house to an apartment.
These interviews confirmed some of the thoughts that I already had. For instance, I was pretty positive that those who prefer to live in a house are unlikely to want to switch to an apartment and these interviews confirmed that. Additionally, neither interview suggested any ideas as to how I could enter this ‘new’ market.
After these interviews, I might have to conclude that students that prefer living in houses might not be in my market segment. Because of city ordinances, it is not possible to expand my idea to houses.
Iswarya,
ReplyDeleteI really like where you are going with your next step phase. Giving students the opportunity to sign / resign later in the year allows for more room and strategic planning of their future. Having a flexible lease is beneficial for a student who isn’t necessarily tied down to stay in one place all year. Your interviewees had some strong insight and you were able to thoroughly reevaluate the importance of signing later in the year! I like the direction you a heading it – keep it up :)
Izzy,
ReplyDeleteI like how structured and well written this is. I think your interviews were very insightful as they confirmed that the rush to sign a lease as soon as possible in the fall is overwhelming and a huge problem for everyone. As an Innovation Academy student, I struggled to find a good apartment for my sophomore year because I came in the spring on freshman year. I'm sure staggering the release of housing would benefit other IA student and anyone else who needs some more time. Great job!