Customer Service Agent

You are the person residents actually deal with. You answer, you sort things out, and you make sure nobody has to chase us. Reports to: Asset Performance & Resident Experience Manager Community size: About 300 homes Location: Various locations, Texas. On site, in the leasing office Hours: Full-time. Some weekend coverage [schedule to be confirmed] Pay: $30,000 – $50,000 per year; on site housing subsidy provided as a benefit What this job is You run the front desk of an Upfrnt apartment community. Residents come to you first, by phone, text, email, the resident app, or by walking into the office. You answer them, you fix what you can fix yourself, and you chase the people who fix the rest until it is done. You provide on-site tech support to residents who need it. You also show homes to people looking to rent, help them through the application, and settle them in on move-in day. And you keep an eye on the office, the common areas and the amenities. It is a busy job and almost all of it is with people. On a normal day you will talk to a lot of residents. Those conversations are most of the reason someone decides to stay another year, which is why this role matters more than the job title suggests. What working here is like There are five standards the company stands for. In this job they come down to three habits: answer quickly, tell people the truth, and finish what you start. There are three of us on site for about 300 homes, so you will own your work and there is nowhere to hide. We would much rather you tell us something is broken than quietly work around it. What you will do Answer residents Pick up the phone, reply to texts and emails, respond to messages in the resident app, and greet people who walk in. Support and train residents in app usage. Handle the things that come up every day: repair requests, rent and payment questions, package and parcel problems, parking, keys and fobs, noise and neighbor complaints, pets, amenity bookings, lease questions. Log every request in our system so there is a record of what was asked, what was promised and what happened. Sort out what you can sort out yourself. Pass the rest to the right person and stay on it until the resident has an answer. Call people back when you said you would, even when the answer is "still working on it". Tell your manager straight away about anything serious: a safety issue, a threat, a legal notice, a resident in distress, a complaint you cannot settle. Show homes and sign new residents Respond to inquiries from prospective residents quickly, and book them for a tour. Show homes and the amenities. Give the same information, in the same order, on every tour. Answer questions about availability, lease terms, fees, pets, parking and the application process accurately. Look things up rather than guessing. Help applicants through the application and screening process and keep them informed about where it stands. Follow up after every tour and every application. Keep prospect records and activity up to date in our system. Treat every inquiry the same way. Fair housing rules apply to who you show homes to, what you say, and how you follow up. We train you on this and we check it. Move-in day Get the home and the paperwork ready before the resident arrives. Inspect the property prior to move in. Hand over keys, fobs and access codes, and ensure their account is set up on the resident app. Walk them through the home, the amenities, parking, trash, mail and who to call for what. Show them how to raise a repair request and how to pay, so their first month is not full of small confusions. Check in with them in their first week and fix anything that has gone wrong. Repairs and service requests Guide them through the app usage and be aware of progress of the request. Keep track of slippage and get it to the Maintenance Tech where required. Provide tenant customer support and coordinate with the Maintenance Tech where required. Update regularly. Confirm with the resident that the job is actually done before it is closed. A ticket closed in the system is not the same as a problem solved. The office, common areas and amenities Open and close the office, and keep it presentable. Walk the common areas and amenities during the day. Report anything broken, dirty or unsafe to the Maintenance Tech or Facilities and Ground Tech. Manage amenity bookings and access. Help organize resident events and get people to come to them. Records and systems Keep resident and prospect records accurate and up to date in Upfrnt OS and our property management system. Write up interactions clearly enough that a colleague can pick up where you left off. Handle resident information carefully and follow our privacy rules. Tell us when the software is making your job harder. We build our own tools and we will fix them. Normal day Start by clearing overnight messages and checking what came in through the app and the emergency line. Quick catch-up with both the Maintenance, Facilities and Ground Tech on today's jobs and anything urgent. Open the office. Walk the entrance, mail area and main common areas. Through the day: calls, walk-ins, tours, applications, repair requests, package queries, follow-ups. Work through your follow-up list before the end of the day, so nothing carries over without the resident knowing. Close down, hand over anything outstanding, and make sure the after-hours team knows about anything live. When something goes wrong Things will go wrong. A repair will run late, a system will fail, someone will drop a ball. What decides whether a resident stays is rarely the mistake. It is what happened in the hour after they told us. Respond fast and do not get defensive. Take responsibility on Upfrnt's behalf, even when it was not your mistake. Residents do not know or care how our team is organized. Put it right, then check back a few days later to make sure it stayed right. Use the discretion your manager gives you to fix things in the moment, within the limits they set. Write down what happened and why, so it is less likely to happen again. What you need One to three years or more in a job where you dealt with customers face to face and by phone. You communicate clearly and warmly, in person, on the phone and in writing. You can juggle a queue, a phone and a walk-in without making anyone feel like an interruption. You follow through without being chased. You are accurate. You understand that a record typed carelessly becomes someone's wrong answer next week. You are comfortable learning new software. You can stay calm and kind with someone who is angry. What helps, but we do not require it Hotel front desk, guest services or concierge experience. This is the background we like most, because the habits transfer almost exactly. Restaurant, club, spa, airline or premium retail service experience. Leasing or property management experience. Spanish speaking. #J-18808-Ljbffr Upfrnt USA Inc