The new year is upon us once again and once again we find ourselves in an introspective mood. What is it about tearing off the final pages of our calendars that makes looking back seem more important and more satisfying than other times in the year? Whatever the reason, we like to take the time at the end of the year to look back and see which of our articles got the most reads. It is admittedly a clunky proxy for what you, our audience, likes to read. It also favors the articles that were published earlier in the year (and thus had more time to attract clicks). But, it will have to do.
Here are the articles that got the most reads and how we are interpreting their popularity when it comes to planning next years editorial:
5. The Dramatic Downside of Being Dog-Friendly
Dogs. The big winners of the pandemic have been dogs. It seems everyone rushed out to buy (or hopefully adopt) a new canine companion to help the isolation that has come from lockdowns, social distancing, and working from home. Many of these first-time dog owners live in apartments that are not much bigger than the kennels at the pound. Multifamily complexes have had to adapt to the rise of dog ownership but putting in a dog park is often just the beginning.
Multifamily articles often don’t make our list (people love reading about the office) but this article’s success shows that dogs are a real problem for the people tasked with managing the buildings that they call “bark.”
4. What the Single-Family Rental Boom Has Taught Multifamily Operators
Multifamily buildings were often seen as better large-scale investments than single family rentals. The close proximity of all of the units makes them easier to service, maintain, and lease than single family houses that could be spread out across a city. Technology is changing that. A lot of technological advancements have helped some of the biggest institutional investors own and manage large single family portfolios. Investment shops that had never considered stand along rental homes are now getting into the game—and are learning a few new tricks along the way.
This one was the most shocking article on this list for me. When we started Propmodo we knew we wanted to write about commercial real estate for commercial real estate professionals. We assumed that meant not writing about single family real estate (there is nothing CRE folks find more basic than resi content). Now the distinction between residential and commercial seems to be fading and the single family rental has gone commercial.
3. Employers Can’t Require Vaccinations. For Now.
The COVID vaccine is one of mankind’s most impressive and most necessary advancements. Rather than ending the pandemic as many had hoped, it has led to a contentious political debate and a legal quagmire for employers. There have been a lot of developments when it comes to vaccine mandates since this article was written but the ongoing confusion about what it will all mean for the workplace remains.
The popularity of this article was no surprise to us, any content around the vaccination mandates tends to do well because it is such a complicated topic. This article is a bit dated since a lot has changed in regards to the mandates but not to worry, we have just published another article with all of the subsequent changes to what employers can and should do when it comes to their employees’ vaccination status.
2. How Can Offices Benefit From the Push Toward Remote Work?
When the pandemic started and everyone left their office, no one knew how long it would be until they went back. For many of us, the answer is never. The forced normality of working from home has many companies transitioning to full time remote work. At first glance this might seem like a huge loss for the office industry but interestingly many companies are keeping their offices even with more of their teams working remotely and are opting instead to change the very nature of what an office is used for.
Throughout the pandemic everyone with a social media account seemed to deem the office “dead.” Since we heard from so many of our readers that work in office real estate and management that the sector is far from dead, we have taken a more nuanced, optimistic approach to the subject. Even though doom and gloom might get clicks, truthful analysis seems to still be appreciated by those with more than just a passing interest in the office.
1. Five Companies Returning to the Office (and Five That Aren’t)
Big office occupiers have been engaged in a lengthy, public debate about when to bring people back to their workplaces. There is a big divide between some of these companies and when employees should come back to the office—if at all.
Since these companies represent a large part of the office market it is no shock that what they are doing is of utmost importance to office providers. Again, the information in this article has changed a bit since we published it in April (although many of these companies are still stuck in the same limbo). Not to worry, here is an article published today that recaps six companies that have still not reopened their offices. We have taken the interest in occupiers to heart and are building out more editorial around occupier sentiment including a recent research report about the lessons we learned from a survey of occupiers about what they actually want from tenant experience applications.
