Dualing marketing strategies.

High-quality, effective marketing--whether through printed materials or online advertisements--is constantly on every owner and manager's mind. A successful marketing plan keeps those potential residents walking into your leasing office. This issue of UNITS focuses on the dichotomy of print and online marketing--and how both tactics can be effective tools for your community.

In Perfect Placement, page 20, industry professionals express why, when it comes to marketing, it's not always a battle between online and print. Sometimes it's a happy marriage of both.

The shy have never gotten far. Lori Snider explains how Bold Marketing Moves, page 29, can generate unprecedented results.

Because property managers deal with some of the hardest-hitting legal questions of the day, this issue of UNITS highlights emerging fair housing concerns. Of these, the question of how to respond to a resident with a disability who requests a reasonable accommodation--a request to be given preference or even excused from the community's rules or practices--surely ranks among the toughest to answer. In When Exceptions Are the Rule, page 34, Liam Garland revisits the basics of granting requests for reasonable accommodation.

Could your company be the subject of the next housing discrimination case filed as a result of accessibility violations created during construction? Peter A. Stratton and Mark S. Jackson answer your questions in Built-In Mistakes, page 37.

Communicating consistent responses to residents and prospects is key to creating Consistently Fair Housing. Shirley A. Robertson, CPM, explains how to get every staff member to speak the same language on page 41.

Are You Lazy Enough To Be a Great Manager? Mel Kleiman, CSP, a speaker at the 2007 NAA Education Conference & Exposition in Las Vegas, wants to know. On page 42, learn how to cross-train your staff effectively so you can kick back, relax and get to work on the big picture.

The Internal Revenue Service has created the "8823 Guide" for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program. Brian Carnahan explains what you need to know in Tax-Credit Housing: A New Guide to Compliance, page 44.

With the apartment industry's cutthroat construction pricing, finding cut-rate prices shouldn't be so easy. But Wood Partners is saving on development costs. Find out how in Cut Costs, Not Quality, page 52.

The industry is going green, and now even washing machines are jumping on the solar-powered bandwagon. Phil Bogucki will show you how how to decrease your energy costs with a Clean, Green Washing Machine, page 56.

More than 450 NAA members gathered in Arlington, Va., for the 2007 NAA Capitol Conference March 11-14. Charlie Cook, a political pundit who called the 2006 mid-terms, spoke before the members. Read what the political analyst had to say about the 2008 elections in Expert Predicts Party Nominees for '08, page 49.

After a successful Capitol Conference, we turn our attention to the 2007 NAA Education Conference & Exposition in Las Vegas, June 28-30. With the largest captive audience of apartment industry decision-makers, there is no better place than the NAA Education Conference & Exposition for a company to showcase its products and services, introduce a company name or to build on a strong branding campaign.

Find out how the 18 Platinum Sponsors are capitalizing on this opportunity on page 58 in Making a Difference. For more details on the 2007 NAA Education Conference & Exposition, see the Registration Brochure between pages 48 and 49.

See you in June!

NAA's Chairman of the Board, Dave Watkins, CAPS