Having a standard experience is key to housing residents and guiding them on their rental housing journey. 

Greystar recently announced its “by Greystar” family of brands to connect properties across the globe to one main brand. Scott Berka, Senior Managing Director, Brand and Customer Experience with Greystar, recently spoke with units Magazine about the distinction. 

What was the idea behind bringing everything together under one “by Greystar” roof and calling it a family of brands? 

Scott Berka: I lead our global brand and customer experience teams, thinking about not just the overarching Greystar brand, but also the brands of all the properties we manage, which have now formally evolved into our family of brands. It’s been something that my team, along with other parts of the organization, has been purposely developing over time. As for the why and what is the family of brands, and why it’s unique in the industry, we wanted to showcase the breadth of product types we have across the many properties that we manage. 

In terms of location, but also the renter groups that we serve, we wanted to have this set of brands that better demarks all our products across the rental lifecycle. In doing so, it gives renters an awareness of the fact that they can choose to live with Greystar all the way from their student housing needs through to their active adult life, and everything in between. 

So, in the same way that hospitality and hotels have adopted this structure, we believe it’s time for the rental housing industry to do something similar. This helps make it easier for consumers and renters as they think about finding a place to live across geographies, since each brand has a standardized concept and aesthetic, but all of our brands uphold the service quality they can expect at a Greystar property. 

What steps is Greystar taking to ensure consumers are aware of the variety of products and living options available at different life stages, while also maintaining a consistent brand experience across its properties?

Berka: The first priority is to ensure consumers are aware that we have various products and places to live at multiple life stages because the differences are not obvious without having that connection. Second, we want it to be clear that there is a consistent experience that you should come to expect within each brand, and not that all Greystar properties are exactly the same everywhere but are similar within their brand. In the same vein as hotels, some properties offer a high-end experience, while others offer you longer-term stays. Still, there is a base level of quality and a service experience at all properties you can come to expect. We want to be able to have those two key identifiers. The way we thought best to do that was to have ‘by Greystar’ included right alongside that property name. 

More broadly at Greystar, we are approaching a million units managed, and historically, each development has been independent in terms of the way that we’ve gone to market with its own brand and name. We want to change the way that we’re engaging with our residents by creating a more direct and long-lasting relationship with Greystar. We believe the first step in having that direct long-term relationship between our residents and Greystar is by creating our family of brands. 

How are you keeping your residents in Greystar properties?

Berka: The first step of that process is to have products that meet residents where they are. It’s not specific to renting necessarily, but to life stages. In most cases, the first place you live on your own is going to be student housing, and we have communities for students. Then, when you graduate, you’re oftentimes moving into an apartment, which may be in or near a city center. Our brands like Marlowe and Birchway meet that need, especially for young professionals who are on their own for the first time. Perhaps later on, a resident may want a little more space and doesn’t want to have roommates or share a space; they want to get a little farther outside the city. We have single-family rental homes under our Summerwell brand, which offers that natural transition. As you get older, and maybe your kids have moved out and you want to keep renting, you then have the option to move to one of our active adult 55-plus communities. For those that rent, regardless of life stage, we want them to know we have a community for them. 

What’s coming up in the near term with the family of brands?

Berka: We have a growing handful of brands, with several more to be added over the coming years. We are exploring the high-rise category, which we haven’t explored yet. We have seen a stronger push to garden and mid-rise, so most of our brands are in those categories. 

Beyond that, I see most of our growth in expanding the number of properties within each of the current brands. As an example, with our Marlowe brand, we now have dozens of current properties and more in the pipeline. One of the others that we spend a lot of time with is our Ltd. brand, which is what we call ‘essential housing.’ It is a community specifically for median income workers such as teachers and firefighters who cannot afford traditional newly built Class A but do not fall into government-assisted programs. This brand features new developments at a more attainable rent. We spend a lot of time thinking about how to grow that brand as well as all our brands.