‘What Renters Want’ with Jessica Fiur: What to Do About Residents Who Break Up
It’s a tale as old as time: Boy meets girl. They fall in love, or at least fall in like enough that they’re together all the time and finish each other’s sentences and have their own language and are really irritating their friends. So they decide to move in together, because rent is expensive, their roommates are annoying and they spend all their time together anyway, and really, how different could living together be. Then it’s all cool for awhile until boy discovers that he can’t stand girl’s laugh anymore and girl is sick and tired of picking up boy’s…
‘What Renters Want’ with Jessica Fiur: Why You Might Want to Let Them Out of Their Lease Early
Leases are important—why else would we use them? They spell out the terms of the apartment so that the renter knows all the rules and requirements going in to the agreement, and leases protect the interests of both the property manager and the resident. And, while an important contract, leases are written in ink. Not carved in stone. (See also: “rules are meant to be broken,” and “the bell doesn’t dismiss you, I dismiss you.”) Sometimes, residents might need to leave an apartment before the end of the lease. Of course, this is why there are leases—to prevent this so the…
‘The Accidental Economist’ with Jack Kern: Why Real Estate Will Get More Costly
“Running on Empty, …but I’m running behind.” ©Jackson Brown/Swallow Turn Music One of the greatest things about attending an NMHC meeting, besides the hospitality and amazing resort locale, is the camaraderie and openness that permeates through most of the meeting. The interim meetings between the national events are smaller, and lots of conversations are shared in earnest about market conditions, competitive pressures and capital structures. You have no doubt heard about the rapid compression of cap rates, which in some instances in all property sectors, particularly multifamily, provide for returns so low that in previous years people scoffed at the…
‘The Accidental Economist’ with Jack Kern: Apartment Markets are All Consuming
By Jack Kern, Research Editor I attended the CBRE Multi-Housing Conference this week, which was well attended by over 800 investment professionals from CBRE, along with many of their clients and partners. The event, with Pierce-Eislen as the principal sponsor, was much more focused this year on investment research and market results than in prior years. This probably more than anything else was due to a shift in interests from the clients that attended the meeting. During a number of the sessions, there continued to be both a cautious optimism among the participants as well as a recognition that we’re…
‘What Renters Want’ with Jessica Fiur: The Super Bowl Blackout and Generating Ideas for your Multifamily Community
So, did anyone watch anything interesting this weekend? (And, no, Girls doesn’t count because I don’t like that show, and Downton Abbey doesn’t count because I don’t watch it.) You know what I’m getting at: It was the Super Bowl! And, while from a commercial standpoint it was a little disappointing (besides a clydesdale that made me cry), it was a pretty exciting game. The 49ers came back in the second half and put up a good fight. And Beyonce—and the Destiny’s Child reunion—were awesome. (Side note—how do you dance in 5-inch heels? I can barely avoid tripping while I’m…
‘The Accidental Economist’ with Jack Kern: A Practitioner Transcendent
The 2013 meeting of the National Multi-housing Council in Palm Springs just ended, amid the specter of packed conference rooms, a multitude of free flowing cocktails and hors d’oeuvres and more parties than one could conceivably attend, though I tried my best. Cocktails and memory are archenemies, and ultimately the vistas began to look eerily similar, perhaps because of a visit through a different door. The magic of the attendee badge essentially assures that all are on a level playing field—high-level executives standing aside new entrants to the profession. In many ways, the NMHC conference serves more than any other…
‘What Renters Want’ with Jessica Fiur: What’s Your Apartment Resolution? 5 Suggestions for 2013
It’s that time of year: Time to start thinking up New Years resolutions. So why not add some multifamily resolutions for your buildings? It doesn’t have to be a big thing, like redesigning the exterior or retrofitting the building so it’s 100 percent sustainable or attracting George Clooney as a resident. And, unlike regular resolutions, such as losing 10 pounds, which people make in earnest but end up abandoning in a few months when it gets too cold to bother and the alluring siren song of chocolate Valentine’s Day candy sings its catchy tune that can’t ever get out of…
Guest Post: Charting the Uncharted–What to Expect in 2013 and Beyond
By Patrick S. Simons, Principal, Strategic Property Economics With the recent announcement of an additional $45 billion per month in bond purchases by the Federal Reserve, the U.S. economy, and by extension the prospects for rental apartments, is entering uncharted waters.. Although we track enough economic data points to make one’s head spin, let’s take a look at three of the biggest in order to get a sense for what the future might hold for the apartment industry in the coming year and the years beyond. And, keeping with the cartographic theme, two of the three macroeconomic drivers are geopolitical….
‘What Renters Want’ with Jessica Fiur: 6 Ways to Make Thanksgiving Easier for Residents (And Boost Building Morale)
Wasn’t it just Halloween? How is Thanksgiving next week already? Thanksgiving is the most stressful holiday, like, ever. Well, actually New Years Eve is pretty stressful, because there’s all this pressure to find a good party and then all the bars have inflated covers and restaurants have inflated prixe fixe menus, and of course they’re out of the steak already, and you end up waiting in the snow to hail a cab at 12:05 for an hour because you just want to be home in your pajamas. Every year. And Valentine’s Day is stressful, because if you don’t have a…
‘Gimme Shelter’ with Daniel Gehman: Tiny Cars and Tiny Cribs
There’s a direct correlation between automotive design and apartment design. I was reminded of this by a recent newspaper article I read about the new Chevy Spark, a diminutive vehicle (some may even say “tiny”), which is nonetheless loaded with technological features, like the requisite USB port for personal entertainment devices and Bluetooth for personal communication devices (often the same hand-held widget). For the entry-level crowd (think Gen Y, of course) these are the new creature comforts. It should be noted that the vehicle certainly doesn’t offer some of the interior niceties of more middle-market rides (say, a Toyota Camry,…