Spotlight on Operations Track A recent assessment by the Wharton School shows a dramatic surge in economic losses from natural catastrophes worldwide, up from just over $50 billion in the 1950s to almost $800 billion in the 1990s. William Gray, a forecaster and the head of the Tropical Meteorology Project at Colorado State University, warns that the probability of a major hurricane striking the U.S. Coast is estimated at 74 percent, compared with the average of 52 percent over the past century. Recently MHN talked to Michael Payton, senior vice president of CAS Partners Insurance Services, the parent company of…

The next time you’re in Phoenix, I highly recommend taking a ride on the newly opened light rail. Whether your niche involves marketing apartment communities, financing them or building them (or, like me, reporting on them) I’d say checking out public transportation options from time to time is a no-brainer. It’s interesting to see the backbone of future transit-oriented development in action. I didn’t intend to research the Metro Light Rail ($2.50 for a day pass) while in Phoenix for the NAA’s green conference, but it turned out that my hotel was much closer to the airport than to downtown….

The debate continues about whether apartment residents will pay more for green living, but c learly demand is growing within certain demographics and interest is quickly spreading to others. And it’s on all of our minds. Recently NMHC’s Kim Duty shared an interesting article “Green Renting: Tenants Desire Eco-Friendly Digs” with members of our newly launched MHN Forum at LinkedIn. In the meantime, the number of properties offering a nod to green living keeps growing. So much so that the National Apartment Association hosted a new niche conference devoted to this topic last w eek. One attendee, a small property…

In New York City the daffodils are in full bloom and you don’t have to go to Central Park to see them. You may not find any blooming flowers in Times Square, but in other parts of town urban landscaping is plentiful and quite effective. It provides excellent curb appeal—a concept that takes on a much more literal (and urgent) meaning in city environments where, frequently, only a small bit of sidewalk separates the entrance of an apartment building from the curb. With smaller green footprints to design and care for, urban locales generally mean easier—and less costly—landscaping choices. One…

Good news about the real estate market has become less and less frequent. While most in the industry still paint a fairly positive picture for the multi-housing industry, truth is that debt and equity capital is becoming more and more scarce with each new devastating headline coming out of Wall Street. And there are plenty of other concerns in the industry, which we will cover on our website. But we think we have found some good news to share with you… Multi-Housing executives still have a great deal of enthusiasm when it comes their businesses and certainly when it comes…

Financial crises…soaring gas prices…How does transit-oriented development fit into the bigger picture? As a native of the metro New York City area, public transit is nothing new to me. But perhaps I’m naïve. As I sat listening to Bill Sirois, manager, TOD for the Regional Transportation District RTD) in Denver this morning, I began to realize just how crucial TOD truly is in today’s society and how far some of our nation’s cities have come in recent years. The large turnout for Multi-Housing World’s Denver TOD bus tour clearly reflected this importance, as well as an eagerness to see what…

My mother has been living in Guadalajara, Mexico’s second largest city, for nine years. Family visits have provided an interesting glimpse into the 55+ expat demographic. The Guadalajara area, including the lake-side towns of Chapala and Ajijic, have sizable and well-established American and Canadian communities. Other parts of Mexico are just as popular with retirees and new areas in Baja California and beyond are being discovered all the time—offering developers new opportunities to capture a growing market. But besides knowing how to form partnerships with local players, developers also need to understand to whom they’re appealing. Just as Mexico offers…

The National Association of Realtors released its quarterly home price survey today–and the trade group says median home prices dropped in two-thirds of the cities it surveyed. Median prices for pre-existing single-family homes fell in 100 of 149 metropolitan areas in the first quarter, NAR said; 48 urban areas posted price gains. One lone metropolitan area had no change. The national median home price also fell, dropping 7.7. percent from the January to March 2007 period to $196,300. The former median sales price was $212,600. NAR has been characteristically optimistic as of late about the housing market improving–let’s face it,…

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been in the news often lately–and an interesting article in today’s New York Times touches on some of the challenges the agencies face that could make headlines in the future. The article illustrates why the mortgage market needs both companies, and discusses why it’s in danger of potentially losing them. (Given today’s announcement that Fannie Mae posted a more than $2 billion first quarter loss, that concern is more timely than ever.) And although the government has relied on both companies to help bail out the mortgage market, its close ties to Fannie and…