News
Top 10 Rules for Green Success
t has been nurturing a long list of sustainable initiatives from the recycling of carpets to the use of organic pesticides and cleaning products. Energy savings and water conservation are also top priorities at Post. For example, the company recently instituted an internal energy-savings awards program, and the results were dramatic.Twice a year, the company’s Ancillary Services Group looks at energy-saving opportunities across all their properties, which include garden, mid-rise and high-rise buildings. Last year’s winner cut electrical consumption in its leasing and common areas by 18.6 percent.“All we had to do was educate and encourage people, and we got…
ApartmentBids.com Launches Website to Simplify Matching Managers with Renters
By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorChicago—ApartmentBids.com has launched a new Website to connect property managers and residents based on information in prospective renters’ profiles.“We provide information about properties and surrounding neighborhoods and we provide managers with qualified information about renters,” Nirav Patel, co-founder of ApartmentBids.com, tells MHN. “The key to quality leads is that the profiles of renters are very detailed; we provide a lot of detail to make it easier to convert leads into leases,” Patel says. In addition to contact information, potential renters also fill out information on employment and credit history.The prospective renter completes a detailed profile and…
TODAY’S DEALS: Boston Capital Closes Tax Credit Fund With $120M Equity, and Other Transactions
By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorBoston–Boston Capital recently closed the Boston Capital Tax Credit Fund XXXI, a nationally diversified portfolio of 30 affordable apartment properties in 12 states with total equity invested of $120 million. With this closing, Boston Capital has invested $640 million in equity since January 2008. “At a challenging time for the U.S. economy and the credit markets, we are very pleased to close a fund consisting of high quality assets and strong investor interest in these assets,” says Jack Manning, president and CEO of Boston Capital. “The appetite for these investments is reflective of the high…
New PollenTec Screens Let The Breeze In While Keeping Allergens Out.
The PollenTec screen is a new product that allows property owners and managers to fit windows and doors with screens that keep pollen out, while still letting the breeze in.According to some reports, 50 million people in North America are affected by allergies and almost 55 percent of the population test positive for at least one or more airborne allergens.The PollenTec screens look very similar to normal screens but are designed with a unique filtering effect that allows fresh air to flow in while keeping out up to 100 percent of pollens.”My whole family suffers from seasonal allergies,” says Paul…
Restructuring Expert Recap Advisors Changes Name to CAS Financial Advisory Services
By Keat Foong, Executive EditorDallas—Financial advisor and asset manager Recap Advisors has changed its name to better reflect its broadened capabilities. CAS Partners announced that Recap Advisors, its financial advisory services and asset management business unit, is now rebranded as CAS Financial Advisory Services. The 20-year old CAS Financial Advisory Services “has been an acknowledged expert in the finance, restructuring and asset management of multifamily residential properties,” said Toni Portmann, CAS Partners CEO. Headed by CEO David Smith, the company had provided financial solutions for nearly 800 multifamily and affordable properties with assets of more than $4 billion.Since it was…
Rents Still Increasing in Seniors Housing Industry
By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York–Rents for nursing homes, in-home care and assisted living kept growing in 2009, according to a new study conducted by Richmond, Va.-based insurer Genworth Financial Inc. The average annual rent for a private room in a nursing home is $74,208, or $208 per day, a 4.7 percent boost over the past year and 4.3 percent annually over the past five years, according to the study. The annual rent ranges from $50,594 in Louisiana to $125,925 in Connecticut. Overall, the Northeast clocks in with the highest rents of the nation for nursing homes.(IL = independent…
Apartment Market Conditions Worsen Further, But at Slower Pace
By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorWashington, D.C.–Apartment market conditions continue to worsen, though the pace is decelerating, according to the National Multi Housing Council’s (NMHC) latest Quarterly Survey of Apartment Market Conditions. While all four market indexes remained below 50 (index numbers below 50 indicate conditions are worsening; numbers above 50 indicate conditions are improving), they all rose from three months ago. In particular, about half of respondents thought conditions were unchanged in the sales volume, equity finance, and debt finance markets.“It still does not look like the apartments sector has reached its bottom,” Mark Obrinsky, NMHC’s Chief Economist, tells…
Market Pulse for May
Multifamily Starts:A hefty bounce in February dribbled back down in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 152,000 units—about half of what has met the needs of the market in recent years. Even though there is still quite a bit of empty and foreclosed condo and single-family inventory, failure to start new communities is likely to result in a crunch down the road.CPI vs. Rent:The Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell one-tenth of one percent in March—the first time it recorded a decline on a year-over-year basis since 1958. The decline is primarily due to falling food and energy prices….
Other Market Niches…
By Keat Foong, Executive EditorTo what extent are other multifamily niche markets—namely senior and military housing—potential investment alternatives at this time of the business cycle? The challenges faced by senior housing could be even greater than for conventional apartments. But Robert G. Kramer, president of the National Investment Conference, argues that by early- to mid-2010, when the last of senior housing in the pipeline is delivered, there will be no new supply for at least two years. “There is a great opportunity here. There is virtually no new supply at the same time we expect demand to increase because of…
Guest Column: Is it Still Possible to Secure a Local Partner Abroad?
By Amy Jakubowski, BBG-BBGMOver the last two decades, the forces that created emerging economies, as well as recessions, provided an impetus for U.S. design firms to diversify globally. In the late 1980s, for instance, the great emerging Asian economies offered relief to U.S. design firms experiencing the fall-out of the savings and loan scandal and the subsequent recession. Eager to establish their cities as global centers of economic activity, developers in China, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia were literally desperate for firms who could offer quality design, often for large mixed-use projects encompassing residential, retail, hotel and office components. BBG-BBGM’s own…