Monthly CirCulation to More than 7,000 apartMent owners, property Managers, on-site & MaintenanCe personnel

Professional Publishing, IncPO Box 30327Portland, OR 97294-3327 Current Resident or

PRSRT STDUS Postage

PAIDSnohomish, WA

Permit #5

Advertise in Rental Housing Journal Colorado Circulated to over 6,000 Apartment owners, On-site, and

Maintenance personnel monthly.

Call 503-221-1260 for more info.

April 2014 - Vol. 6 Issue 4Rental Housing Journal Colorado

www.rentalhousingjournal.com • Professional Publishing, Inc DENVER • COLORADO SPRINGS • BOULDER

Commonwealth’s 1st Quarter 2014 Apartment Sales Report

By: Ron Spraggins, CCIM Founder & CEO of Commonwealth Colorado’s Oldest Apartment Firm

Commonwealth, Colorado’s Oldest Apartment firm, re-cently released their 1st Quar-

ter 2014 Apart-ment Sales Report for Colorado Springs. The report in-cludes all sales of complexes above 30 units from January thru March plus sales data from 1990 thru pres-ent.

There were only two sales above 30 units during the first quarter of 2014 compared to 4 sales during the same period in 2013.

Sales Volume:Total sales volume for the 1st

Quarter of 2014 was $9,520,000. Sales volume in 2013 for the same pe-riod was $8,982,000. There were 136 total units closed for the quarter compared to 248 units closed in this period in 2013.

There were 20 total market sales in 2013, 2012 had 19 sales compared to 11 sales for 2011 and 8 total sales in 2010. There were 19 total sales in 2008 and 22 sales in 2007.

Class A: No sales.Class B: The 100 unit Lynmar

apartments was the lone sale in the

Class B quality area. The complex closed for $8 million or $80,000 per door and $78 per square foot. The project is located in the North Union and Vickers area in the northeast part of the city. The units were constructed in 1997. The 2 and 3 bedroom units have 2 baths and full sized laundry facilities in the units.

Class C: No sales.Class D: The Carlton Manor was

the only Class D sale in this period. The 36 unit complex commanded a price of $1,520,000 or $42,222 per unit and $56 per square foot. It sold for $1,150,000 in June of 2013 and was in rough condition at that time. The lo-cation is central east just off of South Union at 1930 East Bijou.

It was built in 1965.

Class D complexes were the hot class in 2013 with 16 separate sales.

Continued on page 3

By Marc Courtenay

As property managers, we’re all aware of the multitude of issues that frequently arise

with unreliable tenants. Late rental payments, disturbing the peace, ille-gal activity, and a general disregard for the property are all problems that typically arise in the property man-agement industry.

Many times, we’re so focused on dealing with the problems prevalent in the property management indus-try that we overlook the tenants that always pay on time; the tenants that take good care of their property, the tenants that are considerate of their neighbors. How do we make sure that those tenants are happy? That they feel appreciated? That they know that we want them to remain tenants as long as possible?

Chances are those good tenants are feeling unappreciated right now; which means that they will have no reason to stay at your property if a better opportunity opens elsewhere.

It’s so important to remember that a rental agreement is between two

By: by Marc CourtenayPropertyManager.com a Service of AppFolio

Here are three ideas from my upcoming article series titled “50 Ways to Fill Your

Vacancies”. Like you, I’m fired up about the idea of having as many marketing tools as possible to man-age properties effectively.

As a property owner and/or man-ager, you may already have many successful ways to quickly fill your

vacancies with well-qualified new residents. My hope is that I can add a long list of intuitive and counter-in-tuitive suggestions that have worked and will keep on working.

So here are three more suggestions that can insure that the rental income stream keeps flowing to your clients and yourself.

1. Go to the restaurants you fre-quent the most. Ask the owner or manager to allow you to display a tastefully crafted “take one” box at the check-out counter or hostess ta-

ble. Make sure it clearly displays the message that a gift certificate for that restaurant will be given to the indi-vidual who takes one of the special display cards and gives it to a pros-pect who becomes a resident.

A variation of this is to tell the restaurant owner, manager or host-

Three MoreWays to Fill those Vacancies

Continued on page 2

Get Social With Rental Housing Journals

Continued on page 4

Do You Appreciate

your Tenants?

Rental Housing journal Colorado • April 201422

RENTAL HOUSING JOURNAL COLORADO

Jerry Kendall Managing Director (720) 280-7431 direct jerrykendall@multifamilycap.com

www.multifamilycap.comWhy do Customerskeep coming backto Multifamily Capi-tal Advisors. Thereare more than 700reasons. We eat,breathe, and live

apartment financingacross Colorado

and over the last 13years we have

closed more than700 Apartment

loans totaling morethan 25,000 units.We get it and weget deals done.

Capital Sources include:

Local Banks andCredit Unions

Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac

FHA/HUD

Insurance Companies

Conduits (CMBS)

Regional and MoneyCenter Banks

Mezzanine Funds

Private Money

We specialize in:

Small Apartment Proper-ties

Garden Apartments

High Rise Apartments

Affordable/Subsidized

Student Housing

Senior Housing

Under Performing Projects

Conceptualizing YourDeal, Representing YourInterests

We work for our cus-tomers as advisors andanalysts. Our custom-ers benefit by getting

our vast transaction ex-perience and our stronglender relationships toultimately execute theirinvestment strategy, nomatter where they areon the deal horizon.

Use Multifamily CapitalAdvisors to accomplish

your goals and buildwealth.

Call Us today!

Great Rates!Real Customer Solutions!Apartment Loan Experts!Wealth Building for Clients!100’s of Satisfied Customers!

Jerry Kendall(720) 280-7431

ess that if someone rents one of your units, you’ll buy a gift certificate from the restaurant and give it to a new patron who has never been to their restaurant. It will generate a fresh batch of regular customer for the restaurant and a repetitive source of referrals to you. You’ll be amazed how many restaurants will love the idea as they’re always looking for new ways to increase their clientel.

2. It may seem old-fashioned in this age of digital, mobile media, but creating a full-page, colorful, glossy hand-out that lists all of the benefits, accoutrements, and features of your available rental still works. Make sure you show some photos of how nice the vacant unit looks, and when you take the photo “stage it” with a few perky pieces of furniture or wall furnishings.

List any extra features like a new dishwasher or free Wi-Fi and pro-vide information about the local area, bus routes, schools, laundry and conveniently popular shopping venue. You’ll be providing a valu-able service that few property man-agers take the time to offer. Let your prospects take your hand-out and tell them to call you if they have any questions. Ask for their contact info so you can follow up.

3. Ask your current residents, clients and “happy campers” for a glowing testimonial of what it’s like to be a resident in one of your well-

maintained and thoughtfully man-aged buildings. Let your prospects know ahead of time how much cur-rent and past residents appreciated your services. Ask for as many tes-timonials as possible, and use them to attract more owner-clients as well as prospective renters to fill your va-cancies.

There you have three more ideas on how to fill your vacancies as fast as possible. Keep in mind that if you haven’t tried these ideas lately, you can’t objectively know why they work or how they work.

These ideas derive from my prop-erty manager colleagues and my own experiences. Together we have many decades of management and marketing expertise and that’s why I literally have at least 50 of these tried and tested tools.

They’re based on the principles that if you’re willing to do what few property managers are willing to do, you’ll have the kind of success that few will enjoy and experience. Also, your clients and residents don’t re-ally care how much you know until they know how much you care. So get busy and show them!

p

The best things in life are freeNational Tenant Network’s Free iPad App can provide you with secure applicant screening, literally at your � ngertips. Enjoy the same great service, rigorous screening and realiability that NTN offers through NTNonline.com with this convenient App.

NTN SecureMobile®

Download today from the Apple App Store and screen applicants anywhere, anytime!

NTN Corporate Offi ces800-228-0989ntn@ntnonline.comwww.ntnonline.com

Three More Ways ...continued from front page

Rental Housing journal Colorado • April 2014 3

RENTAL HOUSING JOURNAL COLORADO

Sales Report ..continued from front page

Buyers are recognizing an opportu-nity to buy Class D product at lower unit/square foot prices com-pared to upper class prices, rehabbing them to modern conditions, etc. and then enjoying a nice cash flow or a good profit if they flip the deal after the remodel/lease up. We’ve rehabbed deals that are now getting $200 per month more rent than when they bought before the rehab, etc. These, normally older complexes, have mature landscaping and seasoned neighborhoods that aren’t found in newer complexes, which is attractive to many tenants, as it’s much quieter than in the areas that are still build-ing homes, shopping centers, etc.

Location is obviously a very im-portant part of this equation to make it work, as you can remodel junk and it will still be junk if in the wrong lo-cation. Also important to not “over-build” a complex for its location, as you will only draw a certain class of tenant in a certain location . . . . no

matter the quality of the complex.The average price per unit paid for

Class D product was $42,222 up from $41,330 per unit in 2013.

Prices were $17,000 per unit in 2008 and $17 per square foot! $24,000 per unit in 2010 and $31 per square foot.

This huge difference in prices be-tween Classes shows why separating complexes by Class is a must in order to have useful data. Wide data points skew the results. Most report mix all Classes together and come up with an “average”, which is meaningless to all Classes.

Some reports separate com-plexes by the year of construc-tion, which makes no sense. There was junk built in the last build-ing cycle and some of our best con-structed and located complexes were built in the 60’s!

Mixing all classes together is like averaging Porsche speed times with a Prius; data is useless to both.

Commonwealth’s reports are the

only Colorado Springs apartment reports that separate the complex-es into Class A, B, C, and D quality. We also rate each complex within its class, i.e. Class A’s are rated from 90 to 100, B’s 80-89, C’s 70-79, and D’s 60-69. We use 8 separate sub markets.

Size of Complexes:The size of the complexes sold

ranged from 36 units up to the 100 units.

Age of Complexes: Carlton Manor built in 1965 and

Lynmar in 1997.Colorado Springs is the 14th fast-

est-growing metropolitan area.According to a Pitney Bowes sur-

vey, the city is projected to grow 6.2 percent – or add 15,459 households – in the next five years. Colorado Springs ranked ahead of Fort Col-lins, which is 15th on the list. Den-ver did not make the list for the top 50 projected percentage growth, but

was num-ber 15 for the top 50 areas in projected absolute growth. The an-nual rate from 2000 to 2010 was 2.3 percent.

Supply: Demand has caught up with the

supply. The number of new units completed or on line are all basical-ly Class A quality and most are in the Upper Northeast submarket. With the new higher construction costs, they will have to have rents consider-ably higher than existing complexes. The 4th quarter of 2013 added 308 new units to the inventory. The cu-mulative additions for 2013 are 568 new additions. 2012 was the first year of significant inventory additions since 2009 (299), and the most since 2003 (1449), which represented a his-toric high during a prior economic cycle

p

For the complete complimentary copy of Commonwealth’s Apartment Sales

Report please contact:

The Spraggins TeamRon@CommonwealthUSA.netwww.CommonwealthUSA.net

(719)685-4300Commonwealth

Colorado’s Oldest Apartment Firm-Number One in Sales Since 1975

Is YOUR Pool Like These?

IF NOT...

You Could Be Losing Customers and Revenue!

Is YOUR Pool Like These?

IF NOT...

Expert Pool and Spa Renovation and Resurfacing

Reduced Chemical Usage - Easy to CleanExtremely Durable Ceramic Finish

5-Year Warranty Renewable with Every Re-Coat

Details and Photos at www.pwcoatings.com

Free Estimates - CALL TODAYToll Free 1.800.440.8732

Rental Housing journal Colorado • April 20144

Appreciate ...continued from front page

RENTAL HOUSING JOURNAL COLORADO

Integrity Painting Services Inc www.integritypaintingservices.com

--32 years local business --interior and exterior; --BBB Rating A+ --commercial; --Licensed and insured --residential; --Handyman services --small and large.

We take the pain out of painting & we can help you.

720-581-2703

•32 years of experience •5 year warranty

Tri-R Carpet Care

303 898 1329www.trircarpetcare.com

• 24 hr Flood Work• Blood Cleanup• Carpet Restretching

• Carpet Repairs• Dying & Tinting• Pet Damage

Carpet Cleaning - $30 a Room!(Closets and Hallways Free!)

Additional Services offered:

Advertise in the Rental Housing Journal Colorado

Call 503-221-1260 for more info.

Publisher Will Johnson • will@propubinc.com

Designer Steve Olsen • steve@propubinc.com

Advertising Sales Will Johnson • will@propubinc.com

Terry Hokenson • terry@propubinc.com

Rental Housing Journal ColoradoProfessional Publishing Inc.

www.rentalhousingjournal.com

The statements and representations made in advertising and news articles contained in this publication are those of the advertiser and authors and as such do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Professional Publishing, Inc. The inclusion of advertising in this publica-tions does not, in any way, comport an endorse-ment of or support for the products or services offered. Metro Apartment Manager is produced monthly and is published by Professional Publishing Inc. PO Box 6244 Beaverton, OR 97007. (503) 221-1260 - (800) 398-6751 © 2014 All rights reserved.

1/8 Page4 7/8” x 3 5/8” bwOn-Site3a

ON-SITEVALLEY, METRO, ARIZONA APT. NEWSSalsbury Industries

Jan, Mar, May, Jul, Sep, Nov,

The Industry Leader in Quality

Order Factory Direct!Contact Us Today for a Free Catalog!

1010 East 62nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90001-1598Phone: 1-800-624-5269 • Fax: 1-800-624-5299

separate parties, and just like any of us, our tenants like to know that they’re appreciated.

Here are just a few ways to show your tenants that they are appreci-ated:

Be sure to take their concerns seri-ously. If your tenant calls to complain about loud music at midnight, or un-authorized vehicles in their parking spot, take prompt action and make sure that you advise them of both the action and the outcome; don’t make them complain more than once about the same issue.

Fulfill the promises that you make. If you promise a tenant a new dish-washer or new carpeting, be sure to fulfill that promise. Don’t make them ask you about it. Just schedule a time and do it.

Respond promptly to any and all maintenance requests. If a tenant is responsible and takes good care of the property, they shouldn’t have to wait three months to have their stove repaired.

Bend the rules – just a little. Should

you wave a late fee – due to a mix-up with the post office for a reliable ten-ant that is never late with their rent? While opinions vary, remember that a good tenant is like a good custom-er, and it may be appropriate to bend the rules now and then. That’s not discrimination; that’s good business sense.

Give them a gift. A gift card to a local store at lease renewal time, or a card on their birthday will make a tenant feel appreciated, and build loyalty in the process.

There are many ways to make a good tenant feel appreciated, with tenant stability and timely rent pay-ments the ultimate payoff. What more could a property manager want?

p

from PropertyManager.com a Service of AppFolio