April 6 Bloomberg — U.S. apartment rents dropped in the first quarter and the vacancy rate remained at a record as unemployment near a 26-year high limited tenant demand.
via U.S. Apartment Rents Decline as Vacancies at Record, Reis Says – Bloomberg.com.
If you’re a renter, you’re in good company. More than 95 million Americans rent their homes, according to the American Tenants Association. Maybe you live in a part of the country where the costs of home ownership are out of reach. Perhaps you don’t have the time or desire to tend to a home. Or maybe you’re not in a position to commit to a location for more than a few years.
via 7 Things Every Apartment Renter Should Know – Manage Your Life on Shine.
Q. We moved from our rental apartment more than three months ago. Since then, our deposit has not been returned. How can we get our money back?
A. State and local rules vary, but the odds are good that your money will be returned. The first step is to see what is required in your jurisdiction. Speak with a local community housing office or legal clinic. Or, as a start, go online and search for “rental deposit rules” in your state.
via How to go about getting your rental apartment deposit back from landlord | recordonline.com.
Who was the first joker to put a frog in the teacher’s desk? What clown originated the idea of rearranging his friend’s apartment and putting all the furniture on the roof?
via The Origin Of April Fools’ Day – News Story | Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV News.
Hey, all business and no fun makes for a dull…something. So have a little fun, enjoy April Fool’s Day! Or at least enjoy the article — no joke, it’s pretty interesting.
Brought to you by MTV News via Apartment Search St. Louis.
St. Louis Apartments | Free Apartment Finding Assistance Makes Sense!
An apartment search takes time, and it can be difficult to fit around a hectic work or school schedule. It’s even harder when you’re hunting for apartments in another state, and are not familiar with the area. To save time, you must use ways to start and finish an apartment search effectively.
via 4 Tips to Make an Apartment Search Quick and Painless | Oh My Apartment.
As our winter months continue we are seeing some fantastic specials being offered by the apartment communities. These include properties throughout the area such as Brentwood, Creve Coeur, Maryland Heights, Downtown and the Central West End just to name a few!
We know of several properties offering TWO MONTHS FREE, others with reduced rental rates, free garage parking, no short term premiums and much more. Contact an Apartment Search agent today to take advantage of some of the best move-in concessions we have seen in years! You can reach us at 314-821-4999 or email me at ddone@apartment-search.com
Starting the tedious task of apartment hunting can be difficult and stressful. Finding the right apartment finder can help you narrow down your apartment search to a few great alternatives, saving you time and money.
A good apartment finder who has local knowledge and experience can be very valuable to someone who is new to the area. You will need advice on price comparisons, amenities and basic services that available. Apartment finders will truly make a significant and positive impact on choosing your next apartment.
Working with an apartment finder will make your search much easier and increase the chance of getting better results. A professional apartment finder can give you their experienced opinion for the many factors that you will need to consider. Apartment finders are constantly updating their knowledge of current trends in their market.
If you have never used an apartment finder and do not know one personally, it is best to look around and ask others for their opinion. There are apartment finders who are not dedicated to their job and only want to take your money, who never tried to help or provide any real assistance, and give a bad name to true professional apartment finders.
Apartment hunting doesn’t need to be a hassle, and can be fun if you have a genuine experienced apartment finder.
Next time you’re looking for an apartment in St. Louis, you would do well to begin with locally owned Apartment Search at 800-286-3092, or go to www.apartment-search.com.
Dear St. Louis apartment managers,
Hello on this beautiful fall Friday afternoon! Wanted to update you on current topics and trends we are seeing in the St. Louis apartment industry. Here are a few recent tidbits I found particularly useful and/or thought-provoking:
A new idea for a community event — ‘I’ve always wanted to try something like a speed dating event on a property, just mostly without the whole dating part. Three minutes to meet your neighbor, develop common interests, trade phone numbers, etc…foster that sense of community… especially for newer residents. just thought it would be an interesting way to join together a group of people.’
Another good suggestion – ‘And don’t forget about variety. While you have your standard monthly events, like a Saturday Breakfast or Resident Dinner, you have to keep trying to find things that appeal to a wide variety of people. Some ideas: Knitting Clubs, LAN parties for the gamers, Tea Time, Halo Tournaments, Chalk Art Contest, Movie Nights, Game Nights, etc.’
The communication value of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. — ‘The reality of Social Media is most apartment managers (who are doing their jobs anyway) have been doing it all along. Only not via the internet. And they were calling it something different. The truth is you should simply think of Social Media as Customer Service, Outreach, and Retention marketing supported by the internet. That is right! The three tasks you’ve always been working on are actually made simpler via tools like Twitter and Facebook.’
I took the last one to heart and set up accounts on all three under the name stlaptsearch. Search on Facebook and join the group, where I post topics and links regularly. If you have a fan page, send it to me so I can join you! Communication is so key today; I welcome every opportunity to exchange ideas and participate in discussions relevant to our industry.
One recent news item which will affect the rental market through next spring is the feds’ extension of the first-time homebuyer incentive program until April, 2010. Home sales are up this year by double digits in 46 states, with almost half (47 percent) of the sales coming from first-time homeowners.
Recent conversations with area property managers listed home purchase among the top three reasons for their renters’ breaking leases (the other two were job loss and job transfer). And with hiring for college graduates at a record low (only 20 percent of 2009 graduates left school with employment, versus 50 percent in 2005) the steady audience for new leases is greatly diminished.
Which leads to my last news article from the St. Louis Post Dispatch – national apartment occupancy is currently at 86 percent, with St. Louis faring slightly better than the nation at 87 percent. So if you’re in the mid-80’s, you are definitely not alone! Free rent continues to be the big marketing incentive in St. Louis, but there are other ways to attract and keep renters.
Suggestion — focus on money savings in other areas (gas savings with close proximity to work, gym-membership savings with a fitness center, utility savings, wi-fi savings, cable savings, whatever you uniquely have to offer). Then calculate a dollar value for the savings, subtract it, and show the net rent figure to your prospects. Everyone is bottom-line conscious these days. Use your positives to your benefit!
I could go on and on (but I won’t, thank goodness). Bottom line, these are by far the most challenging times I’ve experienced in my 23 years in the apartment business. Common sense and creative applications are two essential tools to successfully weathering the current slump in our industry.
Hang tough, focus on valuable resident retention, expand low-cost or cost-free services to residents, engage your community as a whole, and wait. You know the old saying, ‘If you don’t like the weather in St. Louis, just wait – it’ll change.’ The same can be said of current rental market conditions.
Enjoy the beautiful weekend!
Kathryn
Kathryn Wood
Founder and CEO
Apartment Search, Inc.
www.apartment-search.com
Our customers at Apartment Search regularly ask, “Is this neighborhood safe?” We usually refer them to the local police precinct, to speak with an information officer who can answer questions about recent crime in the area. There are also some good websites to check for details on neighborhood crime.
Some online resources include NeighborhoodScout or SpotCrime. One particularly important point to note is the issue of sexual predators. CrimeReports.com allows you to enter your address to locate crime statistics, plus identify whether registered sexual predators are living nearby. Please note that unless your local policing authority is reporting crimes to these online sources, there may not be accurate or complete data.
It’s getting better all the ti-i-ime! At least, in the 2008 St. Louis apartment rental market… “St. Louis fared better than the nation as a whole,” according to a new survey from RubinBrown, an accounting and business consulting firm with offices in Clayton (as reported in the Post Dispatch by Tim Logan).
“The average rent in market-rate buildings climbed to $769 a month from $715 last year,” according to RubinBrown. Now, that’s good news — almost a 9-percent increase! (The national average was a 2.2-percent increase). St. Louis also saw a 1.1-percent increase in occupancies (from 86.2 to 87.3). Whoohoo!
At our Anniversary party, several managers told me their occupancies were highest (low 90′s) at the end of August, and have been steadily declining ever since. Biggest reason: job loss. St. Louis has 9.5 percent unemployment, versus 9.8 percent reported nationally in September.
So, while it appears St. Louis is faring better than most, renting apartments is still an uphill battle. Increased rents put in place last summer will hopefully offset incentives necessary to attract new residents this winter.
In the meantime, “…apartment owners and managers (are) focused on trimming overhead and cutting payroll costs,” concluded Brian Keller of RubinBrown. C’mon, summer of 2010 — time for the tide to turn positively and permanently for the St. Louis apartment industry.
