One of the things most impacted by the novel coronavirus pandemic has been how people have changed their thinking in terms of their respective living situations. This shift in consumer interest has particularly impacted apartment complexes and multi-family properties. The need to practice social distancing has greatly impacted these kinds of housing arrangements. This is [...]
Where the coronavirus pandemic is concerned, we’re through the glass darkly now. Our new normal is so abnormal, it is impossible to see what might lie ahead. There are hints, certainly, but they are just that. Circumstances change so much from day to day, week to week and month to month that we are constantly [...]
The American Dream has been reshaped and redefined over the years, morphing from a yearning for freedom to a desire for land to aspirations of homeownership. It is the last of those upon which we have most often fixated since the mid-20th Century: What better dream than to have a place of your own? That [...]
As noted on the website Buildinggreen.com, multifamily properties are by their very nature green, given the density of the community they support. The problem comes in, however, when inferior infrastructure is in place -- whether because of age or the use of subpar building materials, appliances, systems or materials. Developers, investors and property managers have [...]
In a 2018 survey of renters’ greatest concerns, safety went unmentioned -- though it might as well have been. When asked what they most notice when considering an apartment, tenants mentioned “neighborhood” right after “price,” which is the virtual equivalent of saying that one of their top concerns was their own safety. Ditto for when [...]
Opportunity Zones, a program introduced in December 2017 as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, seemed like a win-win: Investors get a tax break, while giving disadvantaged urban areas a much-needed infusion of capital. The reality, the New York Times has reported, has been far different in some cases. Its reporting has revealed [...]
Various trends have coalesced to increase the popularity of short-term rentals in mixed-used communities. First is an uptick in travel, by 1.9 percent in the leisure sector and 1.6 percent in the business sector, in 2018. All told, domestic travelers spent over $1 trillion last year. Second is the desire for apartment-like lodging -- full [...]
The current direction of multifamily marketing was humorously underscored in a webcast by Rich Hughes, head of data science for RealPage, a Texas-based company that specializes in providing software and data analytics solutions to the real estate industry. In the past marketing such properties was not unlike Homer Simpson opening a carton of Neapolitan ice [...]
While it’s true that Chicago doesn’t have an abundance of land for new multifamily property development, its reputation as a difficult place to build may be largely unfounded. In fact, the National Apartment Association (NAA) recently listed it as the ninth-easiest U.S. city in which to build, among the 58 examined. While the NAA acknowledged [...]
Where multifamily rentals are concerned, it’s not all about Millennials and those who comprise Generation Z. Much of it is, to be sure, because of the financial clout of those age groups. There is, however, far more to it than that. There is also the matter of smaller (yet significant) niche groups, and how a [...]