The Apartment Consultant

Here are 3 secrets you NEVER knew about large apartment REOs:

Secret #1: Banks can hold apartment REO assets on their books for a period up to five years.

Secret #2: Not all apartment REO assets are sold for pennies on the dollar just because they are REOs.

Secret #3: Asset managers will not take your call.

You probably have a little familiarity with single family REOs and how they work. Commercial REOs have very little in common with residential REOs. An asset manager for an REO division is typically in charge of hundreds of properties at a time. A commercial division REO asset manager is in charge of a specific region, an asset type, a loan type or a combination of all. Since the assets they are managing are more operationally intense, they manage a much smaller pool of properties. This means they typically will know their assets intimately. Remember, they are not a production line (like a residential asset manager), but instead are handling specialty products that are unique. Thus, you’ll need to approach them differently as well.

Here’s what you should know about banks. Since banks are very heavily regulated, given the current economic environment, and being bank regulators are looking at all transactions with a fine-toothed comb, means that you probably won’t be getting many deals from them or asset managers. It is the job of the bank to show they are making every attempt to get the highest payback on every REO they sell. (I know sometime it doesn’t seem like it, huh?) The best way for them to do this is to take the property to market (using a r/e broker) and see how much the marketplace (you and I) is willing to pay for that property. By doing this, if there is ever a regulator auditing a discounted sale price of an REO property, they can answer by saying they did everything they could to sell the property. The price was merely what the market said the property was worth.

There a couple of exceptions, however. One could be if the banks is a small local bank, it may sell some of their REOs to local investors they have strong relationships with. There’s that word “relationship” again folks!

Banks may also be willing to sell their “bad loans”, loans that they call “non-performing” loans to investors that can perform. This would relieve the bank of going through the entire process of foreclosure on a property they want nothing to do with. Basically, the buyer of the loan would become the new note holder of the property, giving him rights to foreclose and taking physical possession of the property.

If you live in an area or know of an area where a bank is holding a portfolio of commercial REOs, to become an “insider”, doing a little detective could pay off big. Find out what brokers they are using to liquidate their properties and build a relationship with those brokers. Also, study the sales prices and the properties that they have sold and determine their hot buttons. What made the lender sell one property for less than another property? Different banks are afraid of different issues you’ll discover. By determining what those circumstances are, it will help you negotiate better deals.

Till next time,

Peter Harris, TheApartmentConsultant.com

$100,000 is what you need to close your deal. And it’s a good one at that. Suppose you’re at the point now, where you have enough information on your deal and you have a few prospects of who you could approach as investors for your deal. What’s next is getting your investors to write you the check?

The Trust Factor

Again, it all goes back to the trust issue. Do the investors trust you with their money? Let’s look at trust for a second. Do you trust someone yourself? Maybe a spouse, a parent, or a best friend? Why do you trust them? I bet it’s because you know them well and they know you well. The intentions of both sides are for good, right? Well, how did you get to this point in the relationship?

You’ve done several things. You spent quality time together even in the short amount of time you may have known each other. One of you or both of you are probably good listeners. There is also mutual respect for one another.

Well, to get investors to invest with you, you must establish the same rapport and trust in each other.

Selling versus Counseling

Since you probably don’t have years to develop this with all the potential investors you have in mind, you’ll need to act and develop quickly. Here’s how: don’t sell to them. Counsel them instead. Recall the old saying, “People don’t care what you know until they know that you care.” Every successful money-raiser is a practicing counselor.

How do you react when someone attempts to sell you something before they know if you need what they’re selling? You put up an automatic guard, right? To overcome this, if they asked you a few questions first, they probably would have been a little more successful. Take a counselor’s approach instead.

5 Tips to Becoming a Better Money-Raiser Counselor

#1 Build Rapport First And Foremost.

#2 Investor Needs. Ask questions such as do they need monthly or quarterly pay-outs or can they wait until the investment is at the end?

#3 Investment Objectives. Ask questions about why they want to invest. Is it for their kid’s college fund? For retirement? To establish a trust fund for charity or the poor?

#4 Risk Tolerances and Return Expectations. Ask questions pertaining to their previous investments, such as stock or other real estate. Ask how risky it was to them. Next, ask what their expectations are for returns on the investment. Are they expecting a 5%, 8%, 10%, or 50% return on the investment? Get a feel for this. And don’t forget to relay to them that you’re number one priority is to protect and preserve their investment with you.

#5 Life Goals with Investments. Ask what their ultimate goal in life is. Is it to retire and move to Hawaii? Become a missionary in Africa and live there for the next 20 years? Is it building a school for at-risk kids in poor neighborhoods?

Till next time,

Peter Harris, TheApartmentConsultant.com

When is the perfect time to leave my job to do real estate investing full time? That is a question for the ages (and for the brave!). Now that I am approaching a decade of leaving the corporate world to pursue a life as a full-time real estate investor, I can look back and honestly answer that question. I wish I had more space and time to write about this, but I don’t, so I’ll cover enough to get you thinking and in the right direction hopefully.

But first, let me recommend probably the two most important things for you to do: number one, keep your full-time job until you build up enough cash flow from your real estate investments to pay your basic living expenses. In fact, it is wise to do this for at least six months. At the six month point, you have hard proof that it can be done. As your portfolio grows, you’ll find that your job will start to get in the way of your investing. Although you won’t find a perfect time to leave your job, you’ll know when it’s time. Secondly, in those six months, save up six months of living expenses. This will be your reserves during the “tight” months – and there will be tight months, I guarantee you.

Before you leave your job, you’ll have to work on being somebody you’re not right now. Do you remember the concept of “Be-Have-Do”? Well, that concept is incorrect. The correct concept is “Be-Do-Have”. In order to have something, you first have to Be that person, then the Have comes by Doing. Okay, sorry if I confused you (it’s early morning!), but to get straight to the point, you’ll need to develop an entrepreneur’s mindset. Going from an employee way of thinking to an entrepreneur’s way of thinking is key to successfully leaving your job (and staying away!).

Once I left my job to do real estate investing full time, I realized that in order to have freedom, I need to let go of security. So, what I did was to let go of my security (my pay check) a little at a time by spending my free time working on my real estate business and then transitioning my job to a part-time basis. It was a four year (yes, 4 years!) period of uncertainty, constant planning, investing, and hard work (and raising a teenager).

At the four year point, my job was getting in the way of my real estate business that had grown pretty well. At that point, I had to make a decision. I had a great job with benefits plus I had enough real estate income to live off of. Life was great. But was it really? Was I living a purposeful life? Could I realize the potential my real estate business had? On Dec 31st of that fourth year, I handed in my resignation. Life has never been the same. Now it seems like I was destined to do this full time. But had I not planned this carefully, worked on my character, and took the leap, I never would have discovered that the grass is actually greener on the other side.

The moral of this story is that cannot predict the future, but your future will be determined by what’s going on in your mind, the actions you plan and take, and your desire to stick with it when tough times come and go.

Til next time,

Peter Harris, TheApartmentConsultant.com

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.”

That’s a quote directly from Lance Armstrong, the greatest American road racing cyclist of all time.

I make it a practice to study incredibly successful people and you should make it a habit as well.

As you know, Lance came out of retirement last year and is on his quest for an 8th Tour de France victory this month. But on the way, bad luck hit him this week – untimely flat tires and awful crashes on consecutive days. His hopes and dreams of tour victory gone up in smoke…just like that. Poof! All those months of preparation gone. Lances investment of time, money, and people…all for nothing.

You’ve probably been where Lance is right now too. You’re broken. Beaten up by life. Tired of the same ol’ problems. Can’t seem to get ahead no matter how hard you try. Every day…nothing changes. Are you with me? Sound familiar?

In the game and life of real estate investing, this is where a lot of people that I know are too today. Some of us who’ve been there in the past, have two choices…give up or keep on going. Please make the choice to not give up. You may be three feet from gold!!

Lance has no chance of winning this particular race this month, but he’s not giving up. He’ll finish the race and ride proudly to the end. He knows there will be another day soon to compete. That must be your attitude too. A day is coming soon, if you don’t give up, where you’ll be able to create your own comeback. Yes, you’re down right now, but this is not how it’s going to end…No Way! You may be three feet from gold!

I’m asking you to not give up YOUR race. You can win if you don’t give up. I want you to take a break from your day (or night) and meditate on 6 things that will give you a boost in maintaining your race:

#1 – In your comeback, reject rejection.
#2 – In your comeback, see failure as temporary.
#3 – In your comeback, see your failure as an isolated incident.
#4 – In your comeback, see your upcoming success as a process.
#5 – In your comeback, be willing to try a new approach.
#6 – In your comeback, know that ALL successful people have had to bounce back at some point. You must also.

Lastly, I want to encourage you with a true statement of life…your setback is just a setup for your comeback.
Truly yours,
Peter Harris, TheApartmentConsultant.com

The last blog, I wrote on two basic yet oh so important things to know like the back of your hand before you buy. In this blog, I want to share with you 2 very important things to watch after you buy. This will save you a lot of heartache and delays of getting paid a monthly check.

There are many “important things” to watch out for right after your acquisition, but what I’m writing about right now comes from what’s happening to me personally. Here are two of them.

The first one is…knowing the quality of your tenant. You’re in the income property business, right? Therefore, doesn’t it make sense to make sure your income source is reliable? Putting in so-called paying tenants out of desperation and hoping they pay is a disaster waiting to happen. In fact, the disaster happened when you decided to approve that tenant to move in. Please realize that buildings don’t cause problems, but the people in them do. I focus daily on the 4Ms of apartment operations – Money, Marketing, Maintenance, and Management. If you examine closely enough, you’ll see that if you have poorly qualified tenants, then you have no chance of succeeding within the 4Ms. You want the best tenant possible for your apartment, no matter what size…2 units or 100 units. Marketing to and placing the ideal tenant leads to steady income, predictable operating expenses and repairs, normal or better than normal tenant turnover, and a good community reputation. These are priceless attributes of an apartment business and lead to quality sleep on a nightly basis! On the other hand, and you’ve probably have seen or heard of properties like this, where the apartment has a bad neighborhood reputation, has a bad appearance from the street view, tenants hanging around outside way too long, and the list goes on. This is all caused by selecting poor quality tenants. And this is not a market problem, but a management problem.

The second important thing after a purchase is something that probably does not excite you much, but it is oh so important…and that is…bookkeeping. Many new investors want to be wealthy in real estate, but not pay the price of success and riches. The price to pay is to know your cash and payable position at all times, down to the penny. This goes for any business. I personally believe that additional blessing comes upon those who have proven to be good stewards over the things they are in charge of. If you take care of your business, then you deserve more. If you don’t, then you don’t. This is not only a Godly principle, but a universal one. I am in the midst of a small apartment acquisition, performing the financial portion of my due diligence. The owner of the apartment complex has supplied me with hand-written rental income and operating expenses. This is not acceptable and there is no good reason to have ever done so. Pure laziness is what I think happened. Even though I’m still interested in the deal, the price and terms has to be re-negotiated because of this (in my favor). The seller will have to give up hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits just because the property data was never recorded properly. Expensive lesson to learn!

Till next time,
Peter Harris, TheApartmentConsultant.com

Since apartments are how I make a living, I pretty much look at numbers all day and every day. They’re either my financials or someone else’s. When I’m sitting down with property managers or clients, the focus is on numbers always – income collected, delinquent income, income we’re never going to collect, vacancy percentages, and cash left in the operating account at the end of the month, just to name a few. But after all these years, I am still not a “numbers guy”. That’s not my passion, but to look them over carefully and understand them is a necessary requirement in running a business profitably and responsibly.

I want to share with you 2 very important things when reviewing numbers on your apartment deal BEFORE you buy. Then later, I’ll share with you 2 very important things to watch after you buy.

So, BEFORE you buy any apartments or just when you’re evaluating a deal, take a close look at these 2 things:

Number 1 FINANCIAL thing to look at: the actual income, what I mean by actual income is not the agent’s “proforma” income from his brochure. Proforma income is best-case, perfect world income, this is not realistic income, don’t use it. In fact, completely ignore it. Whenever you receive financial information from the agent or seller, ask where it came from. Did it come from a bookkeeper? Did it come from the property manager’s software? Those two are typical and mostly good places to start. But if it comes to you in a colorful brochure or handwritten, or gives the appearance it was made up, stop right there and ask this one question – does the income shown here match what’s reported on the property’s tax returns? This is a great question! Which one would you tend to believe: an agent’s or seller’s “made-up” income statement or a tax-return showing the income? You know the answer to that one!

Number 2 FINANCIAL thing to look at: the operating expenses over the last 3 years. If you were doing a deal today, obtain expenses for 2008, 2009, and 2010 year-to-date. Compare each year’s expenses and look for the following: consistency in the annual overall expenses, large fluctuations of any one expense (such as plumbing or any utility), and any other expense that you don’t understand. What I have found to be true about 90% of the time (that’s 9 out of 10!) is that the expenses supplied to you are what I consider to be too low for normal operations. They do this to make the property look like it’s performing better than it is actually. So, instead I want to give you a couple rule of thumbs I use to estimate expenses in EVERY deal I look at BEFORE I buy. For 5 units to 20 units, I run my expenses at 35% of the effective gross income. And for 20 units to 50 units, I run my expenses to be 40% of the effective gross income. And finally, from 50 units to 100 units, I run my expenses to be 45-50% of the effective gross income. Over the years, I have found two truths about those two thumb-rules: one, agents always present expenses that are lower than the rules and two, the biggest mistake new investors make is underestimating the expenses.
See? You don’t have to be a genius to evaluate the financials of an apartment deal…you just need common sense…and help.

Til next time my friends….Peter, The Apartment Consultant

Below is a short interview I did with my friend and client Blake. It shows that creative deals come and go, but the ones that come, you need to pursue with passion. Check it out. Excuse the grammar please!

Peter: Blake, thanks for letting me interview you on this deal. I know it was a tough one for you. But my hats off to you for being so diligent and hanging in there. Creative deals aren’t easy to do, but the reward always seems to go to those who don’t give up.

Blake: And Peter, thanks for your help too…I must have called you at least a hundred times!

Peter: So Blake, give me some background on this deal.

Blake: Sure ok. 3 units, all three bedrooms 1 bath units, 2-story, brick building, fully occupied, decent neighborhood, needs some roof work, and the seller owned it free and clear. Oh yeah, it was listed for three months or so. Didn’t sell because of the registered sex-offender home business next door. Can’t blame them. It’s kinda creepy.

Peter: How did you structure the deal?

Blake: Owner financing with a master lease agreement. I could it no other way because of the situation next door, plus I didn’t have the 20% my bank wanted for the down payment. You know at first, Brian didn’t want to do a master lease and I couldn’t understand why. But soon enough, I found out that he just didn’t understand how it worked. So that was a lesson itself Peter to tell your clients, don’t assume that the agent understands what a master lease is. Once I explained it to Brian, he was all aboard, especially after I told him that he would get his full commission. What really helped too was the owners of the property owned it free and clear, no mortgage.

Peter: How did you convince them to do the master lease with you?

Blake: It wasn’t easy Peter. This is where Brian came in as my helpful agent. Again, it really helped that Brian understood the master lease because he was able to explain it to the sellers as a viable option to sell a problem property. Plus, they wanted out badly.

Peter: How badly?

Blake: The sellers don’t live here in town. They’re out-of-state people. I come to find out that they didn’t even know about the house next door until one of their tenants called them and threatened to sue them for not telling them. They and several other tenants demanded their rent returned and deposits. It was one big mess. This was supposed to be that owner’s retirement investment, you know, build equity and income every month. The owners actually used that income to live off of, so their motivation was high. They needed a solution quick. I think attorneys for tenants got involved too. What a mess.

Peter: So, what was your offer?

Blake: Full price with a master lease for 2 years, take over his mortgage payments and management. I think two things got me the deal. First, I agreed to pay him a monthly payment on top of his mortgage payment as a way for him to feel he’s not losing out on all his income he needs to live on. Secondly, I agreed to fire the current manager who lived on the property, he was useless and a troublemaker in my opinion, and do the management myself. I would also give him a report every month of how the property was doing, digital pictures included. This was Brian’s idea since master leases can be risky for the mortgage holder or seller. I agree with that.

Peter: What did you do for a down payment and Brian’s commission?

Blake: I got a little creative with the down payment, thanks to you Peter. My offer was 10% down with two options on how I pay him that. First option was to pay him 5% down at close minus credits for security deposits, rents, and repairs, and then he would get the other 5% at the end of the master lease, 2 years. Second option was to give him no money down, but give him a 10% bonus payment, on top of the purchase price, at the end of the lease, also increase his monthly payments by 1.5 times for the first year.

Peter: He took the first one, huh?

Blake: Yeah, he did, and I expected him too. I like your strategy of giving him an option with really not giving him an option of me putting down a lot of money. Cool idea and it worked just like you said.

Peter: What about Brian’s commission? Who paid for that?

Blake: Again, I had to get creative here. I had the owner pay half of the commission, the 1.5%, out of the down payment I gave him, then I had Brian put the other 1.5% back into the deal as ownership interest. His 1.5% bought him a 5% ownership in the deal. So, at the end of the lease, Brian will be getting 5% of the profits. If everything goes right, according to my calculations, Brian can triple his commission. And if everything goes south, Brian get’s his 1.5%.

Me: How’s the property doing today?

Blake: It’s doing fine. Both of those problem tenants did move out, the owner had to pay for their moving expenses and sign a release. I advertised on Craigslist and got people right away to move in. I disclosed to them who their neighbors were and they were fine with it. I was worried that the insurance would go up because of that, but it hasn’t. So, all is well down there.

Peter: You ever talk with the owner?

Blake: Every month I send him a couple of pictures, a copy of the check for the mortgage, and a quick note with stuff going on, that’s about it. Other than that, he’s just happy to be out of a bad situation and making a little money still.

Peter: Blake, good job and thanks for sharing this deal or “ordeal” with us.

Blake: You bet. Have a good one Peter.

Til next time my friends….Peter, The Apartment Consultant

The Starbucks Factor is what they call it. When this highly successful retail chain of coffee hangout houses opens a new store anywhere…magic happens…transformation happens…cash flow happens. The neighborhood is about to become hotter and real estate values will benefit as well. I trust the Starbucks factor because I know that the company has done its homework – sophisticated market and demographic research that will show profitable indicators for a new store even before it buys the space and opens a store. That same demographic and market factor that makes Starbucks open a new store in a new neighborhood makes me want to own real estate nearby. I expect the neighborhood to have a prosperous future. How many Starbucks have you seen close up due to a lack of people?
Over the last 2 years, the neighborhood in which Davis Apartments is located in, the tenant profile, I noticed, has changed ever since Starbucks intruded on the scene. I rarely myself hung out there, but it has a certain feel to it now, kinda like a young downtown, but not so serious as our “real” downtown. You know what I mean?
Well, as things changed over there, so did the rents everyone else was charging. As the economy weakened, the rents actually went up because of the “new” type of tenants the “new” downtown was attracting. Thank you Starbucks! I’ll have another chai tea latte please! And make it a venti size!
I believe the lesson here is obvious folks. When considering where to invest next, watch out for who’s coming into the neighborhood? Starbucks is a winner. Another winner is Wal-Mart. Years ago, as a commercial broker, I watched new Wal-Mart stores “takeover” and highly influence commercial real estate in their immediate area. Most times, it was for the better…
But here’s a losing proposition to pay attention to in your neighborhood. In the wonderful city of Houston, Texas, I learned that there are little to no zoning laws. And how does or how should this affect your investing decisions? Easy. It is possible (cuz I’ve seen it!) that a strip club may build their “gentlemen’s club” right next to your 4-plex apartment building. That’s not what I call a positive influence, right? What type of “new” tenants will that business attract to the neighborhood? Not the kind you can bring home to mama that’s for sure. So, the lesson here is to do your own research on zoning in your neighborhood. If there is vacant land next door to an apartment you’re considering buying, see what it is zoned for during your due diligence.
Zoning will determine who can potentially build what in your neighborhood. I vote for Starbucks over Lucky Stars Club any day! To find out the zoning, you can simply call your local department of planning and zoning office. Just give them the address.
I’d like to personally thank Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, for the increase of cash flow and upgrading the “flavor” of my tenants!

Four years ago, there were many millionaire apartment investors nationwide, and I knew quite a few of them personally. But unfortunately today, most are no longer millionaires. Thousandaires perhaps. (I just made up a new word!) The way I look at life is a big educational journey. And the most priceless thing you can learn is life-experience. In other words, you can’t put a price on wisdom. I define wisdom as the application of your life’s experience. I know a few people who not only remained millionaires after the fall of the market, but are even prospering at this time. To me, these people have learned from their life-experiences and have applied their highly valued knowledge to their investing. I observed that they have certain traits and mindsets that no one else has. Here’s what traits I have observed in keeping up with today’s millionaire apartment investors. Traits you can surely adopt yourself – it’s not too late!

1. Independent Thinking
Millionaire apartment investors think differently. Not just about money, about everything. The time and energy everybody else spends attempting to conform, millionaires spend creating their own path. They don’t wait around waiting for someone to make a move before they do. They think, and then they do. How about you? Have you been wanting to invest in apartments, but……..???

2. Vision
Millionaire apartment investors today are creative visionaries with a positive attitude. In other words, wealthy people not only have big dreams, they also believe they will come true. Wealth seekers set lofty goals and are not afraid of uncharted territories. When setting real estate investment goals, have the mindset that…”impossible is nothing”. Millionaire apartment investors believe when others don’t – that’s what sets them apart.

3. Skills
Writer Dennis Kimbro interviewed successful people to determine the traits they had in common for his book, “Think and Grow Rich”. He found that they concentrated on their area of excellence. Millionaires also tend to partner with others to supplement their weaker skills. They use training and mentors to refine their strong skills. Focus, focus, focus is what the best of the best in apartment investing do. They don’t stray from apartments – they master one thing.

4. Passion
Billionaire investing guru Warren Buffett says “Money is a by-product of something I like to do very much.” Enjoying your work allows you to have the discipline to work hard at it every day. People who interact with money for a living often love creating new deals and persuading others to complete a transaction. But finding your dream job may take time. The average millionaire doesn’t find it until age 45, and tends to be 54 (on average) before becoming a millionaire. Wow, so there’s still hope! Woo-hoo!

5. Investment
Millionaire apartment investors are willing to sacrifice time and money to achieve their goals. They are willing to take a risk now for the opportunity of achieving something greater in the future. The majority of millionaires in the US today, achieved that status from real estate investing – and they still do it. Yes, they took a chance. They took some of their own money Or borrowed it from someone else) and took the plunge. Leo Bascaglia quotes, “the person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing”. Ouch!

6. Salesmanship
Millionaire apartment investor are constantly presenting their ideas and deals and persuading others to buy into them. They are good salespersons and are oblivious to critics and naysayers. In other words, they don’t take “no” for an answer. Millionaire apartment investors also have good social skills. In fact, when writer T. Harv Eker analyzed the results of a survey of 753 millionaires for his book, “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind”, he found social skills were more important than IQ. Just look at Donald Trump. His fortune has fluctuated over the years, but his ability to sell himself - whether as a TV personality or as the force behind a line of neckties - has always brought him back among the ranks of celebrity millionaires. I personally learned from Robert Kiyosaki that no matter where we are, at the gym, the beauty shop, shopping for groceries, we should ALWAYS BE SELLING!
Til next time my friends….Peter, The Apartment Consultant

I’d rather have lower but steady cash flow than potentially higher cash flow, but it be inconsistent. Right? Let’s discuss this a little further. It’s a tough world out there for apartment owners right now. Even if you’re not an owner yet, you should pay attention to this as well. Even though we apartment owners are surviving the recession better than the average investor of other commercial real estate property types, we still are admittedly struggling with keeping tenants anchored in our apartments long term. There’s so much competition and so many choices out there. What I am discovering are that apartment amenities are key to attracting targeted tenants and keeping them long-term. Amenities include things such as: parking, storage, pools, laundry, clubhouses, on-site management, playground areas, fitness centers, gated access, and internet services, just to name a few. These “little” things are more important than you think.
Research indicated that at least 8 out of 10 individuals wanted internet services in their apartment complex. About 85% preferred having both on-site-management and maintenance available at their apartment complex. When asked about the issue of parking, about 65% agreed that parking spaces maybe a deciding factor on which apartment complex was chosen.
Less than 10% was interested in having a clubhouse as part of the apartment complex, which left an astounding 80% that did not care for such amenities. Isn’t this interesting? Laundry received a 65% “Must Have”.
When asked about storage spaces, only 35% believed that this would pose an issue for them.
The pool received high remarks with over 85% agreeing that the question about a pool will surface. Fitness center and a playground area both received about 45% of the surveyed audience who agreed that having these amenities would persuade their rental decision. 20% was interested in having a gated community and believe that this would be a top priority for them. This should be taken all into consideration even when thinking of adding an apartment investment into your portfolio.

Here are the Top 10 Apartment Must-Have Amenities:

1. Pools
2. Dishwashers
3. Covered parking
4. Washers and dryers
5. Pet-friendly community
6. Gated access
7. In-unit security
8. Fitness center
9. Guest bathrooms
10. Club house
And here’s an interesting thing about these amenities that may surprise you: Even though the tenants want things such as a pool and a fitness center, it is used rarely by them. Incredible, huh? But in order to attract them, you gotta have it. Just crazy if you ask me.
So there you have it. Money-making information straight from the tenants themselves. They are telling us something aren’t they? Are we going to listen? I sure have been. Steady cash flow, even if it’s a little lower is better than none.
Til next time my friends….Peter, The Apartment Consultant.com