Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Fall 2008 Update
With difficult economic times being spread via the media like wildfire to the public, it is grueling to walk into a room and ask your leasing staff to raise their rents. Here's how I see it: It took 5 years for single family homes to inflate to an obscene level. It will take five years for them to come back down and stabilize. The same holds true for the apartment industry. Rents have been plumeting since 2002. We just recently saw the return of stabilized occupancies and more than a percentage of rent growth. So rather than meeting this challenge as "grueling", I'm take a different approach. One that simply reviews the elements of supply and demand. Today's market is one that supports rent growth. It is time to return rents to where we left off in late 2001.
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1 comment:
I completelly agree on capatilizing on rent growth while we have the opportunity. Now is not the time to tip toe into rent increases, but rather to test the deep end of the water at every opportunity. The 2 bedroom apartment that was rented last week for $1050 could rent today for $1110, but it could also rent the next day for $999. Opportunity knocks every day and every time we receive a notice. We all have to ask ourselves every morning... "what is this apartment worth today"? Renting is a great value in today's economy!
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