Condominium conversion activity picked up this year, so we dusted off some old research to see how viable conversion is as an investment strategy.

This article looks at what really happens to rents, once you adjust for inflation. Hopefully it will make you less complacent about apartment investing. There are opportunities for apartment investors, don't get us wrong. But successful investors usually create their opportunities. Why? Because, as this article shows, the market ay not create opportunity for you. In fact, your basic assumptions about the market may be way off base.

We use the information we analyze from The Apartment Expense Report each year as an audit tool to test the accuracy of our Apartment Vacancy Report. The financial vacancy rate over the past six years, from The Apartment Expense Report, averaged 5.27%, while our vacancy survey reported an average 5.33% vacancy rate. That's close enough.

There are numerous definitions of benchmarking, but essentially it involves learning, sharing information, and adopting the best practices in the industry, or other industries, to bring about positive changes in performance. So, at its simplest, benchmarking means: "Improving ourselves by learning from others." For the purpose of this report, we will look at benchmarking as a process in which you measure your apartment performance against that of the “best in class” industry leaders. You determine how they achieved their performance levels, and use that information to improve your own performance.

Our 2004 Apartment Expense Report shows insurance costs climbed 83% in the past three years. That is even after investors took steps to rein in costs, including risk management, consolidation, self-insurance, as well as coverage and claims strategies.

Here is a list of local resources you should use to track trends in our economy that will impact apartment investments.