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When the apartment segment of the commercial real-estate market eventually regains strength, a favorable ranking Fort Wayne received earlier this month could help raise its profile for potential property investors.
ApartmentRatings.com, which has been publishing user-generated apartment reviews since 2000, recently put Fort Wayne atop a list ranking the country’s 100 most populous cities by renter satisfaction. It was followed by Grand Rapids, Mich., and Madison, Wis.
Robert Hudson was not surprised to find Midwest cities at the top. Hudson is managing director of the Hudson Group in Fort Wayne, which is affiliated with Sperry Van Ness.
“I’ve been selling apartments in Fort Wayne for 33 years and it’s the only thing I do, so I know this market very well,” he said. “The Midwest has been behind the rest of the country on level of rents and that is a major factor attributable to a higher occupancy.”
Despite the recession, Fort Wayne has a very good overall occupancy rate of 88.59 percent, down from 90.63 percent a year ago, Hudson said.
The ranking shows apartments in the city continue to generate enough income “to maintain the property and pay the mortgage and expenses,” he said. “Unlike most other cities, our apartment supply is not in trouble.”
Beth Wyatt, executive director for the Apartment Association of Fort Wayne, said the area’s apartment complex occupancy is down because fewer people have the money to cover rent when unemployment rises.
The increased number of families moving out of homes because they can’t meet house payments has not helped occupancy, she said, because those homeowners typically have hurt their credit by falling behind on payments and can’t qualify as renters.
Wyatt said she hopes companies and employees considering Fort Wayne as a place to work and do business find the ranking “helps them make a decision to move here because there is good housing available.”
The ApartmentRatings.com site gives tenants the opportunity to rate any apartment where they live in various categories. The 2009 ranking was based on an overall satisfaction category: 932 renters had rated 46 Fort Wayne apartments through the site since the start of the year.
“The data analyst who put it all together said it was fairly close within the top 10, but nothing so close as there would be any ties or anything, so Fort Wayne was the clear winner,” said Joe Ewaskiw, a spokesman for the site.
“It shows that overall, the buildings, the apartment complexes in the city, appear to be very well managed and maintained, and the industry in general is holding itself to a fairly high standard,” he said.
“We interpret that as they’re keeping an eye on each other and not doing the minimum; they’re aware that people expect a good experience and they’re providing that. It’s competition in terms of satisfaction.”
For 60 percent of the Fort Wayne apartment complexes rated on the site, at least half of the renters submitting reviews said they would be willing to recommend the building where they were staying as a place to live.
Compared with many other cities, “that’s high,” Ewaskiw said. The reviews include consistent mention of good grounds, quick repairs, helpful management and pet friendliness, and “people seemed very happy there,” he said.
The Apartment Association, which represents almost 20,000 apartment units, does what it can to help with quality by providing training classes on everything from regulatory compliance to property management to hands-on maintenance, Wyatt said.
“Not all communities have a resource like the Apartment Association and I would hope that we play a good role in assisting the staff on site,” she said.
The high ranking by ApartmentRatings.com showed the commitment of owners to their properties and resulted from “a member-wide effort,” she added. “Hopefully it goes back to the training the employees receive.”
A look at the Fort Wayne apartments with the highest percentage of multiple reviews by renters who would recommend them shows staff performance was a factor with Archer’s Pointe Apartments, which was near the top.
The complex is owned by Indianapolis-based Gene B. Glick Co. Cindy Bane, the Glick regional property manager who oversees Archer’s Pointe, said it employs excellent staff with a goal of providing “a place that everyone is always proud to call home.”
At Archer’s Pointe, “they’re just outstanding and dedicated to providing service,” Bane said. “Often, I say if I could clone them, I would. It would be wonderful. They always exceed the company standards. They truly believe in quality and care for the property both inside and out.”
The impact the apartment rating could have on investors giving Fort Wayne a look once the apartment segment of the commercial real-estate market comes back will depend partly on how many have heard of it, Hudson said.
“When investors … call me, I have that and will use it as a selling tool. It is included in my package,” he said.
“Investors from outside of Fort Wayne are concerned about the economic viability for future growth, and this says we are stable and have a good market. And there are other reports that can verify that.”
A Dec. 15 summary of the Investment Trends Quarterly report prepared by CCIM Institute and Real Estate Research Corp. said declines across the U.S. commercial real-estate sectors are easing slightly as next year approaches, with the apartment sector showing the most improvement.
“Growth across the commercial property markets is expected to remain sluggish through at least the first quarter of 2010, followed by a potentially meaningful recovery during the second half of the year,” it said.
In Fort Wayne, there have not been many apartment complexes built since the 2001 recession other than senior or low-income housing, Hudson said. “I believe the lack of new construction, in a couple of years from now, will make the apartment market increase to 92 to 94 percent (occupancy),” he said.
“I see a very good upside in the next three to five years in terms of rental increases,” Hudson said. Nationwide, “doors are starting to open for buyers to get financing, and we’re seeing a very large increase in activity.
“Buyers are more optimistic now going into 2010, and possibly sellers will be willing to put their properties on the market.”
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