Case Studies

8Hundred West Apartments

101 Units

Garden Style Apartments

Olympia, WA

Overview: Fulcrum was retained in early 2014 and was tasked with lease up of 101 class-A new construction units starting in early winter of 2014

Challenges:
Construction on 8Hundred West was slated to be completed in November of 2014 presenting a mid-winter lease-up of class A units while setting new standards in market rent for the sub-market.

Strategies:
Early in the year, Fulcrum was instrumental in creating a brand for the property. Fulcrum furnished a fully-functioning web presence allowing prospective renters to engage with the property early on. We offered a single up-front concession with no downward adjustments to market rents. In addition, we created a vibrant digital community through social media outlets which was instrumental in our lease-up.

Reached 98% physical occupancy within 4 months of first certificate of occupancy.

Maintained 97% average physical occupancy for past 12 months (since stabilization).

Increased in-place rents through first renewal cycle with no retention concessions.

Nisqually Ridge Apartments

58 Units

Garden Style Apartments

Lacey, WA

Strategies: Fulcrum was retained in December 2009. We performed a full lease audit to correctly identify the residents who were month-to-month and to better understand…

Challenges:
Nisqually Ridge was a fairly well-run property prior to Fulcrum’s involvement in management. The property was constructed in 1995 with a 10-unit addition in 2007. Nisqually Ridge was the first property in its immediate vicinity and has since been joined by several larger and more amenity-rich communities. While the property was running well, we identified the following deficiencies:

The long-term resident manager had not kept up on lease renewals – 90% of residents were on month-to-month agreements leading to higher turnover than necessary.
Ancillary income items were under-collected.
Unit finishes were dated, limiting potential rent.

Strategies:
Fulcrum was retained in December 2009. We performed a full lease audit to correctly identify the residents who were month-to-month and to better understand the resident base. We began a staggered lease renewal strategy with a plan to have all residents in active leases with appropriate rental adjustments over a 12-month period. We also sourced low-cost-high-appeal unit upgrades to increase potential rent.
Concurrently, we carefully paced rent increases with the surrounding newer, amenity-rich properties to remain competitive, while continuously improving the look and feel of the grounds, building exterior and unit interiors and reflected this investment in the advertising. Maintenance efficiencies and water and power resources improvements and efficiencies were implemented.

Results through 2013:

In the initial 12 months all residents were placed in long-term leases with rental increases and / or at market rent.

urnover has reduced from 69% to 54% annually

NOI has increased 16%, an average 4% per year.

We performed low-cost unit upgrades on all units at turn and complete rehab on select high-demand units allowing Nisqually Ridge to keep pace with new product in the immediate area

The asset value has increased $1 million, an average $250,000 per year.

Hillview Apartments

37 Units

Low-Rise Apartments

Centralia, WA

Overview: We recruited a high-level resident manager. After identifying problem residents, we systematically terminated rental agreements with each…

Challenges:
Hillview is a 1920’s building which had several years of deferred maintenance and less-than-professional management practices in on-site operations. Some specific issues were:

Illegal activities leading to bad reputation in community
Failed security in controlled-access entries to buildings
Backlogged work requests by current residents
Several unauthorized residents and guests
Major building envelope issues leading to seasonally down units due to water intrusion
Lack of standardized unit turn program

Strategies:
We recruited a high-level resident manager. After identifying problem residents, we systematically terminated rental agreements with each—in all, we purposefully turned over 30% of the resident base within 12 months. We implemented a cost-effective unit turn program with low-cost-high-appeal upgrades to the units and orchestrated critical building envelope repairs. Low cost curb appeal enhancements to the grounds and building were executed.

Results:

Maintained average occupancy over 90% over the first year and over 97% in the 4th quarter of the first year.

Increased rent an average of 10% across all units in the first 12 months.

Dramatically improved the building and resident reputation in the community through active cooperative effort with local police and outreach to neighbors.

Successfully coordinated repair of building envelope and roof, returning two previously down apartments to rentable inventory.

We currently maintain a wait-list of prospective residents across all unit types.