CORT News Center

Apartment Communities Profit from Local Market Tours and Staging

CORT helps properties thrive with comprehensive solutions and corporate exposure

FAIRFAX, VA. (June 25, 2009) – Apartment communities, challenged by a three-year high in vacancy rates, are profiting from a relationship with CORT, the only national furniture rental company and leading provider of touring and destination services for renters. In many cases, CORT literally drives prospective residents into apartment communities to find housing during local market orientation tours. These tours serve relocating employees from companies throughout the world.

CORT, a Berkshire Hathaway company, offers apartment communities a wide range of services to help differentiate their community and reach corporate residents who are unlikely to be reached by traditional local marketing methods. CORT has offices in the top 70 U.S. metropolitan areas and over the past decade has invested in new services including online rental listings through ApartmentSearch.com and a full suite of touring and relocation services for renters. CORT, which has worked with over 80 percent of the Fortune 500, provides apartment community partners with exposure to high quality renters who are being relocated for a job.

"We have always referred customers to CORT for furniture rental, but since we began working with their rental relocation team, CORT has also succeeded in connecting us with residents from prominent local companies that we have long been interested in serving," said Maryrose Drucis, corporate sales manager for Business Suites USA, an extended stay and corporate housing development in Valley Forge, Penn. "In one case, we rented 20 units to employees from a single company that came with CORT to tour our property."

National apartment vacancy rates, which stood at 6 percent in the first quarter of 2008, rose to 7.2 percent in the first quarter of 2009, according to real estate research firm Reis Inc. Rents also fell by 0.6 percent to an average of $1,046 per month, the largest single-quarter decline since this quarterly performance data was first reported in 1999. Conditions are likely to worsen until the job market improves, and apartment communities need solutions to differentiate themselves from the competition and reach as many prospective residents as possible.

"Working with CORT has given us exposure to residents who previously may not have been aware of our community," said Mishelle Estrada, community manager for Portofino Apartment Homes in Tampa, Fla. "Not only has CORT brought multiple employees from one of Tampa's largest employers to tour our property, we are also benefiting from the positive word-of-mouth feedback these new residents are sharing with their family and friends."

Apartment communities may offer free rent or other giveaways to attract new residents, a tactic that has driven effective rent payments down to an average $984 each month, according to Reis. CORT is helping apartment communities build their business without lowering rents by staging model apartments and clubhouses. Using rented furniture, household goods and accessories, a staged property leaves a positive first impression with prospective residents and helps them envision their life in the community. Staging uses the right mix of furniture and accessories to accentuate a property's best features, and differentiates a home from the many other vacant properties on the market.

"We were having a hard time placing residents in one particular floor plan that posed some layout challenges. After staging a model apartment using furniture and accessories from CORT, we quickly rented all the units of that floor plan," said Drucis. "The resident who rented the last available unit liked the arrangement so much that they chose to lease the furniture already in place from CORT."

Experience has proven that staging units increases a sales and marketing team's ability to close leases. After visiting a model, prospective residents are able to understand first-hand how their furniture and belongings will function in the kitchen, bedrooms, closets and living space available for different floor plans. Whether they already have a vision for how they'd like to arrange their space or need some direction, visiting a staged model provides a clear starting point. Some communities also choose to rent furniture for their clubhouse to create a welcoming atmosphere for current and prospective residents.

"Apartment communities recognize that CORT offers so much more than furniture," said Jeff Rowe, vice president of sales for ApartmentSearch for CORT. "Today, our services range from providing touring and destination support to online listings and furniture rental. Other companies providing services to apartment communities are focused only on one service. CORT brings a broad range of services to a partnership with apartment communities, and through our housing tours, we bring potential residents through the door."

CORT's business was founded on providing furniture rental services to apartment communities over the past four decades. Now, CORT continues to build on those partnerships. "We have endeavored to make CORT a valuable partner for busy property managers by offering solutions to streamline their responsibilities while delivering the same high standard of professionalism and customer service that people have come to expect from CORT," said Mark Koepsell, senior vice president of CORT. "Our expanded relocation services have added great value to our corporate customers, as all relocations require finding a place to live. All of these initiatives are built upon the long-standing partnerships with apartment communities."

For more than 35 years, CORT has been the nation's leading provider of rental furniture with a global network of affiliates in more than 50 countries. CORT, a Berkshire Hathaway company, also provides the nation’s most comprehensive range of rental relocation services, including online apartment search services at www.ApartmentSearch.com. CORT's customers include more than 80 percent of the Fortune 500 companies. For more information, please visit www.cort.com