Boise, ID · Member since 2018 · 203 posts · 188 votes
I'm a single family home builder who is looking at building multifamily apartments. Our target location is about one hour away from a large metro area (Boise, Idaho).
I'm asking any similar multifamily owners that aren't directly in a large metro area to share some demographic data on your tenants. We are trying to work on floorplans, amenities, etc, but are flying by the seat of our pants because we don't have any data. We have a ton of data on single family home buyers (and prospective single family home buyers), but nothing on apartment dwellers.
I've reached out to the state housing authority, but if anyone has data (even anectodical is fine) or good resources, it would be appreciated.
I'm hesitant to use nationwide, or even statewide data, because the majority of apartments are in the urban core, and I feel our demographics may be substantially different since we are an hour outside the urban core.
Investor · Shelton, WA · Member since 2017 · 6k+ posts · 6k+ votes
4y
The doctors and lawyers stay long enough to buy a house, or move on. The nurses stay longer, the hospital is two blocks away and they are not 'traveling nurses'. Most tenants stay for a few years. The retired folks stay till they die!
Investor · Shelton, WA · Member since 2017 · 6k+ posts · 6k+ votes
4y
@Mike Smith I have a 12 unit two story building-8 2bd; 4 1bd with underground garages; an hour west of Olympia WA-pop 60k. Our tenants all work in this 15,000 city. The tenants are skilled workers (nurses, technicians, etc we have had doctors and lawyers as well) or retired. Good rentals are hard to find in this town (Aberdeen WA).
I have used City Data and it has good UTD information. Hope this helps.
Do your tenants that are skilled workers tend to stay for more than a year, or are they transitional? Ie, just renting for a year until they purchase a home or possibly just renting while they are on a short term work contract like a nurse?
Boise, ID · Member since 2014 · 121 posts · 73 votes
4y
I suggest contacting the South West Idaho chapter of the National Association of Property Managers at www.swidaho.narpm.org for stats.
Are you targeting affordable housing or luxury units?
With the shortage, it appears the #1 criteria is availability vs amenities. Many units are leased up well prior to completion if pre-marketed correctly.
One amenity I highly encourage is a robust security system. Even though Idaho is relatively a very safe place to live, many people moving here may not know that. Investing a few thousand dollars in a high quality video surveillance system upfront will make the tenants feel better about deterring porch pirates and people breaking into cars, etc.
I would love to see some of the 4plex type units built as townhouses for individual ownership. I do a lot of work with First Time Home Buyers and there is a major shortage of available properties under $400k. This would help a lot!
Investor · Shelton, WA · Member since 2017 · 6k+ posts · 6k+ votes
4y
The doctors and lawyers stay long enough to buy a house, or move on. The nurses stay longer, the hospital is two blocks away and they are not 'traveling nurses'. Most tenants stay for a few years. The retired folks stay till they die!