renewal concession

Welcome back for another installment on the subject of apartment budgeting. This week we are going to discuss the line items called concessions – new and concessions – renewals. Before we get started I have to admit some surprise. I did not think this kind of subject matter would spur much in the way of conversation but it truly has. And, we have posted some record numbers in the way of page views and the on and offline conversation has been very upbeat in nature. I have to give all the credit to Carin – one of our accounting team members at Mills Properties.

Up to this point we have discussed the main driver of revenue – rent. And, we have taken the time to walk through the ever complicated world of loss to lease for both new and renewed leases. And, just last week we penned about the quasi robber baron – vacancy loss. Let’s continue in the vein of loss this week with a discussion on the art of concession use.

Apartment Concessions 

Concessions are defined as credits (dollars) given to offset rent, application fees, move in fees and/or any other revenue line item. They are generally given at the time of move-in to offset physical moving costs such as those associated with cross-country movers or cross town movers. Concessions are also used at the time of renewal as a way of offsetting the cost of a rent increase or the addition of an ancillary expense [Read: utility billing, renter’s insurance, etc.]  to a new lease term.

They can be given up front or amortized across the life of the lease. They are also given during ‘oops’ moments. That is to suggest that if we drop the ball on the service side of things, we can give concessions as a way of saying sorry for the inconvenience. In short,  we can say they are used for marketing and with that comes any number of perspectives for and against the use of concessions.

That being said, we have left out a number of good points and as a result I am looking forward to the conversation.

Your, burning concessions off as fast as reasonably possible, multifamily maniac,

M