Smith Equities' $12.7M Addison Place Deal Proves Student Housing Still Hot

ORLANDO, FL, Nov. 10, 2008- – In spite of the turmoil in the capital markets, demand for well-located quality student housing continues to attract student housing developers to the University of Central Florida (UCF) market, according to Paul Guyet (top left photo) of Smith Equities Real Estate Investment Advisors.

Guyet and Mark Smith, (middle right photo) both of Smith Equities Real Estate Investment Advisors, brokered the sale of Addison Place Apartments, (top right photo) which is located on Alafaya Trail one half mile south of UCF.

The property consists of eight buildings containing 218 apartments – mostly one-bedroom units – and an office on a 10-acre site with approximately 740 feet fronting on Alafaya Trail. Addison Place Apartments sold for $12.7 million. The seller was Cedar Trust Services, Inc.

The new owner, which is part of Inland American Communities Group, Inc., plans to build a new student housing complex on the site that will open for the 2010 school year with 995 bedrooms in 416 units, a garage, pool and other amenities appealing to students. It also will be on the bus route that takes students to and from classes.

Guyet is the student housing specialist at Smith Equities Real Estate Investment Advisors, which specializes in the sale of apartments in Florida. He is in charge of the student housing department and has participated in the sale of more than $166 million of student housing in Orlando, Tallahassee and Gainesville.

Each year, Guyet prepares a report on the occupancy rates and rents in the UCF market (copy included with this release) that has become required reading for anyone interested in student housing in the area.

About Smith Equities:

Robert E. Smith (bottom left photo) and his brothers Mark and Gerald (bottom right photo) founded Smith Equities Real Estate Investment Advisors (SEREIA) in 1990. Smith Equities is a leader in apartment sales and financing throughout Florida with investment sales and financing of over 22,734 Apartments in 160 deals.

SEREIA sold some of the first condo conversions in Florida and is now focused on helping banks understand and dispose of nonperforming assets tied to condominium conversions.

For more information, please go to their website at http://www.amecs.com/

or call them at (407)422-0704.

CONTACTS:

Paul M. Guyet: 407-422-0704 Ext 105 or e-mail: pmg@amecs.com

Mark D. Smith: 407-422-0704, Ext. 102 or e-mail: msmith@amecs.com
Kimbra Hennessy, 407.290.1060, ext. 102, kimbra@bitner.com

Statewide Apartment Rent Surveys Now Online

ORLANDO, FL--Robert E. Smith,(photo top right) CCIM, founder and CEO of Orlando-based Smith Equities Real Estate Investment Advisors (SEREIA) has expanded the Orlando rent survey to cover all of the major metro areas in Florida.

In 2005, SEREIA developed an on line rental survey for the Apartment Association of Greater Orlando (AAGO) “www.aago.org”.

Each month, the Apartment Association sends an email out to each property showing what rents and occupancies they have on record for the property. The property manager can then log onto the web site, and update the rents and occupancy as necessary. Once the rents and occupancies are updated, they can go to the rent comps tab and choose up to 10 apartments for a rental survey.

They can then view the rent comp report by property or by unit type. All of the rents are then summarized by submarket for reporting of trends by the Apartment Association. All you need to do to participate in the Orlando survey is to make sure the Apartment Association has a current email for the property.

http://www.myrentcomps.com/

In August, 2007, SEREIA created a web site called www.MyRentComps.com to allow property managers outside of the Orlando MSA to do the same surveys as AAGO’s. The site was designed to save the property manager time on gathering rent comps. Once logged in, the owner/property manager can upload current photos and change/update any information pertaining to the rents, occupancies, and amenities.

All information that is updated on MyRentComps.com will also automatically appear on:

http://www.apartmentsnowavailable.com/

which is password protected. This site was designed to allow small property owners the ability to give out rents and availability to both prospective tenants as well as people calling for a rent survey.

To try out the site. Just go to MyRentComps.com and create a new account using the email you use for the property. Since there typically are several people who may want to participate, the property manager can set up several user accounts under each property.

If you have multiple properties throughout Florida, please contact Smith Equities Real Estate Investment Advisors so that you we can assign a regional property manager status on your account. This will allow you to monitor all properties throughout the state under one screen.

When you pick your 10 rental comps and if you see that some of the property managers in your survey have not updated their rents in the previous 30 days, you will have a button on the rent survey that will allow you to email a request for them to update their rents for your report.

There will also be a button to allow you to add an email if it is missing. After picking the 10 rental comps, you will be able to run a report sorted by apartment property or by unit mix. The report, by unit mix, will give you weighted average rents by unit type. You control whether you want to display the occupancy on rent surveys that show your property as a rent comp.
Reports can be also be customized to fit your individual needs.

You keep your leads!

Have you or your property manager ever sent a prospective renter to an apartment marketing web site only to learn that once they were there, they ended up going to another property?
ApartmentsNowAvailable.com was created to give small property owners the ability to give out a Property Code on the website that will allow them to see their property only.

Once they log onto the site using your unique Property Code, potential renters can see maps, photos as well as units that are now available for rent. They can download property rental brochures and application forms which will save the owner/leasing person both time and money.
All phone numbers, faxes and emails are to the property, not to some “third party”. Instead of emailing or faxing the information, you can just send potential renters to:
and have them enter the Property Code that you pick while editing the property on http://www.myrentcomps.com/

To see a sample, just go to ApartmentsNowAvailable.com and type in the Property Code: LLA.

Smith Equities Real Estate Investment Advisors was founded in 1990. As an apartment owner and investment advisor, Robert Smith has designed these tools to help the property owners/managers keep current on market conditions. He can be reached at
(407) 422-0704 X101
or
Email: res@amecs.com

Related Links:

http://www.myrentcomps.com/

http://www.aago.org/
http://www.apartmentsnowavailable.com/

Smith Equities Headquarters:

350 East Pine Street, Orlando, FL 32801

Tel: (407) 422-0704

Fax: (407) 422-0705

Web: http://www.amecs.com/

Creekwood Village North Apartments Sells For $11,800,000

ORLANDO, FL--Demand for Apartment investment properties remains high. During the condo boom of 2005, the seller of Creekwood Village North Apartments (photo top left) had planned to demolish the complex and build luxury condominiums.

In preparation, the seller began vacating the units early in 2006 . However, by the end of 2006 the condo market had cooled and with the property 70% vacant, the seller had abandoned plans to demolish and rebuild and thus began leasing the property back up as conventional apartments.

"Like many condo conversions in the Florida market, getting the occupancy back to market stabilization necessary to obtain financing and close the deal is a challenge many owners and buyers are facing" said Gerald Smith (photo at right) of Smith Equities Real Estate Advisors.

The 180 unit Creekwood Village North Apartments located in Altamonte Springs sold for $11,800,000.00. The buyer was PRG Real Estate Management Inc. out of Philadelphia.

PRG is a privately owned investor and manager with 36 assets and 8,400 units in 8 states. PRG specializes in value added assets, and intends to commence with a sizable capital improvement plan to reposition the asset. Gerald Smith and Robert Smith, (photo bottom right) both of Smith Equities Real Estate Advisors were the brokers in the deal.

According to Smith Equities Real Estate Investment Advisors, the metro Orlando area saw approximately 10,000 units re-enter the rental market over the past 18 months that had previously converted to condominiums.

“While this has caused a short term increase in vacancies and concessions in the past year, we see the market beginning to show signs of stabilization. We continue to see strong demand for apartments and expect that to continue as the market reaches equilibrium” said Gerald Smith.

The 180 unit Creekwood Village North Apartments consisted of (90) two bedroom one bath units averaging 850 sf and (90) two bedroom one and a half bath townhomes averaging 1000 sf.

"This was an excellent opporunity for the buyer to expand their operations in the Orlando market with a quality asset priced well below its replacement costs. We expect 2008 to be a very active year in multifamily transactions as more investors recognize the unique opportunities the market offers" said Smith.

For More Information, Call (407) 422-0704:
Gerald Smith at Ext: 103 Email: gs@amecs.com or
Robert E. Smith, CCIM at Ext 101 Email: res@amecs.com