Apartment Finance Today Conference: 2009

With so many challenges in front of our economy and the multifamily housing industry, this year's conference will be more valuable than ever for all attendees. Some participating panelists include: Alliance Residential, Chestnut Hill Realty, ConAm, Cohen Esrey, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Herman & Kittle, Home Properties, Laramar Communities, Legacy Partners, Mark-Taylor, Place Properties, Trillium Residential, UDR.

Come to network and engage in the critical dialogue with your peers and the leading financial firms in the industry including: Capmark, Centerline, CWCapital, Deutsche Bank, Johnson Capital, KeyBank, PNC ARCS, Prudential, Red Mortgage Capital and Walker & Dunlop to name a few.

The 2009 Apartment Finance Today Conference, March 30-April 1, 2009 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Henry G. Cisneros, former secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and executive chairman of CityView, will keynote the Apartment Finance Today Conference, March 30-April 1 at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix.

The celebrated housing, business, and city government leader will highlight a high-voltage lineup of multifamily owners, developers, and capital partners working out high-level plans and in-the-trenches tactics to weather the economic storm and position apartment properties large and small for a sustainable marathon run to recovery in the future.

In a luncheon keynote presentation, Cisneros plans to address a wide-ranging agenda of issues for survival amid our era's most hostile economies. His remarks will focus on the importance of apartments and rental housing, particularly in the throes of the broader housing and economic crisis.

Here are some other highlighted panels:

Apartment Industry Leadership Roundtable
How are the best and brightest apartment industry leaders coping with the uncertainty and risk of today’s economy? What are they doing to keep their business thriving during the recession and to position themselves for the future? Sit in on one of the most valuable business discussions in our industry. You will walk away with important insights from this one-of-a-kind gathering.

Equity Investment: Negotiating Your Best Deal
With high leverage deals harder to put together, finding good sources of equity is crucial—but also more challenging. This session will help explain your options, and look closely at the most active sources and their investment interests and deal terms. Plus, specific take-away tips on key deal points and specific examples of recently closed deals.

Buying Smart: Successful Underwriting in the Age of Turbulence
Buying opportunities are out there, if you know where to look and how to assess the potential for income growth. Learn the latest underwriting and financing techniques from acquisition, finance
and investment executives, to guide you in smartly assessing and acquiring apartment projects in today’s environment.

For a complete program, visit www.aptfinanceconf.com

eMail advertising

I thought this was an interesting survey that was worth passing along. Anecdotally, we have definitely seen a growth of interest (and participation) in eNewsletter advertising in the past several months.

eMail Tops Online Ad Budget Change in '09 According to a survey of marketing executives by Datran Media, E-mail leads all other channels by a wide margin in terms of performance for their companies. 80.4% of more than 3,000 executives surveyed chose e-mail as a strong advertising performer, compared to 56.8% who chose search, the second leading performer. In addition: 42.1% chose online display advertising as a strong performer 32.8% selected offline media, such as television and print 32.1% chose direct mail 22.9% selected social media 9.2% chose mobile marketing Anticipated Online Advertising Budget Allocation in 2009 (% of Respondents) Media Expected Change Reduce Stagnant Increase Unsure Display 21.9% 33.8% 23.6% 21.1% Email 5.7 23.0 58.5 13.2 Search 3.6 28.2 54.4 13.9 Social media 5.7 24.3 43.9 26.5 Direct mail 25.6 31.2 14.1 29.1 Offline media 34.9 24.6 13.8 27.2 Source: IPSOS Marketing & Media Survey, January 2009 Importance of Selected Advertising Goals in 2009 (% of Respondents for Each Goal) Goal Degree of Importance Least Important Less Important Important Most Important New customer acquisition 2.6% 2.2% 32.7% 63.2% Increased brand awareness 11.3 26.0 48.7 14.0 Increased brand favorability 11.4 26.6 48.7 14.1 Increased customer retention 5.6 7.8 43.7 42.7 Source: IPSOS Marketing & Media Survey, January 2009 2009 Marketing Tactics (% of Respondents, Multiple Response OK) Tactic % of Respondents Monetizing online ad inventory 45.0% Behavioral targeting 53.9 Customer win-back programs 28.4 Newsletters 62.0 List growth 54.2 Affiliate marketing 42.1 Direct mail 29.9 Unsure 5.2 Source: IPSOS Marketing & Media Survey, January 2009