Pub. 4 2019 Issue 4

8 www.ctaahq.org Entrepreneurs are putting a new spin on the short-term-stay model: They want to rent your apartments and boost your lease-up. By Les Shaver THE PROS AND CONS OF SHORT-TERM RENTALS L ike many apartment firms, Houston-based Camden attempts to keep tabs on innovations that could a ect the company and the apartment sector. So, when the founders of short-term-stay provider Lyric, Joe Fraiman and Andrew Kitchell, reached out to Kristy Simonette, Camden’s Senior Vice President of Strategic Services and Chief Information O cer. She took the duo to meet Laurie Baker, Camden’s Senior Vice President of Fund and AssetManagement, and check out Lyric’s short-term rental properties. At rst, Baker was skeptical, because she associated Lyric’s product with corporate housing rms, which for years have rented apartments. “We’re not the biggest fans of corporate housing at our com- munities, due to the possibility of the units being returned in December,” Baker says. Baker’s opinion changed once she toured Lyric’s rental apart- ments in Dallas. “We were impressed,” she says. “ ey were large, with best-in- class amenities, fully stocked kitchens and in-unit washers and dryers. It was a complete hospitality experience. We walked away saying, ‘ is is the new face of corporate housing.’” Camden let Lyric sublet 10 apartments in its Camden Travis Street community in Houston after the short-term provider initially asked for that many apartments on the same oor. “ is allowed us to dip our toe and evaluate how it would work,” Baker says. “So far, considering this small sample size, it’s gone well.” During lease-ups, short-term providers can bring apartment communities a substantial occupancy boost, an additional amenity for existing residents and a testing ground for new technology, such as noise meters. But they also leave some apartment executives wondering whether these operators could harm their brands—and their residents’ quality of life. A Lease-Up Boost For a large developer such as Camden, the advantages of renting apartments to a short-term provider during lease-up are obvious. While it may take eight to 24 months to ll an apartment after construction is complete, the short-term pro- vider injects immediate occupancy and revenue. “It helps developers receive extra money while reducing the risk of absorption,” says Jason Fudin, CEO and Founder of