Student Housing Business is the voice of the student housing industry.
Issue link: https://studenthousingbusiness.epubxp.com/i/564824
and development when it comes to markets, location, investment size, etc. Rogers: We are seeing lots of opportunities right now. The deals are more challenging, though, in that we are rarely buy- ing an entitled greenfeld site. Most of our deals are of-market assemblages and difcult re-zon- ings, both of which take us a lot of time and money to work through. One of our competitive advantages is in how we source development sites. As such, we are generally not competing with anyone, and if we are, it's often a small group so our 'hit rate' is much higher than it would be if we were one of 10 or 20 groups bidding on an acquisition where we would have no competitive advantage. Orsak: For acqusitions, a major- ity of our deal fow is from mar- keted transactions. We have been able to buy a few deals of mar- ket, but when you are focused on buying deals from merchant builders, they typically like to make sure they are getting the highest price out there. For development opportunities, we proactively identify markets and then fnd a local broker to fnd us sites in the defned areas. SHB: What challenges does development have over buying? Jackman: Most often, I hear developers comment on the dif- fculties of fnding good sites in good markets. It takes a lot of leg work and a wide net to fnd those opportunities. And, once you have it, the landscape in any municipality can be quite challenging relative to permit- ting, approval processes and the acceptance of the neighborhood residents. Acquisitions give an investor a clear picture of the historical performance, physi- cal plant condition and, with market diligence, insights into potential growth in net operat- ing income, etc. The landscape has fewer uncertainties than new development. SHB: What are your goals for acquisition or development? Rogers: Our goal is to contin- IN THE DE VELOPMENT, ACQUISITION & MANAGEMENT OF UNIVERSIT Y HOUSING. L E A D E R S is a development, acquisition & management firm dedicated to the creation of authentic communities in university markets across the United States. Managed under the University House brand, each communit y is built and operated to the highest standard. UNIVERSITY HOUSE COMMUNITIES Inland American C O M M U N I T I E S is now U H c o m m u n i t i e s . c o m BUILD VS. BUY JULY/AUGUST 2015 40