Real estate investing is one of the best ways to get passive income and build your nest egg. However, buying an apartment complex is no easy job. In fact, Brandon Turner from Bigger Pockets describes the apartment complex buying process as more involving than purchasing a single-family property. Although finances are often the main factors to consider before buying an apartment complex, there are other important things that you should think about.
What to Consider Before Buying an Apartment Complex
Location: The property you intend to buy should be located within walking distance from restaurants, grocery, and retail. You may also consider apartments near areas of employments and mass transportation.
Amenities: Apart from having basic facilities like water and electricity, invest in an apartment that boasts amenities like clubhouses, swimming pools, party halls, and fitness centers.
Importance of Having a Fitness Center in an Apartment Complex
Modern apartments throughout the United States tend to offer a variety of amenities to distinguish themselves from competitors. Some of the benefits of having a fitness center in your apartment complex include:
Increased property value
An apartment complex with a fitness center will quickly increase in value in case you later decide to sell the property. This fitness center will increase the value of the property because it will attract high-profile residents who are in such for luxury amenities. As long as you are able to account for the management costs, including upgrades, repairs, and general maintenance, a fully-equipped fitness center can make your apartment complex more attractive to both potential investors and residents.
Improved standards of living
According to a recent post by Convenient Store News, approximately 53% of renters want to maintain a healthy lifestyle. An onsite fitness center reserved specially for your residents, and community members can promote better standards of living. This will position your apartment complex as a wellness sanctuary, and this will attract more residents who want to lead a healthy lifestyle.
Better aesthetic appeal
An aesthetically-pleasing property will attract more renters. In fact, it is estimated that about 80% of prospective residents consider swimming pools and fitness facilities before they can decide where to rent. Purchasing an apartment complex with a fitness center will mean more renters.
Sizing the Fitness Center
When buying an apartment complex, it’s also important to check the size of the fitness center. Below are some of the things to consider when sizing the fitness center:
The tenant population: Just like health clubs deal with populations, you also need to consider the number of tenants in the apartment complex. You can do this by simply estimating the number of apartments. For instance, if the apartment has 500 units and 1200 tenants, you can estimate that 30% or 360 people will use the facility.
Daily use: When planning the usage of the fitness facility, consider that 10% of the tenant population will use the fitness center every hour. Based on your previous assessment, approximately 360 tenants will use the facility in a given month. 10% of this population or 36 tenants will use this facility in a day, and approximately 35% or 126 residents will use the facility in a given day.
Square footage: Approximately, each member needs 10 to 12 square foot. Using the previous example of 360 tenants, you will need a facility of approximately 3600 to 4500 square feet.
Fitness Equipment For Your Apartment Complex
If the fitness center of the apartment complex you intend to purchase handles more than ten people in a day, then it is legally a commercial fitness facility. If the facility has non-commercial grade fitness equipment, then you’ll be held liable if a resident gets hurt from equipment failure during workout. To avoid such a situation, then you may need to update the fitness facility.
Updating and redesigning the fitness facility will create a more compelling fitness experience for your renters. However, this requires resources, organization, and coordinated time. This isn’t an off-the-shelf purchase. Therefore, ensure you deal with a fitness professional in order to bring your vision to life.
Some of the equipment you might need include:
Cardio equipment: This can include rowing machines, total body bikes, stepper climbers, treadmills, and air dynes.
Strength equipment: They include benches, abdominal machines, flooring, dual circuit pieces, multi-stations gyms, power racks, plates and dumbbells, rigs and cages, and vibration plates.
Get the Right Multi-Family Fitness Products
Given the importance of social amenities and their benefits to any apartment complex, it is well worth to consider investing in a fitness center. If the apartment complex you want to purchase has old, outdated, or non-commercial grade equipment, you need to invest in new assets. Visit Fit Supply today to lease or purchase up-to-date equipment that are safe and less expensive to repair.