Being able to keep a pulse on your competitive properties is key to maintaining an edge in the market. ApartmentIQ makes it easy to compare your subject properties to your competition. And here’s the best part; we collect the data for you! That’s right - no more manual data collection and spreadsheets that can take hours to compile, validate and share. 

ApartmentIQ’s data is collected automatically every 24 hours, free from human error. Additionally, ApartmentIQ boasts the largest competitive database in the industry, composed solely from publicly sourced unit level data. 

In this article, we will cover the following:

• What Competitive Properties We Can Track
   
• What Competitive Properties We Can’t Track
   
• Initial Data Configuration
   
• Managing and Updating Competitive Properties
   
• Data Integrity
   
• Competitive Property Best Practices
   

What Competitive Properties We Can Track

In order to pull unit-level data into ApartmentIQ, competitive properties must have a website with live leasing and unit-level pricing available. The great news is here at ApartmentIQ, we can track most competitive properties on the market today. 
 

What Competitive Properties We Can’t Track

There are instances where we may not be able to track a requested competitive property. If the property does not have a website, we cannot pull data into ApartmentIQ. 

Additionally, if the property does not have live leasing and unit-level pricing available, we cannot pull information into ApartmentIQ. This happens occasionally if live leasing is disabled, or if a property has not yet begun leasing at their property. 

Lastly, there are cases in which we cannot pull data into ApartmentIQ, despite the above items being present. This happens very infrequently, however, please note that this may occur. Your Customer Success Manager and/or our Support Team will work with you to ensure you are aware if this is the case for any of your properties. 
 

Initial Data Configuration 

If you are a new customer of ApartmentIQ, your Customer Success Manager and/or our Implementation and Support Teams are here to help you get your data configured. Initial data configuration typically occurs within the first 30 days of a customer joining ApartmentIQ and their data going live. We therefore consider the first 30 days of active data to be a calibration period. 

To get started, We will first need your team to complete the ApartmentIQ Property and Comp List Template. Please consolidate all subject properties and requested competitive properties onto this template. Once complete, please return to your Customer Success Manager. They will submit this information on your behalf to our Implementation Team. 

Account Review- Accounts With a Named CSM

Once your data has been built and configured within ApartmentIQ, your Customer Success Manager will reach out to schedule an Account Review. We highly encourage you to spot check the data within your account with your team to ensure that the subject properties and requested competitive properties are correct. 

Additionally, take note of any data integrity concerns you may have to discuss with your CSM. You can also email any concerns you have directly to our Support Team by emailing support@apartmentiq.io or in app by selecting suggest an update along the top right hand corner within a Market Survey. 

Managing and Updating Competitive Properties

Here at ApartmentIQ, we try to make it as easy as possible for your team to add or remove competitive properties from a Market Survey. 

Admin Users have the power to add and remove properties from any Market Survey at any time. Additionally, Manager and Editor Users can add and remove comps from their provisioned portfolio of subject properties in the account. 

To manage and update competitive properties:

• Login to ApartmentIQ.
   
• Navigate to My Properties.
   
• Select a Market Survey that you would like to add competitive properties to by clicking view.
  
  
   

• Select edit comps along the top right hand side of your screen. 

At this point, there are two actions Admin or Editor Users can take; add or remove properties. 

Add Competitive Properties

You can add a competitive property to your Market Survey in 3 ways:

Add From Search

• Click Add Comp to search by property name or address.
   

• Search to see if the property exists in our database by typing in the address of the property. If it does, the property will immediately pull into your comp set. 

• If the competitive property does not exist in our system, you can request that the property be added into the system. Simply click request to add new property.
   
• Include the competitive properties address and select submit. Our Implementation and Support team will investigate and follow up via email if they were able to successfully build and add this property to your market survey. Please note, this process can take up to 2 business days to complete. 
   

Add a Comp from a Curated List of Similar Properties Near By

• You can also add a comp by viewing suggested properties that are similar to yours. Click Add to include a property in your Market Survey. 

Add a Comp Via Interactive Map

• Lastly, you can search for comps close to your subject property by leveraging the interactive map function. See suggested comps and add them to your Market Survey by clicking Add Comp. 

Remove Competitive Properties

To remove competitive properties from a market survey:

• Hover to the left of the property you would like to remove and click the X next to the competitive properties name. Verify the deletion by clicking remove.
   

Comp Score

ApartmentIQ makes it easier than ever to determine how similar your competitive properties are to your property. Comp scores are calculated by comparing distance, year built or renovated, total unit count and average price points of your bed types. 

We encourage you to review Comps Scores when adding or removing comps from your Market Survey. 

Data Integrity

Here at ApartmentIQ, we pride ourselves on accurate, publicly-sourced data that is updated every 24 hours, without human error. 

Should you have any questions regarding a data point, we encourage you to contact our Support Team. There are two ways to get in contact with our Support Team.

Suggest an Update

All user types within your account can contact our Support Team to report data inaccuracies, concerns, or questions related to data integrity via the Suggest an Update button in-app. This button can be found within the Market Survey Report, and within the Property Report. 

To Suggest an Update:

• Navigate to the Market Survey Tab or Property Tab.
   
• Click Suggest an Update in the top right hand corner. 

• Select the property name that the update is associated with. In this case, the data does not seem to be pulling into ApartmentIQ for one of your Competitive Properties. Select that property in the drop down. 
   
• From here, select the metric of concern. 
   
• Include a title for your suggested update such as “please review the data for The Place at Fifth (your competitive property) as the concession is not displaying.”
   
• In the comments, include any other relevant information you can provide if applicable. 
   
• Click submit. 

Our Support Team will investigate, validate, and make updates to your data if publicly validated, within 48-72 business hours. 
 

Email Support

Should you need to contact Support for questions unrelated to data integrity, please contact them via email at support@apartmentiq.io. We aim to respond as soon as possible, but please note that there can be up to a 48 business hour turnaround for response. 
 

Competitive Property Best Practices

ApartmentIQ makes it easy for you to track most of your closest competitors. We find that our most successful clients abide by a few best practices when it comes to the data in their account.
 

Number of Competitive Properties

We find our most successful clients track between 5-15 competitive properties per Market Survey. However, please know that you can track as few or as many as you need to get a complete picture of your market. 
 

Competitive Property Reviews

In addition to tracking a healthy competitive set, we also find that our most successful clients continually review the competitive properties that they are tracking quarterly, bi-annually, or at minimum annually. This process can look differently from company to company, but we encourage your teams to sync and update this information regularly to get the most out of ApartmentIQ.