Memorandum

To: Savannah Bowers, CEO

From: Jaclyn Thomas, Mas St. George, Robert Parsons, Alexander Alli, Nadira Adams,

kkkkkkkkKierra Kyle

Date: November 22, 2015

Subject: Value Proposition of TUApartments.com

This report aims to show how our value creation idea TUapartments.com is a viable solution that is desired by students seeking off-campus apartments. By identifying the problem of Towson University students not having enough information for off-campus housing and communicating with students who currently live off the Towson University Campus, we were able to determine that there is a true need for a website that contains a database of all the apartments available in the Towson University area as well as information and reviews to make each student feel more comfortable when signing a lease or rental agreement. Furthermore, the growth within the property management industry leads us to believe that there is an opportunity for us to grow our service and experience long term profitability. Additionally, there are very few competitors for TUapartments to contend with in the Towson University area, which will allow us to tailor TUapartments to provide a better service than our competitors. By entering a growing market and tailoring our product to address the need of Towson University students, providing accurate information, and gaining revenue through online advertisements of local businesses, TUapartments will prove to be a low-cost, high-reward investment opportunity that also has the potential for future growth.

Finding Off-Campus Housing is Difficult for Students

The process of finding off-campus housing can be very difficult for students. According to an article published by The USA Today, “deciding on an apartment can be stressful and tedious” (Koon, 2013). Finding and agreeing to the terms of a lease or rental agreement is a very important financial decision that should be made carefully; however, students often times find it difficult to find the information that is necessary to feel comfortable when making a financial commitment. Students are required to use various resources to find all of the information they need when selecting an apartment, a process that can take weeks. Additionally, finding information can be difficult for students because the resources that are currently available either do not contain the specific information students are seeking, such as tenant reviews, or the resources do not have adequate apartment listings for the Towson University area. Furthermore, the process of finding off-campus apartments typically begins near the end of the fall semester, a time when students are usually stressed over obtaining good grades in their courses. The goal of TUapartments is to provide an informational resource for Towson University students that combines apartment complex descriptions, pictures, floorplans, and reviews all in one location in order to make the process of finding off-campus apartments easier and less stressful.

Determining the Need for TUapartments

A Dependable Off-Campus Housing Resource for Towson University Students

TUapartments will provide a dependable online resource for student to use when seeking off-campus housing. TUapartments is an online database containing all of the available apartment listings for students in the Towson University area. Furthermore, TUapartments will also provide detailed descriptions, pictures, floorplans, and consumer reviews for the benefit of Towson University Students. The purpose of TUapartments is to make the search for off-campus housing easier for Towson University students by providing all of the features and information necessary in order to allow students to make an informed financial decision when signing leases or rental agreements. TUapartments will save our customers time while also reducing the stress of searching for off-campus housing. When considering the popularity of off-campus apartments with Towson University students, TUapartments will provide a needed service to a very large target market.

TUapartments Will Capitalize on the Popularity of Off-Campus Living

TUapartments will capitalize on the popularity of living off campus among Towson University students. Living in off-campus apartments is very popular among Towson University students. According to Towson University Housing and Residence Life, 4,300 students live on campus; whereas, 80% of the student population lives in off-campus housing or commutes from home (On-Campus, 2014). Furthermore, as shown in Figure 1, nearly 65% of Towson University students that completed our TUapartments interest survey stated that they currently live in off-campus apartments and are satisfied with their living arrangements. The fact that the vast majority of Towson University students enjoy living in off-campus apartments shows that there is a large market for TUapartments to provide information on apartments where students have had first-hand living experiences.

Figure 1- Current Living Situation of Survey Participants Source: (TUapartments Interest Survey, 2015)

TUapartments Will Be a Valuable Resource for Sophomores

TUapartments will be a valuable resource to Towson University Sophomores who are transitioning to off-campus apartments after living on the Towson University Campus during their freshman year. As displayed in Figure 2, the results of the TUapartments interest survey results were collected primarily from Towson University juniors and seniors; however, nearly 55% of the sophomores who completed the survey moved off campus following their freshman year (TUapartments Interest Survey, 2015). As many students transitioning to off-campus housing will realize, an extensive amount of research and evaluations is required in order to make an informed decision (Niche, 2014). These students need a service that will provide apartment information easily and conveniently. TUapartments will provide a service that will simplify the research and evaluation needed to transition to off-campus housing at Towson University by providing an easy and convenient way to find information, which according to our survey is a service that is wanted by Towson University Students.

Figure 2- Most of the Market for TUapartments is Upperclassmen Students Source: (TUapartments Interest Survey, 2015)

Towson Students Want an Easy and Convenient Way to Find Apartment Information

According to the TUapartments interest survey results, Towson University students want an easy and convenient way to find information about off-campus apartments. 75% of the 58 students that completed the TUapartments interest survey responded positively to the introduction of a website that provides current reviews, comparisons, and ratings of apartment complexes all in one place. Beginning in November or December, students begin the apartment search process during one the most stressful academic times for students (McGwin, 2012). TUapartments will provide a resource that makes searching for apartments easier and more convenient while also helping to ease the stress of finding off-campus apartments and keep students focused on their academics. In addition to being easy and more convenient, by gathering information from

previous renters as well as facts from online resources, TUapartments will become a dependable resource for students seeking off-campus apartments.

Figure 3- Interest Survey ResultsSource: (TUapartments Interest Survey, 2015)

Providing Students with Dependable and Accurate Information

TUapartments combines word-of-mouth information from previous renters and lessees with facts gained from online research on each apartment complex to provide dependable and accurate information to Towson University students. College students rely on ease and convenience when researching information. It has been found that 95% of college students rely on search engines to obtain information and 87% of students rely on advice from friends and family (A.Head, M. Eisenberg, 2015). Students use websites such as StudentRent.com and Apartments.com. StudentRent.com is a similar apartment searching website, was founded by students in order to make the apartment searching process easier and more convenient for college students (StudentRent, 2015). Similarly, Apartments.com was founded “in order to simplify the process of finding a new place to live” (Apartments.com, 2015). Furthermore, information that was collected from the results of the TUapartments interest survey, shown below in Figure 4, show that most Towson students rely on online research and word of mouth to obtain the information they need about off-campus apartments. Given the magnitude of the financial obligations that students have when signing rental agreements and leases, it is important the information student’s use is accurate. By fulfilling the need of a dependable online informational resource for Towson University students, TUapartments will be able to become successful in the growing property management industry.

Figure 4- How Towson Students Find Information Source: (A.Head, M. Eisenberg, 2015)

Growth with an Increasing Property Management Industry

TUapartments will have a great opportunity to enter and grow with the already soaring property management industry. The property management industry is currently rebounding from and has experienced significant annual growth since the Economic Crisis of 2009. TUapartments will capitalize on the growth of the property management industry by entering the market as it continues to rebound and then growing with the market in the future. The current conditions of the property management industry provide a unique opportunity for TUapartments to enter the industry and be successful in the long term.

TUapartments Will Benefit From an Increase in Rental Activity

TUapartments will benefit from the increase in rental activity across the United States that has occurred since the Economic Crisis of 2009. One of the main contributing factors that lead to the economic crisis was the mass issuance of subprime mortgage loans (Tanneeru, 2015). Due to the adverse effects of the economic crisis, there were numerous foreclosed properties throughout the United States and the real-estate market has taken years to recover. Although, the real estate market was hit hard by the economic crisis, the long-term effects of the crisis are actually beneficial to TUapartments because the demand for rental properties and apartments has increased immensely as more consumers are now renting properties as is evident by the declining vacancy rates among rental properties in the United Sates. Furthermore, according to a research study completed by Price Waterhouse Cooper, the total available investable real estate in the United States is expected to grow to $11 trillion, a growth of 38%, by the year 2020 (Price Waterhouse Cooper, 2015) . In addition to the expected growth of the total investable real estate in the United States, Price Waterhouse Cooper also stated that the United States has added over seven hundred thousand rental properties to the real estate market each year since the end of the economic crisis in 2009 (Price Waterhouse Cooper, 2015). Refer to Figure 1 to see the decreasing rental property vacancy rates across the United States beginning with the end of the

economic crisis. In addition to the increase in rental activity across the United States, the property management industry has also experience significant revenue growth since the economic crisis, opening the door for companies like TUapartments.

Figure 1: Rental and Home Vacancy Rates 2009-2015(Callis, 2015)

Property Management Industry Experiencing Growth after the Economic Crisis

The property management industry has experienced significant growth since the end of the Economic Crisis of 2009. According to Industry reports, the property management industry has grown by 2.5%, or $1.95 billion, per year since the end of the economic crisis (IBISWorld, 2015). Refer to Figure 2 to see the revenue growth of the property management industry from the end of the economic crisis in 2009 through 2015. The consistent growth of the property management industry presents a great opportunity for TUapartments to enter the market early enough to be able to capitalize on industry growth and position the company to experience long-term profitability.

Figure 2: Property Management Industry Revenue Growth 2009-2015 (IBISWorld, 2015)

TUapartments to Capitalize on Industry Growth for Long Term Profitability

TUapartments will capitalize on industry growth in order to better position itself for long term profitability. The growth of the property management industry presents a great opportunity for TUapartments to enter the market and grow with the industry as it continues to rebound from the economic crisis. Furthermore, with the continuous stream of incoming and outgoing Towson University students, TUapartments has the opportunity to establish a new service in an unsaturated area to reach a new target audience. When considering the growth of the industry, as well as the growth of the target audience of TUapartments, it is easy to see that TUapartments can capitalize on a market with very few competitors to establish themselves and experience both short-term and long-term success and profitability. Furthermore, due to the fact that there is very little competition in the Towson University area, TUapartments can quickly become to primary resource for students seeking off-campus housing.

Very Little Competition Exists for TUapartments in the Towson University Area

TUapartments will have very little competition in the Towson University area. We divided the competition into two groups, the national competition and the local competition. We found that national databases such as Apartments.com and Rent.com are too broad for use by Towson University students; whereas, the local competition lacks necessary features and does not represent Towson University. Furthermore, Towson University does not provide adequate help to students seeking off-campus housing, and the Towson University Housing and Residence Life does very little to provide students with the adequate information needed to make an informed financial decision when signing a rental agreement or lease.

Separation of National and Local Competition

For research purposes we separated our competition into two groups, national competition and local competition. National competition includes companies such as apartments.com and rent.com which have national databases of apartments and rental properties and many of the same features we will implement in our TUapartments website. Local competition includes websites such as ratemyapartments.com and apartmentratings.com. Each of these websites features pages specifically for college campuses; however, there is no portion of either website dedicated to Towson University. The TUapartments business plan includes capitalizing on the strengths and weaknesses of both our national competition and our local competition to bring the best possible solution to the students of Towson University. When considering the National competition, we found that the databases were too broad for use in a specific area such as Towson University.

National Competition is Too Broad for Towson University Students

Our national competitors currently are way too broad to focus on the Towson University market. Although companies such as apartments.com and rent.com are well known and implement many if the same features we plan to use on TUapartments.com, their databases are so large that focusing on a small market such as Towson University would be very difficult when seeking off-campus housing. Although the national databases are far too broad for use in a specific area such

as Towson University, the local competition lacks many of the necessary features of a dependable source and does not have a resource dedicated to Towson University.

Local Competition Lacks Necessary Features, Not Represented at Towson University

Although local competitors such as ratemyapartments.com and apartmentratings.com implement pages and databases specifically for college campuses, these websites lack some of the necessary features and do not have a page or database dedicated to the Towson University area. For example, TUapartments will have updated and specific information such as amenities, distance to campus, and information on safety including crime reports. Ratemyspartments.com only uses pictures of the apartments and ratings on a scale of one to five stars to describe the listings. The lack of information provided by the websites will increase the stress and time necessary for consumers to find off-campus housing. By focusing specifically on the Towson University area and offering the features displayed by the larger websites such as apartments.com and rent.com, TUapartments will be able to provide an unparalleled experience, which students do not currently receive from the university itself.

Towson University is Very Little Help to Students

The main source of information for Towson University students seeking off-campus housing is the Towson University Housing and Residence Life Department. However, according to a survey conducted by collegeniche.com, the majority of Towson University students do not find the school to be helpful in finding off-campus housing. Refer to Figure 3 for a summary of the survey results from collegeniche.com. Although the Department of Housing and Residence Life is a valuable resource for Towson University Students, there are several weaknesses including non-descriptive information, lack of apartment and landlord reviews, and lack of pictures that leave students with much work to do before signing a lease or rental agreement.

Figure 3: Towson University Off-Campus Housing Survey (collegeniche.com, 2015)

Weaknesses of Towson University Department of Housing and Residence Life Website

There are several weaknesses displayed on the Towson University Department of Housing and Residence Life website that may cause student to experience difficulty finding off-campus housing. Refer to Figure 4 to see a sample listing from the Towson University Department of Housing and Residence Life website. The information posted with the listing is very non-descriptive and difficult to find. Furthermore, there are no available apartment or landlord reviews for students to review before making a decision. Additionally, there are no pictures or floor plans of the apartment for students to review. The Towson University Department of Housing and Residence Life website leave much to be desired. The information provided gives little ground for a significant financial decision to be made. By viewing listings on the Towson University website, the student is sure to need to conduct further research before making a decision, adding to the stress and time committed to finding off-campus housing. TUapartments will capitalize on the weaknesses of the Towson University Department of Housing and Residence Life’s website to provide a comprehensive resource for student to conduct all of their research, allowing them to feel confident in making a well-informed decision when signing a lease or rental agreement.

Figure 4: Sample Posting From Towson University (Towson University, 2015)

Providing Accurate Information

Structured to Provide Honest Information to Towson Students

The logistics of TUapartments.com is structured to provide honest apartment information conveniently to Towson University students. According to the interest survey conducted, only 40% of students felt that they had sufficient information to make a fully informed decision before signing their current lease (TUapartments Interest Survey, 2015). Conversely, 60% of students felt that the information they acquired before signing their lease was at or below average

(TUapartments Interest Survey, 2015). Based on analysis of other college apartment websites, such as forrent.com, there is a vast amount of essential information provided to students; however, the information lacks a genuine representation of apartment condition (forrent.com, 2015). TUapartments intends to set itself apart from the current college apartment informative websites by implementing a website format that combines both in-depth apartment information and genuine reviews. This is how TUapartments will increase the amount of honest and sufficient apartment information available for students at an easily accessible location. According to “Students Today Seek Quality Off Campus Housing”, students place most value in apartment information regarding: rent price, inclusive of all minimal fees; Apartment layout; and Recreational areas (Students Today Seek Quality Off Campus Housing, 2015). This information along with comparisons to competitors within the area will provide students with the first piece of their in-depth view of their potential future residence on TUapartments.com. In addition to the structure of the TUapartments website, renter reviews will be concentrated on specific characteristics in order to ensure that authentic information is provided to Towson University students.

Figure 9- Apartment Information Provided to Towson Students Source: (TUapartments Interest Survey, 2015)

Character-Specific Renter Reviews

TUapartments will provide characteristic-specific renter reviews for each apartment complex for the benefit of our customers. Sharing reviews of specific elements from former and current leaseholders’ firsthand experiences allows potential students to receive a full view of an apartment’s strengths and weaknesses. Research gathered from review-based sites Tripadvisor.com and Yelp.com showed the value website users place into the reviews provided by other people on their experiences with a range of items from products to hotels to companies as well as food establishments. Tripadvisor.com receives 350 million visitors on their website

monthly and has over 290 million reviews, most including pictures, currently that range from one to five stars (Tripadvisor.com, 2015). Applying the use of reviews onto the TUapartments website will allow students to be informed about both the negative and positive aspects of apartment complexes. According to our interest study in which students shared their biggest complaints with their current living situation, 34% of students complained about maintenance, 12% complained about parking, 6% complained about loud neighbors, and 3% complained about security (TUapartments Interest Survey, 2015). These features along with others identified in our survey can be found below in Figure 10. The review of this information by previous and present residents ensures an authentic assessment of apartment features available to potential renters in order to decide what apartment complex best fits their needs. TUapartments will provide an authentic online resource for Towson University students; however, it will also represent a low cost, high reward investment opportunity.

Figure 10- Complaints of Students Living in Off-Campus Apartments Source: (TUapartments Interest Survey, 2015)

TUapartments is a Low-Cost, High-Reward Investment Opportunity

Due to the low costs and the potential for high earnings and future growth opportunities, TUapartments represents a low-cost, high-reward investment opportunity. TUapartments will require very little initial funding to run the website and will be offered as a free service to Towson University students. Furthermore, we plan to become a popular online resource for Towson University, making TUapartments the perfect place for local businesses to advertise. TUapartments will take advantage of its popularity and use it to gain revenue through the advertisement of local businesses.

TUapartments Will Require Low Start-Up Costs

TUapartments will require very little start-up costs. The costs that go into starting a website are not overwhelming because of the extended time period in which the costs cover. As depicted in Table 1, website startup costs follow the website from the foundational planning stages all the way to the final launch of the website (Parr, 2015). Table 1 also shows that website start-up costs are estimated between $5,640 and $11,400 (Parr, 2015). TUapartments is a great investment no matter which end of the range the total startup costs fall on due to the demand of the services that the website provides for students.

Table 1- Total Start-up Costs

Component Cost

Planning $0 – $600

UX (sitemap, wireframes)

$0 – $1200

Visual Design $1,200 – $2,400

Programming $3,000 – $4,800

Content Support $240 – $600

Client Training / Documentation

$240 – $600

Testing and Launch $960 – $1200

Total Cost $5,640 – $11,400(Parr, 2015)

Free for Towson University Students TUapartments will be offered as a free service to Towson University students. Furthermore, TUapartments.com will enable local Towson University students to have immediate access to apartment rates nearby. This online service will be free to Towson students while also offering an array of resources that will encourage student to make the most cost efficient decisions when signing a new lease. Similar to Apartments.com, the website content on TUApartments.com will include apartment information, accurate apartment ratings, and reviews written by residents of that specific location (Apartments.com). More specifically, users will have the option to search for apartments through location (city, state, and zip code), rent price, and number of bedrooms and bathrooms (Apartments.com). In Figure 3- Interest Survey Results above, 75% of Towson

University student’s surveys stated that they would benefit from our service (Survey Monkey). Not only is TUApartments.com free, but it will encourage students to make the safest cost efficient decision. Additionally, offering TUapartments as a free service to Towson University students will not only cause the website to become a popular resource; rather, the website will become a great advertisement opportunity as well.

Gaining Revenue through Online Advertisements

TUapartments will gain revenue through the online advertisements of local businesses. The advertisements will be promote local businesses in the Towson area. The advertisements on TUApartments.com will inform Towson University students about local businesses, events, and resources. Gaining revenues through online advertising is common on websites similar to TUapartments. For example, as expressed below in Figure 11, Rent.com incorporates advertisements through their website that keep their consumers engaged and allow them to accumulate revenue (Rent.com). Due to the fact that Rent.com is a high end apartment finder website, they are able incorporate national ads such as Intel and Kohls (Rent.com, 2015). Every time an advertisement appears on Rent.com, the website gains revenue. As far as TUApartments.com, to start up, we plan on implementing local ads that Towson students can identify with. TUapartments will have several ways of earnings revenue through advertisements including the pay-per-impression and pay-per-click methods of online advertising.

Figure 11: Example of Online Advertisement Straegey(Rent.com, 2015)

Gaining Revenue through Pay-Per-Impression and Pay-Per-Click

According to Entrepreneur.com, the most efficient ways to gain revenue on advertisements are the Pay per impression and Pay per click option. Pay per impression allows our company to gain revenue when a specific ad is displayed on our website. The Pay per click option allows our company to gain revenue when a user clicks on that specific ad (entrepreneur.com). Local business we plan to seek as clients:

Starbucks Order-Up Chipotle Nandos Smoothie King Dunkin’ Donuts LA Fitness Planet Fitness

In order to allow companies to advertise their material on our website we plan on approaching companies directly to gage initial interest in the opportunity TUapartments will provide (entrepreneur.com). Furthermore, as TUapartments.com expands, we plan on gaining additional local sponsorships and promoting TUapartments through various outlets in the Towson area. The combination of the low start-up costs that TUapartments will require and the amount of revenue that can be earned through online advertising, TUapartments will have great penitential for future growth.

Potential for Future Growth

TUApartments.com has the potential to grow and develop significantly in the future because students will always need a place to live. According to Towson’s Housing and Residence Life, there are only a limited amount of on-campus housing rooms available and these rooms are not available to all Towson University students (2015). For example, students with more than 90 credit hours are not eligible to live on campus (Housing and Residence Life, 2015.) Although Towson has begun building new on-campus housing facilities, there are still strict rules that apply to who the on-campus housing units will be available to. According to Towson’s Housing and Residence Life, the two new housing facilities named “Carrol” and “Marshall Hall” will only be open to eligible upperclassmen (2015). Due to these factors, there will always be a demand for off-campus housing in the Towson University area, which gives TUApartments.com great room for potential growth opportunities.

Expansion through Development of Mobile Application

One specific way that our business can expand, is to develop a mobile application. The mobile application would not only give students an easier and more convenient way to constantly stay connected and find information on apartment complexes in the Towson University area; however, the mobile application would create a way for TUapartments to accumulate revenue. One way to create revenue through the use of a mobile application is to provide users with two membership options. The basic membership will be the free option and it will include limited features such as:

the ability to view ratings and landlord pics price estimates

distance from campus advertisements

Additionally, there’s the premium membership which will cost users a minimal one-time fee of $1.99. The premium membership will include:

basic membership features the ability to comment, give ratings, and upload pictures and videos view exact prices directly inquire about apartments connect with other students to find potential roommates share information with contacts distance from all Baltimore attractions no advertisements

According to Melanie Hazelmere, the founder and CEO of Mevvy, the next generation app store, it is important that businesses have phone applications for several reasons. These reasons include the fact that a phone application will increase the company’s visibility to customers, create a direct marketing channel, provide value for the customer, increase brand recognition and customer loyalty, as well as, improve customer engagement (Haselmayr, 2014). Haselmayr continues by saying that phone apps work extremely well for small business, not just the big ones. She predicts that in the future, phone apps will be the standard component of any business. TUApartments.com plans to take Haselmayr’s business advice into consideration when we develop our very own phone application.

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