Sign an apartment lease and enter a raffle to win a $5,000 gift card.
With nine new apartment complexes opening in Boston and Cambridge this year, competition for renters is heating up, and some buildings that opened within the past year or so and still haven't fully leased up are offering new promotions to entice renters.
The 328-unit Batch Yard apartment complex in Everett is offering a Willy Wonka-influenced "Golden Ticket Contest" at the former Charleston Chew factory. Renters who sign a lease between Jan. 1 and mid-March are eligible for the $5,000 drawing March 18.
"The odds of winning are good," said Danielle Bertulli, senior sales and marketing associate for the Batch Yard, which is 33 percent leased. "The raffle is just another way to get people out to our property and give them another incentive to sign on."
The raffle joins other rent concessions already in place at the Batch Yard, such as a "look and lease" incentive that offers $500 to those who sign leases within 48 hours of touring an apartment. And if the renter moves in within 30 days, one month's rent is free.
The Lumiere, a 163-unit complex in Medford that's 39 percent leased, is offering a Valentine's Day special on select apartments, says property manager Robin Boersner. If you sign a lease by Monday, you get one month of free rent if you move in by April 1. With a deposit down within 48 hours of signing, you get an extra $1,000 off. And they'll throw in a free garage space, too.
The Flats on D in South Boston is fighting this winter's doldrums by offering a chance to win $1,500 in a travel giveaway raffle to renters who sign leases this month, with a drawing March 1.
"Generally if one building is offering concessions, others do so as well," said Alissa Issom, property manager of Flats on D, which is 69 percent leased. "But we were looking to do something different."
The Flats on D, along with some other new buildings, doesn't offer free rent incentives. These rental complexes rely on pricing set by revenue management software such as YieldStar and Rainmaker LRO, which adjusts apartment prices daily based on supply and demand.
"It compares our rents along with 20 competitors and sets prices," said Issom. "It really levels the playing field."
"The software reduced the price of some two-bedrooms to the point where I thought 'really?'" said Erica Stockton, property manager at The Commons at Southfield in Weymouth. "But when those apartments rented, the price of other two bedrooms went back up."
But plenty of other buildings that use revenue management software also offer additional incentives.
The Victor, a 286-unit complex near North Station, resets apartment prices every 24 hours, but also gives a $500 American Express gift card to renters who move in within two weeks of signing a lease, in addition to two free months on any vacant apartment.
"Boston is a tough market and renters in the city are being conditioned to getting two free months on leases, which is going to make retention tough," said Hilary Behrens, community manager of The Victor, which is 93 percent leased. "If you can save up to $8,000 a year in rent with incentives, you get accustomed to moving every year."
