Purpose of Study:

Low occupancy is a problem facing many of the owners of apartment complexes in the Oklahoma City area like many other cities across the nation. The boom in apartment construction has now reached a point of near saturation of the available market, therefore, causing many apartments to get in a serious financial position. Apartments are finding out that now they must satisfy the needs and wants of the renters or go bankrupt. Many complexes seem to be adapting well to this type of marketing while others are not. The purpose of this paper was to help the apartment industry by trying to determine what factors appear to be effecting the occupancy rate of these apartments. It was designed to help the apartments improve their occupancy position. Thus, this study presents information obtained through the use of a questionnaire and personal interviews. The idea was to study various facilities and determine their effect upon occupancy rate. At the same time, the study was to find other information that might help the operation of these apartment complexes. Of particular interest in the study was the effect of landscaping upon the occupancy rate.

Findings and Conclusion:

The study determined five factors that significantly effected the occupancy rate of apartments. These factors were: whether or not they had disposals, whether or not they allowed children, the price, the shortest possible leasing term, and the quality of landscaping. The price further determined that many of the apartments are running into problems because they are not properly defining their market. There appears to be a definite failure in the marketing of their apartments. Therefore, a large part of the paper was contributed to explaining market research and market segmentation. With this in mind, an explanation of how these apartments can improve their operations through designing a total marketing theme, was introduced. With this information and an understanding of the concepts, the apartments should be able to improve their occupancy position.