Internal Playbook · Not for Distribution
How we build theApartment Market Report.
A step-by-step system for capturing every figure in the Merced County Apartment Market Report each quarter. Follow it top to bottom and a full refresh takes about 90 minutes. The same workflow clones to retail, industrial, and office — only the scope filter changes.
Set your scope once
5 minBefore pulling a single number, lock the three filters every source will reuse. Save them as a view in CoStar and a saved search in Crexi so you reapply them in one click next quarter.
The six dials
CoStar · 25 minEach dial on page 1 needs three things: the county figure, the Central Valley benchmark, and the trailing-12 trend for the sparkline. Pull all three from CoStar in one pass — open Merced multifamily, then read each metric off the Analytics tab.
| Dial | Where to find it (CoStar) | What to copy | Lands in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales Volume · TTM | Markets → Merced → Multi-Family → Sales · set period to Trailing 12 Mo |
Total $ volume + YoY % | Dial 1 |
| Median Price / Unit | Sale Comps export (Step 2) → median of the Price/Unit column |
Median $ + YoY % | Dial 2 |
| Cap Rate · txn-wtd | Sale Comps with a disclosed cap → weight by sale price | Blended % + YoY pp | Dial 3 |
| Avg Asking Rent | Multi-Family → Rent · $/unit/mo, current quarter |
$ /unit + YoY % | Dial 4 |
| Vacancy Rate | Multi-Family → Vacancy · current quarter |
% + YoY pp | Dial 5 |
| Rent Growth · YoY | Multi-Family → Rent Growth · 12-mo |
% + vs CV pp | Dial 6 |
Each dial's trend line reads from a data-points list of 12 monthly values in the report's HTML. Copy the 12-month series off the CoStar chart (or your running tracker) and paste the numbers in — the line auto-scales, so the units don't matter. If you only have start and end, a smooth interpolation is fine; the sparkline shows shape, not precision.
Notable transactions
Comps · 30 minThe comps table is what owners read first. Pull every qualifying sale, then curate down to 8–10. Lead with your own deals — and flag them.
Copy these fields for each trade — they map one-to-one to the table columns:
When more than ten qualify, keep the ones that tell the market's story: the largest trades, a spread of submarkets (Merced, Atwater, Los Banos, Livingston), and any you brokered. Update the footer median row, then sort newest-first. De-identify if a seller asked to stay private — abstract the name, keep the numbers.
Write the read
10 minThe "What this means for owners" note is where you earn the relationship. Keep it to ~120 words, calm and advisory — the firm's voice. Answer three questions in order:
No hype words, no exclamation points, no emoji. Short declarative sentences. End on service, not the sale — "We are at your service."
Set the call to action
2 minThe CTA stays constant quarter to quarter — confirm it's pointed at the right broker and offer.
www.delrealcre.com — regenerate only if the URL changesProof & publish
15 minLast pass before it goes out — print and digital from the same file.