Item 1. Business.

Overview

MAA, an S&P 500 company, is a multifamily-focused, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust, or REIT. We own, operate, acquire and selectively develop apartment communities primarily located in the Southeast, Southwest and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. As of December 31, 2019, we maintained full or partial ownership of apartment communities and commercial properties across 16 states and the District of Columbia, summarized as follows:

Multifamily		Communities				Units
Consolidated			299				99,762
Unconsolidated			1				269
Total			300				100,031
Commercial		Properties				Sq. Ft. (1)
Consolidated			4				260,000

(1)Excludes commercial space located at our multifamily apartment communities, which totals approximately 630,000 square feet of gross leasable space.

Our business is conducted principally through the Operating Partnership. MAA is the sole general partner of the Operating Partnership, holding 114,246,393 OP Units, comprising a 96.6% partnership interest in the Operating Partnership as of December 31, 2019. MAA and MAALP were formed in Tennessee in 1993. As of December 31, 2019, we had 2,476 full-time employees and 37 part-time employees.

Business Objectives

Our primary business objectives are to protect and grow existing property values, to maintain a stable and increasing cash flow that will fund our dividends and distributions through all parts of the real estate investment cycle, and to create shareholder value by growing in a disciplined manner. To achieve these objectives, we intend to continue to pursue the following goals and strategies:

	•	effectively and efficiently operate our existing properties with an intense property and asset management focus and a decentralized structure;

	•	manage real estate investment cycles by taking an opportunistic approach to buying, selling, developing and renovating apartment communities;

	•	diversify investment capital across markets in which we operate to achieve a balanced portfolio and minimize volatile operating performance; and

	•	actively manage our capital structure to enhance predictability of earnings to fund our dividends and distributions.

Operations

Our goal is to generate return on investment collectively and in each apartment community by increasing revenues, controlling operating expenses, maintaining high occupancy levels and reinvesting in the income producing capacity of each apartment community as appropriate. The steps taken to meet these objectives include:

	•	providing management information and improved customer services through technology innovations;

	•	implementing programs to control expenses through investment in cost-saving initiatives;

	•	analyzing individual asset productivity performances to identify best practices and improvement areas;

	•	maintaining the physical condition of each property through ongoing capital investments;

	•	improving the “curb appeal” of the apartment communities through extensive landscaping and exterior improvements, and repositioning apartment communities from time to time to enhance or maintain market positions;

	•	managing lease expirations to align with peak leasing traffic patterns and to maximize productivity of property staffing;

	•	allocating additional capital, including capital for selective interior and exterior improvements; and

	•	maintaining a hands-on management style and “flat” organizational structure that emphasizes property level decision making coupled with asset management and senior management's monitoring.

We believe that our decentralized operating structure capitalizes on specific market knowledge, provides greater personal accountability than a centralized structure and is beneficial in the acquisition and redevelopment processes. To support this decentralized operational structure, senior management, along with various asset management functions, are proactively involved in supporting and reviewing property management through extensive reporting processes and frequent on-site visits. To maximize the amount of information shared between senior management and the properties on a real-time basis, we utilize a web-based property management system. The system contains property and accounting modules that allow for operating efficiencies and continued expense control, provide for various expanded revenue management practices, and improve the support provided to on-site property operations. We use a “yield management” pricing program that helps our property managers optimize rental revenues, and we also utilize purchase order and accounts payable software to provide improved controls and management information.

Investment in technology continues to drive operating efficiencies in our business and help us to better meet the changing needs of our residents. Our residents have the ability to conduct business with us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and complete online leasing applications, contracts and renewals via the use of our web-based resident Internet portal. Interacting with our residents through such technology has allowed us to improve resident satisfaction ratings and increase the efficiency of our operating teams.

Acquisitions

One of our growth strategies is to acquire apartment communities that are located in various markets throughout the Southeast, Southwest and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. Acquisitions, along with dispositions, help us achieve and maintain our desired product mix, geographic diversification and asset allocation. Portfolio growth allows for maximizing the efficiency of the existing management and overhead structure. We have extensive experience in the acquisition of apartment communities. We will continue to evaluate opportunities that arise, and we will utilize this strategy to increase our number of apartment communities in strong and growing markets.

We acquired the following properties during the year ended December 31, 2019:

Multifamily Acquisitions		Market		Units				Date Acquired
The Greene		Greenville, SC		271				November 2019
Jefferson Sand Lake (1)		Orlando, FL		264				October 2019
Novel Midtown (2)		Phoenix, AZ		345				February 2019
Commercial Acquisition		Market		Sq Ft				Date Acquired
220 Riverside Retail (3)		Jacksonville, FL			14,941			August 2019
Land Acquisitions		Market		Acres				Date Acquired
North Orange Avenue – Outparcel		Orlando, FL		2				April 2019

(1)	This pre-purchase multifamily community development is being developed through a joint venture with a local developer. We own 95% of the joint venture that owns this property.

(2)	This pre-purchase multifamily community development is being developed through a joint venture with a local developer. We own 80% of the joint venture that owns this property.

(3)We acquired the ground floor retail portion of one of our existing multifamily apartment communities.

Dispositions

We sell apartment communities and other assets that no longer meet our long-term strategy or when market conditions are favorable, and we redeploy the proceeds from those sales to acquire, develop and redevelop additional apartment communities and rebalance our portfolio across or within geographic regions. Dispositions also allow us to realize a portion of the value created through our investments and provide additional liquidity. We are then able to redeploy the net proceeds from our dispositions in lieu of raising additional capital. In deciding to sell an apartment community, we consider current market conditions and generally solicit competing bids from unrelated parties for these individual properties, considering the sales price and other key terms of each proposal. We also consider portfolio dispositions when such a structure is useful to maximize proceeds and efficiency of execution. During the year ended December 31, 2019, we disposed of five multifamily communities totaling 1,368 units, our former corporate office and four land parcels totaling approximately 83 acres.

Development

As another part of our growth strategy, we invest in a limited number of development projects. Development activities may be conducted through wholly-owned affiliated companies or through joint ventures with unaffiliated parties. Typically, fixed price construction contracts are signed with unrelated parties to minimize construction risk. We typically manage the leasing portion of the project as units become available for lease. We may also engage in limited expansion development opportunities on existing communities in which we typically serve as the developer. While we seek opportunistic new development investments offering attractive long-term investment returns, we intend to maintain a total development commitment that we consider modest in relation to our total balance sheet and investment portfolio. During the year ended December 31, 2019, we incurred $112.9 million in development costs and completed 2 development projects.

The following multifamily projects were under development as of December 31, 2019 (dollars in thousands):

Project		Market		Total Units				Units Completed				Cost to Date				Budgeted Cost				Estimated Cost Per Unit				Expected Completion
Copper Ridge II		Fort Worth, TX			168				35			$	18,533			$	30,000			$	179			2nd Quarter 2020
MAA Frisco Bridges II		Dallas, TX			348				—				40,930				69,000				198			3rd Quarter 2020
Novel Midtown (1)		Phoenix, AZ			345				—				30,116				82,000				238			2nd Quarter 2021
Westglenn		Denver, CO			306				—				16,926				84,500				276			4th Quarter 2021
336 N Orange		Orlando, FL			369				—				11,574				99,000				268			4th Quarter 2021
Long Point		Houston, TX			308				—				10,468				57,000				185			1st Quarter 2022
Jefferson Sand Lake (2)		Orlando, FL			264				—				15,400				68,000				258			4th Quarter 2021
					2,108				35			$	143,947			$	489,500

(1)	This pre-purchase multifamily community development is being developed through a joint venture with a local developer. We own 80% of the joint venture that owns this property.

(2)	This pre-purchase multifamily community development is being developed through a joint venture with a local developer. We own 95% of the joint venture that owns this property.

Redevelopment

We focus on both interior unit upgrades and exterior amenities above and beyond routine capital upkeep on existing apartment communities across our portfolio that we believe have the ability to support additional rent growth. During the year ended

December 31, 2019, we renovated 8,329 units at an average cost of $5,876 per unit, achieving average rental rate increases of 9.8% above the normal market rate for similar but non-renovated units.

Capital Structure

We use a combination of debt and equity sources to fund our business objectives. We maintain a capital structure, focused on maintaining access, flexibility and low costs, that we believe allows us to proactively support normal business operations and source potential investment opportunities in the marketplace. We structure our debt maturities to avoid disproportionate exposure in any given year. Our primary debt financing strategy is to access the unsecured debt markets to provide our debt capital needs, but we also maintain a limited amount of secured debt and maintain our access to both the secured and unsecured debt markets for maximum flexibility. We also believe that we have significant access to the equity capital markets.

As of December 31, 2019, 22.2% of our total market capitalization consisted of debt borrowings, including 19.1% under unsecured borrowings and 3.1% under secured borrowings. We currently intend to target our total debt, net of cash held, to a range of approximately 30% to 36% of the undepreciated book value of our assets. Our charter and bylaws do not limit our debt levels and our Board of Directors can modify this policy at any time. We may issue new equity to maintain our debt within the target range. Covenants for our unsecured senior notes limit our total debt to 60% or less of our adjusted total assets (as defined in the covenants for the bonds issued by MAALP). As of December 31, 2019, our total debt was approximately 31.4% of our adjusted total assets. We continuously review opportunities for lowering our cost of capital. We plan to continue using unsecured debt in order to take advantage of the lower cost of capital and flexibility provided by these markets. We will evaluate opportunities to repurchase shares when we believe that our share price is significantly below our net present value. We also look for opportunities where we can acquire or develop apartment communities, selectively funded or partially funded by sales of equity securities, when appropriate opportunities arise. We focus on improving the net present value of our investments by generating cash flow from our portfolio of assets above the estimated total cost of debt and equity capital. We routinely make new investments when we believe it will be accretive to shareholder value over the life of the investments.

Competition

All of our apartment communities are located in areas that include other apartment communities. Occupancy and rental rates are affected by the number of competitive apartment communities in a particular area. The owners of competing apartment communities may have greater resources than us, and the managers of these apartment communities may have more experience than our management. Moreover, single-family rental housing, manufactured housing, condominiums and the new and existing home markets provide housing alternatives to potential residents of apartment communities. Competition for new residents is generally intense across all of our markets. Some competing apartment communities offer features that our apartment communities do not have. Competing apartment communities can use concessions or lower rents to obtain temporary competitive advantages. Also, some competing apartment communities are larger or newer than our apartment communities. The competitive position of each apartment community is different depending upon many factors including sub-market supply and demand. In addition, other real estate investors compete with us to acquire existing properties and to develop new properties. These competitors include insurance companies, pension and investment funds, public and private real estate companies, investment companies and other public and private apartment REITs, some of which may have greater resources or lower capital costs than we do.

We believe, however, that we are generally well-positioned to compete effectively for residents and investments. We believe our competitive advantages include:

	•	a fully integrated organization with property management, development, redevelopment, acquisition, marketing, sales and financing expertise;

	•	scalable operating and support systems, which include automated systems to meet the changing technological needs of our residents;

	•	access to a wide variety of debt and equity capital sources;

	•	geographic diversification with a presence in 36 defined markets across the Southeast, Southwest and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States; and

	•	significant presence in many of our major markets that allows us to be a local operating expert.

Moving forward, we plan to continue to optimize lease expiration management, improve expense control, increase resident retention efforts and align employee incentive plans with our performance. We also plan to continue to make capital improvements to both our apartment communities and individual units on a regular basis in order to maintain a competitive position in each individual market. We believe this plan of operation, coupled with the portfolio’s strengths in targeting residents across a geographically diverse platform, should position us for continued operational growth.

Environmental Matters

As a part of our standard apartment community acquisition and development processes, we generally obtain environmental studies of the sites from outside environmental engineering firms. The purpose of these studies is to identify potential sources of

contamination at the site and to assess the status of environmental regulatory compliance. These studies generally include historical reviews of the site, reviews of certain public records, preliminary investigations of the site and surrounding properties, inspection for the presence of asbestos, poly-chlorinated biphenyls and underground storage tanks and the preparation and issuance of written reports. Depending on the results of these studies, more invasive procedures, such as soil sampling or ground water analysis, may be performed to investigate potential sources of contamination. These studies must be satisfactorily completed before we take ownership of an acquisition or development property; however, no assurance can be given that the studies or additional documents reviewed identify all significant environmental risks. See “Risk Factors - Risks Relating to Our Real Estate Investments and Our Operations - Environmental problems are possible and can be costly.”

The environmental studies we received on properties that we have acquired have not revealed any material environmental liabilities. Should any potential environmental risks or conditions be discovered during our due diligence process, the potential costs of remediation will be assessed carefully and factored into the cost of acquisition, assuming the identified risks and factors are deemed to be manageable and within reason. We are not aware of any existing conditions that we believe would be considered a material environmental liability. Nevertheless, it is possible that the studies do not reveal all environmental risks or that there are material environmental liabilities of which we are not aware. Moreover, no assurance can be given concerning future laws, ordinances or regulations, or the potential introduction of hazardous or toxic substances by neighboring properties or residents.

Qualification as a Real Estate Investment Trust

MAA has elected to be taxed as a REIT under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code. To continue to qualify as a REIT, MAA must continue to meet certain tests which, among other things, generally require that our assets consist primarily of real estate assets, our income be derived primarily from real estate assets, and that we distribute at least 90% of our REIT taxable income (other than our net capital gains) to our shareholders annually. If MAA maintains its qualification as a REIT, MAA generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income taxes at the corporate level on its net income to the extent it distributes such net income to its shareholders annually. Even if MAA continues to qualify as a REIT, it will continue to be subject to certain federal, state and local taxes on its income and its property. In 2019, MAA paid total distributions of $3.84 per share of common stock to its shareholders, which was above the 90% REIT distribution requirement and was in excess of REIT taxable income.

Website Access to Our Reports

MAA and the Operating Partnership file combined periodic reports with the SEC. Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, along with our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and any amendments to those reports, are available on our website at https://www.maac.com as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. Reference to our website does not constitute incorporation by reference of the information contained on the site and should not be considered part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. All of the aforementioned materials may also be obtained free of charge by contacting our Investor Relations Department, 6815 Poplar Avenue, Suite 500, Germantown, Tennessee 38138.