Amy Wolff Sorter is a contributor to Real Estate Southern California, from which this article was excerpted.

The condo market had its boom time before a slump took hold due to overbuilding and a general housing crunch. Now, apartment owners are primed to take advantage. With their new leverage in tow, owners are looking at various ways to keep renters for the long haul by offering modern amenitites more often found in upscale homes or office buildings.

Trends are creeping in to increase more value to new, high-end complexes. Two trends generating some buzz are environment-friendly building methods and "intelligent buildings," buildings that are wired to take advantage of Internet, WiFi and other technologies.

Though experts agree that viable green complexes are still a few years off--right now they're too cost prohibiting to build--the technology aspect is definitely a demand factor, at least among tenants.