Spring has sprung! Your residents are itching to enjoy the warmer, longer days together. They will likely begin to invite more family and friends. The tips below can help you create warm weather fun that prioritizes total wellbeing. Check local health mandates before creating your event. Each state has different rules regarding group gatherings, social distancing and mask requirements. Check coronavirus restrictions and mask mandates for your state as well as local governments. Practice vaccination safety. As vaccine availability increases, many residents may have questions about vaccines and their implications for group gatherings. The CDC offers guidelines on what to expect after getting a COVID-19 vaccination. Per the CDC, it takes approximately two weeks for the body to build protection after both single and double-dose vaccines. Your team may take this into consideration when hosting in-person events. Consider these easy gathering hacks. For most properties, outdoor events may be the easiest way to encourage safe practices during gatherings. You can enjoy the indoors together as well. Below are a few considerations. Films on the Green – outdoor movie viewings are an easy way to promote community while practicing social distancing. Consider asking residents to bring their own drinks and snacks. Pool Party – The pool is always a warm weather favorite. Fortunately, there is no evidence that COVID-19 can survive in chlorinated pools, hot tubs and spas. While those water features may be safe zones, the entertainment spaces around them will require regular care. Explore reopening strategies for multifamily amenities. Gaming Parties – Find the kids and teens in their natural habitats—parked in front of their gaming consoles! By organizing gaming parties, you can help young, new residents meet other kids while practicing social distancing. Continue to guide residents towards helpful resources. Last but certainly...

Do you want to emerge from 2021 with a more efficient, agile and profitable organization? Discover insights to help you reach your goals during the National Apartment Association (NAA) Digital Studio Series! Stronger NOI in 2021 The April NAA Digital Studio, presented by Yardi, is a half-day event including deep dive and interactive sessions, industry panels, networking and more. This month’s theme is “Stronger NOI in 2021: Where do we grow from here?” Experts from leading multifamily companies across the country will discuss the many ways in which COVID-19 has impacted the real estate industry and, more specifically, apartment management. Each session features unique programming that tackles common industry challenges. Through the sessions, you can: Explore market changes and projected financial impacts to help you plan smarter in 2021 and beyond. Gain insights from multifamily leaders who will share new performance metrics they’re using to change the way they do business. Discover ways to improve net operating income beyond rent increases. Featured speakers include guests from Luma Residential, Bell Partners, BH Management Services, Cirrus and more. Industry professionals focused on operations, marketing, technology and related roles will walk away with practical, actionable items to strengthen your organization. Work + play The event kicks off with keynote speaker Jeff Adler, vice president of Yardi Matrix, offering an engaging look at the latest multifamily data. Examine changes in rent growth, occupancy, retention and renter preferences over the last 12 months. Learn how new demographic patterns have affected top and bottom markets. Attendees will also see rent and occupancy forecasts for a variety of property groups. Then, stick around for additional sessions that connect the market update to real-life experiences and plans to protect NOI going forward. End the day with a relaxing musical interlude. Leslie and...

Senior Housing News polled several industry leaders for their thoughts on what’s ahead for their organizations and the industry in 2021. Excerpts follow. Solera’s Kaplan: Vaccination tops the list Adam Kaplan, CEO of Solera Senior Living, ranks successful vaccine planning and implementation as the Denver-area community owner and operator’s No. 1 priority. “I’m excited for a day in which close to 100% of our residents, family members and team members have been vaccinated, and thus the risk of a [COVID] outbreak is reduced to the degree in which almost all of the restrictions are lifted and thus the focus/energy can be re-weighted to other priorities,” Kaplan says. Developing talent and implementing innovative technologies and services round out Kaplan’s list of immediate priorities. Aegis Living’s Clark: Boom time for demand “I think there’s this backlog of people that’s going to pump up occupancies,” says Dwayne Clark, founder and CEO of Bellevue, Wash.-based Aegis Living, a leading provider of assisted living and memory care. “So, you’re going to see this dip where demand keeps going up, but product is not available. That’s really going to impact demand in the short-term and probably the mid-term,” which, looking ahead several years, is “very good news for the industry.” Clark also foresees a new emphasis on nurses and doctors on the front lines of assisted living facilities as part of a “more wellness-oriented” trend that encompasses “everything from the way [care providers] design air filtration systems to foods.” In fact, he reports, Aegis Living is “looking at foods that help pump up the immune systems of residents and have hired our own registered dietitian.” Sequoia Living’s McVey: Going forward, not back Current events constitute nothing less than “history … being made in our industry,” and Sequoia Living President and...

Assisted living facilities, which fill a need for seniors who don’t need nursing homes but can’t live independently, are a mainstay of senior care. The American Health Care Assn./National Center for Assisted Living counts nearly 1 million licensed beds in about 28,900 communities in the U.S. But even as assisted living holds stature as the fastest growing residential housing for older Americans, it may surprise some to learn that this model didn’t assume its present-day form until the 1980s. The roots of assisted living in America can be traced at least as far back as 1713 with the founding of an organization designed to care for seniors in Philadelphia. Foster homes and group homes became the norm later in the century when family members couldn’t care for a senior loved one. By the mid-1800s, religious and fraternal groups opened nonprofit homes for seniors, the genesis of the modern care system. Hundreds of nonprofit old-age homes were built in the late 1800s and early 1900s, with many adding hospitals, staff homes and other structures as their populations grew. Urbanization and tuberculosis epidemics helped spur state and local governments to develop institutions that provided chronic care. Nursing care in homes also became popular, with the number of visiting nurse agencies more than doubling from 1909 to 1924. By the middle of the 20th century, advances in medicines such as penicillin, the expansion of various assistance payments, and the exodus of men and women from the home during World War II were among the factors that prompted the further development of care facilities, including boarding homes for seniors. The private nursing home industry debuted in 1950, serving 270,000 people by 1954. That year, Congress provided funds to nonprofit organizations for the construction of skilled nursing facilities that met certain...

“Buildings are the next computing platform.” That’s how Chase Garbarino, CEO of HqO, describes the importance of software and building intelligence as companies seek a safe return to the workplace. Just as books shifted to tablets, music switched from CDs to Pandora and Spotify and taxi service switched to Uber, buildings have transformed from manual and analog to newly digital ecosystems. Without a doubt, the pandemic has accelerated the investment into digital infrastructure for companies of all sizes. On a recent CREtech webinar, “State of Tenant Experience: 2021,” host Michael Beckerman, CEO of CREtech, cited an Ernst & Young report that found businesses could save 11% on per-employee costs by switching to a hybrid work model. This is important for the flexible workspace industry, which has been ravaged by the effects of COVID-19 on workers entering offices. As Garbarino stated, coworking put downward pressure on lease length for years, so the traditional office industry had to focus on customer experience and happiness, partly to counter the growth of coworking. That shift to the value of tenant experience now becomes even more noticeable, as there need to be tangible benefits to returning to an office when a vast majority of employees have not lost productivity working at home. On a recent Realcomm webinar, the panel discussed tech advancements to help workers feel more confident returning to the office. Touchless elevators, apps showing office occupancy and desk availability, as well as air quality sensors that can remove pathogens, are just some of the new ways in which employers are trying to safely welcome employees back. But these advances, as reliable and effective as they are, don’t overcome the fact that only 1% of workers are renting a space outside of their homes while working remotely. Based...

Yardi has a long history of providing interface solutions that enable its clients to exchange information with third-party vendors of solutions for applicant screening, online billing payments, renters insurance, service requests and many other business requests. That interoperability extends to senior housing community operators who wish to connect with ancillary operations solution providers. Interfaces allow third-party partners and Yardi EHR users to exchange information seamlessly and securely. Operators can utilize standard interfaces to connect senior living integration partners. Also, operators can optimize care transitions and enable the secure flow of information to and from EHR. Among Yardi’s interface partners for senior living is eMenuCHOICE, a St. Paul, Minn.-based dining management and point of sale application for senior living communities. Other providers that Yardi has welcomed as senior living interface collaborators include abxtracker, which specializes in antibiotic and infection tracking control solutions; Healthconnex, a leading provider of software used for infection prevention and control; and Kno2, which creates centralized accounts that enable efficient and HIPAA-compliant exchanges of resident documents. The list of Yardi senior living interfaces continues to grow. Created in some cases as a result of client requests, the added partnerships will enhance interoperability in such operations as vital signs and weight monitoring, nurse calls and...

Better to act than take on the risks of inaction. This was the theme of a recent GWA webinar, in which panelists discussed ways to minimize risk and future-proof a coworking or flexible workspace operation. “The biggest risk is the risk of not doing anything, of not reacting to the market,” said Dan Zakai, co-founder and CEO of Mindspace, a coworking space with locations in Europe and the U.S. By now, we see that the office experience as we knew it is being reimagined. Landlords need to pivot to a hospitality experience in order to safely and effectively welcome tenants and workers back. They need to provide amenities that workers don’t have at home, or offices will see low occupancy given that productivity levels did not drop from the couch, kitchen table or home office. According to Zakai, landlords will raise occupancy levels with coworking faster than with traditional long-term leases. One of the biggest challenges is whether to spend the initial cost on coworking, whether that is building out a new coworking space or transitioning a vacancy. Since landlords typically won’t operate the space, it makes choosing the right partner critical. Giovanni Palavicini, principal at Avison Young, believes one of the keys to success for operators is finding a niche. Much like hotels have seen the growth of boutique offerings, the coworking industry should head in the same direction. This was already a growing trend prior to the pandemic and could accelerate now. Picking the wrong operator with a business model unsuited for your location, or a poor deal structure could create significant risk. “I don’t like RFPs because an RFP allows anyone in the door,” Palavicini said. “Because at the end of the day, we want to figure out who we want...

The first annual CoreNet Corporate Real Estate Week was a success! The virtual international conference aims to “commemorate, educate, inform, and connect the world to all that our often under-recognized profession does to advance the economy.” More than 40 sessions offered insights and networking to commercial professionals globally. Three sessions educated attendees on the benefits of flexible workspaces and the tools available to manage them. The benefits of hybrid workspaces The “Hybrid Working and the Ubiquity of Space” session offered attendants the opportunity to explore best practices in hybrid work models. Panelists presented practical ways that landlords and employers can optimize hybrid work models by adopting flexible workplaces and customized software. Switzerland-based IWG CEO Fatima Koning and Gareth Haver, CEO for the Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Northern, Central and Eastern Europe regions shared what’s working for them: “The office is not in one place any longer—it is everywhere,” said Koning. She observed that flexibility and mobility rank high on tenant demands. Traditional office space is not obsolete, but employees want (and often need) the ability to work from different settings. This includes but is not limited to their homes. “Traditional models will no longer accommodate the workplace and workers of the future. The new standard of hybrid work promotes efficiency and connectivity, and technology is a big part of that. More advanced and empowered technology can enhance not only occupancy planning but also the overall work experience,” said Koning. While the pandemic expedited the adoption of remote work policies for many commercial companies, the trend towards remote work has been on the rise for years. Employees gain a better work-life balance, shorter commutes, and designated time for collaboration. Haver adds that employees aren’t the only ones to benefit from hybrid models. Employers gain: lower costs...

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) heralds Yardi among Top Workplaces in Metro Atlanta. Yardi ranked 45th out of 3,268 nominated employers. It is described as “a large global software corporation with an unwavering focus on quality software and customer satisfaction.” To celebrate the achievement, Yardi Atlanta hosted a virtual watch party. Employees tuned in to watch the awards ceremony while enjoying their favorite snacks and beverages. Attendees also explored a virtual photobooth. They posted their pictures and testimonials to the Yardi Atlanta Confluence page. Learn more about Yardi as one of Atlanta’s Top Workplaces. Get to know Yardi Atlanta The Yardi Atlanta office is located in the suburb of Roswell, about 22 miles north of the city. The town offers an appealing mix of progressive eateries, historic buildings, parks and cultural events. RentCafe.com ranks Roswell among one of the most affluent neighborhoods for renters in metro Atlanta. The Atlanta office serves as home base for more than 370 of the company’s nearly 3,600 U.S. employees. Though most employees now work in remote environments, the office has managed to maintain a sense of camaraderie through virtual events. #YardiLove Valentine’s Day party, Halloween Week, and continued charitable outreach helps employees feel united while working apart. Corporate culture is just one of the reasons why Yardi Atlanta made the list as one of the top places to work in metro Atlanta. How AJC chooses top workplaces The 11th annual Top Workplaces list is a collaboration between The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and employment research and consulting firm Energage. To form the list, employees nominated 3,268 of their employers. Philadelphia-based Energage then narrowed the list to 244 companies, each of which agreed to participate in a no-cost program and survey. The short list of companies represents 56,160 workers in the metro Atlanta...

Online searches have become the favored route for seniors seeking a residential community. That’s why senior living community operators increasingly turn to search engine optimization (SEO) to help prospective residents find their properties. A powerful tool supporting that effort is RentCafe Reach Senior Living, an advanced online marketing services solution that enables execution of SEO plus pay-per-click advertising, social media posting and reputation management from a single platform. Yardi is spreading the word about this platform and the online marketing experts who support it with a new ebook, titled “4 Ways to Get Found Online.” The publication illustrates how RentCafe Reach Senior Living: Creates an exceptional online presence that fills vacancies. Increases traffic with optimized content that positions communities for maximum search visibility. Drives leads with impactful ad campaigns, managed by AdWords specialists. Keeps pace with Google’s algorithm changes. Formulates and executes a full marketing plan tailored to a community’s goals. Engages prospects with curated social media local content and boosted posts. Strengthens reputation control by monitoring and responding to online reviews. As the ebook says, “The right digital marketing strategy makes all the difference, but building out a plan – and sticking to it – takes dedicated resources, consistent research and lots of elbow grease.” Read it to discover how RentCafe Reach Senior Living makes the process much easier and...

The senior housing industry is taking steps to transitioning from the COVID-19 era with policies that emphasize safety and resident service. Nicole Moberg, COO of Atlanta-based Thrive Senior Living, offers insight into successfully marketing senior communities during and after the pandemic. Below are excerpts from her recent interview with Multi-Housing News. How has the outbreak impacted Thrive Senior Living communities? Moberg: From early on, we were one of the first senior living communities to prioritize testing—backing our belief that every resident and team member should be tested as often as possible for the safety of the residents as well as our community. We also developed the “Take Off to Thrive” marketing concept, with a 30-day new resident communication checklist. This served to minimize resident isolation and loneliness and even included an adapted red carpet “landing day/move-in” experience. We view our communities as the safest place to be [with our] proper training and education, personal protective equipment, disinfection procedures and aggressive COVID-19 testing programs. How have your marketing strategies changed? Moberg: We pivoted by creating COVID-19 sales strategies including altering our messaging to focus more on care and safety and how we can help people during challenging times. Digitally, we worked to bring on a chief storyteller who showed a behind-the-scenes look at Thrive culture, created a YouTube channel to share online content to increase awareness when families could not visit and increased online presence as we allocated more toward digital spend to drive more traffic to our website. We saw increased sales throughout the pandemic with safely executed event activity. What role does technology play in your marketing? Moberg: We sourced a new video app that allows us to send videos to prospects as a follow-up; a platform to enhance virtual tours; a “thank you”...

The demolition of a decrepit public housing project in Annapolis, Md., is making way for new memories and a brighter future for families. The project is six years in the making and will boost the quality and quantity of affordable housing in the city. New growth in Annapolis Yardi client Pennrose recently broke ground on the Newtowne 20 project. The redevelopment site will be home to 78 much-anticipated affordable housing units. Families can choose between one-, two- and three-bedroom floorplans. Most units will surround a central garden while others stack the perimeter. A 3,500-square-foot community center, basketball court and playground accentuate the property. “Through persistence and determination, we have reached a great milestone in the rebuilding of this great community,” said Melissa Maddox-Evans, Executive Director/CEO of the Housing Authority of The City of Annapolis during the virtual groundbreaking ceremony. “We thank all of our partners for their hard work and support as we move forward with the construction phase. We are glad our residents will be able to have this opportunity for a new start for themselves and their families.” Patrick Stewart, Regional Vice President at Pennrose said, “We’re excited to continue our partnership with HACA as we transform outdated public housing into a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood with high-quality affordable housing, community amenities and open green space.” He continued, “Today’s milestone brings us one step closer to completing this full-scale revitalization and welcoming residents back into their new, modern homes.” Neighborhood revitalization offers new opportunities to existing residents The site of Newtowne 20 is the former home of 810 Brooke Court, a public housing project constructed in 1971. After more than 50 years, the site is receiving a new lease on life with high-quality, energy efficient units. Existing residents of the neighborhood will benefit from...

With multiple communities each submitting up to 200 invoices every month, Linda Adams was shuffling a lot of paper. The accounting manager for Burlington, Mass.-based senior living provider Northbridge Companies spent much of her time digging up receipts or tracking down paper records across numerous decentralized offices. “When I had questions, I had to call another office for answers. They’d have to find the invoice, scan it and send it to me for review. It was very time consuming for all concerned, she recalls.” But now, solving a discrepancy at any property is easy thanks to Yardi PayScan, which is part of the Yardi Procure to Pay Suite, a single connected solution for supply procurement, invoice processing and vendor management. Yardi PayScan allows the accounting department to access invoices and check whether payments have cleared without having to pick up the phone to call another office. In other words, team members could self-serve, reducing internal dependencies and churn. But time savings wasn’t the only benefit. Yardi PayScan eliminates copying, mailing, and storing paper—and minimizes touch points that can lead to lost invoices and data entry errors. “There’s no need for us to use up valuable office space with paper invoices anymore when everything we need is available electronically. Once the tax returns are done, we can throw the documents out,” Adams says. “I can go back and look at invoices from 2012, and they’re right there. Plus, it really cuts down on all that lugging paper back and forth when I work from home.” Adams and the rest of the Northbridge Companies team also appreciate the versatility of Yardi PayScan. “You can make the approval process as intricate or as easy as you want, which I love,” says Adams, noting that custom workflows, flexible...

Yardi client Bozzuto recently announced its expansion into the west coast! With the right people and technology in place, Bozzuto positions itself for growth and success in the new frontier. Bozzuto: spring heralds growth for the property management company In 33 years, Bozzuto has grown into one of the largest property management companies in the United States. The company currently has a presence in 11 markets along the East Coast as well as a properties in Chicago and Milwaukee. In total, Bozzuto manages 85,000 apartments and 2.5 million square feet of retail space. Moving forward, the Greenbelt, Md.-based property management company is setting its sights on the Pacific Coast. Bozzuto’s first West Coast projects will take place in Washington and California. Read how the Bozzuto Group increased online prospect engagement with RentCafe. Expansion requires the right people and the right tools. The property management leader recently hired Heather Wallace as the managing director of Client Services. Wallace brings 20 years of experience in operations, acquisitions and development for real estate firms. She previously served as a senior executive with Sares Regis Group. Bozzuto Management Company president Stephanie L. Williams says, “The addition of Heather Wallace ensures that Bozzuto will continue to grow through thoughtful and strategic relationships.” Williams continues, “We hold ourselves to the highest standard of delivering the exact same extraordinary experience our customers have come to expect, across our portfolio.” For tools, Bozzuto relies on scalable property management technology by Yardi. Bozzuto + Yardi, growing together As a foundation for its sustainable growth, Bozzuto sought technological solutions that facilitated efficiency, innovation and scalability. Bozzuto turned to Yardi for property management, accounting, procurement, business intelligence, asset management and marketing solutions. Through nearly 20 fully-integrated products and 17 years, Yardi and Bozzuto have grown...

Many senior living community operators are finding creative new ways to broaden their residents’ entertainment and activity options. In fact, Forbes reported in November 2020, entertainment has emerged as a marketing differentiator. “Many [seniors] are sharpening their focus on independent-living communities that not only provide creature comforts and an aesthetically pleasing brick-and-mortar living environment, but hospitality-inspired entertainment, trips and outings enabling highly-sought connections. Saying, in effect, ‘Let us entertain you,’ is good business for senior living communities.” That’s why “savvy senior communities are emphasizing the delivery of socially focused programming to bring mature adults together in fun, entertaining and educational ways once they’re safely able to drop the masks and rub shoulders again.” Even before the lockdown, “many retirement communities [were] stepping up to the challenge and redefining what fun looks like,” according to Denver-based Spectrum Retirement Communities. “If you were used to hosting get-togethers with friends and family, there’s no reason for that to change after moving to a senior living community,” said Brad Kraus, the company’s president and chief executive officer. “Those of us in charge of planning entertainment need to focus on designing activities that are elevated, purposeful and the entire family can experience.” Spectrum once sponsored a nationwide gingerbread house design competition with residents, team members and family members. One community in Texas came up with 3-foot-tall creation made of 600 sugar cookies, six buckets of frosting and 30 pounds of candy. Another in Colorado created  Pike’s Peak facsimile. Spectrum residents have also participated in volunteer activities involving pet shelters, waste reduction programs and homeless support, among others, “Why not make it possible for residents to continue giving back to the community with their family by their side?” Kraus says. “It’s our job to create that possibility. We want to...

Yardi Aspire gives senior living community operators the tools to train their staffs in everything from software skills and compliance to company policies and career development. The system’s convenient on-demand course content and documents help teams work more productively and efficiently. What training topics can be covered through Aspire? Everything from clinical skills, safety, new employee orientation and health records compliance to leadership, time management, software applications and more. As an added benefit, users seeking to customize training can build their own content and add pre-built videos. Equally important, users can create, maintain and administer courses without adding IT resources. The system also accommodates courses from other learning management systems while offering convenient esignature and employee survey capabilities as well as collection functionality for other types of surveys. “Aspire projects energy, forward focus and confidence. When employees feel those emotions at work, they are positioned to gain career skills and make a difference in their organizations. That’s exactly what Aspire brings to our clients through its broad scope of features,” says Terri Dowen, senior vice president of sales for Yardi. Learn more about how Aspire can pave the way for better community management for residents, operators and family...