Green is always good. Every action taken throughout the day has an impact on the planet. Here are some simple tips to be sustainable in everyday life, which are tremendous ways to become more eco-friendly. Eat more greens. Everyone wants healthy longevity, and eating more plants is how to get there. Going vegan overnight is impossible, but gradually incorporating at least two or three days of meatless meals can make a difference. Half of the world’s habitual land is used for agriculture, which only gives the world 18% of global calories. It releases most land use, cattle methane emissions, manure management, and fertilizer use. Reduce your carbon footprint by eating more plant-based foods like tofu, beans, nuts, and foods with the lowest environmental impact, like whole grains, olive oil, fruits, and vegetables. You can now find more sustainable wine and beer using organic farming and zero-waste commitments. Sustainable foods are local, seasonal foods grown without hazardous pesticides and chemicals and support the local economy, which offers jobs and builds stronger communities. Save water. Agriculture also requires much freshwater, which can cause significant environmental pressures in regions with water restrictions. Saving water is another effective way to reduce electricity use, greenhouse gas emissions, and other energy-intensive operations. For example, try at home to only run the dishwasher with a full load and the same with full loads of clothes in the washer. Reuse water by keeping some buckets outside to catch rainwater and use them to water plants in the coming days. Cold showers use less energy, and thanks to Wim Hof Method, so has cold therapy, which gives the body immense health benefits. Recycle. Depending on where you live, recycling options will vary and programs may be more comprehensive in some states or cities than elsewhere. Try to separate trash and follow the local recycling guidelines. Reuse items as often as possible before throwing them out. Sustainable reusables. 50% of all plastic produced is for single-use purposes. As a result, 10 million tons of plastic are dumped in oceans annually. Using so much single-use plastic is entirely unnecessary when there are many sustainable alternatives. Reduce trash by being more conscious of consumption and waste patterns. For example, consider getting reusable water bottles instead of multiple plastic bottles, reusable utensils, and containers. Always remember to bring your reusable tote bags for groceries. Since the spring holiday, Easter, is coming up, skip the plastic grass for the baskets and opt for some Spanish moss or other biodegradable grass or crinkled paper. Plastic grass lasts forever in the environment, not to mention it’s dangerous for pets that might get ahold of a basket. Eco-friendly cleaning. Let’s face it, home cleaning product chemicals are terrible for the environment and your body. By choosing eco-friendly cleaning products, you will reduce the amount of plastic packaging used and the number of chemicals that flow into the oceans. Vinegar is a pantry cleaning staple known to cut grease and dissolve hard water stains. If the smell is too much for some, add some essential oils, such as lavender, pine, or lemon balm. Pine and lemon oils are great alternatives for floor cleaners which is how Pine Sol was created in the early 1900s. Baking soda is an eco-friendly product with many benefits. Sprinkle it directly on hard surfaces that need extra stain removal.  Baking soda can also absorb odors. Use it in the refrigerator, freshen mattresses, pet beds, and shoes, and it can even be added to the wash and rinse cycle to deodorize clothing. Vinegar and baking soda, together, will go a long way when cleaning bathroom tubs, sinks, kitchen appliances, and faucets. Laundry soaps are terrible for the oceans. Tide now has an eco-friendly laundry detergent that contains 75% plant-based ingredients. In addition, the formula is free of dyes, chlorine, and optical brighteners and is produced at a zero-waste-to-landfill manufacturing site using 100% renewable...

Covenants – agreements between a debtor (borrower) and creditor, or lender, are a staple of commercial real estate loans. Designed to reduce risk for lenders, loan covenants commit the borrower to execute certain behaviors, such as making principal and interest payments when due, and avoid others, such as selling the assets that underpin the loan without first repaying it in full.  Certain economic conditions – falling portfolio values, high operational expenses, rising vacancy rates – increase the risk of violating, or breaching, a loan covenant, by being late on payments or reporting or by failing to meet financial benchmarks.  One example of a covenant breach is a CFO missing a debt service ratio, which measures the cash flow available to pay current debt obligations. That could result in the lender calling the loan, forcing the company to obtain financing to repay the called loan.  Avoiding such a scenario requires transparency in lender requirements, deep understanding of the factors that influence debt such as forecasts and rents. “Covenant tracking is a big trend now. On the borrower side, the emphasis is on transparency and getting insight into debt portfolios,” observes Chris Barbier, senior manager of investment management for Yardi.  How can borrowers minimize risk and maximize efficiency in managing their loan covenants? One of the most reliable ways involves using one technology platform rather than multiple systems for loan, asset management and investment activities.  “If you’ve got an operating property – which is usually the collateral for the loan in a system – and then you’ve got loans being tracked somewhere else, the two processes are not aligned. A tightly integrated solution allows for better transparency and risk management,” Barbier says.  A single technology system that centralizes all loan information and automates processes helps borrowers by:  Ensuring deliverables are sent to lenders.  Monitoring the compliance status of key covenants.  Tracking and accounting for different types of loans  Tracking changes in loan terms over time and their impact on the amortization schedule.  Providing full visibility into asset operational performance such as loss of income and deterioration in asset values, making it easier to anticipate and deal with potential problems.  Reducing manual errors by eliminating spreadsheets.  Providing full visibility and an audit trail into payment history.  Most importantly, such a system “provides a single source of truth. That means transparency from the investment to how the loan and underlying collateral are performing,” Barbier says.  Learn how Yardi Debt Manager enables tracking and accounting for a loan portfolio and provides visibility into debt obligations with the underlying operating...

Coworking centers are becoming a popular solution for many employees in a new, more flexible world of hybrid, remote, and in-office work. Let’s explore the benefits of a coworking center. Desirability: Coworking centers are attractive to workers. They typically incorporate open space, bright light, modern layouts and an artistic environment. Some even have private rooftop terraces that overlook city skylines. Find several cities worldwide that now have coworking centers. Flexibility: As office workers adapt to new normal, flexibility is the most productive and efficient way to respond to change. Flexible office space is an ideal workplace compromise. Use of a coworking center forgoes the need to hot desk or hotel existing traditional office space – sharable space with needed amenities is already provided, as are collaborative meeting spaces. And since coworking centers are shared spaces, employers can pay monthly without committing to a long lease. Ease of use: Coworking centers will keep up with frequent technology changes. Coworking centers will always have high-speed internet and WiFi. In addition, coworking centers offer video and audio-enabled conference rooms, modern computer systems, improved HVAC systems, member mobile apps for easy bookings, and touchless technology. Some centers may have smart windows to block the outside street noise or can adjust for the lighting needed. Other amenities of coworking centers include parking, electric vehicle charging stations, bike storage, espresso bars, wellness rooms, fitness centers, and event spaces. Some coworking centers are even dog-friendly! Pool tables, dartboards, and ping pong tables are also available in coworking centers for enjoyable mental breaks. Collaboration: Coworking centers offer collaboration opportunities for employers and employees. Working in a virtual work environment, some forms of human contact are lost. When the team can unite in-person, collaborative work and creative ideas are cultivated. The saying “two heads are better than one” is still relevant, especially when working on projects, sales pitches and leads, and event planning. Coming together in a positive space gives the team a chance to brainstorm, collaborate, mentor, and build company culture. Community: Being in a coworking center builds a self-nurturing community among startups, freelancers, creative professionals, and corporate employees who need a focused workspace. The community of coworkers makes the workspace engaging and vibrant, elevating mood and performance. Plus, coworking centers are often located in busy metro areas. Many coworking centers will be found by gyms and restaurants, allowing employees to enjoy city life in conjunction with the coworking experience. Modern offices, equipped with high-end technology, customer-oriented amenities and features, and open space design, will be a requirement if companies decide to pursue a full-scale return to the office. Flexible coworking centers are the ideal compromise: they allow employees to work when and where they feel most comfortable, while preserving the critical benefits of in-person collaboration and...

Yardi is honored to receive the 2023 ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year Sustained Excellence Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy after being named Partner of the Year for five consecutive years. The award celebrates companies that offer energy services and products in the commercial, institutional or industrial markets for successfully assisting clients with strategic energy management and building design. Partner of the Year award winners have made a long-term commitment to fighting climate change and promoting public health through energy efficiency messaging.  In addition to promoting ENERGY STAR, Partner of the Year award recipients work with ENERGY STAR to continuously improve and advance service offerings. The award acknowledges Yardi’s efforts to educate and support clients with benchmarking services and technology solutions across real estate sectors including: Helping clients benchmark energy and water in over 5,500 buildings Promoting the importance of ENERGY STAR scores to clients through education, training and visibility  Including ENERGY STAR in Yardi’s energy management software dashboard Publishing articles and social media posts on the benefits of benchmarking, energy management and conservation Providing digital energy courses for over 7,500 attendees during annual user conferences Sharing ENERGY STAR data to help clients gain access to green financing for buildings Earning ongoing ENERGY STAR certification for Yardi corporate headquarters in Goleta, California “As we accelerate historic efforts to address climate change, public-private partnerships will be essential to realizing the scale of our ambition,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “I applaud this year’s ENERGY STAR award winners for working with EPA to deliver a clean energy future that saves American consumers and businesses money and creates jobs.” “We are proud to receive this honor from the EPA for the fifth consecutive year. Energy efficiency is a core component of our mission as a real estate technology provider, and we applaud our clients’ impressive achievements. We look forward to continuing to help our clients and the industry gain the utmost benefits using ENERGY STAR to meet business and sustainability goals as we all work together toward a clean energy future,” said Joe Consolo, Yardi industry principal for energy. See the complete list of winners...

We’re excited to share all that’s new and improved in RentCafe Wellness, our senior living solution for managing wellness programs. At a glance, RentCafe Wellness helps you create online activity calendars, track resident attendance and so much more. Ready to explore the enhancements — all inspired by client feedback? See below for an overview of how RentCafe Wellness looks today: A glance at RentCafe Wellness RentCafe Wellness (part of the Yardi Senior Living Suite) gives you the tools to effectively manage your community wellness initiatives. With this dynamic solution, you can: Schedule activities Create digital calendars Enable online payments Keep families connected Empower staff How the solution looks today There are several enhancements to cover, but first things first, we’d like to thank our wonderful senior living clients for their thoughtful feedback on RentCafe Wellness. It’s helped us create a refreshed solution packed with new features and improved usability. Here’s a look at the latest functionality in RentCafe Wellness: Starting with digital calendars, which staff can easily create in RentCafe Wellness, there are evolved features like the ability to build reusable design templates. Calendar design templates can be used by a single community or several! Staff can also copy an existing calendar design with a single click to create a new variation. Once your calendar (or multiple calendars) is created, you can easily designate it by care level or zone. Want your calendars printed to disperse across the community? No problem! Staff can quickly print daily, weekly or monthly calendars by downloading them as PDFs or word documents. When it comes to scheduling and marketing activities, we’ve made it easier than ever. Staff can create multiple templates as the starting point for scheduling dozens of activities, whether they’re one-time or recurring. Speaking of those recurring activities, staff can save time by creating a series that auto-populates in any given calendar for upcoming months (setting a single date, a date range or for all future instances). They can transfer the previous month’s resident registrations into an upcoming calendar, too. Additional functionality includes the ability to set activity registration as optional or required, guests allowed or prospective residents welcomed, to name a few. You can also create monthly paid activities, allowing you to expand your organization’s revenue streams. Whether you host something offsite or invite local experts to provide paid services in your community, setting and collecting fees is straightforward. Every enhanced feature for managing activities helps staff reduce their administrative work — leading to more time spent engaging with residents. Benefits of a single connected solution We’ve covered snazzy features like building calendars and setting up activities, but another big differentiator with RentCafe Wellness is that it exists on a single, integrated platform. You’re gaining a complete wellness and activity management solution that connects with key elements of the Yardi Senior Living Suite. Thanks to direct integration with Voyager Senior Housing (which populates resident lists and property records), RentCafe Wellness automatically updates occupancy details when new residents move in, and when former residents move out. This real-time information sharing allows staff to easily manage resident registration, attendance and more. A connection with Yardi Payment Processing simplifies the entire workflow for paid activities. Activity charges are paid just like other community charges with a one-time monthly ACH, debit or credit card payment, or via autopay. Payments you collect — and your payments to vendors — will come through as part of the monthly payer statement. Residents and family members can conveniently submit their online payments via RentCafe Senior Living Portal. In addition to offering the convenience of online payments, RentCafe Senior Living Portal allows family members to see which activities residents are attending, and you have the option to allow family members to register for activities on a resident’s behalf. This helps families stay in the loop regarding their loved one’s health and wellbeing. As an added bonus, residents and families...

Wanting to fill your calendar with impactful senior living events? We have a roundup of recommendations that span throughout 2023, all of which offer a chance to network with senior living professionals.    Keep reading for the list of events we recommend exploring this year:   OLTCA/ORCA Together We Care Convention & Tradeshow First up is the OLTCA/ORCA Together We Care Convention & Tradeshow, taking place March 27-29 in Toronto. This in-person convention connects long term care and retirement community professionals, sparking conversations that are sure to challenge and inform all attendees. You can visit team Yardi at booth 308 — we’ll be excited to meet you and share more about the Yardi Senior Living Suite. Ready to get something on the books in advance? Schedule time to meet us at OLTCA/ORCA 2023. Texas Assisted Living Association Annual Conference & Tradeshow Save the date for the Texas Assisted Living Association Annual Conference & Tradeshow in Round Rock, Texas, on April 5-7. You’ll connect with assisted living leaders to share ideas, talk about industry updates and bond over lessons learned through recent challenges. Our team will be in attendance at booth 310 if you’d like to schedule time to connect! Argentum Senior Living Executive Conference The Argentum Senior Living Executive Conference is coming up as well, an annual gathering of thousands of senior living professionals, operators, owners, executives and community leaders. Set for May 8-10 in New Orleans, Louisiana, the conference is an empowering and educational experience. Not only are we sponsoring the registration, we’ll also have a presence at booth 3100. Reach out to get a meeting scheduled with team Yardi. Florida Senior Living Association Annual Conference Looking for a summer event? Head to the Florida Senior Living Association Annual Conference on June 25-28 in Boca Raton, Florida, for a chance to network with likeminded leaders. You can meet us at booth 38, but feel free to plan a meeting with us in advance. California Assisted Living Association Spring Conference & Trade Show  We can’t forget the annual California Assisted Living Association Spring Conference & Trade Show, which features engaging, interactive learning sessions. This year’s Spring conference takes place June 5-7 in Sacramento, California. We’re pleased to sponsor the awards luncheon — and connect with attendees at booth 213! Be sure to stop by or contact us to connect prior to the show. California Assisted Living Association Fall Conference & Tradeshow If you plan to attend the CALA Spring Conference, make sure to mark your calendar for the California Assisted Living Association Fall Conference & Tradeshow too, taking place in Palm Springs, California, on November 6-8. We’ll have more details as the event gets closer, but we’re excited to sponsor the awards luncheon for this one. Oregon Healthcare Association Annual Convention & Trade Show Let’s talk about the Oregon Healthcare Association Annual Convention & Trade Show, which is hosted in Portland, Oregon. You can join professionals across the industry for an in-depth learning experience on September 19-20. We’re a proud co-sponsor of the awards program for this event. More details to come! See you at senior living events throughout 2023! Be sure to check our Yardi events page for the full list of events we’re attending this year. If you have questions in the meantime about our senior living management software, or you’re ready to schedule time to connect, don’t hesitate to reach out via the meeting links shared...

We couldn’t pass up the chance to feature a cool initiative from one of our senior living clients, an initiative focused on bringing residents’ passions to light. Shout out to Maplewood Senior Living for their blog series that highlights how residents are finding purpose and joy — including their recent post spotlighting their art-loving residents. Spotlighting Maplewood’s resident artists As mentioned in their post, Maplewood didn’t have to look far to find resident artists. From participating in daily art activities within their community to sparking creativity on their own, these residents bring some amazing designs to the table. Starting with Maplewood at Weston resident Judith Kohn, a talented individual who claims art rescued her during a difficult season of life. Inviting creations are spread across her apartment with pieces hung on walls, sitting on the furniture and even propped on the floors. With her strong love for art, it’s no surprise Judith has become one of Maplewood at Weston’s most active ambassadors. She’s been spreading her knowledge by teaching a monthly art class for other residents since moving to the community in July of 2022. At Maplewood’s newest community in New Jersey, Maplewood at Princeton, you’ll find resident Rosalyn Mass, who’s held a lifelong passion for the arts. She taught painting and drawing for seventeen years directly out of her home, working with children from different backgrounds and cultures. She later worked with a local library to have her students’ work exhibited, too. Quite impressively, Rosalyn never had any formal training — simply a natural talent and dedication to channeling her inner artist. Head to Maplewood’s blog post to see photos of both Judith and Rosalyn’s art pieces!   Celebrating our senior living clients It’s always fun to share something joyful from our senior living clients and the residents they serve. We applaud Maplewood for celebrating their residents’ creativity — we love featuring initiatives like their blog series here on The Balance Sheet. Have questions about how Yardi works with clients like Maplewood? Get in touch with our senior living team...

Employee Appreciation Day is this Friday, March 3, but you can start the celebration anytime! If you haven’t taken advantage of celebrating Employee Appreciation Day before, now is a great chance to do so. Expressing gratitude and letting employees know that you appreciate them is one of the best ways to keep employees engaged and motivated in the workplace. Here are some creative ideas that will show your employees they are appreciated. Team building day. If the budget allows, take a group outing to a fun team-building activity. Bowling or TopGolf are great outings with teams to have some friendly competition. Have employees vote on a fun activity to do together. This will create excitement and show employees that the company cares about their input. If your team is working from home, plan a virtual escape room. There’s a virtual escape room for every team dynamic with different themes, from art heists to murder mysteries. If spending money is out of the budget, volunteering at a locally supported nonprofit is a great way to get out of the office and doesn’t cost anything. If anything, everyone will feel better when doing better. Bring in a guest speaker. Keep things exciting by bringing in a surprise guest. Find a motivational speaker, hypnotist, or comedian to bring in for a fun break during the workday. Since most of today’s world works from home, you can schedule a virtual Zoom meeting with the guest. Bringing in a guest speaker or entertainer is a great way to boost employees’ moods and improve employee morale. Plus, it will leave employees with something to talk about for years to come! Write a LinkedIn Recommendation. LinkedIn is a modern, public-facing resume. When employees consistently perform well, take some time to write thoughtful recommendations on LinkedIn about the value they bring to the company. Include details about how the employee drove business results and how much you enjoy working with them on various projects. This unique way of showing appreciation demonstrates your investment in employees’ career development now and in the future. Endorsements for skills mastery on LinkedIn can work the same way. Recognition ceremony. When he recognized his employees at the Dundie awards, Michael Scott was onto something. What a great way to show that the company cares and recognizes success. Employee recognition is essential to creating strong office culture. Host a recognition ceremony for your employees to celebrate Employee Appreciation Day. Honor each employee for a contribution that they have made to the team. You might not go as quirky as The Office but have some fun and get creative for awards to keep things lively. Gratitude notes. A little bit of gratitude can go a long way in the workplace. Create thank you notes for each employee that express why you and the company are grateful for having them on the team. Try not to make these cards sound generic—consider how each individual has contributed to the company’s success. If budget allows, include a small personal gift or gift card with the gratitude note. These recognition ideas will communicate to employees and teams that you and the company see and appreciate their hard work. Virtual employees can often feel forgotten or disconnected. By increasing recognition and gratitude, team members will likely feel more engaged and motivated to continue doing their best work daily. With all the benefits and return on investment from appreciation, it’s worth the...