We recently caught up with Australia native Bernie Devine, who leads sales and business development across Asia from Yardi’s Hong Kong office. Bernie, please tell us about your journey from Sydney to Hong Kong. Devine: It was an indirect route! I started out as a CPA and economist. But I’d always had an interest in technology and how it supported the operations of the real estate companies whose assets I was responsible for. My focus has been helping clients scale and grow, create efficiencies and gain better insight into their business.   Several years back, I had an opportunity to lead a team on a project in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. When that role ended, my wanderlust didn’t. I’d known of Yardi for many years, having encountered them through my work leading and supporting property technology start-ups across Australia, the U.S. and Europe. When I learned more about the opportunity to grow Yardi’s presence in Asia, it felt like the right fit for me. The region is very diverse, encompassing mature markets for property management as well as emerging ones, and every day provides a fresh challenge. Q: How is real estate in Asia is changing? A: There are two key areas of change. Firstly, as markets mature, rents surpass many developed countries and wage costs rise, real estate companies are putting greater value on accurate data and robust process. Secondly, coworking has taken off at an amazing growth rate. It is estimated that Asia already has the most coworking sites globally, with about 4,000 and growing.  This is about 800 more than the U.S., according to a report by East West Bank in June 2018. Most of these coworking sites are located in China, which is a hub for shared and flexible...

Seattle-based Avenue5 Residential, a Yardi client, has recently had several reasons to celebrate. The company was named the second fastest growing firm in the state of Washington and it currently occupies the 30th spot in NMHC’s top 50 largest apartment managers—up 16 spots from last year’s position. The secret to its success seems to be its flexibility and willingness to adapt to a fast-changing environment. CEO Walt Smith shares the strategy that is designed to help the company thrive even more. What are the main trends in apartment operations today? Smith: One key multifamily industry trend is related to pricing. We used to be able to track pricing on a less-frequent basis. Because today’s market is increasingly dynamic, however, there is greater pressure to monitor indicators for rental rates every single day and to price apartments in real time according to the data. Another critical trend is monitoring customer sentiment on an ongoing basis and empowering teams to make changes based on customer feedback. Providing exemplary customer service has always been essential, but today it holds particular importance due to the popularity of online ratings and review sites. Even a relatively small number of negative online comments can significantly impact a property’s bottom-line performance, so being able to proactively assess challenges at the property level and address those challenges quickly can give a property a competitive edge. A third important trend is harnessing the power of the numerous metrics that are currently available to multifamily management firms. Managers who can select a data platform that aligns with their needs and the needs of their clients, who can aggregate massive amounts of data into easily consumable insights and translate those insights into actions that will improve performance will be in the best position to meet...

As a custom office space provider, Yardi client Knotel has more than 100 locations in New York, San Francisco, London, Berlin and Sao Paulo in Brazil. In December, Knotel expanded its New York City presence with four new office leases totaling 78,780 square feet. The largest lease inked was a 51,000-square-foot space at Rosen family’s 27 W. 23rd St., which encompasses the entire second and third floors of the building. Knotel was represented by Elie Reiss of Skylight Leasing and the landlord was represented by Danny Breiman of Olmstead. Eugene Lee, Knotel’s global head of real estate and business development, oversees sourcing and negotiation of management partnerships, leases and purchases, as well as global market expansion, corporate development and enterprise business development. Prior to working for Knotel, Lee served as a senior advisor for economic development in Mayor Bloomberg’s administration, was chief of staff & senior advisor for the U.S. Department of Commerce in D.C., and worked at Knewton, an adaptive learning tech provider. What led you to Knotel? Lee: The opportunity to help build a company and product that solved a huge problem. When I worked at City Hall during the Bloomberg administration, we constantly heard from emerging companies and entrepreneurs about the pain and expense of finding office space. While we couldn’t easily address the issue then from a policy perspective, Knotel is the solution that will change how all companies consume office space. This interview originally appeared in Commercial Property Executive, a Yardi publication. Read the rest of the conversation with CPE’s Keith Loria...

As it celebrates its 125th anniversary, Chicago-based Draper and Kramer Inc., a Yardi client, has promoted Todd Bancroft to president & CEO. Bancroft is taking the helm at the commercial real estate investment, financing and residential management company from Forrest Bailey, who decided to step down from his long-term positions. Bancroft had served as the firm’s COO & general counsel since 2014 and has a deep background in law and real estate. Previously, he worked at Bancroft, Richman & Goldberg, a Chicago law firm he founded in 2010, and spent 13 years with Equity Marketing Services, a professional sales and marketing firm for condo development projects and condo conversions. It was there that he first formed a relationship with Draper and Kramer, partnering with them for a condo conversion way back in 1997. In his new positions, Bancroft will be tasked with continuing Draper and Kramer’s legacy while capitalizing on new opportunities for investment and net operating income growth. In November, Draper and Kramer acquired North 680, a luxury community in Schaumburg, Ill., as part of a 1031 exchange following the company’s sale of Fieldpointe of St. Louis, a 318-unit property in Maryland Heights, Mo. In October, Draper and Kramer teamed with Edge Principal Advisors on the $131 million sale of Wheaton Center, a 758-unit community in Chicago’s suburbs, to FPA Multifamily. What led you to working for Draper and Kramer? Bancroft: I worked at Equity Marketing for 13 years and then the downturn was really its deathblow. There were no condominium sales, no new condominium projects, so its entire business model all but went away. So, at the beginning of 2009, I decided to open a small law firm and was targeting general real estate work as well as condo associations. A year later,...

Yardi client MG Properties Group, based in San Diego, focuses on the acquisition, development, rehabilitation and management of apartment communities throughout the western United States. Over the last 26 years, CEO Mark Gleiberman has steered the company to the acquisition of more than 140 properties totaling approximately 20,000 units, and the management of more than 17,000 apartment homes in 55 communities in high-growth cities in California, Arizona, Nevada, Washington and Oregon, worth more than $2 billion combined. In October, the company acquired Carillon Apartment Homes, a 264-unit community in Woodland Hills, Calif., for $93 million. In February, MG Properties Group acquired Thorncroft Farms Apartments, a 340-unit multifamily community in Hillsboro, Ore., for $97.5 million. Talk about MG Properties Group focus and the areas you serve. Gleiberman: Historically, we have been a value-add buyer. We have in-house property management, in-house construction management, but there has been a bit of a shift in the last year or two, as we have seen the value-add deals getting extremely competitive and bid up in price. In that time, we shifted a bit to deals we would not have previously thought about buying, we are now buying. This includes more brand-new construction. This interview was originally published in Multi-Housing News, a Yardi publication. Read the rest of the interview with MHN’s Keith Loria...

Our first Yardi employee profile for 2019 highlights Delicia Miller. Delicia works in the Atlanta area and is a senior technical account manager on the VENDORCafé support team. She’s got a down-to-earth look on life and a lot of history with VENDORCafé. How long have you been at Yardi? I have been with Yardi since January of 2017, but I worked in the apartment management industry for 17 years prior to coming on board. In fact, I was on a client team that went live with VENDORCafé on day one in May of 2014. As an early adopter, I was quick to appreciate the value of VENDORCafé and was thrilled to join such a great team when I got my job with Yardi. What hobbies do you enjoy? I absolutely love reading. I have always gotten lost in books. I just started using a Kindle, which I’m beginning to appreciate. I don’t deny the convenience of digital books, but I admit I sometimes miss the feel of the real book pages. I also enjoy spending any free time with my husband, son and our friends. How long have you been supporting VENDORCafé clients? Since my very first day at Yardi! My first client went live three months after I started, which felt like a nice accomplishment. When I joined Yardi, VENDORCafé was growing quickly. Our team worked very well together both in support of current clients and also in implementing the fast-growing list of new clients. It was an exciting time. What are the biggest vendor management challenges? The top challenges I see are document collection and workflow automation. Property managers are required to collect a lot of documentation from vendors. Centralizing those documents with automated, paperless processes makes vendor onboarding and management infinitely...

Getting an email from the human resources often means forms to fill out or documents to sign. The creative minds in Yardi Atlanta HR decided to spice things up. It has become their tradition to encourage holiday cheer by hosting a fun and engaging activity for the office. This year, they sent out an email initiating the first ever Yardi Wrap Battle. No, it wasn’t a present wrapping contest. This battle challenged teams to create a holiday-inspired rap song. Catrina Ishman, human resources generalist with Yardi, shared the inspiration behind the event. “One of our employees writes a daily positive message on her white board,” said Ishman. “As I was reading Monday’s message, I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun if we could do a poetry contest but with a twist?’ and the wheels started turning from there. We decided on a Wrap Battle that’s a play on wrapping gifts and wrapping up the year 2018.” For the Wrap Battle, teammates collaborated to write, perform, and record a 60-second rap. They were challenged to include the words: wrap, jingle, bells, snow, and Yardi. A committee of peers judged the submissions and announced the winners based on overall creativity. The winners of the 2018 Wrap Battle represent RentCafe Affordable team! The grand prize is a catered lunch of their choice. In the spirit of the holidays, HR decided to create a snack basket for other participating teams. In addition to showing the friendly side of HR, the annual holiday events support Yardi corporate culture. “Some of the characteristics that make up Yardi’s unique culture are fun, collaboration and team work,” said Ishman. “I think activities like these allow employees to showcase their creative sides while still embodying who we are as a company. Our culture is...

Food strengthens the body and propels the mind. Yet one in six residents of Ventura County struggle with food insecurity. Seniors are among the vulnerable population. The local food bank and volunteers work together to end hunger, helping seniors thrive in their golden years. Ventura County Food Insecurity An inability to access healthy food impacts multiple areas of a person’s life. Hardworking people must make daily sacrifices that affect their health and wellbeing.  Of the food insecure in Ventura County, 69 percent must choose between food and utilities. More than 65 percent must choose between food and medical care Among the food insecure that must make those tough calls, roughly 46,650 are seniors. Ventura County’s Agency on Aging reports that “approximately 39 percent of all elders aged 65 and older do not have enough income to meet their most basic needs.” The inaccessibility of fresh, nutritious food leads to a reliance on more affordable but less healthy options. As a result of this and other factors, 58 percent of households have a member with high blood pressure with 77 percent occurring in senior homes. About 33 percent of households in the county have a member with diabetes with 47 percent in senior households. Volunteering with Food Share Food Share of Ventura County aims to improve seniors’ quality of life. Each year, Food Share stores and distributes nearly 11 million pounds of food to those in need. The Food Share program serves nutritious meals to 74,500 people every month, about 3,100 of which are seniors. Senior programming prepares boxes of food including items such as canned fruits, vegetables, salmon, cereal, milk, peanut butter, fruit juice, and spaghetti. The nonprofit organization relies on the help of 190 pantry partners as well as volunteers. Ten Yardi Santa...

For most young children, toys are an essential highlight for Christmas. The thrill of unwrapping a surprise brings excitement. Playing with the toys, of course, prolongs the fun! But for some children, familial and financial difficulties threaten to hamper their holiday joy. Marine Toys for Tots strives to bring cheer to children in need. Toys for Tots Since 1947, Toys for Tots has provided holiday gifts for disadvantaged kids. The organization collects donations from community members and corporate sponsors. Social welfare offices, churches, and other community agencies help Toys for Tots coordinators identify families in need. On Christmas day, Marines deliver the donated gifts to eligible families. Nearly 40,000 servicemembers participate in the program each year. Their efforts have put 548 million toys into the hands of 251 million children. The United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) unit stationed at Luke Airforce Base proudly serves the Toys for Tots program of Maricopa County. The 9,400 square-mile space is home to more than 3,800,000 people. Nearly 16 percent of that population is living below the poverty level. USMC Toys for Tots helps make the holidays a little brighter for such families. Supporting Local Children Each year, Yardi offices across the nation participate in Toys for Tots programs. In 2018, the Yardi Scottsdale office donated four large shopping carts full of toys to USMCR Toys for Tots. As a result of team members’ generosity, children of all ages enjoyed toys and games for Christmas. “This is at least the eight year we have hosted a toy drive in the holiday season. Every year, it continues to grow as we grow,” said Peter Kolaczynski, Manager, Matrix at Yardi. He believes that the corporate culture at Yardi inspires employees to give back on a personal level. “Yardi as...

The second annual Santa Barbara Gives! (SB Gives!) is now underway. This holiday fundraiser and competition is a fun way to unite local donors and nonprofits. When their efforts are combined, Santa Barbara thrives. So, What’s This All About? SB Gives! aims to motivate philanthropy by highlighting innovative nonprofits. Readers can explore the nonprofits’ missions on the SB Gives! website. Once inspired, readers are encouraged to donate to their nonprofit(s) of choice. Of course, a little friendly competition keeps things interesting. SB Gives! features a leaderboard to show which nonprofit has raised the most funds to date. Donations are tracked in real time! What’s the Skinny on EqualiTech? Among the noteworthy nonprofits stands EqualiTech, the brain child of math teacher Danny Fitzgibbons. Through his studies and career, he learned of the disparity that occurs between children with early access to technology and those without. Learning gaps are evident as early as kindergarten. Fitzgibbons wanted to create a program that provided access to critical technologies regardless of socioeconomic status. Today, EqualiTech makes technology accessible to residents of Goleta and nearby neighborhoods. The organization aims to improve computer literacy by providing public computer access at Goleta Valley Tech Center. The site is staffed by a bilingual manager and instructor who is available to answer questions and work one on one with patrons who need help. At the center, students learn basic computer skills such as typing, navigating a computer, and creating and managing an email account. Students can also receive help with special projects like website design and resolving hardware issues. Students’ time at EqualiTech is meant to be fun and practical. Naturally, students learn how to keep in touch with loved ones via social media. Of equal importance, they learn tips and tricks on how to...

Frankfurt, Germany-based Kintyre is a full-service real estate manager for investors in the German real estate market, offering property management, bookkeeping, leasing and tenant relations, and strategic asset management, among other services. Kintyre manages a Germany-wide portfolio valued at over €1.4 billion, totalling 800,000 square metres. The retail subsector accounts for three quarter of its assets under management, with office comprising most of the remainder. “We pride ourselves on having a team of experienced local property professionals, who have the ability to understand and deliver on our international investor’s expectations and requirements. We add value for our clients and partners through providing a fully integrated service platform, including all elements of the regular real estate management services, plus the addition of strategic retail concepts and design coordination, a strong leasing team, project management, and acquisitions and sales coordination,” says Adam Pearce, Kintyre’s managing partner. With investment returns within the German real estate market remaining under ongoing pressure, due to the current peak pricing environment, the increased use of technology is one additional tool professional real estate managers are adopting to help ensure maximum efficiency within the management process, flowing through to a value add for investors. Determined to be at the forefront of the digital revolution facing the global real estate sector, Kintyre upgraded its real estate management and accounting platform  to Yardi Voyager. The decision to adopt Yardi Voyager was influenced by  Kintyre’s requirements to have a single software solution that was able to operate across multiple jurisdictions and functions. “Being able to meet client standards and regulatory needs in any jurisdiction added a huge amount of confidence in the services we provide. Yardi’s innovation is global in scope but the company also knows the needs of local markets. Having such a multi-dimensional...

Earlier this month, Team Yardi Australia headed to Bondi in Sydney. Switching out their laptops and phones for kitchen knives and potato peelers, the team spent the afternoons volunteering at Our Big Kitchen (OBK). OBK is about more than food, it’s a community kitchen with a soul. Created in 2000, its designed to help those in need; whether they’re going through a hard time, need a hand getting started, or are just looking for a place that provides a warm and nurturing environment. It aims not just to provide a community to its volunteers, but to help look after the millions of Australians going hungry every day. Despite being “the lucky country,” 2.2 million people in Australia go without food every year. Of those, tens of thousands come from New South Wales. OBK is on a mission to help those people, working closely with organisations such as SecondBite and Foodbank to minimize food waste and turn fresh produce into a home cooked meal. These meals are then distributed to the homeless and to regional shelters, including refuges for women and children, domestic violence shelters, asylum seekers, and more. Last year, OBK distributed over 80,000 meals to those in need. “The experience  gave all the people involved a sense of reality of how good a lot of us have it in life. Giving a little bit of our time helped 200 people that day. I recommend everyone gives a little to people in need, just like we did. It was a truly uplifting experience,” said Brook Baker, regional director, Australia and New Zealand sales. For the Yardi team, the afternoons represented an opportunity to give back, whilst learning more about the darker side of the city they live in. George Karounis, founder of OBK,  shared...

For many caregivers in senior living communities, residents’ identities are synonymous with their ailments. They begin to embody the treatments and assistance they require each day. While residents are much more than a name on a chart, the rich stories of their former lives often go untold. Moving into a new community can feel like letting go of one’s old self, and if a resident is struggling with dementia or cognitive disorders, the sense of loss is even greater. Recognizing the importance of deep personal understanding, many caregivers and communities have embarked on a mission to uncover residents’ stories. Truly knowing a resident and honoring their individuality has been proven to have medical benefits and improve their quality of care. In the senior living industry, it’s called person-centered care (PCC). The concept itself is not new—it’s been studied since the late 1980s—but, thanks in large part to the Affordable Healthcare Act of 2010 which emphasized the need for change from a traditional clinical care approach to a more personal one, the movement has gained momentum. Person-centered care has no official definition, but its supporters generally agree that what distinguishes PCC from the traditional model of care, which views the patient as a passive receiver of treatment, is a commitment to patients actively participating in their own medical plan. Other fundamentals of PCC include viewing treatment as an on-going process, one that nurtures and empowers the person being treated, enabling elders to experience purpose and meaning in their daily lives. At its core, person-centered care compels caregivers to see residents for the people they are—and not let the need for assistance with daily activities diminish one’s personhood. How can senior living operators and caretakers begin to make the shift from a traditional model of treatment...

Support services can be more effective and valuable to a community when providers work together. By taking a collective approach to serving needy residents, organizations can identify synergies in services and carefully plan which are best fit for specific clients. For example, a supportive housing program may have a vacant unit reserved for disabled veterans, and a veterans’ service office may have a client graduating from a transitional housing program. Coordinating those programs would help to smoothly transfer the veteran to the permanent housing unit. In Fort Wayne, Indiana, the Housing Authority (FWHA) has stepped up to help local organizations work more cooperatively. For its effort, FWHA received an Award of Excellence from the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO). FWHA assists more than 8,000 individuals in their community at any point in time. Their clients’ needs for assistance go far beyond basic affordable housing subsidies. Some clients are formerly homeless and need assistance furnishing their new permanent homes. Others require access to discounted food and clothing. In fulfilling those types of client requests, FWHA found itself working with many local service providers. There are more than 150 in the Fort Wayne area, each with a set of services available. George Guy, CEO and director of FWHA, saw an opportunity to benefit the community by getting those providers together with a goal of forming a consortium of representatives that could exchange and coordinate services. The result of that coordination effort is what’s become known as Housing Strategies Meetings. FWHA invited 270 individuals to the first session, at which attendees saw more than 35 agencies present a high-level overview of their services. While receiving that program-level information was valuable, personal connections made in the room were also real benefits of the meeting. FWHA...

The Yardi Raleigh TKO group recently participated in a notable local event to raise awareness and research funds for mental illness: the 30th annual Thad and Alice Eure Walk for Hope. Team members who walked for the cause were Blair Kramer, Sean Bryant, Pam Davison, Karen Gibson, Jim Hill, Mimi Hill, Trevor Hyde, Chuck Justice, Kimberly Wood, Victoria Parsons, Travis Taliaferro and Rich Stevenson. The group raised $2,583 to contribute to the Walk for Hope Foundation. Founded by a well-known Raleigh family after their son was diagnosed bipolar disorder, The Walk for Hope Foundation has awarded 139 scientific research grants totaling more than $5.7 million. These funds have leveraged an additional $145 million from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIH) and other federal agencies. The TKO team’s participation in the walk has a personal and professional connection. “We lost a co-worker to suicide and the office was stunned. No one knew there was a mental health issue. Since that time, we have worked hard to support one another and have found that supporting causes like the Walk for Hope and the Foundation of Hope is a great way to support our community and help reduce the stigma that is unfortunately still attached to mental illness,” explained Kimberly Wood, a P2P Consultant on the team. “We reach out to one another when we sense someone is struggling. The Walk for Hope is a fun event, but it is rooted in very strong memories of Tim Owens, who we still miss to this day.” Learn more about the Walk for Hope Foundation and their year round events to fundraise for mental illness research. Yard is Energized for Good! Learn more about the company’s philanthropic and volunteer efforts around the U.S. and the world...

Bloom Senior Living has a simple, yet aspirational mission: to help residents flourish. The family-owned and operated company, started in 1963, is dedicated to helping seniors live full, meaningful lives. But just as important as it is to make sure residents feel like family, at Bloom, staff members feel like family too. The leadership team has made creating a nurturing company culture their priority, because they believe if the culture is right, everything else—including delivering on their brand mission—will fall into place. That’s why it’s critically important to Tony Kantor, principal and director of finance, and Brad Dubin, principal, director of acquisition and general counsel, to create an office where employees feel valued and have all the resources they need. With eight communities across five states, Bloom began using Yardi to create a scalable business model that put people first. “We wanted a fully integrated product, one system throughout the entire cycle. It’s more seamless and efficient for our team, who already have to learn lots of different systems. Streamlining is a major benefit,” Dubin explains. It’s that efficiency that’s helped the company’s 40 Yardi users simplify processes and eliminate tasks in order to do what they love most: deliver great customer service to residents. “We use Yardi for everything,” says Dubin, who handles Bloom’s marketing and sales. “As soon as we get a prospect, we enter them in the system and start tracking all their data. All the calls, all the marketing activity. Sales one hundred percent relies on the CRM system. I can’t imagine not having it.” What the team likes most is the structure the software has helped create. Having an automated process takes the guesswork out of the sales cycle and keeps prospects moving through the pipeline. “It’s helped us systemize the...

Continuing our focus on the leaders of Yardi Canada, meet Dana Samargiu, senior software development engineer, and Kwok-Kin Wong, senior technical project leader. Both are part of the Yardi Canada programming team and joined the company with the acquisition of Newstar in 2003. Since becoming part of the Yardi Canada team 15 years ago, both have worked on a variety of Yardi products. And both have fully embraced the collaborative nature of the Yardi culture, with a focus on supporting clients, employees, and striving to grow. Dana Samargiu “Yardi Canada is my second/extended family,” said Samargiu (pictured, left). “My favorite part about working here is the spirit of camaraderie, the way everybody pitches in to help in need or to have fun together. It makes working here a real treat.” An immigrant to Canada from Romania along with her husband, the family came to North America in 2001 as part of the Skilled Worker Immigration Program in hopes of increased professional opportunities and a better future for their son. Samargiu had a degree in computer science and engineering and had been a developer and software consultant back in Romania, where she and her husband owned their own small firm. But when she arrived in North America, the dot com bubble had burst and opportunities were slim. She took a client support role when she was hired at Newstar, but hoped for more. “My skills were recognized at Yardi. I moved from a customer support position to a tech analyst role, and then to a development position the next year,” she recalled. “Today, my favorite part of my job each day is when I manage to help a client, QA or CSD with any technical issues they have, or when I manage to find solutions...