According to the Association for Talent Development, American organizations spend an estimated $164 billion on employee training on each year. This ranges from 31.5 -56 hours of training per employee. This valuable time is spent simply learning how to optimize performance rather than putting those plans into action. Yardi client Brindley & Associates has cut those costs with the use of one, simple software solution. Accountant Carol Vandenberghe has worked with Brindley and Associates for thirteen years. Overtime, she has seen the company grow its presence in the southeast. To meet it’s more sophisticated needs, the firm recently upgraded to Voyager 7S. The combination of expansion and new software required a more efficient way to pursue employee training. “That was the main reason why we got eLearning,” begins Vandenberghe. “It really helped with the transition, plus we had just hired new employees as well.” Yardi eLearning has helped Brindley and Associates significantly cut costs on employee education and get the most out of Voyager upgrade. “We have so many properties in outlying areas,” Vandenberghe says. “Some of those properties are four hours away. It would take at least eight hours for the property managers to drive back and forth for training. Then to come by the office and have to sit there for two, eight hour days, maybe more.” Those hours are just a portion of the resources wasted on onsite training. “Training event preparation requires a lot of planning. I figure 40-50 hours. That’s an entire week right there,” Vandenberghe says. “Then we have to bring in all of the property managers, pay for their food and hotel, that kind of thing. Plus, it’s inconvenient for the property managers to have to leave when they’ve got tenants coming in to make payments. The...

As Detroit’s economic recovery continues, the market for modern, mid-price range apartments in popular neighborhoods like Midtown, Royal Oak and Troy is strong. Homegrown multifamily provider Kaftan Communities is celebrating its 50th anniversary as a developer and property manager this year, and has responded to the trend by changing its corporate focus. No longer building apartment communities from the ground up, Kaftan Communities is instead focusing its efforts on strategic repositioning of assets – including remodels and updates that appeal to Detroit’s largest group of renters: young urban professionals. CEO Jeffrey Kaftan describes this renter as someone who appreciates name brand fashion or wants to drive a luxury import auto rather than an American car. “There are people who want a cool place, want to be in a certain location, and I wasn’t sure many existed. There were some nicer places, but as far as cool places, there really weren’t a lot,” Kaftan said. His company has redone three such buildings off of Metropolitan in Royal Oak, and is calling the trio Metropolitan Flats. Kaftan told us about the history of his company and its new focus going into the next 50 years. How did Kaftan Communities start? Kaftan: My father started the company as a building company in 1955. As he tells the story, the nightstand next to the bed was his desk. He started building homes, and things started to go really well very early on. At the end of the year, he sat down with his accountant and realized how much he had to pay in taxes. He was lamenting to a mentor of his about all these taxes, and that mentor suggested that from an investment perspective, it might be wise to build apartments. How large is your portfolio today?...

At Yardi, we know that the software we create for our clients becomes not just a tool for better business management, but a platform that becomes a major part of their daily lives. Our clients help us understand the business challenges that they face on a daily basis, and in turn, we work to develop increasingly advanced solutions that improve efficiency and make life easier. Earlier this spring, one of our clients in the affordable housing industry, Leslie Dabi of Marin County-based EAH Housing, invited us into her life to see why she’s passionate about her work as Business Systems Director. For 45 years, EAH Housing has built a portfolio of residences that today serve over 20,000 seniors, families, students, people with disabilities, frail elderly and the formerly homeless. We also learned a lot about Leslie’s everyday life. She loves interacting with the site staff at each of EAH Housing’s Bay Area communities, spends free time with her family and walking her dog, and is especially passionate about the San Francisco Giants baseball team. We joined her as she had the chance to take the field at AT&T Park and steal second base – a true thrill for any baseball fan. Join us as we take a look at a day in the life of just one of our exceptional Yardi...

Yardi proposal writer Lexi Beausoliel and her husband, Matthew, can call themselves homebuilders – multiple times over. Each year, the Santa Barbara couple makes at least one trip to the Colonias of East Tijuana, Mexico, to assist with a Southern California home building non-profit called Project Mercy. Since 1991, volunteers participating in the project have constructed hundreds of homes for impoverished Tijuana residents living without a nearby water source, indoor plumbing and other basic utilities that Americans take for granted. Due to the positive impact of the experience, this summer the Beausoliels decided to kick it up a notch. Rather than organizing just one team of volunteers to complete just one home, they decided to aim for five – enough to build five houses for families in need, completed in a single day. In addition to the manpower, they are hoping to fundraise nearly $20,000 to cover the building cost. “Instead of just one house, we can build a small community,” said Lexi Beausoliel, who credits her spouse as the driving force behind the quadrupled effort. “(Matthew) has had such a great experience doing this, and felt like it would be really impactful to gather our friends, colleagues, and families together to build a group of homes in one day. It will be like building a village.” In order to qualify for the assistance of a Project Mercy volunteer team, the residents receiving the homes –who own the land where the simple residences are constructed – must contribute significant sweat equity by pitching in on projects in advance of their own build day. And they don’t cease contributing when their own properties are complete, either. “Families that we have built for the year before always come back and help. It’s really cool to see...

When Steven and Randy Fifield discuss what sets their company apart from its competitors, they often use a hockey analogy. They speak of being able to “anticipate where the puck is going,” as Randy Fifield says. It’s a fitting metaphor to describe the couple whose companies, Chicago-based Fifield Companies and Los Angeles-based Century West Partners (a Yardi client), have developed such trendsetting properties as Alta at K Station and The Californian on Wilshire. The Fifields display a Gretzky-like ability to visualize the course of action before it happens and be there before their rivals. That’s true whether they’re blazing development trails on the fringes of Chicago’s Loop or rigorously researching the lifestyle passions of distinct renting cohorts in L.A.Little wonder Fifield Companies captured a 2014 MHN Excellence Award for Best New Development: High-Rise with K2, its 34-floor, 496-unit apartment community in Chicago’s increasingly hot West Loop. In February, the couple unveiled their newest Chicago-area project, E2, a 356-unit luxury residential tower in near-north suburban downtown Evanston. Charles Huzenis, principal of Chicago’s JRG Capital Partners, has been a real estate investment partner of the Fifields for 10 years. “They have great vision well in advance of others, and that’s totally displayed in their K Station projects,” he said. “When that deal first got going, it was kind of no man’s land out there. Nobody was willing to bid on those deals when it was just raw land. Now every institution in the country wants a piece of that area.” Elissa Morgante, principal of Evanston’s Morgante-Wilson, an acclaimed, high-end residential architectural firm, served as architectural interior designer at E2. “They are very passionate about what they do,” she said. “They have a vision. They give you direction as far as the uniqueness and ‘wow’ they want....

As the nation’s apartment industry revels in Gen Y’s affinity for apartment living, developing high-density, high-amenity projects in urban centers across America, there is another force shaping the industry: aging Boomers. In 15 years one in five Americans will be 65 and older and the 50-plus generation will swell by 23 million individuals, reaching 132 million, data from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University shows. This high-velocity growth is already spurring concern within the industry in regards to providing adequate housing to the nation silver-haired demographic. One company that has its eye on the future and is planning to meet the needs of aging Boomers is Miller-Valentine Group (MVG). Founded in 1963, Miller-Valentine has been developing, building and managing multifamily housing for over 30 years. The company’s portfolio includes both luxury and affordable housing, as well as senior and military housing. With a presence in 17 states, MVG is the 24th largest owner of affordable real estate in the country and has developed in excess of 13,000 units. While the company continues the deliver non-specialized apartment housing too, shifting American demographics are evident in the company’s development pipeline. Of the seven apartment communities that will open through summer 2015 three are designed for adults 55 and older and one is targeting residents 62 and over. Miller-Valentine’s independent living communities are designed to meet the needs and desires of adults over the age of 55. MVG collaborates wit h federal and state housing assistance programs to deliver quality housing for aging adults at a moderate price. To accommodate the active lives of its residents, MVG offers home maintenance-free independent living, with amenities such as community rooms, walking paths and community events, ensuring social, educational and recreational opportunities. One such community is Ashley...

With demand for new, high-quality urban apartment projects on the rise nationwide, Wood Residential has been busy. Parent company Wood Partners builds, positions and then sells Class A apartment communities in the nation’s most popular major cities. Wood Residential’s job is to lease up the properties at the highest rate, providing a strong residency foundation for incoming ownership. Wood Residential Services launched in 2010 with three properties and less than 1,000 units in its portfolio; it expects to close the 2014 calendar year with 41 properties and 10,000 units under management across the country. As Vice President of Operations Jillian Kral recently explained, those numbers are always in flux due to the company’s business model, which makes her job challenging and exciting at the same time. “The challenges are all very positive. Things move quickly, giving us a very short window to execute as a merchant builder. If we miss that window, we don’t get another chance to try again and we’ve lost opportunity and profit for our developers,” Kral said. A 9-year Wood Partners veteran, she worked her way from the sales and marketing side of the business, to asset management, and now focuses on technology, operations, policies and team building. In order to create the smartest process for lease-ups, stabilizing properties and then turning them over, Kral and her teams have adopted an increased number of Yardi products. Over the last two years, they will have implemented the bulk of the Yardi multifamily single solution stack. “With most of our portfolio, we have a 12–18 month hold time which is why it’s so important for us to have streamlined processes and efficiencies that focus on sales while increasing rents and velocity, ultimately resulting in a profitable sale of the property. The first...

Since 1971, New Directions Housing Corp has committed to building and preserving a sense of community. The Kentucky-based nonprofit has expanded its portfolio to include real estate development, asset and property management, resident services, home ownership preservation, and community building and organizing. “I don’t know what we do, but we have to find a new direction,” uttered Father Ben O’Connor to his parish. In 1969, the group had the will to help their struggling community but was unsure how to go about it. One small housing project followed another. Soon, outreach efforts extended beyond Louisville, Kentucky and into Floyd and Clark counties of southern Indiana. Today, New Directions Housing Corp, a Yardi client, manages 1,000 affordable housing units, renting to nearly 1,000 low-income families. The organization repairs and restores approximately 200 houses each year, focusing on projects that help the elderly remain in their homes while creating safe, accessible abodes. New Directions has joined forces with NeighborWorks America and Metro United Way to achieve their goals. To address the unique needs of every community, New Directions hosts The Neighborhood Roundtable every two months. Community members gather to create practical, efficient plans that will make their neighborhoods more stable and cohesive. Residents can take pride in the changes that take place because they are an integral part of the process. They work side-by-side with New Directions volunteers and staff. “We don’t just work here. We believe in what we do and give 150% to our mission,” states Bridgette Johnson, Director of Property Management. There are numerous ways to get involved but Repair Affairs have become the most popular event for volunteers and staff members. “We start really early with a kickoff breakfast around 6am,” explains Janice Hill, Management Information Systems Director. “Some volunteers help with...

Beginning this June, the city of Chicago has mandated utility benchmarking for all commercial buildings larger than 50,000 square feet. Urban Innovations, which manages 11 properties totaling 750,000 square feet in the Windy City, is one of a handful of property managers that already has nearly 8 years of such data already in hand. Yardi client Urban Innovations started benchmarking utility use at all its properties back in 2008. Alfrieda Green, Vice President of Property Management for the firm, recently shared why the company came early to the sustainability challenge and how its owners and tenants have benefited. When did Urban Innovations start benchmarking utility performance and why? Green: Around 2006-2007, sustainability suddenly became a hot topic. We had some of our tenants come to us and require-LEED certified space. At that point, once there is market demand, you have to educate yourself. I earned by LEED AP designation with an operations and maintenance specialization. The more I learned, it became clear that this was about operational best practices and sound asset management as well as meeting our tenant needs. It was clearly something that could have financial benefits and operational benefits, as well as customer service benefits.  So you started tracking utility performance, and what did you learn? Green: Our first initiative was to benchmark every building in our portfolio, and give ourselves a baseline on how are we performing. It gave us some really interesting information on how our buildings were performing from an energy efficiency standpoint. It really directly correlated with where that particular property was in its life cycle. If the building had older equipment, it made sense for it not to be quite as efficient. But we also found that some buildings that had older equipment had had strategic...

“If I could have any superpower in the world it would be X-Ray vision, no doubt about it. I mean, come on, who doesn’t want to have X-Ray vision?” laughs Balázs Székely, an enthusiastic member of Yardi’s publishing team. The 25-year-old aquascaper and Red Hot Chili Peppers fan joined Yardi in October 2013, after a couple of stints at college newspapers and regional radio stations and he’s been loving every minute of it. “I studied journalism and so far, I have to say, being a journalist turned out even better than I imagined! I work for a vigorously growing company and I’m surrounded by young professionals… As a bonus, my job is completely independent from the local political scene, which is a privilege in this field. I mean, what more could a journalist my age ask for?!” he says, hinting at the colorful Romanian political world. As an associate editor for Multi-Housing News and Commercial Property Executive, Balázs covers the most important commercial and multifamily real estate happenings in Miami, Orlando, Atlanta and Tucson. He’s constantly on the lookout for major transactions, new project announcements and keeps in touch with developers that are active in his markets. Balázs also writes market reports based on quarterly performance indicators and is part of the international news team, which covers the most relevant real estate news from around the world. “I like diversity in my work, so I’m always happy to contribute to the corporate blogosphere,” he says, referring to his posts for Point2Homes and PropertyShark. Among Balázs’s favorite parts of working at Yardi is that he gets to do what he does best – write – and that he’s able to pursue this passion in a dynamic and nurturing environment. He also appreciates the constant improvement...

Seniors are the fastest growing segment of the population, with more than 16 million seniors in need of housing by 2050. This previously underserved population has taken center stage as a national housing priority. Yet before the construction and investment boom began, Yardi client Senior Star was providing superior care for seniors and their families. The tradition holds strong as the company continues to receive accolades and recognition for its services. For Letitia Jackson, Vice President of Corporate Engagement, reverence for seniors sparked her interest in senior housing. Senior Star’s stellar track record encouraged her to forge a career with the company that has endured nearly 20 years. “Just as many of us in this industry do, I have a true appreciation for the people who paved the way for us,” begins Jackson. “I entered senior housing through my employment with Senior Star and have remained dedicated to the industry for over 18 years. We can honor residents in the waning years of their lives, filling their lives with joyful, purposeful moments while reducing the time adult children spend in caregiving – increasing the meaningful moments spent with their parents.” Those meaningful moments become increasingly precious as seniors reach the later stages of life. The American Health Care Association reports that the average age of assisted living residents is 85 years with 42 percent having Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias. One in three American seniors over the age of 85, and one in nine who are 65 and older, has Alzheimer’s disease. Dementia can significantly reduce the quality of life that seniors experience. While there is no cure for dementia, Jackson wants to help families cope with the illness and find a way to move forward. She selected Senior Star because it committed to providing...

Yardi CSD manager Terry Kelly and his wife Pam took the trip of a lifetime to Nepal this spring, but they weren’t on a typical tourist agenda. Instead, the focus of their visit was to volunteer at a pop-up health clinic, called a Health Camp, in the foothills of the Himalayas. The two-day medical outreach was organized by Project for a Village, a non-profit started by Kathy and Rene Perez-Silva. Terry Kelly and Rene Perez-Silva attended college together at Georgetown, and since the couple began their trips to Nepal four years ago, the Kellys were interested in lending a hand. After 22 hours of flight time (including 5 layovers) and wrangling 400 pounds of luggage that included medical supplies, they arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital. “We carried over 250 pounds of vitamins and de-worming pills to distribute to the mothers of the small children (enough vitamins for a year’s supply for each child). We also took multiple duffel bags full of essential medicines to treat the common complaints,” Terry Kelly explained. Prenatal vitamins and a health outreach project focused on preteen girls were also distributed. “Many Nepali people become dependent on foreign aid groups coming to their village to provide free doctors and medicine through health camps,” Kathy Perez-Silva relates in the Project for a Village blog. “The shortage of doctors is severe and the pay is so low that most of the doctors want to leave Nepal after they finish school to work in the West.” During the two days of clinic visits, 1,000 people were treated by 16 doctors, with assistance from nurses and translators. Many of the ailments were routine, including aches and pains from physical labor in the fields, and digestive discomfort connected to poor nutrition and spicy food. Up...

Deena Howell’s granddaughter sells an uncanny amount of Girl Scout cookies. “That’s because I taught her everything she knows about sales,” Howell smiles with a twinkle in her eye. “That’s why she’s so good at selling those cookies.” For nearly a decade, Howell worked as a leasing agent before becoming a trainer with her company. The skills she learned in the field benefited her throughout her entire career and well into her retirement as a leader in her granddaughter’s troop. Through her own experiences and training others, Howell has discovered seven pointers that help decent leasing consultants become stellar. Practice Empathy in Action Rather than selling from a script or promoting things that you like about the community, take the time to understand prospects’ needs and interests. Use those points to present the home that is right for them. “Make that unit seem like it was made for them rather than selling the first available unit. When you understand them, you understand what they need to hear and see.” Learn Active Listening Listening and processing information is vital to effective communication, especially with investments like a home. “Listening is the single best way to learn what the prospect really wants and how to sell it to them,” says Howell. “Even repeat info back to them to clarify. They will appreciate that you’re trying to understand them and they’ll trust your insights later on.” Sell Value, Not a Product “We don’t just sell a unit,” says Howell. “We sell a home, a lifestyle and possibilities.” The floor plan may encourage prospects to call but selling the lifestyle and the future possibilities will get them to sign the lease and renew later. Keep Learning About the Community This is especially important if you commute to work....

For most California kids, growing up watching football on TV with Dad on the weekend might mean college games on Saturdays and the NFL on Sunday. For Mark and Jennifer Coverdale’s two young daughters, it’s an early Saturday morning ritual – with all the excitement of English and European games appearing in their Central California living room thanks to satellite technology. Most Americans might still call it soccer, but the daughters of a former pro football athlete from Hull City, England, will surely grow up calling football just that. “We sit and watch the Tigers together – it’s a family tradition that we have,” he said of watching the matches with his 1 and 4-year-olds. Recently, the family took a trip to his hometown together, making the trip with their children for the first time. Coverdale, an Inside Sales manager for Yardi who has been with the company for nearly 8 years, came to the U.S. a decade ago. He was training in Los Angeles, still interested in pursuing a professional career in the sport, when the parent of a young player asked him to coach her son. In the U.S., young soccer players with talent are asked to be part of professional development programs even before they hit their teenage years. Mark joined such a program for his hometown team of Hull City, in northern England, when he was just 10 years old. The experience gave him the opportunity to travel around the U.K. to play against other youth teams, and instilled an early foundation of physical conditioning and skill. At 16, he was offered a professional contract with the team, which continued until age 19. After attending university at Leeds, he became the first and only member of his family to leave...

Believe it or not, iUnit is not the next device a certain ubiquitous technology company wants you to run out and buy. Rather, it’s a new modular housing project coming to Denver, Colo. in 2015, blending smart energy use, wireless connectivity, green construction and the urban living preferences of American Millennials. iUnit is intended to challenge the way we think about apartment living today, says founder Brice Leconte. A Washington, D.C. entrepreneur with a passion for startup technology, Leconte is currently an Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Maryland as well as an advisor and mentor at Georgetown University. “iUnit is really a reflection of how I see the world and what I want to do with commercial real estate,” said Leconte, who worked on large single-family home developments early in his career. iUnit at Highland Park is his first foray into the multi-family space. We recently spoke to him about the project and what makes it unique. Tell us about iUnit. What’s it all about? Leconte: There are a lot of things in real estate that don’t make sense to me. One of them is on the modular front – why we are still building buildings out in the elements, while they are being rained and snowed on. I’ve wanted to build differently for a long time, and modular construction has always made sense to me. Building in a controlled environment, we end up with a much better, greener product, and better worker safety. That’s the method we’ve chosen for our multi-family building. We will use a factory in Idaho for the module construction. The other thing that has never made sense to me has how commercial real estate has lagged behind in integrating technology into its buildings. How can we introduce...

When Jones Lange LaSalle acquired The Staubach Company from football hero-turned-real estate leader Roger Staubach in 2008, the firm’s two experts on single tenant, net-lease retail real estate decided to strike out on their own. John Hammill, a Managing Director at Staubach focusing on net lease and capital markets, and Ken Shulman, a longtime commercial executive with extensive retail real estate experience, set their sights on becoming the leading investment and consulting firm focused strictly on single-tenant, net lease properties – a niche with potential for investment growth. The result was Capview Partners. “We’ve tracked $24.8 billion worth of merger and acquisition activity in the last 18 months, and we estimate the net lease space is still only about 10 percent consolidated. We think it’s going to take about 10 to 15 years for it to get anywhere near the consolidation level of shopping centers and multifamily,” Hammill said in a recent interview. Capview Partners’ goal is not to have the biggest portfolio of such properties. Instead, they’re trying to provide dependable returns for investors, who include clients like USAA Real Estate Company, a division of San Antonio-based insurance giant, USAA. Read on for more of our interview with John Hammill of Capview Partners: Can you describe what the single-tenant, net lease retail landscape looks like today? Hammill: In our estimate, malls are 95 consolidated by REITs, pension funds, and insurance companies. We estimate that shopping centers and multifamily are 50-65 percent consolidated, whereas net lease retail is about 10 percent consolidated. We’re starting to see the space consolidating due to technological and communication advances. The process of aggregating net lease properties-is a cleaner and more simple proposition than it was 30 years ago, simply because of computing technology and internet communications. The average...

You probably know a few triathletes. Chances are good that you might even know someone who has completed an Ironman. But the probability that you know an Ultraman are rarer – and an Ultrawoman? Well, there are only 131 of them to be found worldwide. Yardi Accounting Manager Cindy Braden recently earned her spot on this rarefied list of ultra-endurance athletes by completing her first Ultraman race in Clermont, Florida, from Feb. 20-22. Over the three days, a field of 39 athletes attempted to complete a 6.2 mile swim, 263 mile bike ride, and 52.4 run (that’s right, two marathons back-to-back) with 12 hour time limits each day. Day one was a 6.2 mile swim followed by a 91 mile bike, Day two was a 172 mile bike and day 3 was a 52.2 mile run. Braden, an Ironman veteran with six of the long distance triathlons under her belt, completed her first Ultraman in 31 hours, 40 minutes, 25 seconds. She was the second woman overall and one of just four women to finish the event. “This is not necessarily a race for time,” she explained. “You do have only 12 hours each day to get each of the distances done. I wasn’t too worried about day one or two, but I was terrified of day three, which was the run. I enjoy running, but I’m not good at it.” She focused on a mantra that’s printed out on the wall of her office: “If you lack the courage to start, you’ve already finished.” Determination, and an ironclad focus, helped her through the toughest third day. On day one, she persevered through cold conditions in the swim to be first woman out of the water – and sixth competitor overall – in just...

Ken Romero, Programmer, Affordable Housing, spends much of his work day adding new features and fixes to Yardi’s Beacon product while chugging away at multiple cups of black coffee. Fellow programmers and those on his QA team describe him as humble. They learned through national media that he’s probably a genius as well; Romero was one of only two people in the nation to accurately predict every winner of a 2014 midterm U.S. Senate seat accurately – one day before the results were compiled. His prediction success made him one of the first winners of The New York Times Upshot Cup. Romero’s friend and fellow programmer, Bryan Busey, was the first to spread the word of Romero’s accomplishments through an email, “Just because you wouldn’t hear it from him, the article says it all. Mind you the only other individual who successfully did this was a Dr. in statistics.” The young programmer first took interest in politics during the Bush-Gore elections when he was in the 6th grade. The elections had caused such commotion in his community that he began to investigate why: why do people fall on one side of an issue or the other? And why do they vote the way that they do? Since then, Romero has kept an eagle eye on American politics and social media, giving him the background needed to make his award-winning prediction. Or was it luck? The Balance Sheet caught up with Ken to learn how a programmer made headlines as a political statistician. What tools did you use to forge your predictions? The biggest thing was my Twitter feed. My “Favorites” list is probably 60% media and political insiders who freely share their info. I also have several pollsters, so every day during election seasons...

Gary Shaw is the kind of real estate executive you want to go to a backyard BBQ with. He’s a self-deprecating family guy, who jokes that he was “suckered” into buying the Arizona-based commercial management company, Arcadia Management Group, that his mother, Peggy Burgess, founded when Gary and his brother were just kids. But he’s only kidding, because underneath Shaw’s friendly, frequently laughing demeanor is an executive who is passionate about improving his business – and determined to find smart, efficient ways to do daily work. Arcadia Management Group’s business model is unique in that the company doesn’t handle property marketing and leasing for their owners/clients. Rather, they take care of everything else: paying mortgages and taxes, collecting rents, property maintenance and cleaning, and a host of other tasks that come along with owning a shopping center, office building, or other commercial property. We recently spoke with Shaw about his business and how he has achieved business efficiencies by adopting new technology solutions. How did you get into property management? Shaw: I literally grew up in property management. My mother was a single parent, and she started Arcadia Management Group. She was in commercial lending and worked for a developer as a controller, and she saw a need in the Phoenix market for a third party management company. What were some of your first jobs? Shaw: I remember coding bills for her at the age of 12. Later on I progressed to working in maintenance with my friends while I was in high school, cleaning shops, doing all kinds of stuff. In college, I did a stint in the accounting department – we used a DOS based system then. What was the best workplace advice your mother ever gave you? Shaw: A thousand different...