ECI Group owns and manages 9300 units of multifamily housing, with 37 communities in Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, and Alabama and more on the way. David Hirsch, Chairman, tells us that ECI has new developments in the works as the multifamily market continues its strong performance. Occupancy rates at the company properties are in the 90s and the regional apartment market is strong, Hirsch said. Based in Marietta, Ga., the company is privately owned and has been recognized as one of the leading developers and providers of housing in the Southeastern United States. The newest ECI Group apartment projects are located in Apex, North Carolina, and Charlottesville, Virginia. The Apex project will consist of around 300 conventional garden apartments, and Charlottesville is a “Texas donut” midrise complex also around 300 units. Keeping up with amenities to meet tenant desires and demands is one of ECI’s many priorities. Some ECI properties feature fireplaces, 9 foot ceilings, washer and dryer connections, large patios and balconies, screened-in porches, large walk-in closets, designer kitchens, high speed internet access, and water views. Among the companies top properties are the Columns Apartments, such as the Columns at Bear Creek (New Port Richey, Fl.), Columns at Cabana West (Panama City Beach, Fl.), and Columns at Pilgrim Mill (Cumming, Ga.). ECI has made near-comprehensive use of Yardi’s product suite to streamline their business practices and aid their employees in establishing an uber-efficient workflow.  Using Voyager, Portal, PAYScan, Procure to Pay, Site Stuff, CHECKscan, and Yardi Energy Solutions, ECI Group’s onsite staff have been able to work faster and smarter by eliminating tasks that used to eat up significant amounts of time in their day, such as making individual orders for site supplies (Site Stuff makes all procurement a snap) and even trips...

Janet Spargur, a quality assurance lead for Yardi System’s Commercial division, has two children of her own, but she’s helped bring many more into this world. Her personal passion for assisting with childbirth as a doula – someone who provides emotional support and encouragement while a new mother is in labor – has led her to become active as a fundraiser and volunteer for birth-related causes. With a professional background as an accountant, Janet made a move to join the Yardi team more than 14 years ago after working as a controller for a property management company. She quickly found that she had a true interest in the company’s products, and enjoyed being part of a team that helped make them run smoothly. “The thing I like best is having being on the edge of what commercial development is doing and being knowledgeable about that. It feels good to have the latest and greatest information,” said the longtime Santa Barbara resident. Though her busy Yardi schedule doesn’t always allow her to pursue support requests from expectant moms, Janet worked to found the Central Coast Doula Association, a resource non-profit for parents that helps connect them with experienced doulas. She was the only area doula asked to join the board of the Santa Barbara Birth Center, an alternative to a hospital environment for childbirth that opened in Fall 2011. The center “targets people who want to have something in between home births and the hospital,” she explained. As a resource for first-time Yardi moms, Janet said she is always happy to answer questions about pregnancy, childbirth, and the variety of options available to parents. “She spent a lot of time with my wife in the months leading up to the delivery and was a great...

With a long history in property management that started in his hometown of New York City, Alex Ruiz of Picerne Real Estate Group is on top of the latest developments in tax credit, project-based Section 8, and public housing agency regulations. Alex was one of the many terrific clients to join us for training at YASC DC this week. He coordinates the use of Yardi products for 128 properties in Picerne’s affordable management division, trains on-site property management staff on how to use Yardi’s systems, and picks up compliance paperwork duty as needed. “It’s an IT job but it’s not really an IT job,” Alex told us. “I get to do a little bit of everything. I visit the properties, interact with the staff, listen to their recommendations, and find out what they want Yardi to do for them. I’m an accountant one day and an IT person the next.” He’s made great use of his former experiences as a property manager, both in New York City and Orlando, in order to better serve his coworkers’ IT needs and implement software and report-writing customizations that allow them to do their jobs more efficiently. “When someone comes with a request or wants to see something in Yardi, I can think the process through from the end user’s perspective,” he said. “And when I do Yardi training, I understand what they go through.  When people come into IT straight out of school, they just know the database side, and not the day to day operations for property management or accounting or finance.” One of his major goals is moving the Picerne properties he works with toward a paperless office, which can be tough when compliance requires so much paper work. Procure to Pay is the next...

After a busy day of training and networking for the nearly 1000 attendees at YASC DC 2012, it was time to relax and socialize a bit at the Washington Hilton on Tuesday night. Attendees enjoyed a buffet of delicious food, cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks, and the company of their fellow YASC attendees. Many chatted and networked before heading out for a great meal at one of the many gourmet restaurants near Dupont Circle. We had the pleasure of meeting many of our great clients and coworkers. All photos by Alina Patel, Yardi Systems photographer. Kerry James and Elizabeth Giles Paul Sherman Richard Goff, Jim Walsh and Samuel Lopez Diane MacAdam, Linda Bradley, Margaret Furman, Steve Huikko, Jennifer Shannon Todd Barthel, Sonia Hamilton and Matt Martin Angel Savers, Carole Casale and Marjorie Spaulding Elizabeth Perez and Adam Cashmore Jeff Hull, Sean Shoemaker and Jerry Long...

Isabella Mitchell’s  outlook on life is simple: One hundred years from now it will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, or how much was in my bank account, but the world may be a little better because I was important to a child. But it’s not just children that Isabella, a mother of two, wants to make a difference with.  She has a passion for creating an experience. As an implementation team lead for residential and condo clients of Yardi based in Glen Head, N.Y., Isabella takes great pride in connecting with clients. “If you can form a relationship with the client it just makes the whole journey better. From the kickoff call till the upgrade to the live team phone call, it should be a Yardi experience:  a professional, friendly, personal experience,” she said. Creating the Yardi experience is second nature to Isabella because Yardi combines all of her favorite things: people, real estate, and computers.  She was first attracted to technology in primary school and later attended St. John’s University, where she earned a degree in computer science.  After college, she spent several years at Dale Carnegie Training (her parents happened to work there as well) in the IT dept.  The experience helped foster Isabella’s love of people and she was able to take some of the management training courses they provided, developing skills that she still uses daily. Born into an Italian family, Isabella’s kids are first generation Americans. Culture and extended family are two vital parts of daily life. On holidays, those priorities move to the forefront.  Christmas Day at the Mitchell house is an event, the same way her mom has always done it. Twenty-two guests enjoy a seven course...

John G. Picerne’s desire to give something back to the military families, many of whom who live in Picerne Military Housing properties, was the impetus behind Our Family for Families First, a non-profit that funds educational scholarships for the children and spouses of U.S. Service Members. The organization was recently feted at the White House after being honored as a winner of the People’s Choice award in the Joining Forces Community Challenge, an effort to celebrate organizations that benefit America’s military families Maria Montalvo, executive director of Our Family for Families First, told us that receiving the award was overwhelming. “It was just fantastic not only to be recognized to but see all these other great organizations that are doing such good work, which I think is one of the best things about the Joining Forces program. It’s identifying a lot of resources that are out there for military families,” Montalvo said. When John Picerne created the Our Family for Families First initiative in 2006, he wanted to do something to impact military families on a very practical level. “It is important to me that we serve the families of our active-duty Service Members, and continue to be active and dedicated members of the communities we live and work in. My daughters, Alexandra and Caroline, and I, are honored to play a small role in helping military family members attain their educational goals,” Picerne wrote on the organization’s website. Montalvo explained that the hope is to support the award recipients both financially and emotionally. The foundation stays in touch with those who receive scholarships both to monitor their academic progress but also to offer support and encouragement. The first class of graduating seniors to receive the awards finished their studies last year and are...

Pam Morrison is a longtime employee and leader at RentGrow, a Yardi subsidiary in Waltham, Mass., who has great passion for her work as RentGrow’s manager of business analytics. She’s an expert on creating custom reports for clients and is excited about further integration of Yardi’s new business intelligence offerings, especially Yardi Orion for Sharepoint with RentGrow’s platform. Outside of the office, Pam has the same commitment to her hometown of Chelmsford, where she grew up and now serves as the Recording Clerk for the town’s Finance Committee. She’s also a dedicated volunteer for the Chelmsford Women of Today, which supports education, service and fundraising projects on behalf of all kinds of causes and local organizations. The Chelmsford Women are a division of United States Women of Today, which advocates leadership, personal growth and community service for by its members. Pam has recently helped make quilts for pediatric patients, urged grocery shoppers to purchase a donation for the local food bank, picked out Easter baskets for children affected by domestic violence, and bowled in a fundraiser for a battered women’s shelter. (She was a collegiate bowler at the University of Massachusetts, where she studied technical communications.) The Chelmsford Women also supply the local fire and police departments with stuffed animals that they can give to children who might be affected by one of their service calls. And they purchase and deliver Mother’s Day gifts to the women living in a local battered women’s shelter. “It’s been a big part of my life for many years. I’m extremely involved with the community through that, and I’ve made a lot of friends that I otherwise would never have met,” Pam told us. A rural community of 30,000 where preserving open space is important to residents, Chelmsford...

Yardi Systems’ Raleigh, N.C. team let their artistic sides loose last Friday to create temporary murals in one of their office conference rooms. The interim installation of cool employee-painted art, which will stay up during an office expansion, resulted in a variety of cool colorful murals. Here’s one of the most artistic from the Commercial team. Looks like they have great creative skills in addition to real estate technology know how!...

Yardi Systems’ philanthropic efforts take on many forms, from monetary donations to employee-powered efforts to benefit and serve their communities. Sometimes the contributions are a combination of both. One of the most impressive food drives conducted at Yardi’s offices is the collection made on behalf of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. Each year, employees in our Raleigh office surpass the amount of donations they collected the year before. In 2011, 4,000 pounds of food were collected. They’re urged on by Rose Heibert, a team member with particular personal passion for the cause. Yardi also contributed a $10,000 general operating fund donation last year. With food and the grant, Yardi has provided 45,868 meals to the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina to date.  Employees from Yardi’s Raleigh office also donate their free time as Food Bank volunteers.  Volunteer jobs include sorting food, packaging bulk items into distributable packets, administrative tasks and much more. The Food Bank of CENC has seen large growth in the need for its services over the last three years, and that need exists year round. Last year the organization distributed 42.7 million pounds of food.  Serving 34 counties, donations are distributed from the central food bank to more than 800 partner agencies such as soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, and programs for children and adults through warehouses in Durham, Greenville, New Bern, Raleigh, the Sandhills (Southern Pines) and Wilmington. Within the Food Bank CENC’s service area, approximately 545,000 people are at risk for hunger, meaning that they “may or may not know where their next meal is coming from,” said Jennifer M. Caslin, coordinator of marketing, public and branch relations for the Food Bank. Of that population, 34 percent of those who may be...

Joanne Massey is the controller for Sundance Square, the renowned Fort Worth property management firm owned by the Bass family that controls 35 city blocks of the city’s downtown core, including numerous historic buildings, and is considered one of America’s most successful urban revitalization efforts.  But her interest in cool stuff from the past doesn’t end when she leaves the office. In her free time, Joanne and her husband Robert enjoy shooting vintage lever action guns – “the kind that cowboys used to shoot” – in Cowboy Silhouette competitions. She’s reached the AAA level in many of the competition categories, which is no surprise when you learn that she’s a former national-caliber archery athlete. She got into Cowboy Silhouette after reconnecting with her husband, a college sweetheart whom she married four years ago. He was attending competitive rifle and shotgun events, so she tagged along. The Omaha native is also an avid golfer who hits the course several times a month. “I won’t go and just sit, that’s too boring,” she told us. While attending college at Texas Christian University, she was the top female collegiate archer in the state of Texas, and ranked in the top 10 nationally. Though the U.S. team selection process for the 1980 Olympic Games didn’t go in her favor, she has fond memories of her archery days. Joanne is also right on target with her career at Sundance Square, where she rose up through the Bass corporate accounting office to head up the accounting team for Sundance and oversee numerous major software transitions. Her team initially ran two high-rise office towers, then merged with another Bass-owned operation to form Sundance Square that oversees all of the downtown properties. She loves her job. “Being in a property management office,...

Julie Bradley is known for her efforts to deliver great customer service to her Yardi Voyager clients, who rave about her custom reports and willingness to go the extra mile. But there are a lot of things they might not know about Julie – like her status as a member of MENSA, that she’s a math whiz who loves hard number puzzles, and that she named two of her three sons after Alice Cooper. Oh, and she also collects whisks (that’s right, those things you use to beat an egg) and has a tattoo of a dragonfly on her ankle. Who said math majors are boring? Julie worked for CTI for 11 years before coming on board with Yardi nearly two years ago. She’s a team lead for Client Services based in Dallas, Texas. “I love the challenges and working with the data, and I love writing reports and getting in and looking at things behind the scenes to figure out problems” Julie told us. She also likes helping her clients with problem-solving and producing the results they are hoping for. Julie holds a degree in mathematics from North Texas State University and has always loved the logical aspect of math with its absolute results. She loved logic puzzles as a kid and today can spend hours playing a game called Kakuro, a Japanese logic puzzle that’s considered the “mathematical transliteration of the crossword,” according to Wikipedia. Some of the puzzles can take days to solve. Her MENSA status is directly tied to her love of math and puzzles as well. “I wouldn’t say I’m an active member, but a few years ago I wanted to challenge myself to see if I could pass their test. The test consists of a lot of logic...

The wishes range from the simple – “I wish to have a PlayStation 2,” one little boy requested – to the unusual – “I wish to receive a blessing from the Pope,” asked another.  But both were granted, thanks to the efforts of the Make a Wish Foundation of Georgia and Alabama. Make a Wish, a national organization with chapters around the country, is supported by Yardi Systems as part of our corporate philanthropy program.  Helping sick kids realize some of their wildest dreams is the organization’s mission. “There are parents who tell us they hadn’t seen their child smile until they got their wish,” said Jill Thornton, Director of Development for Individual Giving.  “We have children who wouldn’t eat, and after they got their wish they were able to start eating again.” The wish recipients are usually struggling with chronic, sometimes terminal illnesses. “When these children are granted a wish, they get more than just a great experience for a day, two days or a week.  That special wish improves the quality of life for them and their families.  It gives them hope, strength and joy during a very difficult and challenging time,” explained John J. Brennan,  CEO of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Georgia and Alabama. Yardi has donated over $35,000 to the organization over the last three years. “On behalf of all our “Wish” children and their families, as well as our volunteers and staff, I thank and applaud Yardi for making such a vital and far-reaching difference in the lives of our Make-A-Wish children, year after year!”  Brennan said. See some of the touching stories of the wishes granted by the organization recently on their website. Below, read about a wish that was granted for a 10-year-old girl named Jessa. Yardi...

Lucy Billingsley’s distinguished career in real estate development ranks her among the nation’s leading female industry executives.  In the fourth decade of her career, she maintains great passion for the next project to command her attention. “My favorite deal is always the next one,” she told us during a recent interview. Billingsley Company, the Dallas-based company with land, office space, industrial, retail, single-family, multi-family, mixed-use and master-planned developments that she and her husband Henry founded in 1978, is flourishing. New phases of 10,000 unit master-planned rental communities The Neighborhoods of Austin Ranch and Cypress Waters are currently underway, and Billingsley is excited about changing the face of the multifamily experience. The company is also expanding its office and industrial holdings. Billingsley also devotes much of her time and energy to charitable work, and her philanthropy has included The Chiapas Project, Grameen Foundation USA, Women for Women International, National Geographic Society Council of Advisors, World Affairs Council (Dallas), Brain and Creativity Institute at USC, Council of Foreign Relations, The Hockaday School, and The Hunter and Stephanie Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity Advisory Board. In a short conversation, she filled us in on few views of the current marketplace, how she chooses philanthropic causes, and the lessons that her father, famed developer Trammel Crow, imparted to her. TBS: It’s been a challenging climate for real estate sales, investment and development over the last several years, although Texas come through the down economy very strongly. What do you see as the most pivotal focal points for property executives as the financial climate nationally continues to improve? LB: I think the multifamily world is a world that has made a significant and permanent shift in its role in America today – the shift is because the American...

John Caputo has a life mantra that encapsulates his multi-tasking, many faceted work personality. It’s “those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it!” A medal-worthy multi-tasker, John is a talented IT professional with a big heart, diverse job history, and amazing love for his family.  He recently ran his first 5K to benefit his children’s school and takes care of all the IT needs for Yardi’s offices in Glen Head, N.Y., as well as for the New York-based Property Shark, Multi-Housing News and Commercial Property Executive teams. Before finding his calling as an IT professional, John held a variety of jobs of all kinds. He managed a Manhattan pizzeria, delivered auto parts while attending trade school, worked in a bank and was a DJ. But the worst gig he ever had was working for his dad’s garbage company in Brooklyn. The work day began at 8 p.m. and ended at 2 a.m., the neighborhood was rough and the garbage – well, you can imagine. “It was a bad section of town, and I’m not even going to go into detail about what we picked up,” he recalled. But he stuck it out for four years, when his father sold the company and encouraged his son to pursue a professional job. John had tinkered around with computers since his teen years, and heard about a networking education program that led to his current career. At work, everyone knows John as the guy who can fix everything – and we’re not just talking about computers. He gets asked to work on iPhones and cars, too. And the requests don’t end after he leaves the office; his neighbors rely on John for IT support as well. He tries to accommodate...

When John Edwards and his wife, Darcy, moved to Salt Lake City, they only expected to stay for a year.  That was more than 20 years ago. Today, John oversees the installation and support of Yardi Property Management software for all of the properties of Cottonwood Capital, a Utah-based real estate and investment company. John’s journey to his current position in technology management was an unexpected one as well. When he and Darcy moved to Utah so she could pursue her nursing career, John took what he expected to be a temporary job as a bookkeeper/accountant for a Salt Lake City apartment complex. “The plan was to stay for just a year. 15 years later, I was still there,” he told us in a recent interview. The management company of the complex was Nevins Adams Lewbel Schell (NALS), and John ended up trying a variety of on-site jobs, including leasing agent and property manager, before falling into an unexpected role as a training expert on Yardi’s computer programs. His natural affinity for computers and learning new things made him a perfect fit, and he even overcame a fear of public speaking as a result. John received his CAM Certification (Certified Apartment Manager) from the National Apartment Association in 1997. Five years ago, he accepted a position at Cottonwood Capital, where he oversees all of the company’s Yardi needs. More than 100 property managers will attend a company retreat later this month, where John will revisit that previous role he enjoyed, training on-site personnel. Cottonwood’s management portfolio now includes 110 residential properties, a more than 10-fold increase from five years ago. “I just love learning new things, working with the managers and helping the managers succeed,” he said. Many of Cottonwood’s management-level staff have worked...

Vesna Uljarevic’s outlook on how to best approach life’s difficult moments is simple: You should not get upset about things that you cannot control. But the story behind how the Toronto-based technical account manager for Yardi came to have that perspective is a true drama. A native of Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina that was under siege for four years during the Bosnian War, Vesna and her husband Velimir moved to Canada as refugees after fleeing their birth country during the war. Initially, they did not want to leave. But the danger of living in close proximity to bombs and sniper attacks, and no foreseeable conclusion to the conflict, gave them no choice. Velimir left first, to avoid being conscripted into the fight, and Vesna followed several months later in a harrowing escape on foot, and then hitchhiked her way to Croatia. It has been reported that 11,541 people lost their lives during the siege, which was the longest in the history of modern warfare. The Uljarevics lived in Croatia for several years, but jobs were near-impossible to come by. In 1996 the couple applied for a Canadian program that accepted immigrants from war-torn nations as refugees. “When we were accepted it was the best day of my life,” Vesna told us. The program included plane tickets to Toronto (which the refugees must later repay), assistance with housing and food for the first year of residency, and English as a Second Language classes. A work-experience program led to her first job in Canada at a corporate office for United Colors of Benetton, the clothing retailer. She then had a data entry job, and decided that she really wanted to learn more about how software worked behind the front-end user interface. When...

Montie Rouze has had a long and distinguished career as an information technology expert, systems manager and implementation specialist. But she’s also been recognized for a significant contribution to her hometown of Fort Worth, Texas. In 2010, Montie was named Volunteer of the Year for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Texas. Along with her son Cameron, now a 22-year-old college student, she mentors a boy named Erick as part of the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. They became involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters with the support of Montie’s employer, Crescent Real Estate. The company’s Faces of Change program devotes itself to getting employees into community service. Unlike many mentorship partnerings, which can end after one to two years, Montie and Cameron are still active in Erick’s life, more than five years after they first met. Erick, a third grader when the Rouzes’ became involved in his life, will enter high school next year. “It’s been really good for Erick, and he has seen Cameron grow up, graduate from high school and go on to college,” Montie said. “He idolizes Cameron.” Cameron Rouze is now in his fifth year of a landscape architecture program at Oklahoma State University. He visits his “little brother” whenever he’s home in Texas for vacation or school breaks. Doing good things in the community is a natural fit for Montie, who has three grown kids with her husband, Don, and maintained a focused career path in information technology while her children were growing up. She told us that support for working mothers by her previous employer, Trammell Crow Company, made a big difference. She worked for Trammell Crow from 1984 to 1994, and later started her own consulting company, which she ran for 10 years. Trammell Crow Company supported...

William Lluberes has worked in international trade in Chile, had a career in the information technology field, and now makes his living as a New York City property manager, one of the most eclectic real estate jobs known to man. Self-described as someone who “gets bored easily,” William seems to have found one type of work that will never allow that to happen. The world of New York City real estate, and its subregion of apartment leasing, has too much complexity, ongoing change and nuance. New York’s run-and-gun rental climate of low vacancies, tiny apartments and cutthroat pricing is famous around the globe, but the recent economic downturn had major impact on leasing realities for property managers, William told us.     Here are some of the insights he shared from the trenches: -Renters in the city have become more frugal with their hard-earned dollars, and they’re now willing to commute a bit (up to 30 minutes) to get to jobs in Manhattan. Fed up with prices, entry level workers are willing to consider neighborhoods like Queens or Long Island City where they might be able to get a 750 square foot unit for around $1600, vs. a 400 square shoebox for $2225 downtown. -Specials and renovated buildings are easier to come by. Property owners, realizing the market has become more competitive, are often undergoing piecemeal renovations of properties with fixtures older than 15-20 years and updating with granite countertops, stainless kitchen appliances, faux cherry wood and more. 13-month leases with one month free at signing are also becoming more common, William said. -Foreign capital. The highest end apartment units in Manhattan and elsewhere, upwards of $2500 a month, are often being rented to visitors and relocated residents from Europe and Asia, he observed,...