What if you could help to end family homelessness? Not just through a single meal or a temporary residence but through a life-changing and habit-altering program for determined adults? Yardi employees in San Diego were able to do just that by volunteering with Solutions for Change. Vista, California is home to Solutions for Change, one of the nation’s only full service programs to end homelessness. To date, the organization has empowered 850 families in the San Diego area including 2,200 children. Solutions University is the key to the program’s long-term success. The university integrates affordable housing, job training, education, and wellness services. Participants work, pay rent, and attend educational classes that reinforce self-sufficiency. In about 1,000 days, participants can complete the program and emerge ready to end homelessness in their families for good. It is an empowering and effective program that has changed lives since 1999. Yardi participated in a home preparation project for Solutions University graduates. Before the official on-site project, Yardi San Diego team members prepared by collecting donations of much needed items. Cleaning supplies composed most of the donations as well as gift cards for additional home supplies. Team members also donated gift cards for the residents that would allow them to better equip their new apartments. For the on-site event, Yardi employees Melissa Krautwald, Larry Galang, Karen Detmar, Kathy Bretado, Tyler Dalsted, Louie Arzaga, Melissa Krautwald, Jeremy Hoover and Dave Chmelka volunteered. The team helped to “turn units” in preparation for two Solutions University families. Volunteers scrubbed bathrooms, mopped floors, and cleaned windows, walls, doors and door jams. Solutions for Change provided new dishware that the volunteers cleaned and stored. The units went from drab to fab in about three hours. “It was powerful to see some of the families that...

Peter Altobelli, vice president of sales and general manager of Yardi Canada Ltd., recently spoke at the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA) Conference. The social housing conference attracted more than 1,100 delegates including housing staff, board members and tenants from across the province, as well as service managers and government officials. Altobelli presented to a packed room and focused on the effects of automating property maintenance in the social housing industry. “Let’s face it. Keeping properties well maintained requires a lot of effort and capital resources. It also impacts the satisfaction of residents and staff. We’ve found that automating property maintenance can help housing providers cut facility management costs, save time and make life easier for everyone involved,” Altobelli said.. Three case studies helped illustrate how social housing organizations made property maintenance services more effective and efficient with  technology. The three organizations profiled during the presentation were Renfrew County Housing Corporation (Renfrew), Cochrane District Social Service Administrative Board (CDSSAB) and Lanark County Housing Corporation (LCHC). Renfrew County Housing Corporation manages housing in the largest (geographically) county in Ontario with nearly 3,000 square miles of land. With 15 staff to manage such a vast area, Renfrew was challenged with timely communication and manual processes. Prior to the adoption of technology for their maintenance management, staff relied on faxed documents and manual data entry into a desktop computer. The service team were required to commute to the offices to pick up work orders, which further ate into the lead time of each service request. Renfrew gained efficiency and connectivity with mobile solutions from Yardi. They improved customer service and made it easier for staff to identify high-priority repairs that needed immediate attention. Moreover, technology has helped Renfrew make their management more insightful and effective through complete...

Commercial building owners, tenants and brokers need the right tools to incorporate energy efficiency into leases.  A program called Green Lease Leaders stands ready to provide them. Green Lease Leaders helps real estate practitioners create leases that promote collaboration on investments such as high-efficiency rooftop air handling units, lighting retrofits, water irrigation upgrades and solar panels. The program was the subject of a recent webinar, “How to Become a Green Lease Leader: The Latest in High-Performance Leasing Practices and Recognition.”  Presenters included Holly Carr, a Department of Energy technology program specialist, Sara Neff, senior vice president of sustainability for Yardi client Kilroy Realty Corporation, and Alexandra Harry, program manager, market engagement for the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT). Green Lease Leaders was developed in 2014 by IMT, a Washington, D.C. nonprofit and the webinar’s host, with support from the Energy Department’s Better Buildings Alliance.  IMT works to unlock building energy efficiency that it says could save the U.S. office market $3.3 billion annually and cut energy consumption by 22% in leased buildings. The program currently includes landlords, tenants and brokers who represent 1.3 billion square feet of commercial, industrial and retail space. “Tenants and landlords share an obligation to understand how much energy their buildings use and jointly share the cost of upgrades as well as the resulting maintenance savings and best practices,” Carr said. “Benefits of green leasing include reducing utility bills by up to 51 cents per square foot, increased net operating income, reduced occupancy costs, increased occupant satisfaction, fewer greenhouse gas emissions and improved landlord-tenant communication and relationships.” Along with defining new best practices for energy efficiency in buildings, the program also offers participants technical support, peer networking opportunities, tools for comparing current leases to Green Lease Leaders standards and other...

When Yardi employee Isabella Mitchell read our original story on Yardi Vasti Vikas Prakalp (YVVP), she pondered ways to get involved with health and sanitation efforts in impoverished in Pune, India. Months later, she and her daughter received the opportunity of a lifetime. Isabella’s daughter, Angelina Mitchell, is a registered EMT and pre-med major at Binghamton University.  Angelina wanted to volunteer abroad and felt called to support Vasti Vikas Prakalp as well. When her mother received a work assignment in Pune, Angelina asked to join her on the trip. While Isabella worked, Bharati Kotwal, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at Yardi in Pune, helped Angelina find ways to get involved. The college student toured several clinics and hospitals with doctors via YVVP. The doctors serve at special sites that offer care free of charge. Angelina focused on programs that assist women and children. “Dr. Genesh showed me one of the mobile clinics that bring the services to the women and children who are not able to travel. These clinics have a doctor on staff that does free check ups and provides the women of Pune with the appropriate contraceptives. This clinic sees about 50 patients a day, 21 days out of every month,” said Angelina. At District Hospital, Dr. Ashwin leads a unique two-week program to prevent and treat malnourishment. Mothers are educated on proper nutrition for their children. Their malnourished children are simultaneously treated with a soft mixture of natural foods to restore health. The mothers receive a small stipend to offset their time in the program away from their families and work. Poor nutrition and early, frequent motherhood contributes to low iron level in local young women. Angelina learned that a lack of footwear exacerbates malnutrition and anemia. Hookworm infects already vulnerable...

LONDON – Technology has changed all our lives so fundamentally in recent years that it is sometimes difficult to look back to an era when things were done differently. Today’s normality was, just a short time ago, unthinkable. Banking is a good example. Today, we take it for granted that we can access our accounts at any time and transfer money and pay bills quickly and cheaply. The chequebook is still available for those who need it, but it won’t be long before they too are consigned to history. Then take taxis. While in London at least, using a cab was once the preserve of those with substantial salaries – or travelling at somebody else’s expense – now the rise of Uber and others means that getting a ride home is a real option for many people. Property has, of course, been slow to embrace the benefits that digital technology can bring – one estimate is that the industry is around 20 years behind financial services – but that is starting to change and at pace. Just a few years ago, if the property press mentioned technology at all, it was to reference the influence of the likes of Rightmove or Zoopla. Today the phenomenon has its own name: proptech. A lot of attention has been paid to how proptech is disrupting the industry, most notably through big data potentially making the role played by many agents redundant. That is obviously a cause for concern and the introduction of new ways of working will obviously have to be done with care and compassion. But proptech also has the potential to bring huge benefits to both property companies and their consumers – and without the need for anyone to lose their jobs. In no sector...

These days, most of us own a smartphone or even several. Smartphone manufacturers have also worked their best to bring near premium design and specs to budget devices. Yet, every now and then, the industry surfaces some device with a ridiculous price boasting marketing names such as “the most luxurious technology” and you’re just wondering who on this planet would buy it and most importantly, why. The latest—Lamborghini Alpha One—can be yours for $2,450. It’s sort of obvious that a smartphone delivered by a luxury carmaker like Lamborghini will undoubtedly come with a premium price, but is it really worth the money? The Android device features a “liquid metal” frame, “Italian handmade black leather” and the company’s ‘Raging Bull’ logo, the symbol of “strength, courage, determination and boldness.” The liquid metal is used in the device’s side frame and it’s basically an alloy often used in supercars, premium golf clubs and surgery tools thanks to its high strength, corrosion resistance, light weight (still, the device weighs 200 grams, above the 188 grams of the iPhone 7 Plus) and malleability. But this is where the premium features stop. The ‘supersmartphone’s feature set is not as impressive as its luxurious exterior: a 5.5-inch WQHD, 2560×1440 display with Gorilla protection, powered by a two-year old Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor and 4GB of RAM with 64GB of storage, expandable up to 128GB. (Note: there are already on the market devices with 256GB capacity.) The Alpha One runs on Android Nougat and sees through a 20-megapixel rear-facing camera with f/1.8 aperture and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera with f/2.2 aperture, 4K video recording, optical image stabilizer and electronic image stabilization. It also offers dual SIM support. The Italian device features a DOLBY ATMOS dual-speaker 3D acoustics system optimized for mobile...

As the popularity of Artificial Intelligence is on the rise and corporate giants such as Google, Microsoft, and Apple are racing to develop the best commercial AI product, the focus has shifted from humans being more intelligent like machines, to developing machines to act more like humans. This past July, Amazon acquired a Santa Barbara startup called Graphiq, previously known as FindTheBest, for an estimated 50 million dollars in hopes of using the company’s data analysis and search engine technology to make their digital AI assistant, named Alexa, even smarter. Alexa was first implemented in 2014 with the introduction of Amazon’s Echo, but has come a long way since then by developing complexity that far surpasses its competitors such as Apple’s Siri or Google Assistant. The reason why Alexa has become such an advanced AI is due to the integrations that were built into the voice-controlled platform. For example, users can apply a skill to Alexa, which allows the AI to do various actions such as setting the oven temperature or turn on lights in your home with a simple command. There are currently about 250 or more products offered on Amazon.com that can be integrated with Alexa skills, but there are over 4,000 other products from other manufacturers that can also include the function. Smart Cars get Smarter In addition, Alexa’s API, or application program interface, allows it to integrate seamlessly into the automotive industry. Just recently, Amazon has already created partnerships with automotive manufacturers such as BMW, Hyundai, and Ford. While each car manufacturer will vary in how they will integrate Alexa into their product designs, the voice controlled command system that Alexa offers would remain the same across all manufacturers. For example, simple commands such as opening the car trunk, or...

Part two of a two-part feature. Read the first article. In 2014, real estate technology provider Yardi established The Yardi Foundation, which supports nonprofit organizations that are located near the company’s offices around the world. Yardi opted for a two-tier CSR model, dividing a seven-figure donation between them: one tier supports several small-scale projects. Yardi designates a sum for every office of more than 50 employees. The grants are allotted to local organizations that are nominated by employees and approved by peer committees. The second tier takes on an international challenge. Yardi launched Yardi Vasti Vikas Prakalp (YVVP) in Pune, India in 2006. It is one of Yardi’s largest CSR programs to date, providing financial support to 17 local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs). All partnering entities serve some of India’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods. Gordon Morrell, Executive Vice President, Yardi, works closely with The Yardi Foundation. “Our work there is focused within the urban poor communities that are just a short distance from the office. These projects include cleaning shared toilet blocks to improve sanitation, working in local schools and preschools, providing vocational training for young people, and funding a mobile medical unit specifically for women’s health issues. Some of the work is conducted by NGOs; in addition, Yardi has hired social workers to provide direct services in many of the areas,” Morrell said. Yardi uses multiple measures of success including impact surveys and reports directly from the NGOs and CBOs. As of 2016, YVVP provided health care services for 120,000 women and children; 500 sanitation units for poor urban communities; and career services for 1,480 teens and young adults. “We got involved in CSR because we simply wanted to give back to the communities that have supported our business and our...

Just in time for the holidays, Sony has resurrected the robot pet it removed from shelves in 2006. This new model is called aibo, which stands for Artificial Intelligence robot. Aibo is also the Japanese word for “companion” or “friend.” The new model (no. ERS-1000) develops from a newborn puppy to an adult with personality shaped by the interaction with its owners and surroundings, thanks to the latest AI technology. This ability to form an emotional bond with members of the family makes each aibo unique, so no two will be the same. The new puppy’s rounded appearance makes it pretty irresistible. Sony has spent quite a bit on animation. That being said, I am personally a bit skeptical about how it feels to pet a piece of plastic, even though it’s premium plastic. The pup has the capacity of expressing its love for its owners through lifelike expressions and a dynamic array of movements, but it does make one wonder—is this the future of pets? The robot pet has a behavioral repertoire more limited than that of the least bright dog, but an aibo doesn’t need you to feed it (technically, it does when you charge it), doesn’t wake you up at 5am to take it out in the pouring rain and will never make a mess inside your home. Aibo’s ‘fur’ is ivory-white, and it has cute flapping black ears and a wagging tail. It’s about 30-centimeters long and comes with a package of sensors on the head, chin and back for pet detection, two cameras, four microphones for voice commands and internet connectivity, as well as the earlier mentioned upgraded AI backed by cloud computing to develop the dog’s personality. The advantages of deep learning and AI tricks help it to...

Yardi, a global provider of real estate technology, was proud to accept the Property Management Software Provider of the Year award at the recent Property Week All-Star Management Awards, which took place at the Grosvenor Hotel in London on the 3rd of November. The Property Week Management All-Stars Awards are held annually and celebrate excellence across all segments of the management of real estate – from AST and block residential, multi-occupier office and retail, to industrial and logistics. Property Week is the leading news magazine in the commercial and residential property market. Packed with news, features, opinion and analysis, Property Week keeps readers fully briefed on all the latest information from the industry, including major property deals, development opportunities and investment prospects. Martin Betts, Yardi sales director for the UK & Ireland, was on hand to collect the award recognising the company as Property Management Software Provider of the Year. “We are thrilled to have won this award and believe it reflects our continued commitment to providing innovative solutions focused on enhancing the customer experience and optimizing our clients front and back-office operations,” said Neal Gemassmer, vice president, international for Yardi. “We continue to actively invest in growing the suite of solutions that we provide to the rapidly growing residential ‘build to rent’ sector, as well as staying focused on investment, asset and property management solutions for the commercial market.” Yardi would also like to congratulate several clients that received awards during the evening, including LIV Group, awarded the BTR/PRS Operator of the Year, and GVA, which was named Property Financial Advisory of the...

When was the last time that you hopped on a bike and cycled nearly 51 miles? Team members  from the Yardi office in Sydney recently completed the 82km bike ride fundraiser, MS Sydney to the Gong. The course traces the southeastern coast of Australia, from bustling Sydney to beautiful Wollongong. The feat of endurance and passion raised funds for those living with multiple sclerosis. Graeme Pearse, Shaunak Kelkar, Zane George, Charobelle Campos and Chris Mumford were among the Yardi representatives. Most of them were cycling novices. “Before getting to the event, it’s important to note that we are novice riders, amateur at best,” shares Mumford. “Some of the team didn’t even own a bike when I first sent an email out to see who was interested. But a bit of training together gave the necessary confidence that we could do the distance.” The iconic race is worth the effort. About 10,000 cyclists get the opportunity to tour spectacular coastline south of The Harbour City. Most importantly, they are able to raise money for a debilitating illness that affects more than 23,000 Aussies. With compassion in their hearts and training as their foundation, the Yardi team prepared to overcome the odds. The odds weren’t favorable. At 7:30am, the Yardi team congregated near the start line, close to the back of the pack along with other beginners. The cyclists, amateurs and professionals, huddled against the cold rain which would last for long periods throughout the ride. Mumford says, “That said, the mood was upbeat with everyone excited about the challenge ahead and being part of something big and knowing this was raising money to a very worthwhile cause. The start, finish and route throughout was lined with many people cheering us on and many of those were living with...

A savvy group of marketers joined us for learning, networking and fun at the bi-annual Yardi Marketing Forum (YMF) in Baltimore last week. During the event, attendees explored the latest trends in digital marketing, tips and tricks to optimize outcomes, and real estate technology. As noted by Esther Bonardi, Yardi vice president of marketing, the event is “all about helping you tap into your inner marketing genius.” Here are some of the top digital marketing themes covered: Get in touch with your audience As marketers, we’ve traditionally divvied up our target audiences by demographic information. In today’s noisy digital landscape, we need to meet our customers where they’re at. Speakers Brad Downs, vice president of marketing for the Baltimore Ravens, and Brad Batesole, staff author at LinkedIn, shared strategies to better reach target audiences. Drawing from his fifteen years of experience in sports marketing, Downs stressed the importance of moving from brand first to fan first. “It’s that fan first mentality. Our fans are incredibly important to us. Fans want to feel as important as they are,” he said. By focusing on fans first, opportunities to engage and foster fandom become easier to identify. Downs demonstrated that life stage marketing goes beyond traditional demographic segmentation, resulting in better customer experiences, tailored events and increased engagement. For the Ravens, life stage segmentation resulted in targeted fan development campaigns focused around women and adolescents. This included Purple, a community building initiative to cultivate the female fan base, and RISE, a football outreach program for local children and high schoolers in emerging Ravens strongholds. Life stage segmentation helped draw 130,000 fans to Ravens marketing events,  development of an international audience, and an average attendance of 71,000 people at each home game. At Wednesday’s marketing master class, Batesole...

Junior League is a woman-operated nonprofit organization that is committed to developing the potential of women, promoting volunteerism, and community improvement. Junior League of Santa Barbara (JLSB), founded in 1924, continues the tradition of leadership and service in the central coast. Several Yardi team members are involved with LSB including Tori Fisher, Sustainer Melanie Calbow, and Kelly Johnson. Johnson has been with the organization for four years. “I joined JLSB because I have always had a passion for volunteering and wanted to find more ways to become involved with the community,” says Johnson. “Through trainings, I have learned to excel in a variety of areas outside of my current job role and am learning to be a better leader.” She adds, “While the international Junior League was first founded in 1901, I think it is more relevant today than ever before.  Our mission remains the same: promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.” “We work towards making lasting improvements in the community, just as women did in the early 1900s,” Johnson continues. “Too often we hear about all of the negatives in the world and we need people coming together to make changes for the better.” The organization continues to be a positive force in the community. In 2016, JLSB raised more than $100,000 for local causes. Additionally, the Focus Area Committee at JLSB undertakes extensive research to select a Signature Project, the nonprofit’s most ambitious community service endeavor. One project can take several years. JLSB took on the renovation of Eastside Library as a former Signature Project. Phase one gave the teen space a modern and appealing update. Phase two transformed the basement of the library to a bright, fun, and welcoming space...

Yardi celebrated the 40th anniversary of Property Council of Australia’s “Property Congress,” a premier event for the Australian real estate industry. Yardi held its accustomed place as Principal Sponsor of the event, which took place in Cairns, Queensland. Several senior members of the Yardi Australia team attended, including Mark Heaney (project manager), Kelvin Manual (regional manager), Nina Feldman (marketing manager), and Terry Gowan (regional director for Australia and New Zealand). Kicking off the event with some fun, Yardi hosted the nautically themed “Welcome Aboard” party on the conference’s first night, welcoming more than 700 industry thought leaders, trendsetters and other experts from all property sectors. Yardi also sponsored a coffee station at the event, keeping delegates and speakers energised. With thought leaders from a broad cross section of the industry presenting, sessions at The Property Congress included: A “View from the Top,” a panel of real estate leaders David Harrison of Charter Hall, Louise Mason of AMP Capital, Steve Leigh of QIC Global Real Estate, Greg Paramor of Folekstone and Caroly Viney of Vicinity Centres. They reported a positive outlook for the retail, commercial and residential sectors, which show strong growth trends despite fears of competition from online retailers. Their message was one of confidence for the year ahead and the real estate landscape in Australia. “Cities for Everyone,” which examined how data from social media, online retail apps and other sources can be used to shape the activities, and therefore the character, of a city. Describing how important live, ongoing information is to creating “Cities for Everyone” for those who work and live in cities, the session provided a fascinating insight into how data can directly shape cities and lives. A presentation by Peta Credlin, Sky News host and News Corp national columnist,...

Automakers have been hard at work, developing ideas for the cars of the future, but in order for the new vehicles to have a future, a proper infrastructure needs to be designed and put into place. The battery industry is in full swing with more and more scientists getting involved into the development of bigger and better ones, but regardless of their capacity, they all need to be recharged. This means that charging stations need to spring in at least as many locations as the conventional gas stations. Sortimo, a German company headquartered in Berlin, unveiled plans of what’s to become the largest electric vehicle fast-charging station in the world—the Sortimo Innovationspark Zusmarshausen. The project will be located along Germany’s six-lane A8 highway, in the industrial area in Bavarian-Swabia, between Ulm and Augsburg, in close proximity to Tesla’s Supercharger in Jettingen-Scheppach. The electric vehicle (EV) fast-charging station will consist of 144 charging ports, which will allow for more than 4,000 cars to be refilled with energy on a daily basis. Of the planned charging columns, 24 are to be superfast chargers, with a charging capacity of record-breaking 350 kilowatts, meaning that a vehicle battery can be replenished in only a few minutes. Tesla’s ‘Superchargers’ currently stop at about 150 kilowatts, but even though this is more than what today’s car batteries can handle, the company is convinced that both battery capacities and the need for charging infrastructure are growing at a significant pace. Moreover, the Innovationspark will feature offices, shopping and dining areas, serving those who stop to recharge their vehicles. The images accompanying the announcement reveal that the planned station will be topped with green roofs, emphasizing on the development’s care for nature and awareness for the environment. The massive charging station will...

Submitting an application for affordable housing is a daunting challenge. Tax returns, paycheck stubs and bank statements are just the beginning of what applicants must provide to qualify for a unit. Proof of eligibility for housing assistance is a must since public funds often support rents below market rate. Federal, state and local housing agencies have policies and procedures in place that ensure affordable housing resources only serve qualified residents. In the past, affordable housing providers kept files with thick stacks of paper as proof of each resident’s eligibility status. Providers also keep similar files for denied applicants to document why a household was determined ineligible for housing assistance. Affordable housing providers are taking a modern approach to minimize paperwork and staff hours necessary to qualify residents. With online applications, providers are not only saving administrative costs, but also better documenting their resident files and boosting compliance with fair housing regulations. Rather than handing applicants a stack of forms to fill out, housing specialists can now direct applicants to an online portal to submit everything needed to qualify for a unit. RentCafe Affordable Housing from Yardi makes this possible, and it’s becoming more and more common throughout the industry. Just how big is the RentCafe Affordable Housing trend? More than 100,000 housing applications have been created online since the product launched in 2016. That’s more than 6,000 per month, and the numbers are growing every day. “Affordable housing applications have evolved from cumbersome, paper-based hassles into easy, online workflows. Applicants can submit documentation from their home computer or mobile device. That freedom saves applicants from taking time off work to come into the office for a lengthy in-person interview,” said Dave Kessler, vice president of affordable housing and PHA at Yardi. “If you consider...

Five years ago this month, Yardi eLearning was officially launched to the world. Like every successful software product, there is an interesting back story to Yardi’s online staff training management solution. Did you know that Yardi eLearning was originally conceived as part of a MBA thesis by a Yardi employee? Yves Hajjar came to Yardi in 2011, and at the time was working on his MBA. Read Yves’ story here. Patty Evans, manager of training for Yardi, heard of Yves’ masters project shortly after his arrival at Yardi. The two quickly teamed up and began to design what eventually became Yardi eLearning. “I read the press release announcing a new real estate training service we were offering at Yardi. That announcement inspired me to consider how we could create an online learning platform for our clients and staff. Simultaneously, Yves was pitching his masters project to Yardi management as a potential client-facing product for learning management. We quickly connected with each other, and the rest is history,” said Evans. For months, Patty and Yves worked on creating a functional learning management system. Yves focused on redesigning the product’s framework and interface. Patty worked evenings and weekends on the first set of courses. Those courses were eventually launched in October 2012 as Simpson Housing used Yardi eLearning to train employees during their launch of Yardi Voyager. “Simpson was a great experience for us. Their employees and properties are spread across four regions. Yardi eLearning helped Simpson Housing deliver standardized training through a single online interface without the trouble and travel costs of hosting onsite classroom sessions in multiple areas,” said Evans. Over the past five years, Yardi eLearning has grown significantly in number of daily active users, markets supported and number of courses offered. Yardi...

Jessica Krisher, Director of Affordable Housing CSD at Yardi, creates tiny blue “A-Team Flags” by hand. Traditionally, support team members that completed compliance and subsidy certifications received the flags. When they had a question, they would raise the flag to notify their managers. Over time, the flag became a broader symbol. It is a reminder that near or far, members of the team form a support system for one another and their clients. A New Tradition To show their solidarity, a few A-Team members carry along their flag during their travels. The team shares photo ops with the flag when they return to the office. “The A-Team Flags have become like Flat Stanley,” Krisher observes with a laugh, a bit bewildered. “It’s sweet that they take it out on their personal time. They’re thinking about us—though they shouldn’t be while they’re on PTO,” she adds. “But it’s nice that they’re taking the team with them on their adventures.” In pictures, A-Team flags fly on the tops of mountains, wave in the depths of the sea, and appear everywhere in between. Under the Sea Stephen Kearns, Affordable Housing Team Leader, Client Services Department was the first to carry the flag to the ocean floor. During a dive in summer 2016, he planted the A-Team flag in the sands of Palancar Reef near Cozumel, Mexico. When asked why he brought the A-Team flag along, he explains, “I wanted to make people back in the office jealous! Just kidding – well, partially.” After deeper reflection, Kearns adds, “It’s refreshing to see that your teammates don’t necessarily forget about everyone and everything the moment they walk out the door at the end of the day. To share the moments and travels with your colleagues back in the office...

The Yardi Marketing Forum in Baltimore begins November 13! During this sold-out event, multifamily pros from across the country will join us to learn new marketing strategies from expert speakers from both within and without the real estate industry. Brad Batesole will be one of our guest speakers in Baltimore. Brad is the top marketing instructor for Lynda.com and LinkedIn Learning, with over 10 million views on his coursework. He was featured in Entrepreneur Magazine as a young entrepreneur after launching his first successful business at the age of 15 and has helped bring upstarts like LegalZoom, Lynda.com and Warby Parker to where they are today. We recently caught up with Brad before the forum to see what’s exciting him now, both in terms of marketing and our upcoming event: How does your work with LinkedIn impact your ability to speak to different audiences? LinkedIn is home to an incredibly diverse member base — geographically, demographically and career-wise too. There’s a huge opportunity to speak to people that are in different stages of their career and even their lives. I’ve received incredible messages from all around the world and am often left speechless at what people are learning and how they’re applying it to get ahead. Marketing is such a universal topic, and LinkedIn has created the opportunity to teach to a huge audience and learn from that audience as well. Some of what I do can look very one-sided – put a course online, and let people watch it. But behind-the-scenes I’m answering emails, talking with our members and learning more about how people are putting their education into action. What new marketing technology or trends are on your radar right now? I’ll admit, I’ve been rolling my eyes at virtual reality (VR)...