“Big city” usually evokes buses, motorcycles, metro trains and cars. Beyond looking pretty and offering temporary respite from the bustle, does walkability—the ability to walk from home to shopping, dining, entertainment and employment spaces—add tangible value? Very much so, according to a new report that Yardi Matrix joined forces on with industry, academic and advocacy leaders. The Center for Real Estate & Urban Analysis (CREUA) at the George Washington University School of Business sponsored a study this year to rank the 30 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. by how much office, retail and rental multifamily space lies in walkable urban areas. Multifamily rental asking rent data from Yardi Matrix went into the four-month effort, which also included contributions from real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield, community quality-of-life advocate Smart Growth America, and real estate developer and investor coalition LOCUS. Yardi also contributed a $10,000 grant to support the research. The CREUA study identified 761 regionally significant walkable urban places, or “WalkUPs,” in those 30 metros. New York City has the most walkable urban real estate, followed by Denver, Boston, Washington, D.C., Chicago and San Francisco. The report documents that: Income-producing real estate (office, retail and rental housing) in walkable urban places has a 75% per square foot rent premium over other such real estate in the metro area. For-sale homes within WalkUPs have a 90% premium compared to the regional median for-sale home price in the metro area. The per-capita gross domestic product of the highest-ranked walkable urban metros is 52% higher than that of the seven lowest-ranked metros. “There is a ‘Doppler shift’ toward walkable urban development in the 30 largest U.S. metros,” Dr. Tracy Loh, senior data scientist at the George Washington School of Business and co-author of the report,...

Want to capture high quality leads and increase occupancy at your senior living property? Of course, you do! One tool from the Yardi Senior Living Suite, Senior CRM, can help you boost lead conversions in four ways. Wait, What’s CRM? CRM stands for customer relationship management. It’s software that’s used to handle interactions with prospects and mine their data. That data is then used to strengthen your understanding of the prospects so that you can better meet their needs. CRM software captures quantitative and qualitative data about your prospects’ behavior. That information can help you strategize your marketing efforts with greater precision. Robust CRM software can help you increase occupancy in four key ways. 4 Ways CRM Can Help You Increase Occupancy 1. Improve Marketing: CRM enables you to track and analyze the performance of your online marketing channel. Once you identify the most effective channels, you can tailor your marketing spend to optimize your return on investment. You’ll learn what works, what doesn’t, and where to spend your money. 2. Shorten Lead Response Times: Did you know that 64 percent of online shoppers give the first company to call them back an advantage over the competition? If you don’t respond to customers within 24 hours, they begin to question your professionalism, reports Velocify. CRM makes it easy to shorten lead response times and get an advantage over your competitors. You can automate follow-up emails and appointment reminders. Mobile-ready CRM software also enables your staff to contact leads on-the-go so that they never miss a beat. 3. Optimize Contact Strategy: With CRM, your marketing team can test and compare strategies to learn what works. Nearly 60 percent of companies use testing to optimize conversion rates. Testing is important because every company, prospect, and marketing...

The annual Realcomm ׀ IBCon conferences recognize real estate companies, projects, technologies and people for excellence in automation, technical innovation and intelligent building projects. Outstanding contributors over the past year received Commercial Real Estate Digital Innovation Awards, known as Digies, at the most recent Realcomm ׀ IBCon conferences in Nashville, Tenn. Digies are among the highest recognition available in the commercial real estate industry. One Digie winner was Australian property manager and investor Dexus, which, as described by Realcomm, “created an elite partnership with Yardi, effectively leveraging all modules of the Yardi suite to maximize enterprise cost/benefit.” Another Digie winner, Santa Monica, Calif. retail owner, operator and developer Macerich, incorporated Yardi solutions into its smart building management system. Yardi salutes all client organizations that received Digie awards this year, including: Cushman & Wakefield: Recognized early the role commercial real estate service providers can play in accelerating PropTech startups in real estate and construction technology. Shows ongoing commitment to exploring innovative strategies while working with large, progressive corporate clients. Prologis: Established a 15,000-square-foot industrial innovation center in San Leandro, Calif., for testing emerging technologies. Created a virtual data lake and migrated the in-house data warehouse into the cloud. Developed a customer experience platform that connects clients with services and products they need to run their Prologis logistics space efficiently. Boxer Property: Introduced AI into the company in multiple areas. Made innovative use of natural language processing for resume reviews and work order management. Optimized real estate operations with Blockchain technology implementation. Brookfield Properties: Built an integrated, automated and responsive cloud analytics and BI platform to extract and integrate data from various transactional systems, IoT devices and third-party data sources. Built a data strategy to drive actionable insights into the optimal retail tenant mix that matches demographics...

Yardi contributed hugely to the success of the recent Realcomm ׀ IBCon conferences, an annual premier event in the commercial real estate industry, by showcasing innovative technologies that control revenue and expenses. Yardi focused on the benefits of Yardi Elevate, Yardi Kube and Yardi Pulse. These product suites blend business intelligence from Yardi Matrix with operational tools into a single connected platform that harmonizes leasing, deal management, tenant improvements, budgeting, construction management and other operations. Property owners can make better decisions, manage pipelines more efficiently and foster closer interaction between external brokers and asset managers. Rob Teel, Yardi senior vice president of global solutions noted in a live-streamed interview during Realcomm ׀ IBCon that property managers must manage revenue and expenses more actively than they did a decade ago to generate expected returns. “Success comes when teams work together to create an ecosystem of users who can collaborate to improve operational performance,” he said. Watch the full interview below: The solutions also give rise to new revenue streams from coworking membership arrangements, better forecasting capability, lower energy consumption and expenses without sacrificing occupant comfort, and budget and schedule certainty for construction projects. With their real-time connection to the Yardi Voyager property management and accounting database, they’re easier to use and more reliable than point solutions. “Yardi has extended solutions from the Yardi Voyager property management and accounting platform to encompass other elements, making property owners and managers more efficient,” Brian Sutherland, industry principal of global solutions, said in another live-streamed interview. Watch the full interview below: “Realcomm ׀ IBCon was a great opportunity for the Yardi team to connect with and learn from clients, vendors and other industry participants. The conference’s quality is second to none,” Teel said. Asked the secret of Yardi’s success, Sutherland said,...

DENVER (June 26, 2019) – The National Apartment Association’s annual summer conference, Apartmentalize, got underway Wednesday at the Denver Convention Center. It’s the ultimate destination for multifamily professionals to get educated, engaged and inspired. But a consistent theme throughout the event’s opening sessions was not renting apartments or multifamily technology, but something far simpler: people. “I love this industry because we interact so intimately with our customers,” said Melissa Joy, vice president of Village Green. “Renting an apartment is the best or the worst day of someone’s life.” Making the experience as positive as possible for residents is Village Green’s constant goal, Joy explained. “We obsess over our residents and their happiness.” The theme of this year’s Apartmentalize is “Everyone. Together.” That spirit of inclusivity pervaded the educational sessions – which covered topics like fair housing, short term rentals, technology, management techniques, benchmarking, investment ROI, leasing best practices, workplace violence, apartment advocacy, reputation management and more. A highlight of Wednesday’s Living Room Learning, a series of quick TED talk-style presentations, was Heather Blume and her service dog MoonMoon, who bluntly addressed the negative reaction she has encountered to her certified service animal. “When you have a service dog, your disability is on display,” Blume confided. But MoonMoon has enabled her to overcome debilitating panic and PTSD attacks to travel, work and give speeches again. She urged multifamily professionals to consider the whole picture when considering renting to residents who rely on support animals. “Home is supposed to be a safe place, and we are home providers,” said Blume, a training and leasing consultant from Seattle, with MoonMoon calmly seated behind her on the stage. Wednesday concluded with a keynote address by Brandon Stanton, who you may have never heard of – but he’s the...

The Climate Mobilization Act is a package of legislation designed to drastically reduce carbon emissions from New York City’s commercial properties. It covers everything from closing high emitting power plants and installing renewable energy sources to limiting emissions from buildings of over 25,000 square feet. A major component of the proposal, Local Law 97 (formerly Bill 1253), was approved by the city council in April 2019 and focuses on greenhouse gas emissions limits for existing buildings. We asked Brian Fridkin, a Yardi Client Services Division team leader in Yardi Energy, for an analysis of LL 97. Q: How will this bill impact Yardi clients in New York City? Fridkin: Many clients who own or manage any commercial property of over 25,000 square feet will have to comply with the law’s carbon emission limits starting in 2024. That’s five years away, but they need to act now to meet the deadline. To comply, property owners will have to calculate their building’s carbon limit, which is based on the square footage of their building. They will then have to calculate their current emissions based on the emission coefficients set in the law. To avoid penalties, they will have to make reductions in the next five years that equal the difference between their emissions and limit.  What’s more, the emission limits change every five years. The limits for 2030-2034, for example, are about half of those for 2024-2029. That’s good because property owners can ease into the changes, but they must constantly prepare for upcoming limits. Additionally, there are minimum requirements that a building must meet by 2024, which include adjusting temperature set points for heat and hot water, repairing system leaks, insulating pipes, ensuring steam traps are operating correctly, complying with lighting standards and weatherizing windows....

Apartmentalize 2019 features famous speakers – including Mindy Kaling and Laila Ali as the 2019 event’s closing address. But only one session had people camped out on the floor: that of the Apartment All Stars, a spirited group of four well-known apartment marketing consultants who shared the fun and creative marketing strategies they’ve recently observed nationwide. Working with a variety of multifamily clients with unique market conditions and challenges, here’s a quick list of fun apartment marketing ideas shared by Lisa Trosien, Toni Blake and Jackie Ramstedt. Kate Good, the fourth All Star, acted as moderator for the event. “This business is full of heart, and our humanity is our greatest amenity,” Blake said. For the crowd of leasing, management and operations professionals, there couldn’t have been a better reinforcement of their work’s value. Here are some creative ways that America’s apartments are attracting new residents in 2019: Pop culture themed marketing events. One community that Trosien worked with hosted a play on the hit HBO show Game of Thrones called “Game of Homes.” A combination of an apartment tour and an escape room challenge, prospects flooded to the property for something unique based on their favorite show. If you made it out of the “escape room,” your reward was a discount on move in fees. A large bump in leads and leases signed was the result of the event. Celebrating the character of your company. Multifamily managers and operators are known for their volunteerism and community-focused nature. Tell your residents! “We need to take the best part of the apartment industry, which is US, and make it a part of our marketing,” Blake said. Unique amenities focused on resident convenience. Trosien’s daughter lives in an East Coast property managed by Yardi client Bozzuto...

Finding the right residents for a community is a complex, critical part of operating a multifamily community, and it is vital to the long-term success of a property. Looking into a potential resident’s background is not as simple as running a credit check. Effective screening can play a pivotal role in risk mitigation by ensuring leases are only signed with qualified tenants. Yardi recently partnered with Equifax to enhance ScreeningWorks Pro, the company’s resident screening platform, and enable property managers to quickly verify a prospective renter’s employment and income details. Patrick Hennessey, Yardi’s vice president of resident screening, and Tyler Sawyer, vice president of rental and real estate with Equifax, discuss how tech can lead to more efficient and effective screening processes. What is the biggest challenge for effectively screening potential residents today? Sawyer: Data is vital for a landlord or property owner looking to identify the right resident. From a credit-reporting standpoint, we work to alleviate any perceived challenges by ensuring these parties have access to the best data, regardless of whether a potential renter has a robust credit file or is categorized as having thin credit or no credit. Without robust data insight, potentially strong tenant candidates can be left paying higher deposits, needing co-signers or being rejected altogether. Hennessey: Helping our clients overcome the challenges of effectively screening applicants is our business. Getting that right for both the applicant and the property is critical. A trend we’re seeing is the desire by landlords to make good decisions as quickly as possible—in near real time, if they can. For screening companies, this requires ensuring we can rely on the sources that provide us with consumer data. It means finding reasonable and reliable ways to do our job both effectively and efficiently. Editor’s...

Editor’s note: The following article by Kevin Yardi, vice president of consulting practices for Yardi, was originally printed as a Realcomm Advisory on May 31, 2019. It is reprinted here with permission. Various aspects of big data, AI and Machine Learning have been reported extensively in this space and elsewhere. I’ll use this opportunity to highlight some key points that I think are particularly important to helping the commercial real estate industry benefit from these capabilities. Just what are we talking about? “Big data” means large, complex data sets that most traditional software platforms can’t manage. AI refers to computer systems that can perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence. Machine learning, a form of AI that enables systems to “learn as they go” without being explicitly programmed, supports informed decision-making by assembling and analyzing property information more quickly and more accurately than other systems. The expansion of digital data availability, computing power and software enhancements, along with cheap storage, have made these options viable for commercial real estate. What are the commercial real estate benefits of AI and Machine Learning? AI and Machine Learning can give companies better-structured data that improves business performance. For example, AI systems can detect patterns in conditions affecting energy consumption without being requested, then optimize the target temperature every 30 seconds to ensure comfort without using more energy than necessary. They can also learn from past performance to react to changes in occupancy, weather and other factors. All this translates into better performance through lower utility, energy and equipment maintenance costs; increased tenant comfort that reduces service calls and increases retention; regulatory compliance; investor satisfaction; and higher ENERGY STAR® scores. In short, AI saves energy and money while creating more comfort than humans could do on their own. More...

You may have a bit in common with Dennis McCarthy, chief information officer at SRI Management of Tallahassee, Florida. Like Dennis, your organization may be facing growth. And like Dennis, you may be searching for a solution to help you manage that growth and prepare for future success. McCarthy’s senior living management company is expected to double in size in the next two years. He and his team searched the globe to find software that would ease growing pains. SRI Management found success using Yardi EHR and Yardi eMAR. We sat down with McCarthy to learn how EHR and eMAR have made it easier to do business while quickly growing. Q: How did Yardi’s technology help you accomplish growth? A: Yardi’s technology has been phenomenal. It’s an integrated piece of software that anybody can see anywhere. As we’ve spread out, as SRI management has spread from one location to another, as we’ve had to add people to help us run all of these properties, it’s easy for people to see everything that’s going on because they can log in anywhere and see it anywhere. So, the standardization that we get from the software helps us grow easily and confidently. Q: How has technology impacted your world? A: Interestingly, our world is not a technology world. SRI is a management company that runs properties for owners, so we don’t really focus on the technology as much as we focus on the people. What the technology does is make it much easier for us to focus on taking care of people. It just makes SRI Management a much more efficient company because we have the background of the technology behind us to do our jobs as easily as possible. Q: What is the value that Yardi...

Yardi is a proud sponsor of the new Senior Housing News magazine series, Changemakers. This series of interviews highlights industry leaders that are impacting the future of senior living. The field of senior housing and services is changing rapidly. The ability to adapt to market changes has proven to be a differentiator for senior housing professionals. Those who forecast changes and adapt to consumer trends are leading the industry in exciting new directions. The Changemakers series focuses on individuals who are leaning into the winds of change. They are bold, innovative, and proactive. Senior Housing News, sponsored by Yardi, has identified nine Changemakers. During these in-depth interviews, you can learn what motivates these industry leaders and explore how they are shaping the future of the industry. Meet William Bullock William Bullock, president of Latitude Margaritaville, Minto Communities USA, is one of the first featured Changemakers. He had an idea that was so simple and so spot-on that many wondered why it hadn’t been done before. Bullock partnered with Margaritaville to create sprawling developments that offers residents a “Jimmy Buffett-inspired lifestyle.” What does that look like? Primarily, Latitude scrapped the traditional active senior housing model. The company based its new brand on feedback from its target demographic. It nixed words like “senior” and “retirement” and reimagined communities where wellness and fun were top priorities. Check out this excerpt from the SHN interview. SHN: What convinced you [to pursue Latitude Margaritaville]? Bullock: What’s great about the Margaritaville brand is, it’s synonymous with food, fun, music, escapism. It naturally fit what we were discovering from folks wanting to get away from golf and get into more active sports and wellness and nutrition, the fun. What we were seeing down in Naples with this transition out of Mediterranean...

Editor’s note: this coworking perspective piece was authored by Justin Harley, regional director of coworking for Yardi, in association with Property Week. Harley was a co-founder of the flexible workspace management software Hubcreate. He joined the Yardi UK team in May. Having spent most of my career in the flexible workspace sector, I could not be more enthusiastic about how bright the future is for coworking and flexspace, and furthermore I am delighted to see technology and software leaders such as Yardi investing heavily in technology to fuel the growth and development of the sector. I have been privileged to see the coworking and flexspace sector grow from a few London-based serviced offices to what it is today, one of the fastest-growing parts of the real estate world. That said, it still only accounts for 4% of all deals in London, according to the latest research from Cushman & Wakefield and Colliers International. While real estate continues to develop an understanding of the coworking market, the industry is still a little shell-shocked about how it has crept up on them. That part of the real estate sector often misses the point when they debate coworking. I hear “we are not coworking, coworking doesn’t make money – when will the bubble burst?” Larger operators account for less than 13% of the market in the UK and the flexspace and coworking community is made up of businesses that care about innovation, member experience and the effect of their service on worker wellness. In short, it’s all about the customers and what makes them happy. Their obsession for customer service is what drives the industry. A happy client is a loyal client and, despite being on a flexible license, will stay for a long time. It is...

The National Apartment Association (NAA) is known as a source of industry best practices, innovation and benchmarks. As the organization’s annual conference is nearly upon us, we took the time to look at some of the organization’s recent research. As the overall economy and U.S. rental market remains strong, the NAA’s research department conducted a national survey to explore what determines the construction of multifamily properties. The study aimed to identify best practices and factors that impact housing availability and affordability. The factors considered included: community involvement, construction costs, affordability issues, infrastructure, density and growth restrictions, land supply, environmental restrictions, approval process complexity, political structure complexity and time to develop a new property. “The intent of this study was to provide data to identify differences in land management and to provide a more holistic and fact-based review of best practices and factors that impact housing availability and affordability,” reads the report. Rising costs for renters In the past decade, the U.S. renter demographic increased by more than 19.6 million. As demand outpaces supply, rents rise with the largest strain on affordable and market rate housing. Within the past four years, rents in Denver, San Jose, Seattle, Boulder, Oakland, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle have increased overall by more than 18 percent. Housing also makes up a large portion of monthly spending, in some cases surpassing spending and budgeting best practices for sustainable lifestyles. More than 40 percent of residents in California, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, New York, New Jersey, and Oregon spend more than a 34 percent of their income on rent. Major markets acknowledge the demand for affordable housing, but industry analysts disagree about how to meet the growing demand when confronted with barriers. Construction influences and issues The NAA study identified three major...

The United Way of Greater Atlanta Shoebox Project is a creative way to provide more than 30,000 homeless people in greater metro Atlanta with daily necessities. Each year, Yardi Atlanta lends its creativity, time, and resources to help United Way fulfill its mission. This year was another success! The Shoebox Project United Way of Greater Atlanta is a nonprofit organization serving 13 counties in Georgia. These counties are home to nearly half a million children who live in communities with low or very low child well-being scores. Many of these children and their families may struggle with homelessness. In 2006, United Way of Greater Atlanta launched the Shoebox Project as a campaign to collect essential items for homeless populations. The organization reached out to individuals, families, and businesses to fill shoeboxes with toiletries for men, women and children. More than 13 years later, the Shoebox Project has been adopted by United Ways throughout the nation. Shoebox items include toiletries as well as first aid and enrichment items. Last year, the organization collected more than 35,200 shoeboxes with a value of more than $704,080.  Yardi + United Way Yardi’s preparation for the Shoebox Project is a year-round endeavor. Employees donate supplies such as undergarments, toiletries, hygiene products, first aid kits, and portable activities for children. Employees are encouraged to explore cost effective options by donating time or free items, such as complimentary goods from businesses. Near the end of spring, Yardi volunteers sort items, allocate them to shoeboxes, and then cover the boxes in gift wrap. This year, Yardi packed and wrapped over 75 boxes! The United Way collects its donations from volunteers throughout the metro Atlanta area. It then distributes the shoeboxes to local nonprofit agencies that serve homeless and low-income men, women and children....

The seniors at Silver Sky Assisted Living and Silver Sky at Deer Springs Assisted Living are putting their talents to work for those in need. The local knitting and crocheting clubs inspire hope in the hearts of fellow Las Vegans facing difficult times. About Silver Sky Properties, Nevada HAND Nevada HAND, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and Yardi client, operates 34 properties serving 3,000 seniors and 4,200 adults and children. The organization provides the only two affordable assisted living communities in the state. Both properties have developed tight-knit communities that keep residents active and engaged within the neighborhood. Both affordable assisted living properties, Silver Sky and Silver Sky at Deer Springs, host knitting clubs for residents. What began as small initiatives to help residents socialize soon evolved into annual community service projects that touch the lives of hundreds of people. Knitting Club: More than a Hobby Silver Sky Knitting Clubs regularly meet on Fridays. Group sizes range from 10-20 residents at each site and include residents, their family members and staff. Participants of all ability levels are welcome. Knitting looms are available for beginners as well as advanced knitters facing dexterity challenges. The Knitting Clubs help to create a sense of inclusion for everyone involved. “The club began as a cookie social, and anyone who knitted or crocheted, or who wanted to learn, was encouraged to attend,” began activities coordinator at Silver Sky at Deer Springs Assisted Living, Barbara Phillips. “These residents get to know one another, meet regularly, and each meeting has a sense of purpose, which helps with cohesiveness and a sense of togetherness with the group.” Throughout the year, Club members work on knitting projects such as hats, scarves, mittens and lap blankets. In 2018, residents created more than 250 knit goods! Once...

As is the seasonal custom, spring cleaning is a great way to start summer with a fresh slate. We detail five ways to “spring clean” your social media profiles. Keep reading for easy strategies you can implement now! Refresh your graphics Spring is the perfect time to switch out your cover photos and profile avatars. Have new branding to share? Do you have property themes for the spring or summer? Even if you don’t have a dedicated design team, free graphic design platforms like Canva offer a low-cost way to update your social media channels, presentations, brochures and logos. Update your contact information It sounds basic enough, but updated contact information is an easy way to ensure prospects and customers can connect with you. Contact information checklist: Phone number Email Website Physical location address Display other social media channels Add spring and summer hours When was the last time you updated your hours on your social media accounts? Especially if your property or office features extended hours in the spring or summer, adding hours of operation can help you communicate when people can reach you. Do a quick content audit Conducting a social media audit is a smart way to analyze your current social media marketing efforts. Each social media platform offers analytics on individual post performance. The Insights tab on Facebook and Instagram, and Analytics tab on LinkedIn and Twitter, provide ways to assess your content. Questions to ask: In the past three months, which posts had the highest engagement? Which posts had the lowest engagement? In the past three months, what post types performed best? (example: video, image, link) Are you hitting your social media goals? If not, how can you use this social media data to inform your strategy moving forward?...