Meet Joe Anfuso

Transforming Investor Service

By Joel Nelson on Apr 24, 2019 in People

Growth can be a mixed blessing. San Diego-based MG Properties Group, for one, certainly didn’t mind significantly expanding its portfolio of properties in California, Arizona, Nevada, Washington and Oregon. But by 2015, the company’s investment management technology couldn’t keep pace, and the company, which acquires, rehabilitates and manages apartment communities, was approaching a stark choice: Modernize or risk stagnation.

Cramped by Spreadsheets

The spreadsheet programs MG Properties used for investment calculations and investor reporting couldn’t keep up with the rising volume of work. A single report often contained up to 450 tabs, for example.

“When we loaded a number and hit “Enter,’ we crossed our fingers and hoped the whole system didn’t crash,” recalls Joe Anfuso, the company’s chief financial officer. “The old method was stressful, error-prone and hindered our performance.” It became clear to him and other executives that the company needed a modern, professional investment management software platform, one capable of automatically capturing and distributing all relevant investment information.

Anfuso and his colleagues also realized that if they wanted to compete with the major players—the big institutional investors—they needed to invest in technology that removed pain points, time and effort and enabled more efficient operation. “That’s when we decided to ditch our spreadsheets for a more modern solution,” Anfuso says.

A Single Connected Solution

That solution, adopted in July 2015, was Yardi Investment Management, which automated MG Properties’ asset, investment accounting and investment lifecycle. The system helps MG Properties track not just the movement of dollars, but the result of the investment they represent, from the moment an investor makes a commitment.

MG Properties grew its investor base by 150%, its properties by 24% and its units by 50% without needing additional staff or expenditures to manage them. The quarterly distribution process that previously took seven weeks now takes less than two weeks.

The company later added two other components of the Yardi Investment Suite: Yardi Investor Portal, which gives investors statements, capital calls, distribution notices and other information online and via mobile devices; and Yardi InvestorPlus, which tracks and aggregates investor and investment information in real time.

Solid Results

Benefits that the Yardi Investment Suite has delivered for MG Properties include:

• MG Properties can pull up all of the investor’s activities and answer inquiries immediately. Investors can log in to a secure portal, online or from a mobile device, and see cash-on-cash returns and what they received for their quarterly distributions. “That’s where we see the true impact of the Yardi platform because those are the things an investor really wants to know,” Anfuso says. Gone are the days of running around to check spreadsheets or making multiple phone calls when an investor called with a question about their returns or distributions.
• Yardi Investment Management was instrumental in expanding the company’s investor base by 150% and adding more than a dozen properties without additional accounting staff. Yardi Investment Management also projects unrealized gains, supporting growth by driving better decisions about disposing of or retaining investments.
• MG Properties’ reputation has expanded over the last few years to the point that investment managers often refer clients to the company. “That’s largely due to the fact that the Yardi Investment Suite transformed our ability to deliver outstanding service to our investors,” Anfuso says.
• Automated consolidation and distribution means the company never misses a reporting deadline. And the presentation looks good—in fact, investors frequently compliment the reports’ appearance as well as content.
• When Anfuso arrived at MG Properties in 2015, the quarterly distribution process took seven weeks to complete. It now takes less than two weeks, even though the investor base has doubled. “We can keep scaling up without needing to spend any more money on our resources,” Anfuso says. “We doubled our size and units without spending one extra dollar.”

“We’re a regional company, but one of our goals is to grow, not just for the sake of growth but to do it in a smart way. The Yardi Investment Suite enables us to do things we were never able to do, which helped us grow our business,” Anfuso adds.

The market value of MG Properties’ apartment portfolio exceeds $4 billion. Learn more about how the company provides quality living spaces for residents, excellent returns for investors, and fulfilling career opportunities for its employees.