Did you know that Yardi offers products and services for 18 industries? We are continually in development of quality software that maximizes technology and benefits your business. There are several ways to learn more about Yardi’s solutions for your real estate company. Online, All the Time The Resources page is available 24/7. Whether you’re looking for quick bites of info or in-depth analysis, we’ve got you covered. eBooks – These in-depth resources explain key benefits of our software solutions in reader-friendly formats. They’re rich with informative graphics and helpful data. Client Success Stories– Explore how clients in your industry use Yardi to revolutionize their businesses. Client success stories address tools for improved efficiency, going paperless, and other ways to improve the bottom line. Quick Videos– Got 3 minutes or fewer? Client interviews and “explainer” videos are an easy way to get your real estate questions answered and learn about Yardi software and services. White Papers– Dive into case studies that give you a detailed look at how fellow industry professionals used technology to advance their businesses. Product Brochures– Maybe you’ve heard the buzz about a new product and now you’re ready to learn more. Our brochures offer a high-level overview of product information. You will also find helpful contact information for additional details. Upon visiting the Resources page, you will encounter our latest and most popular uploads. Looking for something specific? Simply use the Filter to drill down into materials unique to your industry. You can also search by Solution Type. Live, Customized Experiences At Yardi, we value the opportunity to meet you face-to-face. These priceless encounters are a great way to dive into the nuances of the industry, your business needs, and how Yardi software bridges the gaps. The Events page delivers current...

It’s no secret that high turnover rates are an industry-wide problem for property management. The revolving door leads to repetitive training and service inconsistencies. Retaining talent minimizes both problems and paves the way for success. Below are four tips for talent retention to help your affordable housing property operate smoothly. Reimagine Training When employees feel overwhelmed and under-educated, you’ve got a recipe for turnover. Minimize the risk with thorough training and easily accessible review courses. “Any organization without savvy and competent employees will face high turnover,” said Jeff Ratchford, Technical Recruiter, SHRM-CP. “Empowered engagement and buy-in starts as early in the on-boarding process as possible. Ensure that employees thoroughly understand their roles and the technology that they’re expected to use.” Online learning software enables staff to learn at their own pace. They can also review materials anytime and anywhere with internet access. Administrators gain insights from course data, which can be used to plan group reviews or acknowledge staff members that excel. Supplement online training with in-house demonstrations and hands-on opportunities. “Each new hire is different. Leadership will benefit from employee training that offers multi-faceted learning techniques,” added Ratchford. Empower Staff Empower staff to play an active role in the development of protocols. Acknowledging, addressing, and correcting current shortcoming creates a more efficient workplace. Additionally, employees remain loyal to companies that value their creativity and insights. If you don’t already have a process in place, create a space for staff to share their challenges. (It may be as simple as a custom email address.) Encourage staff to offer suggestions on how those challenges may be overcome. Review the submissions regularly. Channel the most promising proposals to the applicable leadership. Of equal importance, acknowledge each response even if it is to let the employee know...

Leases are the backbone of your business. Getting them quickly signed leads to fewer vacancies, more revenue, and happier stakeholders. But to get there, you must convert your prospects. These six tips will help you get the signatures that you need with less waiting. Close the deal in prospects’ minds. Getting a lease signed begins as early as the property tour. Whether the tour is virtual or in-person, you can use language that promotes the sell. Verbally help prospects see themselves in the unit: “There are so many options for placing your couch in this spacious living room,” or “Your kids will love the recently renovated playground.” When it is time to sign, prospects already have a clear idea that their lifestyles are a fit in the community. Incentivize signing the lease within 24 hours of the agreement. Verbal interest is great, but it doesn’t pay the bills. To maximize a sense of urgency and minimize vacancy time, create an incentive for signing the lease within 24 hours. Perhaps waive the garage rental fee for a month or provide discounts for local services like pet sitting and dry cleaning. Offer what’s valuable to the prospect in exchange for what’s valuable to you, their commitment. Guide indecisive prospects with facts. Use your property’s desirability to your advantage. Gather data on how quickly units lease in the community, in the neighborhood, and any competitive advantages of renting promptly (like seasonal promotions). If there are other value-add features to your community, don’t hesitate to share them. Follow your property facts with a signing incentive for maximum impact. Make it easy to sign the lease. Make it simple for prospects to become residents. First, streamline the application and renewal process using leads-to-leases enabled property management software. Then ensure...

Yardi Voyager Residential consolidates property management and financial accounting into a single platform. The fully-integrated suite of multifamily and marketing products makes it easier to manage the entire real estate cycle. Is Voyager Residential Right for My Organization? That depends on several factors. Are you a large organization looking for scalable solutions? Voyager grows and diversifies with you. Users gain access to real-time performance analytics across their entire portfolio, regardless of size. Organizations with smaller portfolios, such as family holdings, may benefit from Yardi Breeze. Do you seek a compliant, accurate and efficient way to manage your portfolio? Voyager financial management features meet all applicable accounting standards and regulatory requirements. Property management features streamline workflows for leasing, move-ins, move-outs, work orders, purchase orders, and everything in between. Would you prefer to leave software management to the tech pros while you run your business? Yardi’s award-winning cloud services manage data storage and updates on your behalf. You can focus on growing your business while Yardi handles the minutia of the software. Does a comprehensive suite of software seem more appealing than a piecemeal combination of products? Yardi Voyager Residential integrates with the Yardi Multifamily and Marketing Suites as well as Yardi Elevate. You benefit from a unified entity for marketing, customer relationship management,   procurement, facilities management, energy management, and business intelligence. Do you value flexibility? With Voyager, you aren’t stuck to your desk. Voyager comes mobile-ready and browser agnostic, keeping your team members connected whether they are in the office or in the field. Raising the Bar Yardi is an established company with a proven track record. For more than 30 years, Yardi has supported client success with quality real estate management solutions. Though established, Yardi continues to evolve. Ongoing improvements ensure that client feedback...

Yardi Voyager Single Family Homes simplifies property management without the need to expand payroll. Its property management, accounting and maintenance features are tailored to each clients’ needs. Manage Wisely Get a quick overview of operations each time that you open the Voyager Single Family Homes dashboard. Skim the latest updates on occupancy and availability, resident charges, receipts, property traffic and maintenance. Drill down into details as needed. Leverage the power of the industry’s most widely adopted accounting system. Generate and export custom reports to paint a clear picture of your financial standing. As your company continues to grow, you maintain control over access to that data. Set up users with read-only access to specified features and reports. Regularly issue reports to individual investors with a convenient report scheduler. Paperless cloud storage facilitates access to data from any location on any mobile device. Streamline financial management with Voyager Single Family Homes. The comprehensive systems meets IFRS and GAAP requirements. Expand Effortlessly Voyager Single Family Homes is more than accounting. The system empowers you to automate resident and home management from guest card to move-out. Store property brochures and quote sheets within the system. When multiple parties are interested in your properties, you can create a waitlist by market. As prospects turn into residents, automatically populate the resident records from the data on their guest card. Ensure that your units are in optimal condition with maintenance and work order tracking. Voyager Single Family Homes seamlessly integrates with other Yardi solutions that help your business operate smoothly. Tools for maintenance and inspections, marketing and leasing, procurement, energy management, resident screening and  renters insurance unite under the Voyager umbrella. RentCafe Single Family Homes and RentCafe CRM Single Family Homes incorporates marketing, mobile leasing and customer relationship management and...

Building your property management business can feel like you’re aiming at a moving target. Changing industry expectations and trends may leave you clamoring for solutions. These five, timeless tips for excellence in property management can help you take your organization to the next level. Offer competitive conveniences for renters. Residents and prospects expect flexibility. Whether they prefer to interact with you online or in person, have systems in place to accommodate them. Enhance your website with online leasing, digital payments, and online maintenance requests. For those who embrace person-to-person interaction, build positive relationships with customer relationship management tools. Improve efficiencies with end-to-end property management software. When you operate efficiently, you can offer stellar services at lower costs without decreasing your profit. Begin with a software suite that automates back office tasks like accounting, reporting and compliance. Achieve efficiency with Yardi Breeze for small and mid-sized properties or Yardi Voyager for larger residential and commercial portfolios. Empower employees through education. The best software is powerless without a team that understands how to use it to its fullest potential. Online learning encourages your team members to learn at their own pace. Staff will also be able to access classes and review as needed, without costly and time-consuming training. Optimize revenue opportunities. There are several ways to boost profits without increasing rent. Some methods will require the property owner’s involvement while others you can pursue alone. Once you’ve explored your options, you can use the improved profitability of one property to pursue similar changes at other properties that you manage. Be proactive about your online reputation. Make it easy for tenants and prospects to get in contact with your team to intercept issues before they appear online. When negative feedback arises, address it promptly. Be sure to...

Celebrating 20 years, Yardi Canada has come a long way. As a leading innovator that delivers technology solutions to move the Canadian real estate industry forward, Yardi Canada focuses on helping clients thrive through every change. We caught up with a few of Yardi Canada’s leaders to learn more about the company’s evolution. From DOS to Windows to Internet based web apps to mobile apps and now on to artificial intelligence, Yardi has always been there with a solution for its clients. Here are a few technological highlights from the past two decades. A Unique Market Mobility and the cloud might reign now, but it all began with DOS. Introducing real estate companies to new technologies to improve business operations has never been an easy task. As Canadians, we tend to be a little more conservative when it comes to change. However, Peter Altobelli, general manager and vice president of sales for Yardi Canada, found it was easy to bring Yardi’s three DOS products to market: Yardi Basic, Yardi Deluxe and Yardi Premier. “DOS was a great product to implement since it was reliable, simple and easy to use. It was a technology that property managers understood. Plus, it had all these great shortcuts, because we didn’t have a mouse back then,” recalls Altobelli. Altobelli set up Yardi’s first office in Canada in 1998, which started with four people and now has grown to a staff of over 200. Today’s multitasking generation, accustomed to multiple windows and screens, would feel restricted with a DOS platform. But back then, users could accomplish single functions at a time quickly and efficiently. It was exactly what the industry needed as a catalyst towards more technology and innovation. Moving to the Internet At every innovative milestone, Yardi Canada...

Ed. Note: Neal Gemassmer (pictured, right)  is vice president of international for Yardi. This piece on global real estate technology adoption was originally authored for Property Week. It is relatively easy to raise a few hundred thousand pounds and start a company, so I think the number of new proptech start-ups will continue to grow exponentially.   It may have been a relatively late adopter where technology is concerned, but the real estate industry is now embracing it. Thanks to the advent of simpler programming languages, the accessibility of cloud storage and the weight of investment capital aimed at the sector, setting up a proptech company has never been easier.  On top of that, the now widespread use of apps offers a simple way of getting your technology into customers’ hands via the App Store or Google Play. With this in mind, it is no wonder that new companies are springing up in the sector on an almost daily basis, each of them aiming to solve a particular problem or simplify a complicated process.  But as the property industry’s use of – and understanding of – technology becomes more sophisticated, it is technologies that make a fundamental difference to the way businesses work and create real value for their customers that will succeed.  Although it has only been encapsulated in a neat buzzword in the last couple of years, proptech has been around in one form or another for far longer. Yardi Systems was founded in 1984 as a small software start-up in the property management sphere and has grown to become one of the largest companies in the sector, learning a lot along the way. In the US residential market, where Yardi has its roots, customers have been able for many years now to identify a...

From online applications to maintenance and business operations, property managers work hard to juggle competing priorities while still sustaining the profitability and integrity of their buildings. Whether it’s single-family homes, multifamily apartments or commercial properties, the challenges can be complicated. Thankfully, the solution doesn’t have to be. Meet Yardi Breeze, a refreshingly simple software platform built for property owners and operators with portfolios of 1,000 units or less. Yardi’s newest software solution provides everything small to mid-sized owners and managers need to succeed. This latest addition to the Yardi suite of products extends the company’s legacy of providing tailored software solutions for residential and commercial properties. “Yardi Breeze is the result of Yardi’s 30+ years of providing quality software with unwavering customer focus,” said Terri Dowen, senior vice president of sales at Yardi. “It was designed with the unique needs of smaller operators in mind.” Property management just got a whole lot easier. Yardi Breeze is simple but powerful. The interface may be fast and the framework intuitive, but don’t let that simplicity fool you. Breeze is still a robust, all-inclusive software suite that includes options for online marketing, applications and payments built right in. “We were able to set up our apartments in about 30 minutes,” explains Allan Shapiro, a principal at Castle Rock Real Estate. “The process was easy, straightforward and seamless.” With a transparent, affordable pricing model with monthly fees starting at $1 per unit, Yardi Breeze combines a wide array of tools into one streamlined, easy-to-use interface. Users can simultaneously manage a diverse property portfolio. In addition, the software also comes outfitted with RentCafe for effortless marketing and easy access to prospect and tenant portals. “From instant live chat support to automatic address completion and one-click data upload, everything is...

The user experience can make or break a piece of software, and user feedback is of key importance to the software development process. Companies strive to learn how customers respond to products wherever possible, be it through social media, focus groups, surveys or client conferences. Without input from users, software developers can miss out on opportunities to innovate new features that take into consideration the unique needs of their users’ daily workflows. Chris Ulep, Yardi vice president of multifamily product development, describes how a strong client involvement benefits his team’s development process. “Clients have a strong voice in the design of Yardi solutions. We value their input because it makes our development process faster and more responsive to their immediate needs. We embrace the opportunity to engage clients during development process, and leverage their vast experience and understand their requirements,” Ulep said. That philosophy is also evident in how Yardi develops content for its online staff training platform, Yardi eLearning. One of the main ways the Yardi eLearning team solicits input from clients is through monthly roundtable sessions, available to any client free of charge. “Our monthly client roundtables are interactive, informative and collaborative. Leading trainers and content designers from around the country gather for quick, one-hour sessions that cover a variety of topics. Our roundtables bolster creativity and foster new ideas by sharing new ideas on the screen for everyone to see. Prioritizing those ideas as we develop features and curricula is just one of the ways we ensure Yardi eLearning content stays relevant and in alignment with our clients’ needs,” said Patty Evans, director of corporate training and eLearning for Yardi. While inspiring conversation is valuable for participants, the camaraderie of the events is even more important. “The opportunity to meet regularly with a community of...

Thanks to detailed accounting options and superior customer support, Sentio Healthcare Properties continues to expand its use of Yardi Voyager across its property portfolio. As a REIT specializing in senior living, Sentio Healthcare Properties oversees a diverse portfolio ranging from medical office buildings to senior housing, including independent living, assisted living and memory care facilities. At the company’s Orlando headquarters, about 20 employees work with third party operators at 34 properties located in 16 states. “REITS are not the easiest structure to understand,” admits Julia Avallone, Manager of Property Level Accounting and Asset Management (CPA) at Sentio Healthcare Properties. “I’ve been at Sentio nearly three years, and I’m still wrapping my brain around all the accounting complexities. That being said, I think it’s rare to find an accounting role where you feel that you are making a positive contribution to somebody’s  life. I feel that my role at Sentio is mission driven and contributes, albeit in a small way, to the quality of life the residents in our facilities enjoy.” Making the Switch to Senior Living Avallone began her career in public accounting mainly for real estate clients. Eventually, Avallone decided to transition into another industry, and one of her managers recommended Sentio. “My husband was also in public accounting, and it was too much to both work in the (same) industry,” explains Avallone. “I was looking for a change, and one of my managers knew the controller at Sentio. It was a good fit.” Avallone used to handle accounting for approximately half of Sentio’s portfolio, but is in the process of transitioning to an asset management role. Because Sentio’s properties are located in a variety of different markets, each community comes with its own advantages and challenges. For example, Texas recently moved to...

Online leasing isn’t just for the big guys anymore. If you’re a small to mid-sized property management company, technological advances in rental property management software are making it possible to complete the leasing lifecycle entirely online. Get ready to conduct more business, better business, and quicker business with a nifty little innovation: electronic signatures. Electronic signatures – also called e-signatures – are easy to use, a snap to implement, and convenient for everyone involved. They are a legal and secure method to sign and submit lease documents day or night from almost any internet-enabled device. It’s the modern way to lease, for both renters and landlords! 7 benefits of using e-signature for leasing Add convenience for prospects. Adding online applications and leasing to your property websites makes it possible for prospects to start the leasing process from their desktop or mobile device right away. If you offer comprehensive price and lease term selection, self-screening capabilities, and renters insurance fulfillment, everything they need to become a renter is all in one convenient place. Save applicants time. Approved applicants can complete their leases instantly. They don’t have to wait for the next business day or until so-and-so is in the office again. They can sign and submit their leases from anywhere – even if they’re out of state or on vacation in another country – and take the next step to getting the keys faster than ever. Automate document processing. Leasing agents are now able to automatically produce electronic lease documents that contain all necessary data, including spaces for electronic signatures. Save staff time while you simultaneously reduce the risk of human error. Speed up lead processing. The above makes it possible to convert leads to leases in a flash. No more updating files by hand,...

The impact of Yardi Voyager® 7S on public, private and nonprofit real estate organizations continues to grow. The number of clients using the most advanced property management and accounting platform from Yardi® now tops 2,500, nearly double the total at the beginning of 2015. Clients report gaining flexibility, productivity and scalability from Yardi Voyager 7S, which is mobile-enabled and accessible from all Internet browsers. “Now we can perform all of our major business operations from one platform with any browser and mobile device. Voyager 7S helps us achieve our top priority—adding value and maximizing return on investment for our property owners and investors,” said Rich Stayner, CEO for Bridge Property and Asset Management. “Voyager 7S allows us to focus on the meaning of our data rather than how to get it,” said Brenda Hartson, director of IT for L&B Realty Advisors LLP. “Voyager 7S has improved our workflows. Our property managers seem to be getting things done in a much more timely fashion. It’s easy to find things and complete tasks more quickly and smoothly,” said Carol Vandenberghe, an accountant with Brindley & Associates Inc. “Voyager gives us the freedom to utilize many different Internet browsers and become portable with mobile solutions. Our greatest savings has come in staff time. Working more efficiently allows us to focus on important areas, such as compliance,” said Tina Hoffart, finance director for Grand Forks Housing Authority. All new Yardi clients are implementing Yardi Voyager 7S. The company continues to work with clients using previous versions of Yardi Voyager and other Yardi platforms to establish migration timetables. The platform was introduced to the marketplace in 2013. About Bridge Property and Asset Management Bridge Property and Asset Management, based in Murray, Utah, provides a range of property management and...

Foundation for full-business real estate management platform features complete mobile capability and portfolio-wide business intelligence SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (June 4, 2014) – In less than a year, more than 1,000 companies have adopted Yardi Voyager® 7S, the latest and most advanced version of Yardi’s property management and accounting software. Yardi Voyager 7S works with all Internet browsers and is tablet compatible. Yardi Voyager 7S is fully integrated with many popular Yardi modules, including: Yardi Procure to Pay™ Yardi Orion™ Business Intelligence Yardi LeasingPad CRM™ and Yardi Commercial Leasing Pad™ RENTCafé™ and COMMERCIALCafé™ “The response to Voyager 7S and its companion modules has been very positive because they offer unprecedented functionality in a comprehensive and fully integrated suite of products,” said Terri Dowen, senior vice president of sales for Yardi. For most clients, the transition to Yardi Voyager 7S requires only a few days of training for their staff. “We have really enjoyed the increased efficiency we have experienced with Voyager 7S, including specific hotkey capabilities and auto-fill features,” said Rebecca Hill, chief financial officer for commercial and residential real estate developer Briarcliff Development Co. “The upgrade of our database to 7S was a seamless, literally overnight process.” “The navigation features are very efficient, so we instantly get property and resident information without going through a dozen steps. We also like the efficiency of customizable screens that restrict access to display types to users who need them,” said Larry Busgeon, controller for multifamily property manager Landmark Realty. “The system’s mobile capability and full integration with products such as RentCafe and Yardi Maintenance™ enhance both our resident service and staff efficiency. Residents can make payments online, including recurring ones, and our maintenance staff can manage work orders in the field without returning to the office.” “Landmark...

Moss & Company has improved resident screening, energy billing and management, and resident services at its multifamily rental properties with products from the Yardi Multifamily Suite™ that are integrated with the entire Yardi Voyager® leasing cycle. Moss & Company adopted Yardi Resident Screening™, an online resident screening system, to replace a paper-based screening system.  “We place resident information into Voyager more efficiently, as we no longer have a third party involved in the screening or paperwork floating around.  Resident Screening gives us confidence that we’re maintaining confidential information, and the quick return of information on prospects saves us the extra step of reentering the information in Voyager,” said Henriette Saffron, vice president and chief financial officer for Moss & Company. Yardi Payment Processing™ sharply reduced the time Moss & Company spent processing rent payments by converting paper checks into electronic payments in Yardi Voyager.  “Payment Processing has saved us a tremendous amount of work,” Saffron said.  “We process up to 12,000 resident rent checks each month, and the old-fashioned way of endorsing them and taking them to the bank and making copies has been eliminated.  The funds download to the bank immediately and are available the next day.  Our residents are very receptive to this payment method and it’s a huge selling point with potential clients whose properties we want to manage.  There’s also instantaneous, automatic posting to the resident ledger, saving time as well as eliminating human error from incorrect input.  It’s an amazing advantage for us.” Moss & Company has gained additional improvements in revenue collection and process efficiency since rolling out Yardi Energy Solutions™, an automated utility billing and energy management solution, in 2013.  Yardi Energy Solutions includes submetering and ratio utility billing systems, vacant cost recovery, cost and consumption analytics,...

First Pointe Management Group (FPMG), also known as Brymarc Management Company and a subsidiary of The Ezralow Company, has relied on property management and accounting software from Yardi® for 18 years, utilizing a Windows®-based platform before eventually moving to browser-based Yardi Voyager®.  The continuous growth of their residential portfolio prompted another reevaluation, according to Vida Bautista, assistant controller for The Ezralow Company. “We wanted our onsite people to have the best software along with online services for our residents, so we started looking for new solutions to perform various ancillary operations,” Bautista said.  As a result, FPMG adopted several new products that improve internal operations and resident services by integrating with Yardi Voyager. Seeking detailed insight into its marketing processes, FPMG added Yardi PopCard™ to Yardi Voyager.  “Before PopCard, information from paper guest cards sometimes weren’t entered into our platform, and we wondered why our traffic wasn’t as high as we expected,” Bautista said.  “We looked for a product that could solve that issue while tracking the source of every prospect.  With PopCard, we can track our advertising sources, which is great because that helps us make decisions about where to spend money for advertising.  It has been a great tool for monitoring our traffic, determining which advertising sources work for us, and getting us more leases.” Another product built into Yardi Voyager is Yardi Energy Solutions™, an automated utility billing and energy management solution that converges utility charges with online rent payments, providing convenience both for FPMG and its residents.  “There’s no separate billing for the residents so it’s easy for them to see their charges, and it’s easy for us to see the revenue coming in.  We can also see utility revenues that we’re not able to collect, which helps our decision-making,...

Over the past five months, more than 500 Yardi Voyager® clients—with the number growing daily—have adopted the browser-agnostic, mobile-enabled Yardi Voyager® 7S, the latest, most advanced version of Yardi’s core software-as-a-service (SaaS) real estate management platform. Yardi Voyager 7S is compatible with all major Internet browsers, offering real estate investment and property management clients access to Yardi Voyager 7S from any mobile device.  Users of Yardi Voyager 7S also can add new products such as Yardi Leasing Pad™, RentCafe™, Yardi Orion™ Business Intelligence and a host of other ancillary and front office products and services that together create a full business platform. “I like the improved search functionality and the fact that we can access information instantly, without having to open new screens.  Also, as mobile access begins playing a larger role in our business, Voyager 7S will easily accommodate the mobile applications of new products that we’ll soon deploy, such as Yardi PAYscan™,” said Sandra Johnson, property accountant for real estate developer and manager Lake Washington Partners. Voyager 7S is deployed as software-as-a-service with three options: SaaS, in which updates are automatically applied; SaaS Select, in which the client determines when to apply updates; and Private Cloud, in which clients have their own dedicated network. “I am very satisfied with Voyager 7S.  I believe the new format is a significant improvement in screen layout, accounting functionality and user-friendliness,” said Robert B. Sher Jr., president of Sher Properties Inc.  “Our conversion to Voyager 7S went very smoothly, and the SaaS hosting is virtually indistinguishable from working on a local server.” All new clients who licensed Yardi Voyager after July 1, 2013 implemented Voyager 7S, and Yardi continues to work with existing Yardi Voyager clients to establish migration timetables. “As Yardi continues in our fourth...

Detroit refuses to settle for the status of a has-been city. Tough economic times have certainly taken a toll. But rather than losing hope, city leaders are seizing the opportunity to recreate The Motor City as a metropolitan hub valued for its cultural offerings. Yardi client Bedrock is leading the way in the resurgence of one of America’s most iconic cities. Dan Mullen, Vice President of Development at Bedrock, has never doubted that Detroit was worth the fight. “It’s an amazing opportunity to be in Detroit,” he says. “An urban location provides this indescribable energy: being surrounded by industry, historic architecture, a place where everything is walkable, where you can work and play. As a company, having the opportunity to purchase and redevelop historic buildings and impact the outcome of one of the great American cities is something that we take pride in.” Bedrock leverages its position as the real estate services branch of Quicken Loans to purchase and redevelop properties in the downtown district. Bedrock works with affiliate companies to then “tie the thread,” or work together in the redevelopment process to ensure that local companies reap the benefits of the city’s growth. It’s truly a team effort that aims to pull everyone forward together. Mullen values the collaborative process, “We work closely with the city, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, other developers and local businesses. We’re all one big team to help revitalize all of downtown Detroit. Bedrock definitely plays a role in [the resurgence] but we also have a lot of amazing partners.” The partnerships have helped Bedrock develop 8 million square feet of commercial space. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Demand for quality office space is rising downtown. Bedrock has responded by purchasing historic buildings, giving them a...

A year ago, Yardi announced the opening of a new office in Dubai, UAE, offering the global real estate technology provider the chance to better serve clients and expand our presence in the region. In just 12 months, major client growth and significant expansion of the staffing resources in the Dubai office have taken place. We caught up with Said Haider, Regional Sales Manager, who leads our business development efforts in Dubai. “Besides being a global private held company, the adaptive culture that is aligned to Yardi business goals routinely outperform its competitors in the niche real estate solutions market,” Haider noted. Read on for more of his insights on Yardi’s Middle Eastern expansion.   Q: Yardi’s growth in the Middle East marks an exciting new regional expansion for the global company. Tell us about the company’s focus there? A: While Yardi has had a handful of clients in the Middle East for the past four years, our client base has grown 300% growth over the past twelve months.   We see tremendous demand from a broad range of real estate investment, asset, property managers and developers for a more effective asset and property management platform. The demand in the Middle East is aligned to the increased focus by owners of real estate on more effective and focused asset management and tenant services. We see this across the major real estate sectors including retail, office, industrial, residential and mixed use type of properties. Q:  Where is the office serving the Middle East located and what staffing resources are in place? A: The Yardi Dubai office was established in October 2012, in Dubai Internet City (DIC). Dubai Internet City (DIC) is the Middle East and North Africa’s largest ICT hub, and was the logical place for...

The industry leader in property management software has released a new version of its flagship product that is browser and device agnostic, generating great excitement from clients and prospects industry-wide. Yardi Voyager 7S is here. There are multiple reasons clients are thrilled about the latest version of Voyager. Leasing professionals, property managers and executives can now use their property management software without access to Windows or even a PC. “You can run Voyager 7S on your iPad, you can run it on your Android tablet, you can run it on a MacBook, you can use Safari, and you can use Google Chrome. We’ve opened up the floodgates for all of our clients to be able to use any browser or OS they want,” said Ami Kearns, Product Manager, Voyager 7S. In addition to the exciting new cross-browser and mobile capability, the upgrade process to Voyager 7S is fast, seamless and easy. “Our clients have been shocked at how quickly the upgrade to Voyager 7S can be accomplished,” said Becky Sanvictores, Vice President, Client Services.  “End user training is recommended on the enhanced and modern UI, but the methodology for using Voyager 7S is still the same.” Enhancing the experience are newly designed and highly intuitive transaction screens. Product highlights for the new release, which is now available, include: Mobility. With the device and browser agnostic Voyager 7S, any user will be able to access the software from anywhere. A regional executive could review month-end reports on an iPad at the airport. A leasing agent could summarize current rental pricing and availability for a prospect on an Android tablet at a coffee shop. The possibilities are endless. Streamlined upgrade process. Requiring a simple schema update and end-user training, clients can be live within a week...

Yardi Systems offers multi-day intensive training courses for its clients who use Yardi products to do business every day. Known as the Yardi Advanced Solutions Conference – YASC – this year the gatherings take place in Anaheim, Calif. in the fall and Washington, D.C. in the spring. On May 21, YASC D.C. 2013 kicks off at the Washington Hilton with a welcoming address from Yardi founder and president Anant Yardi. Over 1200 attendees – a conference attendance record – will then  head  into two days of intensive classes that will focus on specific aspects of using Yardi software. The goal is to help our valued clients do their jobs smarter and more efficiently. YASC attendees include day-to-day users of Yardi systems,  corporate management, property owners and institutional investors. Course selections are based on requests from clients and feedback from past events. Click the links below for details on the dynamic Yardi products that will be demonstrated in Washington: Yardi Orion™ for SharePoint® (Multifamily, Commercial, and Investment Management) RentCafe™ (Multifamily) Yardi Leasing Pad™ (Multifamily and Commercial) Mobile Solutions (Multifamily and Commercial) Yardi Commercial CRM™ (Commercial) Yardi Advanced Budgeting & Forecasting™ (Commercial and Investment Management) Yardi Investor CRM™ (Investment Management) According to Bryant Shoemaker, who has been going to YASCs since the conferences began: “People come to YASC to learn how other people use the software, how to use it more efficiently, and to get tips from Yardi staff.  Maybe they have some parts of the software they would like to run smoother so they can get ideas on how to do that. Maybe they’re implementing a new version or module and want to hit the ground running,  The conference provides an opportunity to focus on increasing productivity without the distractions of everyday  office duties.  Networking...

It’s the time of year to make resolutions, and Steven Rea of Roscoe Properties tells us that the Austin, Texas property management firm has set some ambitious property management technology goals for 2013. “This is still very much an analog business,” observes Rea, who has been in the industry for ten years and worked his way up to Vice President of Administration after starting at Roscoe as a site level property manager. “My goal for our company, and a way our company set itself apart, is as a digital company in an analog world.” With that goal in mind, Rea and Roscoe Properties owner Jason Berkowitz are using technology best practices to make the properties they manage operate efficiently, for their employees and residents alike. Two of their goals for the year are ambitious by industry norms, but attainable given the progress they’ve pushed forward so far. “I want to be able to say that we have 95 percent of our residents pay electronically and we have a 100 percent paperless office by January 2014,” Rea said confidently. Currently, 65 percent of the Roscoe portfolio submits monthly rents electronically; up from 10 percent two years ago, with some portfolios the company manages boasting over 80 percent electronic remissions. In January 2013, Roscoe Properties will manage 3,000 rental units, the majority in Austin, with 700 units in San Antonio. “I’ve got my accounting department almost paperless, just making use of the technologies we already have. It used to be that accounting departments would have file cabinets and banker boxes full of invoices. We still have those file cabinets, but they’re all empty,” Rea said. A last remaining barrier to an all-digital office has been the historic need for paper records. Though Roscoe now rarely executes...