Yardi Matrix has expanded its self storage coverage to 125 markets, up from 99. This total represents 26,535 properties, of which 1,398 are some form of new supply, and 1.4 billion square feet of space and encompasses 83% of the U.S. population. The addition of 26 markets produces the self sector’s most comprehensive market intelligence and competitive analysis source. Yardi Matrix also covers multifamily and office portfolios. “Matrix is now the largest data set for market intelligence and competitive analysis in the self storage sector. The recent expansion is the latest example of Yardi’s commitment to providing the industry’s leading tools for identifying and executing development, management and underwriting deals,” said Jeff Adler, vice president of Yardi Matrix. Yardi Matrix is a business development and asset management tool for investment professionals, equity investors, lenders, and property managers who underwrite and manage investments in commercial real estate. Its resources include true ownership, in-place debt, and rental and sales history data, along with a new supply pipeline that includes 1,398 tracked projects. Yardi Matrix covers multifamily, industrial and office property types in addition to self storage. Email [email protected], call 480-663-1149 or visit yardimatrix.com to learn...

Throughout multifamily housing, managers struggle with resident package logistics. The problem spikes in student housing communities. Student properties receive 10-15 percent more packages than conventional multi-family properties. A Growing Problem The convenience of (often free) delivery appeals to busy students. Additionally, companies like Amazon target the student population with incentives. Amazon Prime offers six months of free service and 50 percent off of students’ subscription rate for the remainder of their student status. As a result, student housing staff gets swamped with packages. Leasing office staff juggle a myriad of responsibilities. Pausing potential sales or residents interactions to handle package delivery is not a viable option. Maneuvering guests around recently delivered armoires and mattresses is even less of an option. “We’ve seen communities spend up to 4 hours a day simply dealing with packages,” says Melody Akhtari, Director of Marketing & Communications at Luxer One. “Package delivery causes not only a problem of constant interruptions and wasted time, but it also causes space management issues.” Simple Solutions Luxer One provides storage solutions to address the growing needs of student housing managers. Luxer One’s storage solutions are designed to accept every package automatically and store them securely, without the need for management staff to intervene. This type of automation eliminates interruptions from parcel carriers and gives back time and energy to dedicate to the art of community management. Luxer Lockers are installed on the premises. The courier delivers the package to the locker and scans it. Residents get a mobile notification with a one-time-use access to retrieve their package on their own schedule. Leasing office staff can continue their workflows and other resident interactions without interruption. Locker sizes vary, permitting the storage of a range of packages. “Almost half of all packages delivered go into our small...

Yardi® announced today that it has been selected by iStorage® to provide the management software for its self-storage portfolio. With over 65 properties in ten states and several new acquisitions under contract, iStorage needed an innovative and flexible system that provided time-saving controls to support their aggressive growth. After an extensive due diligence period comparing multiple systems, iStorage chose Yardi Store Enterprise™ and completed implementation of the platform in March 2015. As a rapidly growing business, iStorage needed to transition to their new system quickly. To ensure iStorage was up and running smoothly, cutover from their legacy system was successfully completed with expert support from the dedicated Yardi team in just three days. The implementation included extensive testing and custom development through Yardi Store’s powerful API for both internal and customer-facing systems. According to Chris Harris, president of iStorage, “We chose Yardi Store Enterprise over other options because of its multi-store management capabilities, strong accrual accounting platform, customization opportunities and friendly support team. Our core system must also support our aggressive growth objectives, and Yardi Store Enterprise was the clear and obvious choice for us.” He continued, “Yardi Store Enterprise is delivering everything we need, and thanks to a smooth rollout we experienced very little business interruption. The Yardi team was there every step of the way to support a quick and efficient transition to our new system.” Yardi is delighted to welcome iStorage to its continuously growing family of clients. “It has been a pleasure to partner with iStorage. They have assembled a world-class team that sees the big picture and strives to do everything the right way for their customers. Yardi looks forward to helping them achieve their goals, as we continue to offer a product stack that will keep iStorage —...

Yardi announced today that it has completed an examination of its security and internal controls for 2014 and has received its final SSAE 16 SOC 1 Type 2 report for its Store Enterprise and Store Advantage applications. Formerly known as SAS 70, SOC 1 is published by the AICPA (American Institute of CPAs®) under the attestation standard SSAE 16 and involves undergoing an examination of policies, operating procedures and controls related to financial reporting of user entities by an independent auditor to objectively validate that the service organization meets its declared control objectives. Store Enterprise and Store Advantage are the only management software solutions in the self storage industry to obtain SOC 1 Type 2 compliance for eight consecutive years. “We take our clients’ needs very seriously and go above and beyond basic requirements to guarantee the safety and security of our systems and their data,” said James Hafen, self storage industry principal at Yardi. “Our largest customers include publicly traded REITs, and they rely on our SOC 1 compliance to ensure that the mission-critical management systems they employ to operate their businesses are absolutely sound.” Hafen added: “Our compliance efforts ultimately benefit all of our customers, not just the larger players. Compliance with this standard requires stringent internal policies related to software development and storing and accessing data and related hardware. As a result of our commitment, all customers can rest assured that Yardi is doing everything it can to ensure their data and systems are secure.” Now in its fourth decade, Yardi® is committed to the design, development and support of software for real estate investment management and property management, and includes leading self storage management software in its family of trusted solutions to help self storage operators increase revenue, become more...

Like multifamily real estate, the storage industry has made a strong post-recession recovery. The renting of convenient space for storing extra personal possessions attracts both mom-and-pop proprietors and the investment dollars of large, publicly-traded REITs. Centershift, a Salt Lake City, Utah based company, created a scalable, flexible management system for storage 15 years ago. Recently acquired by Yardi, Centershift’s two product offerings are powerful, cloud-based solutions for running and reporting on storage properties. The company was an early developer of an effective revenue management system for the industry, and truly understands this unique property niche. Recently, we spoke with James Hafen (pictured, right),  Centershift’s CEO prior to the acquisition. He’s now a general manager and industry principal, self storage, for Yardi Systems. Read on for his insight on the storage industry, Centershift’s products, and what the acquisition means for the company’s exciting future. Tell us about the originations and history of Centershift? Hafen:  Centershift grew into a standalone company after developing a management application for the use of Extra Space Storage, which is now the second largest company in the storage industry. Around 1999, Extra Space was focused on substantially growing their business and struggling with technology, which was underserving the industry. We looked around, trying to find software solutions that would work, and there was just nothing that would fit. We needed something that was cloud based, would allow for centralized data management, and solve a lot of the problems that Extra Space was having. We built the first version of the Centershift product in 1999 and rolled it out in 2000 as an internal IT project. We had enough success that we saw the value in this as a commercial opportunity. We continued to develop the product while we came up with...

Is the era of magnetic storage is coming to an end? Those of a certain age will remember a time when cassette tapes were used to store data – please do not raise your hands, we see the gray hair and we know who you are. Those of a slightly less certain age will remember 5.25-inch floppies. 3.5-inch floppies live on in noble spirit as the “save” icon for a host of applications. Hard drives have ruled the consumer memory roost for over a decade… but it will soon be time to bid them a fond farewell also. Thanks to falling prices, rising capacity, and numerous other advantages, the solid-state drive (SSD) is here to stay. Solid-state drives are not new, but price has previously kept them beyond the reach of consumer electronics technology. The format originated in the ’50s and matured through use in the supercomputers of the ’70s and ’80s. SSDs use integrated circuit assemblies to store data. There are no moving parts, and they retain their data even without electrical power. Memory capacity is steadily increasing, which has made possible the format’s debut into the consumer market. Today, affordability is driving the switch for mainstream users. By the end of the year prices for SSDs in the most popular PCs could fall to around $1 per gigabyte, a level which is seen as the tipping point that pushes consumers through the door en masse – at that price, they are no longer faced with the unpalatable choice of supplementing their $800 computer with a SSD that costs almost half as much. With the price barrier removed, the advantages of SSD memory over rival formats are almost irresistible: faster transfer rates instant boot lesser power requirement much improved resistance to shock &...