Yardi has been creating real estate software for more than three decades. The company was founded by Anant Yardi in Santa Barbara in 1984, and over the years Yardi has become a respected industry leader and pioneer, providing technology solutions for almost every conceivable real estate vertical. After more than 30 years in the business, you might expect us to be setting the metaphorical cruise control while we enjoy the ride. Time to think again. As we focus on 2017 and beyond, Yardi is proud to unveil a new theme and direction. We are Energized for Tomorrow. Capturing our spirit Energy powers our bodies, our homes and our businesses. It is part of natural processes, people, machinery and technology. Energy is also an invaluable description of spirit. When we say “energized,” you might hear “focused, excited, driven, motivated, ready, enthusiastic, prepared.” But that’s just the beginning. Energy is contagious. It spreads quickly and can power exciting results and success. For us, it all starts in the workplace. We hope to continue perpetuating the positive, supportive, family-focused energy that is part of our longstanding corporate culture beyond our offices. Serving our clients Our clients tell us that they enjoy coming to our Yardi Advanced Solutions Conferences (YASC), as well as the vertical-focused Yardi Forums, because of the spirit of community at Yardi. As we continue to grow globally, we will find new ways to share that energy. Our energy for creative development and progress is frequently powered by our valued clients. We thrive when we listen to their challenges, strategies, struggles and successes. We are energized by creating products that help our clients run their businesses better. Energy is also a very practical consideration for every business owner. No matter what your segment of the real estate industry, providing efficient and affordable utility services and billing is a consideration. Energized for good Finally, we want to use our energy to give back. As part of our philanthropic efforts, we are working to promote the cause of energy efficiency on a national level. We have provided education grants to BOMA, IREM, NAA and BOMI International to move this important work forward. The goal is to help reduce energy use in commercial, residential and mixed-use properties through education and technology. We look forward to sharing more about how we are energized for good in the months to come. This year and into the future, we want to stay Energized for Tomorrow. Thank you for joining us on the...
Honoring Towbes
Grant to Housing Trust Fund
The Housing Trust Fund of Santa Barbara County (HTF) has received a $5,000 contribution from Yardi in honor of the late Michael Towbes, local businessman and philanthropist, and to support the agency’s new South Coast Workforce Homebuyer Program. “Michael Towbes was a champion of workforce housing and was committed to the Housing Trust Fund’s mission to expand workforce housing opportunities. Yardi is pleased to be a ‘seed sponsor’ of HTF’s new South Coast Workforce Homebuyer Program. We hope that our donation in honor of Michael Towbes will inspire other business to contribute to this worthwhile workforce housing program,” said Gordon Morrell, Executive Vice President of Yardi. Michael Towbes served on the Board of Directors of the Housing Trust Fund for 12 years and the agency greatly benefited from his expertise, experience and generosity. The grant award from Yardi will provide key operational support for HTF as it launches the South Coast Workforce Homebuyer Program, which will provide low-cost down payment loans up to $100,000 to help first-time working households buy an entry-level home in the community where they work. The Housing Trust Fund is a non-profit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) whose mission is to expand affordable rental and homeownership housing opportunities throughout Santa Barbara County for working households and our most vulnerable populations. HTF operates a countywide $6.7 million Revolving Loan Fund for affordable housing in partnership with community lenders. The loan fund provides short-term, low-cost loans to qualified sponsors of affordable housing for the production, preservation, and rehabilitation of affordable housing for low-income households. The agency also operates a countywide Workforce Homebuyer Program that provides down payment assistance to first-time homebuyers. HTF was created by countywide community leaders to address our region’s critical affordable housing needs by building innovative partnerships between the...
YMF Austin
5 Marketing Takeaways
Are you familiar with the Yardi Marketing Forum? This biannual event brings multifamily marketers from across the country together for three days of fun, education and inspiration. We just wrapped up our first forum of the year in beautiful Austin, Texas. If you couldn’t attend, here are the top five marketing takeaways that were shared by our guest presenters. Stop Hunting, Start Cultivating Anders Bergstrom, marketing director for Sanuk, opened the Yardi Marketing Forum with his keynote address on “Surfing the Waves of Consumer Change.” He stressed the need in every industry to build a lifelong fan base, instead of targeting consumers with marketing that kills the relationship after the sale. “When it comes to your audience, cultivate. Think of yourselves as farmers,” shared Bergstrom. “Become aware. Become curious. Become advocates for your clients.” Watch the recording of Anders’ presentation on Facebook. Dial in Prospect & Resident Communications Do you feel like your marketing messages are getting lost in today’s increasingly crowded digital space? For our session on “Getting Heard in a Noisy World,” we were joined by Nikki Crosby from Buckingham Companies, Mallory Monsma from NALS and Yardi’s Nima Farkhak to talk about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to interacting with residents and prospects. The panel consistently reinforced the need to be present everywhere your customers are. Crosby noted that Buckingham properties that use social media remarketing far outperform properties that don’t. Monsma shared email tips that have resulted in a phenomenal 50% open rate for NALS, including keeping subjects snappy, limiting frequency and scheduling the month’s emails in advance through RentCafe. And Farkhak talked about the importance of live chat, citing a case study that netted a RentCafe Connect user an $80 return for every $1 spent. “The best...
Top 50
Affordable Housing Developers
Affordable Housing Finance recently released the Top 50 Affordable Housing Developers of 2016. The list showcases developers with the most reported affordable units started and completed within the year. Great Companies, Great Timing Yardi clients received 23 out of the 50 available spots on the list: The NRP Group Miller Valentine Group LDG Development Dominium Herman & Kittle RPM Development Group St. Anton Communities Conifer Realty Bridge Housing Corporation Volunteers of America Arker Companies Community Investment Strategies USA Properties Fund Atlantic Pacific Communities BFC Partners Picerne Real Estate Group AHC Pennrose Woda Group McCormack Baron Salazar Related Mercy Housing WinnCompanies The new construction barely puts a dent in the ongoing affordable housing shortage, which now exceeds 4.7 million units. Yet the timing could not have been better. Recent cuts to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as tax reforms, are projected to trigger a decrease in future affordable housing construction. Tighter budgets require developers to work with greater efficiency and accuracy. That is why nearly half of Top 50 Affordable Housing Developers turn to Yardi. Robust Software Yardi ® Construction Management improves projects’ cost control and budget oversight, from their nascent stages to close-out. Users can develop financing plans and monitor agreements from contractors and subcontractors. As the project progresses, users can compare actual costs to the job budget. Both job costs and the general ledger are updated in real time, providing users with the most accurate and dependable information. The comprehensive reporting within Construction Management provides detail and transparency to users, protected with controlled permissions. Users receive an overview of budgets, revisions, change orders and commitments, each with drill-down options for greater detail. Construction Management seamlessly integrates with Yardi Affordable Housing Suite ™, allowing users to continue project...
Tech at Work
Realcomm Webinar Recap
By 2025, 75 percent of the workforce will be comprised of workers from the Millennial generation. A Thursday webinar hosted by Realcomm: “Technology in the Workplace – Managing the Needs of Multiple Generations” focused on managing that transition successfully and effectively for team members of every generation. Realcomm CEO Jim Young was the moderator. Panelists included: Esther Bonardi, VP of Marketing, Yardi Porschia Parker, Founder, Millennial Performance Institute Shalaya Shipman, Sr. Manager, Operations, SalesForce Kevin Able, President, REALTY|Share Elizabeth Dukes, CMO and Co-Founder, iOffice John Spindler, VP Marketing and Product Management, Zinwave The panelists covered a variety of topics relevant to the escalating generational workforce shift, among them work ideology, preferred methods of recognition, communication platforms and technological expectations. Esther Bonardi, vice president, marketing for Yardi, focused her comments on differentiating the workplace personalities of the Millennials and the Baby Boomers and facilitating constructive communication between the two groups. “I would say to the older generation – reach out and let the younger generation teach you something. Let them know you are willing to learn from them and see what they have to bring to the table. This process starts with the older generation opening up and saying: you mentor me and I’ll mentor you. Let’s teach each other,” Bonardi said. The best way to start such a conversation? Find a neutral subject of interest to both groups, like giving back to the community as a company. “If you’re looking for a place to have these groups where people can exchange information, you might consider corporate social responsibility,” Bonardi suggested. Coming together for the greater good is always a unifying experience that can create professional bonds. Yardi’s workforce in North America is made up of nearly 50 percent Millennial employees, she shared. That has...
Property Maintenance
Spring Cleaning Checklist
Spring is here and you know what that means… it’s time to clean! Knocking down cobwebs, patching paint and completing other spring cleaning chores will get your properties ready for the busy leasing season ahead. Keeping your properties in top condition will help you attract and convert more prospects. In fact, one renter preferences study showed that two of the top five factors influencing leasing decisions are “property appearance” and “community amenities.” And another study by SatisFacts showed that “quality of maintenance service provided” is one of the highest-ranking factors for an apartment resident’s lease renewal decision. Use the checklist we’ve created to make sure you don’t miss anything important. If you do, it could cost you more money (and leases) in the long run! See the 27 things you should be reviewing each spring. Download our free property maintenance checklist. Plan Ahead Well-maintained properties improve retention and are easier to lease. With a preventative maintenance program, you may also be able to avoid breakdowns and keep your equipment and appliances working longer. Making early repairs can stop small issues from growing into more serious problems. Each building is different, but if you take the time to do a complete walk through of your properties, you can create a seasonal action plan that helps your team plan ahead for the entire year. Save Time & Money Maintenance takes both time and money, but the good news is that you can make everything a little more efficient using modern property management software. Online and mobile work orders make submitting and completing maintenance requests faster for everyone. With Genesis2, even small to mid-size property managers can speed up processes with electronic work orders. Allow residents to submit maintenance requests online or from their phones and they...
Resident Screening in Canada
3 Ways to Win
Screening prospective residents is a crucial step in creating a safe and secure community and minimizing risk to your business. Background checks and credit reports help you reduce loss from collections, evictions and legal action. No matter which decision criteria you use to screen your residents, there’s a way you could save even more time while keeping your properties and profits secure. Using a resident screening solution that integrates with your property management platform allows you to make better rental decisions more quickly. In addition to being the smart choice in today’s fast-paced rental industry, integrated screening provides you with comprehensive reporting and analytics that let you know if your properties are on the right track. Save Time & Reduce Errors Increase efficiency with just one system and one login that lets you get more done during the leasing process. Integrated screening software automatically populates information from the online leasing portal to the screening application, removing the need to enter applicant information on multiple forms and the risk of delays caused by inaccurate data. Did you know that decision criteria can be tailored for each of your properties to customize the screening of every applicant? Get accurate results and automated rental recommendations based on your pre-determined decision criteria. Approve only the renters that are right for you, instead of the ones who are just generically okay. Gain Insight to Improve Processes An integrated resident screening system compares your screening process with the overall financial performance of your portfolio. You may have a number of properties in the same market in a certain neighborhood – in some cases, directly across the street from each other – but with very different demographics. Integrated screening helps you drill into where the applicants are coming from at each of your properties. And it helps you select the highest quality residents for all of your properties. Software collects the marketing source of each applicant that goes through the screening process. It then analyzes those sources to see which produced the highest and lowest quality residents. This insight lets you evaluate your marketing initiatives and determine if your screening process has any effect on your overall revenue. Integrated screening software also gives you the ability to conduct what-if scenarios that take market conditions and vacancy rate changes into consideration. This helps you adjust your scoring system to get the desired number of approvals. Appeal to the Modern Renter According to Informa Canada’s Canadian Multi-Res Tenant Rental Survey, the features residents desire most are high-speed internet and online portals, indicating that they want landlords to be more tech savvy. Property managers should be thinking about increasing automation to engage with their prospective renters, and one way to do that is with a smoother transition from applicant to resident. Integrated screening caters to Millennials and other members of your target market by making sure their application experience is as effective as possible. When you offer one easy online application – without extra steps and paper waste – your property management business stands out from the crowd. Faster, Smarter & More Competitive In summary, integrated resident screening is a smart choice for your business because it speeds up leasing and gives you a detailed look into your screening process. You can use comprehensive reporting and scenario analysis to compare it with your property’s financial performance. This allows you to choose the best renters and quickly move on with your day. Being able to get more done with confidence? That’s a big win for any property manager! Learn more about resident screening tools for any size...
Teamwork Pays Off
Canada Payment Processing
It’s true that hard work pays off, and as the Yardi Canada team based in Toronto has discovered, that hard work can also be rewarding in unexpected ways. In summer 2016 Yardi introduced a collaboration with payment processing solutions provider BluePay to enable electronic rent payments in Canada that make the lives of property managers easier (and funds flow faster), and soon MasterCard credit card payments will be another convenient option. Peter Altobelli, vice president of sales and general manager for Yardi Canada, commented, “This collaboration joins Yardi’s property management solutions with BluePay’s experience in processing billions of dollars of transactions annually for thousands of organizations. Working together represents a giant step toward making electronic payments the secure, efficient rent payment method of choice in Canada.” And while serving their customers better than ever, Yardi Canada has enjoyed collaborating with their U.S.-based Yardi Payment Processing team members. Working together to create not only a superior product offering but also a stronger team has been a truly positive experience. That’s the experience that Rosa Mota, a technical account manager on the Payment Processing implementation team, has happily shared. Rosa elaborated, “I’ve been assigned to help the cash management team in Canada get up to speed on the exciting developments with Payment Processing. Our electronic payments collaboration with BluePay eliminates the lengthy process our clients used to endure to receive their monthly rent payments. Now they get their funds within hours. I spent two weeks in the Toronto office working to build implementation documentation, and showing product demos.” Rosa also completed a client implementation while in Toronto, which afforded a valuable hands-on experience for the account manager. Culture of Camaraderie Yardi Canada includes three locations in Toronto, Saskatoon and Vancouver, each with different areas of product...
NAA Student Housing
2017 Expo Recap
At the 10th NAA Student Housing Conference & Exposition, held in Chicago on Feb. 14-15, featured more than 100 exhibitors, two keynote speakers and one expert panel. More than 860 industry attendees — including marketers, property and portfolio managers, leasing specialists, developers and suppliers — converged to take their student housing game to the next level. While the industry pros in attendance were likely familiar with successful student housing management, but there was still a lot to learn in 16 breakout sessions about the latest trends and technology innovations. Here are some of the highlights: In the entertaining general session, keynote speaker Johnny Cupcakes, dubbed “top innovator in retail” by The Boston Globe, talked with great energy about his off-beat approach to branding that creates fanatic and loyal customers. His colorful line of t-shirts and other apparel frequently feature collaborations with characters and brands that his audience feel great nostalgia for, such as Hello Kitty and Minecraft. Limited edition items sold from bakery-themed retail stores, pop-up shops, and social media scavenger hunts generate excitement, FOMO (fear of missing out) and lines out the door. Leveraging innovation to captivate a tech-savvy consumer group was the focus of “Designing the Student Housing Property of the Future, Today.” Exploring the “Uberfication” of student housing, it is clear that connected buildings with speedy Internet and plenty of bandwidth for gaming and more is expected by Gen Z. Technology rich communal spaces including charging stations and “smart board” interactive touch screens are highly coveted amenities. Speaker Faith Hawkins, an architect, shared that students are now using an average of 10 wifi-supported devices, connected simultaneously. More desirable amenities for student renters include keyless building entry via smartphones, and optimized package and grocery delivery services for a generation that does most...
Build-to-Rent
UK Real Estate Evolves
GREAT BRITAIN (March, 2017) – It is no longer about landlords; today’s property managers recognise that happy residents are at the heart of any successful scheme. Yardi invited a panel of experts in Leeds – a ‘northern powerhouse’ city heavily invested in cutting edge build-to-rent development – to discuss the rapidly-evolving sector Graham Bates – Founder and chief executive – LIV Group Jonathan Pitt – National director, corporate PRS and build-to-rent, Countrywide Joanne Pollard – Director – Five Nine Living, Fresh Student Living Andrew Wells – Partner and non-executive chairman – Allsop Letting & Management (Interviewer) Claer Barrett – Personal finance editor – Financial Times (chair) What is the biggest challenge for the build-to-rent sector? Joanne: There are three main challenges. Firstly, there’s not enough stock. Everyone wants to pile in from an investment perspective – and if you want to buy assets producing rents, that’s a challenge. Secondly, we’re all learning about this together. There are new practices and we need to find the best ones. And finally, costs. How much of a premium are people prepared to pay? Jonathan: I agree – the big challenge is where the private rented sector (PRS) sits in the market. What is the premium people will pay to live in a well-run building with amenities? And what about mid-market level? Graham: PRS is not the right label. What we do is build-to-rent. The private rented sector as a whole includes buy-to-let. We are a segment of PRS but what makes us different is that we are building for long-term rental. We are starting to see what I call ‘live learning’. As this sector started to take off, people talked about what might happen. Now we’ve got people living in buildings. We have data. We can conduct...
Save My Spot
How to Solve PHA Waiting Lists
Fairness and transparency are essential to every decision a public housing agency makes to determine which households receive housing assistance. Waiting lists, though often loathed by potential residents, are an important piece of keeping that process transparent. PHAs follow complicated rules set by the department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to maintain waiting lists, which includes information like household income, veteran status, age, disabilities, and more. Depending on regional circumstances, it could be years before an applicant will be considered for housing assistance. PHAs typically open waiting lists to applicants for relatively short windows, since they could quickly become unmanageable if left open in perpetuity. To make waiting lists more manageable, PHAs periodically correspond with households to confirm their interest in remaining on the waiting lists for public housing or voucher assistance. Without routine maintenance, waiting lists would be perpetually clogged with households that have had a change in status, which may affect their eligibility, or are no longer interested in that particular waiting list. As important as waiting list maintenance is, it is also costly. PHAs have historically spent significant time and money on staffing, forms, and postage to keep waiting lists updated. Yardi PHA clients can now take advantage of a cost-cutting solution. It’s called Save My Spot, and it is a new standard feature of RentCafe PHA. Yardi is the only PHA software provider offering a modernized waitlist management solution, bringing relief to a longstanding industry issue. A RentCafe PHA Primer RentCafe PHA gives public housing and voucher applicants, residents and participants, and landlords online access to communicate with their local PHA, without having to visit the agency’s office. Households can sign up for a waiting list, submit applications, complete eligibility forms, upload documentation and more, all from a personal...
Our Greatest Hits
Yardi Blog Celebrates 5 Years
Happy birthday to us! Though it seems like just yesterday when we were brainstorming ideas for our first blog posts, The Balance Sheet celebrated its fifth birthday this month. Time flies when you’re creating great content. It is a great joy to be able to produce interesting real estate related posts for you week after week. In five years, we’ve published more than 1,400 articles by more than 50 contributors, touching every section of the real estate world – from people living in some of its tiniest apartments to the company supplying technology for property managers worldwide. Of course, we’re talking about Yardi, the inspiring homegrown company that powers this blog and much of the North American real estate rental market. We’re proud to tell the stories of the clients and employees who make up the broad and diverse Yardi universe. Take a quick trip down memory lane with us as we revisit some of the all time most popular posts on the Yardi corporate blog. Easy Yardi Training When our eLearning product launched in 2013, it quickly became popular with clients. Senior writer Joel Nelson spoke with Yardi client Simpson Housing to learn how the new platform revolutionized training on Yardi’s software offerings and much more. Four years later, eLearning is more robust than ever and offering even more advanced functionality. 5000 Strong Just last summer, Yardi marked a major milestone – hiring our 5000th employee! It was an exciting moment for the entire company and was celebrated at all of our offices around the world. We were excited to mark the occasion with a special blog post and incorporate photos from dozens of the office celebrations. Yardi Voyager 7S The much-anticipated launch of Yardi Voyager 7S was another milestone moment for Yardi....
Yardi Internships
Career development & fun
Yardi is a place where learning and creativity are encouraged. Internships are a vital part of our company culture, offering a fun and informative way to introduce graduating students to the technology industry. The Yardi internship program offers hands-on work experience, professional development and networking opportunities. Our interns can be found working on everything from programming and eLearning to client support and marketing. We asked a few of our current interns and recently hired team members about their experiences. Below, they provide insight into what types of projects, skills training and career opportunities an internship can offer graduating students. Applying According to Jason Rollman, Manager in Client Services at Yardi, “Interns apply and are interviewed in the same manner as someone who is looking for full-time employment.” College students majoring in Math, Finance, Economics, Statistics, Computer Science or Accounting are preferred. After being hired, flexible weekly scheduling allows students to prioritize academics while typically working a minimum of 15 hours per week. Silvana Keiling, a former intern and current software development engineer, applied for the Yardi Romania internship program after learning about it at her university. “If you wanted to apply for an internship, it was pretty hard not to choose Yardi Romania,” she reflected. As a global company, we support a technical internship program at our offices in Cluj-Napoca, Romania and internships across our offices in Canada. In the United States, Yardi works closely within the University of California and California State University systems and recently expanded internships to the East Coast. Yardi culture Our company values collaboration, customer service, innovation and fun. We are looking for individuals who are driven, have a desire to learn and enjoy a laid-back team environment. When asked about his experience as an intern, Cody Underwood, a fourth year Business...
Timbercreek Communities
Canada Client Video
When David Melo, president of Timbercreek Communities, joined the company, his first call was to Yardi. Melo knew that the company needed a stronger, savvier technology provider to manage its complex accounting needs, and also enable the company to add vital solutions for ancillary services. Yardi Voyager delivered the tools that Timbercreek needed to succeed. Watch the video: Beyond superior accounting and reporting capabilities, moving from manual to automated processes within Voyager has provided Timbercreek with cost control and greater end-to-end operational efficiency. As an early adopter of Yardi PAYscan in Canada, Timbercreek has quickly realized the benefits of automating accounts payable. “Moving from a manual process to one that is automated with a workflow not only increases accuracy and processing speed, but also improves cost control,” said Melo. He added that the PAYscan mobile app is a great tool for staff who travel frequently, as it allows them to approve invoices from airports or anywhere else they happen to be. Timbercreek is also rolling out RentCafe resident portal and Yardi Maintenance, including the mobile app, across its portfolio. They expect significant time savings and improved responsiveness thanks to seamless Voyager integration. Melo commented, “We were manually receiving emails from our website for maintenance requests, which required someone attending to the email inbox and forwarding the messages to the right people. Now residents can simply log in to the resident portal, enter their service request and start the workflow.” Consolidating operations portfolio-wide on the Voyager platform has also improved communication within the company. As part of its inherently collaborative culture, Timbercreek has found great success with appointing “Yardi Champions” across its business. Melo commented, “We’ve empowered a small group of Timbercreek employees to be Yardi Champions. These individuals lead the charge and take ownership of each solution piece of our Voyager platform. This is an exciting new approach, and we’re already seeing great results from our 400 onsite employees. Yardi has absolutely helped empower our...
Upgrade Like a Rock Star
Fairfield Residential Embraces 7S
Our “Upgrade Like a Rock Star” series provides insider tips for a seamless transition to Yardi Voyager® 7S. In this segment, Senior Business Analyst Melanie Moyers shares how Fairfield Residential made the conversion across 50,000 units of multifamily and affordable properties. First, Fairfield Residential shifted from self-hosted to hosted on Voyager 6. Yardi Subject Matter Experts assisted Moyers and her team through an extensive series of test scripts. The joint effort made the transition effortless. Moyers says, “We really didn’t have anything come up during testing whatsoever just going to hosted so that was very quick!” After the two-month transition from self-hosted to hosted, the company began the conversion to Voyager 7S property management platform. Testing and Training Moyers explains the process: “For 7S, we did a more extensive testing. We made sure we had two users from every single permission group. We have a lot of user groups and permissions do change, like little hidden permissions in 7S, so it was very helpful to do that.” She continues, “It was extensive on the testing part but we tried to limit it as far as what people actually tested so they were only doing things that they really know about. In IT, we took the bulk of running through a huge script to make sure everything was covered.” Originally, the three-person IT team planned for three months of testing. They decided to request the support of three additional application support technicians. Then they extended the testing phase to four months in order to accommodate changing permissions. “We went ahead and added an extra month just so we would do a second round of testing with all those same people. We got a clean script from every single one of them,” says Moyers. Fairfield Residential’s education department for property management facilitated training for onsite personnel. The group assessed software changes that would affect most of the group, then educated the staff via webinar. Perhaps more importantly, the training department garnered excitement for the new software. “The training was more about building excitement for them, to not be scared that something new was coming out,” says Moyers. Moyers led training for the corporate staff. She broke the general sessions into hour-long increments then hosted additional 30-minute sessions for accountants and those with changing roles. After four months of testing, the team was ready to go live. The IT department braced itself for a flood of help desk request. The group was pleasantly surprised. “We anticipated that there was going to be a big uptick of help desk requests. There wasn’t actually that much but we had the whole team geared up for it, so we were pulling all those tickets right away. But later in analyzing the data we actually only had about three weeks of increase and then it completely went back to normal,” recalls Moyers. Challenges One of the only problems that Moyers encountered came with users’ perception of speed. Voyager 7S added a load bar, a visual that alarmed some employees. “I think because people saw the load bar, people were like, ‘Oh, it’s slower. It’s slower!’” laughs Moyers. “We had our old Voyager 6 environment available still. We would actually get on a GoToMeeting and show them it was faster in the new environment. That helped a lot because it was just a mental thing to them and there were a few hanging onto that.” Favorite New Features Among the upgraded features, five have received notable praise from the Fairfield Residential staff. The new menu search tops the list of favorites. It allows users to enter a query directly on the main dashboard. AJAX auto-fill search makes exploring 7S resources faster and easier. Users enter a word, phrase, or partial word in the Search box. Voyager 7S quickly retrieves matching menu items. There is no need for exact client IDs or even complete phrases. Improved lease proposal...
Kaiserman Company
Goes Green with Yardi
Arriving at the Rittenhouse Claridge in Center City Philadelphia on a cold winter’s night in January, the first thing you might notice is a charming string of white holiday lights over the lobby door. Stepping out of the cab into sub-freezing temperatures with wind chill, ducking inside the warm and welcoming lobby felt like stepping into the apartment of a dear friend. We were visiting Philadelphia to see first-hand how Yardi client the Kaiserman Company uses Yardi’s Procure to Pay platform to optimize its procurement process, streamlining ordering and delivery and making invoice approvals easier than ever before. Procure to Pay has helped Kaiserman save $60,000 annually, reduce paper use by 50 percent, and redirect staff time to other important tasks. The company uses the Yardi Voyager platform for its multifamily and commercial portfolios, and after implementing two years ago, has found the cloud-hosted solution to be invaluable. “We love it. I have been in the industry for awhile, used many different platforms, and Yardi is by far my favorite. Our leasing teams, our management teams and even our corporate office have access to Yardi. It just makes doing everyday tasks simpler,” said property manager Eric Schulz. The Rittenhouse Claridge One of just two apartment buildings located right on Philadelphia’s iconic Rittenhouse Square, the Rittenhouse Claridge was built in the 1950s by its current owner/operators, the Kaiserman Company. Over the last several years, an effort to restore the property to its midcentury roots has been underway, with charming results. On the building’s second floor, a sprawling common area with comfortable seating, fireplaces, reading nooks, game tables, a kitchen and private meeting spaces overlooks the Square. In one corner is the spacious gym, where a line of treadmills looks directly over the park. The vibe...
McCormack Baron
Continues its Yardi Journey
A leading property management company requires a software company that is able to accommodate the management of its developments. McCormack Baron turned to Yardi property management solutions to facilitate growth and improve efficiencies across its diverse portfolio. Yardi Voyager Project Manager Karen Pruiett has been with McCormack Baron for nearly 30 years. She ushered her company through its first Yardi Voyager® implementation in 2004. Since then, she has seen McCormack Baron flourish and adopt new Yardi software to meet its needs. “We chose Yardi Voyager because of its excellent accounting background and the property management capabilities in the software,” says Pruiett. “We looked at different companies and you guys have the best accounting background. Also, the number of property types that you all support is amazing. That was a necessity for us.” Yardi Voyager is a web-based platform that enables clients with larger portfolios to smoothly manage operations. It is ideal for clients like McCormack Baron that manage a spectrum of properties. With Voyager, McCormack Baron executes leases, runs analytics, and issues innovative resident, tenant, and investor services. The software automates workflows and permits controlled transparency that enables the firm to collaborate with greater accuracy and efficiency. “Voyager has definitely improved our efficiencies,” Pruiett says. Yardi PAYscan Pruiett recalls notable savings with Yardi PAYscan™, a Voyager ancillary product that automates invoice processing. “PAYscan has totally saved our lives. We were doing a lot of manual invoice processing. Now that we can scan our invoices into PAYscan, it’s absolutely wonderful to have the image attached to the invoice, especially for auditing purposes.” Before PAYscan, the accounting team had to dig through file cabinets to find invoices during audits. Now, auditors receive limited access to PAYscan and they are able to pull images of invoices...
Targeted Marketing
Means quality leads
If your digital marketing campaigns simply generate leads, they are underperforming. Create campaigns that attract the highest quality leads and provide insights into tenant habits with a single business intelligence tool. Yardi Orion® Business Intelligence (BI) is a mobile-ready platform with more than 200 built-in key performance indicators. The software offers flexible reports and dashboards. The data gathered by Orion BI provides insightful, configurable reports that can be used by multiple tiers of leadership. Marketers can use Orion BI to identify lead sources for the highest quality renters: demographics that can reduce occupancy, minimize delinquencies, and promote lease renewals in one swoop. Orion BI highlights the cost per lease, showing users how many marketing dollars went into each conversion. Of the leases signed, renter behavior is then tracked. The data reveals which marketing sources attracted the most renters who paid their rent on time and which renters renewed their leases. Let’s say that your property ran ads on RentCafe.com, Apartments.com, and Forrent.com for one year. You wanted to know which of those sites resulted in the lowest cost per lease and the highest renewal rate. You could configure the parameters of your report to show those data sets. Upon discovering that RentCafe.com offered the highest quality renters, your marketing team would concentrate its resources towards that site. Your organization nixed marketing dollars on lead sources that underperformed. Orion BI can even help to fill specific types of vacancies. If your property has issues filling its studio units, you can create a report that shows which lead sources attracted renters who signed studio leases. You can also avoid lead sources where most renters seek out larger spaces. For more information on how Orion BI informs marketing decisions, join a...
Smarter than Ever
Yardi Business Intelligence
By consolidating portfolio-wide data and automating reporting, Yardi Orion Business Intelligence makes life a lot easier for property managers and executive decision makers. Instead of manually compiling spreadsheets that can be difficult to analyze, Orion users can instantly view a single dashboard with comprehensive performance data on their desktop or mobile device. Now, with updates made available in V10, there are more advanced tools, enhanced features and simplified ways to get the powerful data you need, precisely when you need it, wherever you happen to be. Lisa Kolb, consulting systems analyst at A.J. Dwoskin, summed up the efficiency of Orion, “People get stuck in ‘analysis paralysis’ when they review too many reports. With Orion, we’ve cleaned up the dashboard and focus on our KPIs on a screen with drilldown capabilities — instead of sending out a bunch of reports. It’s been well accepted in our organization from day one.” Here are some highlights of what’s new in Orion: Tiles: For both administrators and users, tiles have been completely redesigned to display more information. Along with the primary measure selected, now tiles can show up to four additional measures, with KPIs and optional trend comparisons. You can also control and link timeframes to the dashboard filter. With a new customization capability, you can add subcategories to your tiles. Widgets: A simplified widget toolbar features icons for each option. Enhanced widgets now allow you to filter through specific KPIs and manage by exception. New grid widget functionality includes a reference point to date controls, and allows you to view up to 50 rows per page. Newly added widgets show KPIs for multiple measures. KPIs: KPIs have evolved as well, and can now vary by just about any attribute you select including property, regional manager and metropolitan...
Controlling Costs
Yardi Construction Management
The National Association of Home Builders reports 200,000 unfilled construction jobs in the United States. That is an 81 percent increase in unfilled positions since 2014. The lack of skilled labor has contractors turning to creative solutions. A Growing Problem The shortage of construction workers hit hardest in July 2016. Sales for new construction reached the highest peak in nearly a decade. Builders scrambled to find crews to help meet demand. Construction delays led to appraisal delays, which led to closing delays and a series of increased costs, lost time, and damaged customer satisfaction scores. “There was frustration all around,” says Manuel Cabrera, Branch Manager with CalAtlantic mortgage. “The shortage of workers affects every facet of our business.” Single-family isn’t the only sector feeling the pressure. In multifamily, a lack of skilled construction workers creates a similar strain. Two factors surface as the main culprits of the labor shortage. The median age of construction work crews is 40. Contractors have had a difficult time replacing aging workers and attracting young talent. Changes in immigration policy also effect labor sources. “The shortage of workers comes up at every meeting. The demand is great for business, of course, but when you’re short on skilled labor to fulfill that demand, then what?” asks Cabrera. The dilemma will intensify. Contractors project higher labor costs in 2017. Sun Sentinel reports that 73 percent of construction firms in the US plan to expand their payrolls this year, increasing pay and extending training for employees. Creative Solutions To mitigate costs hikes, contractors are exploring labor-efficient equipment and technologies. Building information modeling (BIM) and other construction software improve the precision of project planning and management. Yardi Voyager Construction Management facilitates worksite management in a mobile-ready platform. Construction Management provides transparency and accuracy...
Resident Screening
Results for Banyan Living
Amanda Smeltzer, executive director at Banyan Living, reports, “Yardi Resident Screening streamlines our screening process with easy to read reports and automatic renter approvals. The solution makes life easy for our staff, while it provides convenience for our customers.” As part of our mission to keep delivering solutions that help our Yardi clients succeed, enhancements to the popular Yardi Resident Screening module were recently released. Clients already know that approving quality residents automatically as part of their leasing workflow with Yardi Resident Screening saves time and money. Now, the system includes even more features to help clients not only easily select low risk residents who improve their bottom line, but also get more detailed analytics about individual applicants, local area renters and overall property performance. Single sign-on and better UI: now with a single sign-on from Yardi Voyager, a fully responsive UI and an enhanced Executive Dashboard, clients can work more quickly, access needed data instantly and navigate the entire system with greater ease. Fee Manager functionality: a new “fee manager” compatibility feature conveniently shows all of a fee manager’s Yardi Resident Screening analytics under one account, even if they operate from multiple owners’ Voyager databases. Criminal conviction details and improved accuracy: when an applicant is rejected based on the criminal background check, the system now provides detail about the type of conviction(s) that resulted in the rejection. And to continue to ensure and improve accuracy, applicant middle names will be required for all screenings starting in early 2017. New reports and deeper insight: to make the daily lives of property managers and owners easier than ever, more reports are available, and a new property performance feature provides a snapshot of application volume and demographic information. And to discover which local employers provide the...
CRE Tech 5.0
Guest Blog by Jim Young
Editor’s note: Jim Young is the Founder and CEO of Realcomm. At a recent Yardi Executive Briefing, he spoke about CRE 5.0. In this guest blog post, he further expands on the subject. The commercial and corporate real estate industry has many moving parts. Change is the only constant as companies around the world continually add and subtract from their organizations and portfolios. A merger today and a disposition tomorrow requires a complex network of individuals and processes to keep up with the changing real estate needs of a company. The people and processes involved in keeping a real estate portfolio moving smoothly require a significant amount of technology, automation and innovation. It is no longer possible to keep asset, lease, utilization, energy, operations and other data in spreadsheets or other disconnected information silos. In addition, there are four primary categories of technology associated with commercial and corporate real estate, 1) Real Estate Operational Information; 2) Transactions; 3) Smart, Connected, High-Performance Buildings; and 4) Next Generation Space. Over the course of the last 30 years, there have been five major phases of automation that have impacted the commercial and corporate real estate industry. Following is an overview of this CRE Tech evolution: CRE Tech 1.0 started over 25 years ago. Companies like Manhattan, Tririga, Yardi, MRI, CTI, J.D. Edwards, Argus, Angus and others, were the first to enter the real estate technology space. Their primary functionality was targeted on lease administration, asset management, accounting and property management. CoStar, which was founded in 1987, emerged as an industry giant, although the company has focused more on transactional and market data. Comps Inc., another market data company (acquired by CoStar), was also an early pioneer as were DataQuick, Damar, MetroScan and others. On the smart building...
Retail Technology
Runs on Yardi
Developing financially successful retail centers is a challenging task anywhere in the world. Investors and managers involved in retail assets must be sound strategic planners who can successfully assimilate a number of disparate factors, such as demographics, macro and micro economics, as well as cultural and political circumstances. Rising e-commerce makes a competitive business environment even more acute. Successful strategies require engaging shoppers with the right product, creating a tenant mix that suits geographic and regional trends, and accommodating local culture, demographics, regional economics and other factors. Many malls are adding themed restaurants and attractions to attract more customers. As consumers start to buy more of their clothing items online, dancing fountains, amusement park experiences, and themed restaurants are almost as important to attracting footfall as an anchor tenant’s spring clothing fashions or new video game boxes. A mall can be regarded as an ecosystem that needs full financial, maintenance and leasing information to be meaningful and easily accessible. Across all markets—the Americas, Asia, Europe, Australia, the Middle East—the tendency toward large malls mean operators must be able to handle large tenant counts. For example, due to the sheer size of the shopping area, instinct and walk-throughs are insufficient for detecting inefficiencies and troubled tenants. Only reliable data and metrics will serve that purpose. Single Platform Global ‘Glue’ With the retail sector generating more data in a single month than many other vertical real estate markets do in a year, and with investors expecting strong returns for their money, the imperative to store, maintain, manage and utilize retail property data bonds the industry like glue. These operations are as important as inventory, location and demographics in determining the success of a retail center. As a result, retail owners and operators around the world are turning...
Yardi Honored
By Insights Success
Insights Success magazine recently named Yardi one of the “10 Fastest Growing Cloud Solution Provider Companies.” Insights Success focuses its coverage on emerging and quickly growing companies and their leadership. The honor capped year of esteemed recognition for Yardi’s continued service to clients and constant growth, “Yardi Systems is leveraging cloud technology to enhance both the consumer and professional experience with real estate engagement. Yardi is equipped with the resources to upgrade the technological aspect of nearly every real estate vertical,” stated the magazine’s coverage of the award. The recognition follows another major honor for Yardi in 2016. In September, the company was named to Forbes’ inaugural Cloud 100, the definitive list of the top 100 private cloud companies in the world, developed in partnership with Bessemer Venture Partners. Anant Yardi, founder and President of Yardi, was recognized for his pioneering efforts in the industry. Insights Success stated: “His vision is the driving force behind the development of effective and innovative software solutions for global real estate portfolio management.” Mr. Yardi was also named to the National Apartment Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016, where he is only the third inductee. About Insights Success Insights Success is the Best Business Magazine in the world for enterprises. It focuses distinctively on emerging as well as leading fastest growing companies, their confrontational style of doing business and way of delivering effective and collaborative solutions to strengthen market share. We talk about leaders’ viewpoints and ideas, latest products/services, and more. For more information, visit...
2016 Recap
Reflecting & Looking Ahead
As 2016 comes to a close, we look back in reflection on a successful year. Here are a few of our favorite Yardi moments from 2016: The Balance Sheet, Yardi’s corporate blog, celebrated its fourth anniversary! In February, Yardi launched a new data centre in Dubai to meet the data security and infrastructure needs of a growing client base in the Middle East. Yardi welcomed iMS Immobilien Management System GmbH to the Yardi family! iMS GmbH is a German developer of commercial property management software. CSU Channel Islands and Pacific Coast Business Times honored Yardi Systems and CEO Anant Yardi. Anant Yardi was named Business Leader of the Year by the Business & Technology Partnership at California State University, Channel Islands. Mr. Yardi was also inducted into the Pacific Coast Business Times Business Hall of Fame in recognition of his contributions to the software industry. Yardi aided displaced Fort McMurray fire evacuees. Mobilizing teams in four different time zones, Yardi created a centralized housing registry connecting local landlords and residents in need of housing. Yardi acquired Proliphix, a leading provider of energy control solutions. We welcomed its clients and staff to the Yardi family! Gordon Morrell was named Executive of the Year at the South Coast Business & Technology Awards. “I’m honored to receive this award, but it really is not for me,” Morrell said. “It is for the entire global team at Yardi. The reason for our success is the exceptional collaboration of everyone at the company, rather than the efforts of one individual.” Yardi won a NREI/IMN Commercial Real Estate Award in recognition of the Yardi®Smart Energy Suite. Multi-Housing News earned Gold for best website at NAREE’s fiftieth conference. In August, we celebrated 5,000 Yardi employees strong worldwide! Yardi released Yardi Genesis2for Affordable Housing. Yardi welcomed two new Marketing Geniuses. Meet Mia...