The Yardi Advanced Solutions Conference, which began as two annual events in the U.S. and expanded to encompass six events on four continents, will soon continue its two-decade tradition of helping clients maximize the value of their Yardi software. ”The reason I enjoy YASC is to see new product developments and to understand how other corporations are using the platform,” said Katerina Urquhart of London-based M&G Real Estate, who attended YASC Europe in 2019. “I was able to take classes on the newest products, ask questions on topics I didn’t fully understand and dig into things that interest me,” Marcie Trivette of Fore Property in Las Vegas said last year. “No matter how big or small, every client has a voice with Yardi, and these sessions are great ways to reinforce that,” an executive director with Laramar Communities LLC of Greenwood Village, Colo., noted back in 2010. Last year’s presentations were different, of course. All YASC events were combined into YASC Digital and YASC Global, virtual experiences with a full slate of free on-demand classes, social activities and gala entertainment. YASC Global in October drew more than 20,000 attendees and featured an exclusive performance from internationally acclaimed Icelandic band Of Monsters And Men. With every view triggering a donation from Yardi, the event earned $75,000 for charities. A two-time Grammy Award-winning performer is on tap for the May conference and Yardi again will make a donation for every attendee viewing the show. The next edition of YASC Global happens May 18-20, with 280-plus classes on the latest software innovations for property owners, asset managers, real estate investment managers and others working in commercial, residential, PHA, senior living and other real estate markets. Live chat support will also be available. YASC Global participants can also look forward to social media interaction, daily giveaways, networking opportunities and entertainment. All Yardi clients are automatically enrolled in the conference. “This is the era of continuous connection. But in the world of business, continuous connection hasn’t fully come to fruition. Our goal is to make that happen and provide the tools and technologies that you need,” company president and founder Anant Yardi told 2,500 Yardi clients and staff members who gathered in San Diego for YASC in 2019. Two years later, in vastly different circumstances, that remains the purpose of YASC. Learn more about the benefits Yardi’s global client base gains from this...

Is Hong Kong is poised for a real estate resurgence? Two years ago, Hong Kong was the world’s third largest real estate market, trailing only New York and London. The twin challenges of protests and a pandemic have taken their toll. So last week, Yardi called in the experts for their take on Hong Kong’s future. David Green-Morgan, managing director at Real Capital Analytics in Asia Pacific, Tommy Wu, lead economist for Oxford Economics in Asia, and Yardi regional director, Bernie Devine gathered for the first instalment of Yardi’s 2021 Executive Briefing Series. Here’s why they think Hong Kong real estate is ready to bounce back. The macro indicators are positive Political unrest had already damaged Hong Kong’s economy prior to Covid-19, and a 6% contraction followed in 2020, Wu told Yardi’s engaged audience. But Oxford Economics is forecasting a strong recovery, with 4% growth in 2021, and then 2.5% annually out to 2025. All the macro indicators bode well, Devine added, pointing to the vaccine rollout, slowly improving retail performance and unemployment rate, as well as the city’s strong financial governance framework, which remains a source of competitive advantage. Office’s bumpy ride is over Political protests had a greater impact on Hong Kong’s commercial office sector than the global pandemic, Wu highlighted. Office prices fell during the protests, but the market is “bottoming out” and demand is returning. Green-Morgan agreed, pointing to recent deals struck at the 73-storey skyscraper at 99 Queens Road, The Center, which were “more or less on par” with 2018 prices. “Quite a few multinationals have been shifting business functions to other key cities in Asia – like Singapore and Kuala Lumpur – but they are still keeping their offices in Hong Kong,” Wu added. Oxford Economics expects the financial sector “to continue to thrive” and the tech sector, while small, will be a powerful engine for growth. Hong Kong remains “the gateway in and out of China”. Residential remains resilient While Covid-19 hurt the labour market, and unemployment currently sits at 7%, this has not affected housing demand, Wu said. Why is this? Most participants in the housing market are in the financial and other high-paying sectors, and these weren’t hit hardest by Covid. “The real impact on Hong Kong was the protests. In fact, Covid has had hardly any impact on property prices, when you take a high-level view,” Devine observed. Will migration, especially from those who hold British National Overseas passports, affect the housing market? Wu pointed out that the bulk of these migrants are young and footloose, but not asset-rich and were unlikely to be in the market for housing. Meanwhile land supply will remain “tight – at least over the next few years,” Wu added. Risk and rewards in restructured retail Retail could take some time to recover, and Oxford Economics does not expect to see a repeat performance of the bounce back in 2003, following SARS. This marked a golden decade for retail and China’s emergence as a “major force” in tourism. “This won’t happen again,” Wu warned. More than 80% of inbound tourists hail from China, but the falling price of luxury goods in China has eroded Hong Kong’s appeal as a shopping destination. Tourism is now at a “crossroads,” Wu added. Recovery in tourist arrivals will lag other nearby cities, and this will lead to “structural change” in retail. While Hong Kong has some of the highest rents in the world, and while yields have been “incredibly low” in recent years, some investors are beginning to take a punt on the return of Chinese tourism. “This is the big unknown,” but prices are now low enough “that people are willing to take a bet,” Green-Morgan added. Hong Kong stays strong “The last two years have been a real challenge for Hong Kong, but overall investor sentiment towards the city is becoming more positive,” Green-Morgan said. Despite...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have honored ENERGY STAR® partners from 39 states for outstanding leadership in reducing energy bills and tackling climate change. This year, Yardi has received the highest honor — the 2021 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Sustained Excellence Award. For the third consecutive year, Yardi has excelled as an ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year in its ongoing commitment to help educate and support its clients through energy management software with a built-in dashboard for ENERGY STAR scores and benchmarking using ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager®. Ongoing Excellence “ENERGY STAR award-winning partners are showing the world that delivering real climate solutions makes good business sense and promotes job growth,” said Michael S. Regan, EPA administrator. “Many of them have been doing it for years, inspiring all of us who are committed to tackling the climate crisis and leading the way to a clean energy economy.” The 2021 ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award acknowledges Yardi’s technology solutions and ongoing philanthropic efforts across a variety of real estate sectors including: Helping more than 140 clients benchmark energy in over 3,500 buildings Benchmarking water in over 3,000 buildings Promoting the importance of ENERGY STAR scores to clients through education, training and visibility Including ENERGY STAR in Yardi’s energy management software dashboard Publishing more than 32 articles on the benefits of benchmarking, energy management and other conservation topics Providing digital courses for over 36,000 attendees from more than 58 countries during its virtual user conferences Again earning ENERGY STAR certification for its Southern California corporate headquarters Akshai Rao, vice president at Yardi, sees the award as a reflection of the company’s clients and their impressive achievements in energy management and conservation. “We’re proud of our clients’ achievements using ENERGY STAR resources to meet their business and sustainability goals. Our benchmarking increased by more than 50% over last year. This is due in part to rapid adoption of ENERGY STAR benchmarking to better understand remote work environment impacts on building energy use during the COVID-19 pandemic. We look forward to helping our clients and the industry gain even more ENERGY STAR benefits moving forward,” said Rao. Your Turn to Shine For a complete list of 2021 winners and more information about ENERGY STAR’s awards program, visit energystar.gov/awardwinners. To learn more about getting support for your company’s energy management and sustainability goals, join a free energy management...

Supporting the rental housing sector through the pandemic and beyond is a priority for the industry’s preeminent technology provider. Yardi is the primary sponsor of the COVID-19 Rental Housing Support Initiative. The project is a collaboration of The Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM), National Apartment Association (NAA), National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) and National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM). The project continues to release new resources in the areas of mental health, legislative support, liability information and media. A summary of those now available (as of March 25) follows: Mental health resources: Mental health resources can help housing providers and renters alike. Find videos and other content on coping with isolation, cultivating resiliency, managing anxiety and handling financial stress. Legislative support: Accurate data and information is important for decision-makers as they facilitate ongoing emergency assistance programs. These resources help leaders understand the size and impact of the rental housing sector. Legislative educational resources are now available. Liability information: Property owners and operators must keep up with the latest laws and federal guidelines as they pertain to housing. The project liability resources help ensure compliance with changing legislation. Media support: The engaging “Rental Housing Industry Myth Quiz” is a way to educate the public and provide details about the pandemic impact for rental housing industry owners and operators. In mid-2020, Yardi committed $1 million to supporting COVID-19 Rental Housing Support and the programs developed by this initiative. “With nearly 40 million Americans living in apartments, the rental housing industry plays a critical role in housing them safely and securely. We are delighted that the four major associations who serve the rental housing industry – NAA, NMHC, IREM, NARPM – will share knowledge, develop industry benchmarks, research new ways of operating and provide forward-thinking solutions for the benefit of residents, owners and the rental housing industry,” said Anant Yardi, president and founder of Yardi. “Yardi is committed to supporting the multifamily industry for the duration of the pandemic,” said Esther Bonardi, vice president of marketing at Yardi. “Our company mission is dedicated to supporting our clients and communities, and in this case the entire rental housing realm is part of that community.” Explore all of the support resources online at covidinitiative.rentalhousingindustry.org....

Yardi sponsored The Mental Health Resource Library from the COVID-19 Rental Housing Support Initiative to help users navigate the pressures, challenges and unknowns of life during and after the pandemic. The library is just one piece of a content collaboration of The Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM), National Apartment Association (NAA), National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) and National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM). You can learn more about all aspects of the Rental Housing Support Initiative here. Exploring the Mental Health Resource Library The Mental Health Resource Library offers tools to help manage changes in your home, work and social environments. Explore dozens of videos, articles and other media that are practical and easy to understand. While there is a lot of content, it is divided into categories that make it easier to get started. You can: Learn how to cope with isolation Discover how to adapt and bounce back after life changes Establish a sense of ease in the face of worry and anxious feelings Take control of your money to manage financial stress For optimal emotional, physical and mental health, we must learn to manage the changes in our environment. The Mental Health Resource Library provides tips, new perspectives and life hacks that bring change management within reach. Click here to explore the Mental Health Resource Library. Building a library takes a village The COVID-19 Rental Housing Support Initiative is proudly sponsored by Yardi. This collaboration between leading industry organizations offers solutions in key support areas. Each component meets the growing demand for research and education that can help the industry survive and thrive through the pandemic and beyond. Learn more about the Rental Housing Support...

State and local housing agencies across the country are tasked with implementing emergency rental assistance programs for households and landlords in a secure, equitable and expedient manner. Funded by federal stimulus dollars, emergency rental assistance programs will help keep people housed as the U.S. recovers from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The initial funding for the Emergency Rental Assistance program was $25 billion, which must be used promptly to support households struggling to pay rent and landlords who may have missed mortgage payments due to renter delinquency. Additional funding is also expected to be allocated by Congress. To disburse funds to eligible households, housing agencies must qualify applicants, track housing status (including offering support services) and complete the rental assistance deployment. Getting assistance funds to the right accounts with complete transparency and as efficiently as possible is a nationwide effort, and one that trusted real estate technology provider Yardi, a 40-year contributor to industry innovation, has the expertise to support. Yardi has released a new end-to-end software solution designed specifically for emergency rental assistance management called Rent Relief. This emergency rental assistance program (ERAP) software has online portals for applicants and tenants, automated workflows to qualify applicants for assistance, and secure technology to compete financial transactions. Rent Relief powered by Yardi provides an online portal for households in need to apply for rental assistance. The portal guides the user through the process of answering eligibility questions and uploading required documentation. Housing agency staff can then log in to Rent Relief to complete the steps of verifying eligibility for assistance. Staff can communicate online with applicants to advise of case status updates, missing information, determinations of eligibility and more. Steps required to qualify vary by state and are configurable within Rent Relief. Rent Relief is also the way approved households will receive funds in their bank account. The transactions are transparent and secure, leveraging Yardi’s industry-leading experience which includes managing more than 12 million U.S. residential units and processing monthly rent payments for more than 8 million apartments. To learn more about the platform, get more details and sign up for a personal demo at rentrelief.com. “Yardi is committed to do our part to help agencies keep renters housed as we endure the pandemic. We have nearly four decades of experience developing this type of full-service technology,” said Chris Voss, vice president of affordable housing and PHA at Yardi. Yardi has consistently stepped up in crisis situations to offer funds, resources and expertise. In 2016, Yardi worked with the Provincial Government of Alberta to develop a searchable, easy-to-use housing registry after 2,000 homes were lost in the devastating Fort McMurray wildfire. In 2017, after Hurricane Harvey devastated southern Texas, Yardi created a regional housing site and hotline for displaced residents and also donated $1 million in disaster relief. That response was repeated after Hurricane Irma later the same year. Last year, Yardi donated $1 million in support of rental support resources for the newly launched COVID-19 Rental Housing Support Initiative, a collaboration of The Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM), National Apartment Association (NAA), National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) and National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM). If your organization has begun to implement an emergency rental assistance program and is in need of simple software dedicated to supporting the entire process, call Yardi at (800) 866-1144 or visit...

Digital technology and tools are transforming every industry all across the world. Every day the digital transformation is opening up new opportunities, possibilities, and offering new levels of accuracy, efficiency, cost-savings, and growth for businesses. The unprecedented pandemic and the new lease standards IFRS 16 and ASC 842 have further reinforced the need for digital solutions like lease accounting software. Those companies which have implemented new lease standards have realized that lease management software is critical for maintaining balance sheets and financial statements without errors. The complex nature of new lease standards also asks for digital lease management and accounting solutions which can generate positive results. Therefore, digital technologies and software are a must for success in the lease management and accounting discipline. Benefits of Digital Lease Management and Accounting Implementing the new lease accounting standards can be overwhelming. Gathering necessary data, modifying each of the leases and calculations can be complex. Many leading organizations are missing the opportunity to automate lease-related tasks and improving efficiency. It is high time to use digital technology and experience its many advantages. Lease management and accounting software can benefit businesses in many ways. Centralized Data The world is going digital with industries storing important data using digital tools and advanced technology. It is a complex task to maintain an enormous amount of lease data, obligations, and provisions on spreadsheets. Moreover, it becomes difficult when different members of the technical and other teams need access to it. Lease management software solves this significant problem by providing centralized data. It can be accessed by anyone from anywhere whenever you need it. It saves time and increases productivity. Tracking the Leases Another advantage of using lease management software is that it makes tracking all information related to leases easy. You can find the lease commencement date, expiration date, and other tailored insights as per your need. The reporting features can help you analyze lease spending. Thus, lease management software gives you better control over lease data and helps in managing them effectively. Compliance with Latest Standards The new lease accounting standards direct finance and operating leases to be included in the balance sheet. This requires extra work and effort where leases need to be modified to comply with the new standards. Using a lease accounting software will help with calculations, disclosure requirements and other software features will make it easy, efficient, and cost-effective to carry out the implementation process. Make Better Deals The tailored reports, auditing features, and better control over leases help you in making better leasing deals. The software makes it easier to understand the errors and highlights benefits which eventually helps in adding or removing provisions that benefit your organization in the long run. Seamless Workflows  Digital lease management and accounting solutions enable seamless workflows for the lease accounting and management team. Automatically generated reminders, easy landlord reports, intimation letters as part of the schedule makes day to day operations easy. With new digital innovations happening across the industries, it is time to embrace the latest lease management and lease accounting software. Yardi’s Corporate Lease Management Software simplifies operational and system changes to comply with new lease accounting standards. For more details,...

The findings of the first BOMA International COVID-19 Commercial Real Estate Impact Study reveal that the death of the office is greatly exaggerated. While many tenants are reassessing the use and the size of their physical offices, a strong majority (74%) see their in-person office space as vital to conducting successful business. The nationwide survey of more than 3,000 office space decisions-makers and influencers gauged tenant sentiments relating to COVID-19, including its impact on their business and their attitude towards the physical work environment and office space decisions going forward. It was conducted in September and October of 2020 in conjunction with Brightline Strategies, with a grant from Yardi. The study’s key findings include: 65% of commercial office decision-makers continue to see significant value in on-site business operations, particularly as it relates to collaboration, coaching and culture. The economic headwinds on office tenants are far reaching, with 33% of respondents saying they have experienced at least a 25% revenue decline since the onset of the pandemic. While a strong majority see office space as vital, 61% of respondents across all tenant sizes report they will reassess space needs. 78% approve of the response their current property owner/operator has implemented during COVID-19. 47% of all tenants say their landlord’s coronavirus response exclusively has made them more likely to renew. 77% are confident they understand how to reduce and manage risk in their physical office. At the outset of the survey, 55% of respondents said they plan to renew their leases, unsurprisingly lower than the Brightline Strategies six-year national index of 78%. However, renewal likelihood increases 11 points — rising to 66% — if properties implement operational changes including new services, features and physical spaces in response to the pandemic. This uptick indicates a true inflection point, showing that a change in operations helps assure and retain tenants. Maximization of fresh air is the “most important” measure for properties to adopt, according to tenants. Additionally, more than 40% of respondents indicated that they would pay supplementary fees for disinfecting stations and twice-daily full office disinfecting. The collective sentiment toward amenities is changing too. There is less focus on traditional built-ins, like onsite gyms and cafes. Almost half say they are seeing more value in personal relationships with their property management company/teams. “Our collective charge was to help owners and operators better understand, mitigate and proactively address emerging industry trends, shifts in workplace priorities and tenant preferences resulting from COVID-19, as well as changes in market attitudes towards the physical work environment and their impacts on office space decisions going forward,” said Robert Teel, vice president of global solutions, at Yardi. Although COVID-19 continues to be a disruptive force for the office sector and its tenants, the value of the office as a key ingredient of business success remains strong. “We have seen a steady and significant rebound in the perceived value and utility of physical office environments since the onset of the pandemic, with nearly 75% of all tenant decision-makers across the country affirming that in-person offices are operationally vital to their businesses, long-term growth and sustainability,” said Henry H. Chamberlain, APR, FASAE, CAE, president and COO of BOMA International. “As our ‘new normal’ emerges, we will become increasingly focused on the form and function of office environments in a post-pandemic world.” Explore more survey data in the BOMA International COVID-19 Commercial Real Estate Impact Study executive summary, including renewal forecasts and space reduction estimates by renewal horizon. Read the press...

The apartment industry met online at APTvirtual, powered by NAA, from Nov. 2-6 to forge more powerful connections with each other and the technology that will take us forward as we stay connected at home. With the theme “Yardi keeps you and your residents connected” we were there to share, learn and spark inspiration together. What we shared It was a pleasure to not only hear your voices but also see your faces, including through the virtual mosaic that allowed attendees to be together in spirit. Thank you for sharing your photos to help build this fun digital community — look closely to find your friends and colleagues. How we learned We hope you joined our educational sessions, but if you missed them and were a registered attendee, you can watch them on demand until Dec. 4. Big Data, Benchmarking and Forecasting: A Tale of Two Studies With advances in big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence, the ability to manage your business with laser precision and shape future outcomes has never been greater. In this session, industry leaders share how they use operational benchmarks to identify opportunities and predictive analytics for marketing and leasing to make timely changes and realize gains. Here are a few sound bites: “Using machine learning, we’re able to pick out patterns and trends in a much broader pool of data. We have lots of data points, including around spending on SEM and how it correlates to leasing ratios. Seeing the data reinforces decisions about when to spend marketing dollars to meet our leasing and revenue goals,” said Shawn Cardner, executive vice president at Grubb Properties. “Our asset management team takes a very active role in the budgeting process, and benchmarking is extremely important to them. Being able to look at a region and do comparisons — down to spending on plumbing and landscaping — gives us visibility down to budgeting line items,” said Joe Anfuso, chief financial officer at MG Properties. Emerging Issues: Looking Ahead to the Post-Pandemic Future Even as we deal with ongoing economic and societal impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, we are all thinking about what the future might look like. Universal truths for our industry will persist: people will still need to rent apartments. “What we’re seeing from our RentCafe.com surveys is that renters want more choice with self-guided and virtual tours. I think these options for more convenient touring will persist long after the pandemic,” said Esther Bonardi, vice president of marketing at Yardi. Bonardi was joined by Garin Hamburger from Pinnacle, Pei Pei Mirabella from Bozzuto and Ian Mattingly from LumaCorp to share forward-thinking ideas for multifamily’s post-pandemic future, including marketing and leasing. Where we talked tech Thanks for visiting our booths to chat with Yardi experts and tell us what you’re excited about! Big data and self-guided tours are leading the way into 2021, and according to our polls, 69% of respondents are most excited about self-guided tours. Asset IQ, part of Yardi Elevate, uses big data to deliver predictive analytics and prescriptive actions to lower costs and increase revenue. RentCafe Self-Guided Tours helps operators meet the demands of a changing market, giving prospects the ability to tour at their own pace and maintain social distancing. Booth visitors also learned about RentCafe Chat IQ, an AI-powered chatbot that learns and adapts to fit each community. Who we met We hope you enjoyed hearing from Anant Yardi himself during the Connect with Yardi Executives session. In addition to talking about the state of the industry and tech trends, Mr. Yardi said, “Relationships with our clients are so important to us. I’m looking at all of you and so many memories of working together over the years are coming back. Thank you for dedicating your time to this.” How to connect with us now Missed us at APTvirtual? Contact us, and we’ll show you what you...

The apartment industry is meeting online at APTvirtual powered by NAA from Nov. 2-6 to spark inspiration as we all stay connected at home. Once again, Yardi is proud to participate as a sponsor, exhibitor and educator at one of the industry’s most anticipated conferences of the year. And what a year 2020 has been. To ensure the long-term success of the industry, Yardi has donated $1 million to the COVID-19 Rental Housing Support Initiative, a partnership with NAA, IREM, NMHC and NARPM. APTvirtual lets attendees engage with the latest developments in the apartment industry, from business best practices to marketing strategies and leasing innovations. You’ll also hear amazing stories from this year’s Game Changer speakers to kick off each day of the event. The platform is now live, so it’s an ideal time to start planning your schedule. We’re excited to meet you there. Not registered yet? Use discount code APTvirtual200 for $200 off. Connect with Yardi: Enter to win! While our technology helps you and your residents stay connected at home, our various activities at APTvirtual help you connect to the NAA community — and enter to win a major giveaway for a new at-home experience! First, submit your conference photo to the Virtual Mosaic. It connects digital threads from all over the country that you can watch come to life as a collaborative, branded image. Then, make time to visit with us. We have four virtual booths setup so you can connect with the technology most applicable to you: Yardi for all things operations and big data, Yardi Breeze for simplified property management, RentCafe for marketing and Yardi Matrix for market research data. Engage with us in our virtual booths using the links below and get a Starbucks® gift card to enjoy coffee on us, plus enter for a chance to win more. More ways to engage: Tech you can’t miss! Come to the Yardi booth and “Connect with Yardi executives” for a special discussion happening on Thursday, Nov. 5 at 1 and 1:30 p.m. EST (two consecutive sessions). Anant Yardi will be there to answer your questions and share insights along with Esther Bonardi, Terri Dowen, John Pendergast and Chris Ulep. During the daily expo hours, visit us to connect with experts on the newest solutions for multifamily operators. You’ll have a chance to join our breakout rooms on marketing, big data and operations to ask questions and hear from our top innovative experts in the industry. Let us show you why big data is a big deal with Yardi Elevate, including Asset IQ for predictive and prescriptive insights with benchmarking, Forecast IQ for expediting accurate budgets and new Maintenance IQ for shortening unit turns. Do you have the right technology to meet the needs of today’s renters? Join us at the RENTCafé booth for innovative solutions to ensure your properties are ready to meet the demands of a changing market. Give prospects the ability to tour at their own pace and maintain social distancing with RENTCafé Self-Guided Tours. Also, get up to speed with RENTCafé Chat IQ, an AI-powered chatbot that learns and adapts to fit each community. Stop by and we’ll show you a chatbot designed specifically for you. At the Yardi Matrix booth you can learn how to utilize market intelligence to identify value-add investment opportunities. Newly added estimated DSCR and LTV data helps you easily find distressed properties, benchmark current performance and plan future financing decisions. Schedule a personal demo to see this new data set. We’d also love to show you Yardi Matrix Student for insight into purpose-built and shadow market properties surrounding over 1,000 colleges and universities across the U.S. Visit the Yardi Breeze booth to see why thousands have switched to our refreshingly simple property management platform. Breeze offers everything you need to market and manage your portfolio from anywhere, on any device. Simple pricing and convenient monthly...

October 20-22, Yardi provided three days of education, training, inspiration and support to clients during the YASC Global conference. The expansion of the online event to attendees worldwide, building on a U.S.-focused event held in May, was well received. Over 20,000 attendees, representing more than 2,500 companies from 58 countries, took 45,000 courses over 72 hours. The event was hosted on the Yardi Aspire learning platform. Anant Yardi, founder and president of Yardi, delivered an introduction to the event and remarked on the rapid adaptations real estate professionals have made worldwide. “Last year we had six different conferences: Washington, D.C., San Diego, London, Dubai, Singapore and Sydney. They were festive occasions where we had the opportunity to meet and greet you. Today, things have changed,” Mr. Yardi said. “We now work from home. We no longer meet face to face, but through digital media. And as all of this is going on, we yearn for those good old days. I don’t know about you, but it sure is nice to meet face to face. And we look forward to the day when we can do that.” But to help deal with the “new normal” that the real estate industry now faces, Yardi has continued to expand its product suites to assist with remote business management, data transparency, social distancing, working from home and much more. These features augment the business and accounting features that have made Yardi the go-to technology provider for real estate over the last 40 years. Product spotlights During YASC Spotlight sessions, clients heard from Yardi executives about the development and progress of product suites, including Affordable Housing, Commercial, Investment Management, Multifamily, Senior Living, and Public Housing. There were also regional updates for international clients from Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Europe and the Middle East. “Through a single connected solution, we remain focused on providing a set of products and services that have a real impact on your property operations and property performance. These products help to create transparency and efficiencies in the interest of reducing risk, reducing expenses, increasing revenues and increasing property values,“ said John Pendergast, senior vice president at Yardi. Products highlighted for multifamily operators were RENTCafé Reach search marketing;  Marketing IQ, a new marketing analytics product; RENTCafé  Self-Guided Tours, which allows socially distanced property tours; RENTCafé Chat IQ, an automated marketing assistant using AI and machine learning; Maintenance IQ; Asset IQ; and the Procure to Pay suite. “There have been some dramatic changes. Remote working, asset distress, residents and tenants’ ability to pay rent, and a real focus on data have been part of our conversations with clients both big and small, operational or institutional ownership. The challenges are common across the different platforms and client perspectives,” shared Richard Malpica, vice president and general manager, Eastern region for Yardi, in the investment management spotlight. While different commercial real estate sectors have been affected uniquely, data visibility and the ability to access operational data have been especially important to investors and operators alike. The Investment Management product suite provides tools to deliver data transparency, risk exposure analysis and real time reporting that investors are seeking now. “Though we have incredible optimism about the next 18 months, it is important that we acknowledge the hardship that many of you have faced in a personal and professional manner,” said Rob Teel, senior vice president at Yardi, in the commercial product spotlight. “I want to assure you that Yardi has passionately contributed philanthropically and to professional trade organizations to help with a global rebound from this crisis.” Commercial clients learned about the latest updates to the Yardi Commercial Suite, including Yardi Elevate, which sits on top of Yardi Voyager and provides operational tools to drive performance and gain operational visibility. Leasing, forecasting, deals, retail tenants and construction projects all have specialized management modules and reporting oversight within Yardi Elevate. Its real time informational visibility has been especially beneficial...

These days it might be easy, perhaps even understandable, for those in commercial real estate to downplay the relationship of tenant interaction to asset performance. After all, the COVID-19 pandemic has largely evicted workers from their offices while retail continues to endure e-commerce’s expanding presence. But property owners shouldn’t lose sight of how important ongoing communication between owners and their tenants is for attracting prospects, retaining tenants and operating efficiently. Erin Wicomb of San Diego real estate investor Mavrik Investing has noted that “customer retention is often an underestimated factor in real estate success and not given nearly enough attention. Plenty of effort is spent finding and marketing to new tenants, but investors and landlords often neglect to take care of existing customers and make them happy.” Focusing on the residential market, the U.S. National Multifamily Housing Council noted in a 2018 report titled Disruption: How Demographics, Psychographics and Technology Are Bringing Multifamily to the Brink of a Design Revolution that “tomorrow’s renters’ needs and wants are shaping up to be so very different in any number of ways that the industry must begin thinking about how to adapt or risk facing a disconnect with their future customers.” In a similar vein, a commercial property leasing guide published by Colliers International declared that “the number one reason that an owner’s relationship with his or tenant falls apart is lack of communication – and this is often the responsibility of the property manager,” adding, “You can have the best customer service on the planet, but when property management breaks down through lack of foresight or poor communication, that one action can strike a fatal blow against all the goodwill you had built up.” Residential tech demonstrates success How do residential property owners avoid that fatal blow and take care of their residents, maintain communication and build goodwill? Many have embraced portals as the answer. They are a valuable tool for connecting residential community members to the services they might need any time of day or night. Seamless access to contact, lead, lease, resident and property data lets staff focus their attention on higher-value operations. Advanced property management technology platforms host portals as part of an end-to-end system that performs all prospect and resident services in the rental lifecycle, from initial contact to move-in, lease renewal and move-out, as well as timely communication. New advantages for commercial real estate Commercial real estate operators might want to consider emulating their residential counterparts by implementing portals and apps that deliver tenant services much more efficiently than is possible with telephones and emails. Property managers, for example, can easily dispatch announcements, emergency plans and other vital information through a portal. Tenants, for their part, can record maintenance requests and attach audio and photo documentation. Although millennials seeking cutting-edge amenities in their living spaces are the most visible advocates of property technology innovations, commercial real estate is undergoing its own generational shift. The younger workers among the sector’s cohort similarly expect the convenience of online and mobile self-services such as document access, electronic payments, maintenance requests, retail sales data entry and concierge services. Ideally, portals are built into a property management and accounting platform that centralizes financials, operations, leasing, maintenance management and other operations in a cloud-hosted database. Relieved of manual tasks such as the recording of tasks, property owners can concentrate on closing leases, maximizing rental income, increasing conversions and renewals, and ultimately enhancing their assets’ value. Some property management platforms leverage artificial intelligence, machine learning and chatbots to combine historical unit-level performance data with market outlooks. The resulting portfolio-wide data and prescriptive recommendations help managers make informed decisions that cut costs and elevate asset performance. Portal technology offers a human touch that contributes measurably to tenant satisfaction, a key element of retention and a property’s reputation in the marketplace. As Mavrik Investing’s Wicomb advises, “From the start, develop and provide channels of open...