We cultivate strategic partnerships with institutional and family office equity partners. On occasion, we extend invitations to high-net-worth investors looking to deploy substantial capital and benefit from our institutional approach to multifamily investment opportunities.

An economic downturn should not be the premise for the underlying operational strategy of an asset. While a downturn will have an effect on the financial performance, a focus on occupancy, resident renewals, and customer service should be at the forefront. Resident renewals and lease expiration analysis should be done at a minimum of 90-120 days in advance. This allows for proactive communication to our investment partners and will provide greater forecasting accuracy. Our focus is on reviewing seasonality and managing the pricing of our properties. These items will be paired with an effective sales and marketing strategy. It is our experience that keeping residents either at their current rent, or a slight renewal increase, will bring greater operational efficiency in the case residents lose their jobs and must vacate. Above all, maintaining strong communication with residents, and encouraging them to reach out if they lose their job to come up with a plan that is conducive to all parties.

During the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, many cities, states, and regulatory bodies prevented the eviction of residents. During this time, our operations teams encouraged residents to communicate their hardships. We created an avenue of dialogue and communication as well as provided them resources for them to get financial assistance in paying their rent.

When dealing with underperforming assets, a full analysis must be done to include open work orders, which are the leading cause of notice to vacates (NTV’s), review aged payables, as well as ensuring all vacant units are in move-in ready condition. During a repositioning of a property should it have high delinquency, encourage the residents to be proactive in resolving their bad debt, or moving out without facing an eviction, is optimal. Communication is key when dealing with a delinquency problem. In some instances, waiving late fees or legal fees to allow residents to catch up on their rent payment is an option. Many times if a property is experiencing low occupancy, it is primarily due to a lack of unit readiness, poor marketing presence online, or a lack of customer service in the leasing office. All properties, no matter how successful, all boil down to the people in the office, our front line.

During the hurricanes that impacted large swathes of Florida in 2018-2019, many properties had varying levels of flooding. This forced many residents to move out and find new places to live. The strategy we executed was being proactive in working with the Red Cross and other government agencies to provide immediate relief. Further, we proactively reached out to other properties in the area to gauge their availability for immediate move-ins. Our operations team helped coordinate movers, storage containers, and waived rent to provide immediate monetary relief. Prior to the hurricane and damages incurred, our teams had vendors and relief crews on standby. Prior to any storm, regardless of the significance, we made sure trees were trimmed, sand bags were filled and spread out in the low-lying areas of the property, as well as water, food, and other supplies made freely available to the residents. Regarding risk management, it is always crucial to maintain landscaping, drainage, and complete preventative maintenance throughout the property year round. Hiring a tree trimmer to hurricane cut palm trees days before a storm is not reasonable. Low hanging branches and dead trees must be removed when they are spotted, as these may be detrimental even during a small, unnamed storm.

It all comes down to what is best for the asset, the overall returns, and keeping our investment partners at the center of everything we do. We encourage our investment partners, regardless of organizational chart or operating agreement, to participate in our investments and remain engaged throughout the hold period. By keeping all stakeholders actively involved in all conversations, we encourage a true partnership and repeat investments.

During a redevelopment of a property, we faced significant roadblocks from the city, who was notoriously difficult to work with on planning, zoning, and permit approvals. This resulted in the existing bridge debt maturing and required a second bridge loan to be secured. It was at the 11th hour, the day before closing, that additional proceeds were required to complete the business plan. By keeping and maintaining a healthy, communication rich relationship with our lender partners, we were able to increase the leverage at the last minute to ensure the success of the property. Communication was critical in ensuring the asset, its business plan, and our investment partners were safe.

This all starts with the resident experience and ease of use to not only move in, but to foster a great ongoing living experience at the property. Communication and setting expectations is key for all parties involved, especially the property management team. By keeping the residents engaged through monthly resident events, we hear feedback from them on what works, what they would like to see, and maybe things we thought would be beneficial but fell short. It is critical to not “over-amenitize” a property, as these can get lost in the shuffle, and be difficult for the onsite team to keep track of.

During a redevelopment project, a lack of cooperation from the city resulted in delay after delay in executing the business plan. A part of the property had to be rebuilt, with a unity of title completed to combine multiple parcels. The property’s ability to move residents in, and fully execute the renovation was put on hold. During this period of negotiating with the city, we worked to identify a path to optimize a difficult situation. Communication to our investment partners was essential, with weekly reports and monthly check in calls to provide unfiltered feedback around the status update. As a result, our focus going forward is to proactively reach out to the city and zoning in any redevelopment project to ensure our business plan is signed off on, and any unanticipated items are met with a detailed plan of action prior to closing.

During the Covid-19 pandemic in March, 2020, when there was so much uncertainty in the market, a full stress test was completed across the entire portfolio on a per property basis. We engaged our investment partners for their feedback and insights. We paused all distributions until the baseline and significance of the pandemic could be understood. Non-essential operating expenses were cut, hours were reduced on the properties, and a sensitivity analysis was conducted to identify break-even economic occupancy to cover debt service as well as monthly operating expenses. During this time, our asset management team reached out to all lenders to begin releasing any reserves to put as much operating capital back into the property’s operating account as possible. Conservative underwriting is essential. This now includes an even larger contingency budget for unforeseen exogenous events and emphasis on maintaining a very strong DSCR throughout the hold period.