Christine Bright is Vice President of RealPage Budgeting and Accounting for RealPage, Inc. She has 21 years of property management experience that includes roles as property manager, regional manager, district manager, asset manager and national education director for large multifamily companies.
As discussed in RealWorld 2018 sessions The point of sale doesn’t stop when the contract is signed and the customer drives off into the sunset. When the long-coveted prospect finally signs on the dotted line and moves in − after days, weeks, maybe months of courtship exhausting all of a property’s online marketing bling and[…]
MPF Research provides actionable apartment market research to apartment investors and operators. Here’s the latest from RealPage’s multifamily intelligence division. Is Orlando a wise apartment investment choice? Orlando is the top contender for increased, near-term multifamily investment, according to respondents of a multifamily survey produced by the National Apartment Association and RealPage. In a new[…]
As we’ve all heard countless times before from our favorite sports coaches, the best offense is a good defense, and readying your multifamily property for winter is no different. A preventative weatherization program will help you catch small problems before they blossom into huge problems, thus saving you thousands of dollars and hours of headaches[…]
As the U.S. economy generally continues an upward tick, household debt has eclipsed that of levels in 2008 leading into the Great Depression. Total household debt has increased by $149 billion to $12.73 trillion. Depending on who you talk to, that should cause alarm. But economists argue that the economic condition is now much healthier[…]
MPF Research provides actionable apartment market research to apartment investors and operators. Here’s the latest from RealPage’s multifamily intelligence division. Some 47,000 vacant apartments will help Houston cope with flooding aftermath The extraordinary flooding that recently occurred in metro Houston displaced a huge block of the market’s population of about 6.5 million people. With lots[…]
Influenced by Baby Boomers and Millennials, the home remodeling market is cruising at high speed, continuing to gain momentum since the housing crash nearly a decade ago. Recent reports by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University (JCHS) and the National Association of Home Builders indicate that homeowners and renters are craving new[…]
It’s crucial for property management professionals to find innovative ways to connect with prospects and generate business, and social media is a powerful tool to help. For this reason, Property Management Insider has created a weekly series to keep readers up-to-date on the latest trends and updates in social media. Here’s what’s new in social: Twitter[…]
It’s crucial for property management professionals to find innovative ways to connect with prospects and generate business, and social media is a powerful tool to help. For this reason, Property Management Insider has created a weekly series to keep readers up-to-date on the latest trends and updates in social media. Here’s what’s new in social:[…]
It’s crucial for property management professionals to find innovative ways to connect with prospects and generate business, and social media is a powerful tool to help. For this reason, Property Management Insider has created a weekly series to keep readers up-to-date on the latest trends and updates in social media. Here’s what’s new in social:[…]
Using Software for Handling Resident Needs There are varying approaches to handling difficult residents, an unenviable challenge for any property manager no matter how long the tenure in the multifamily housing business. Some industry experts suggest a formula of professionalism, firmness, and compassion to manage residents who are either overbearing or pesky. Others may want[…]
Being able to manage the leasing, residents and staff are critical functions of a good property manager, but often I hear from regional managers and other leaders in the multifamily housing industry that managers are good at running properties, but don’t fully understand how to read a financial statement. Understanding financial budget variances in property[…]
A budget is your vision of an asset and a forecast of potential earnings. While creating a portfolio or property budget, our deniable need to put everything under the microscope to review and analyze blurs the view. As we try to ensure that values tick and tie, we can miss the big picture. So where[…]
Projecting revenue may only seem like the hardest part of multifamily budgeting. The reality is that more mistakes are made in planning operating expenses, and those miscues can cause some unnecessary angst explaining variances to owners each month. Getting the numbers right requires thoughtful planning and goal setting, and sometimes a little luck. But planning[…]
The multifamily budgeting process doesn’t have to consume so much time How much time do you spend each year preparing for and executing the budget? If you sat down and really analyzed it, you would be pretty shocked. Multifamily and other home leasing segments have made great strides in modernizing operations, marketing and accounting practices[…]
“Budgets were originally designed as control mechanisms. As such, they are traps …” ― Stephen Bungay, “The Art of Action: How Leaders Close the Gaps between Plans, Actions and Results” Budgets are effective tools if implemented correctly. Understandably, they are large undertakings and require a lot of time and planning. The challenge is that good[…]
8 tips to ready a web-based accounting system before budgeting season. Like baseball has spring training and football training camp, budgeting has its own pre-season. It’s the time before the crunch that property managers and administrators prepare for planning the next year’s budget. Or at least they should be. Never mind the two-a-days, budgeting preparation shouldn’t[…]
Yes, it’s arrived, like a distant a relative who you wish would not visit and definitely not stay. It’s budgeting season. A regional manager once quipped, “I’d rather have root canal surgery once a week than create the budget.” Ouch! Why is this such a dreadful time of year? The year is making the turn[…]
Financial trends above or below the expected budget can be tricky to diagnose. Fluctuations within a budgeted expense or revenue category that happen because of abnormalities or for other reasons make managing the bottom line more challenging. Responding quickly with a solution to offset the peaks or valleys in actuals versus the plan is important[…]
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When it officially stamps hoarding as a disorder in May, the American Psychiatric Association will c...
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