The Top Floor – Détails, épisodes et analyse

The foundation of the property management business is, of course, rooted in people. It takes a village of employees to accommodate clients and residents in a 24/7, always-on industry in which property managers must be available at any moment.

At a time when real estate is in increasingly high demand as residents search for bigger spaces and new homes, property managers are in need of a full staff to keep operations running smoothly. However, staffing in the world of property management has been an ongoing pain point exacerbated by thousands of employees quitting amid the “The Great Resignation,” coupled with the new normal of hybrid work during the pandemic.

To combat this cycle, we discover how property managers are making do with smaller staffs, as well as the tech solutions being used to fill in the gaps. To discover how workers on the frontlines get the support they need to increase their bandwidth and how their employers measure up in terms of worker satisfaction, we turn to recent research produced by AppFolio in partnership with IREM. In this episode of The Top Floor, we speak with Steve Cadigan, author of Workquake, as well as Barry Blanton of AMO management firm Blanton Turner, to discover the perfect combination of employees and tech solutions to resolve today’s challenges in property management.

Affordable housing is in short supply across America, with prices and rents rising in all areas. The good news is, when it comes to increasing affordable housing supply, property management businesses are in a unique position to help.

However, while managing affordable units comes with many rewards and long-lasting benefits, it’s also not without its challenges, especially when compared to market-rate portfolios.

In this episode of The Top Floor podcast, you’ll hear from Jayme Deal, the Regional Property Manager and Compliance Director for Artisan Management Group, Josefin Graebe, AppFolio’s Senior Director of Affordable Housing, and Colleen Winship, the Program Manager for AppFolio’s Affordable Housing team. Tune in to hear them discuss all things affordable housing management, including solutions for overcoming its unique challenges.

Key Moments:

• Defining affordable housing
• How some of the most common affordable housing programs work
• The affordable housing supply problem
• Who qualifies for affordable housing
• How affordable housing benefits the wider community
• The top challenges of managing affordable housing
• How to get compliance right
• Hiring and training team members to work in affordable housing
• How technology can streamline affordable housing operations

Key Links

• More Affordable Housing resources from AppFolio: https://www.appfolio.com/affordable-housing-property-management

• A Closer Look at Affordable Housing: https://www.appfolio.com/blog/closer-look-affordable-housing/

• National Low Income Housing Coalition’s report on the affordable rental shortage: https://nlihc.org/gap

As training manager for 29th Street Communities, Ronald Harrington specializes in helping industry professionals level up their approach to marketing and leasing. On this episode of The Top Floor podcast, he’ll do the same by sharing exactly what it takes for properties to stand out with prospects in 2025 and beyond: creating stellar renter experiences.

In addition, we’ll shed new light on what residents really want from property management, with key findings from the 2024 AppFolio Property Manager Renter Preferences Report, and hear about Ronald’s experiences from his “Lease Across America” project, where he secret shopped more than 100 different properties across the United States.

Key moments:

Why resident experience is essential for success in 2025

What Ronald learned from secret shopping more than 100 properties

The difference between resident experience and customer service

How Ronald has seen conversations about resident experience evolve

What prospects expect from property management

How resident technology is changing expectations

Key factors that make or break a property experience

How to create standout property experiences for prospects

Ways to help onsite teams improve the renter experience

Key links:

Research report: 2024 Renter Preferences Report: https://www.appfolio.com/renter-preferences

Podcast: Rooms with Ronald: https://multifamilymedianetwork.com/podcast/rooms-with-ronald

There’s never been a more complicated time to be a leader. The state of the property management and real estate workforce has changed drastically over the last two years, and it continues to shift every day. In fact, HR, Staffing, and Recruitment are still among the industry’s top concerns, especially when it comes to attracting new team members, reducing staff turnover, and improving company culture.

To help guide leaders through these challenges, AppFolio recently led a live town hall-style panel session at the National Multifamily Housing Counsel’s 2022 OPTECH Conference and Expo. That session was specifically designed to cover the new rules for leading and managing the next generation of property management talent. As part of that session, AppFolio interviewed five early-career and emerging property management and real estate leaders to hear first-hand what they think about their careers, what they look for when choosing an organization to work for, and what they expect from their own leaders today.

In this episode, we hear from two of those up-and-coming property management and real estate leaders that were essential to our 2022 OPTECH panel to help you identify the leadership and talent management strategies that will lead your organization and team to success.

Rohit Singh Chauhan, a Graduate Student at the MIT Center for Real Estate, and Kira Goepferd, a student at Portland State University & Property Management Assistant at Schnitzer Properties, share their invaluable insights in this episode of The Top Floor podcast.

Key Points

• How to market roles to young professionals
• Why job descriptions should include future career growth opportunities
• How current employees can become brand ambassadors
• Why company culture is important to potential job candidates
• Why meaningful work is key to talent retention
• Why organizations need to build a culture of upskilling
• Current flexible work expectations
• What people want from a leader
• What people don’t want from their leaders

Key Links

• What Do Property Management Employees Really Want?
• AppFolio Property Manager Hiring and Retention Report 2022: Turn Challenges into Opportunities

On this episode of The Top Floor podcast, we’re joined by Zack Kass, Futurist and Former Head of Go To Market for OpenAI. Bringing his extensive experience with navigating the rapidly evolving AI landscape, Zack offers practical advice and insights for how real estate management businesses can demystify AI and successfully implement new solutions.

Our conversations also explore key AI trends in real estate management, shed light on the current state of industry adoption, and uncover new ways to use AI to future-proof your business.

Tune in now to gain new insights into AI implementation for real estate management and position your organization for long-term success.

Key moments:

• The state of artificial intelligence today
• AI adoption across industries
• Key AI trends for real estate management businesses
• Business benefits of AI adoption
• Risks of delaying AI adoption
• Evaluating vendors' AI solutions and strategies
• Debunking common AI misconceptions
• The cultural impact of artificial intelligence
• Future-proofing your business in an AI-driven landscape

Key links:

• Research Report: The State of AI in Property Management
• On-demand webinar: Unlocking AI-Powered Innovation with Futurist Zack Kass
• AppFolio Realm-X

Celebrated real estate industry strategist Peter Linneman imparts his unique blend of scholarly rigor and practical business insights on this episode of The Top Floor podcast, to help property management businesses stay one step ahead of shifting market conditions in 2024 and beyond.

In addition, you’ll also hear his thoughts on key findings from the 2024 AppFolio Property Manager Benchmark Report, for which more than 5,000 property management professions were surveyed.

Tune in now to take a data-driven look at what’s in store for the year ahead. Plus, see how property management professionals are overcoming current economic challenges and positioning themselves for long-term success.

Key moments:

• What’s happening in the real estate market right now
• Economic factors influencing property management in 2024
• Key findings from the 2024 Property Management Benchmark Report
• New property management business benchmarks and trends
• Strategies to improve property management revenue
• The most important metrics for property management businesses
• How to achieve both growth and profitability in 2024
• Balancing long-term visions with short-term needs

Key links:

• Research report: 2024 AppFolio Property Manager Benchmark Report: https://www.appfolio.com/benchmark
• On-demand webinar: How Property Managers are Shifting Strategies for 2024: https://www.appfolio.com/sessions/research/2024-benchmark

What are the top challenges facing property management companies today?

In 2021, AppFolio partnered with National Apartment Association (NAA) to learn about the top challenges facing property management companies. Now, in 2022, a new set of challenges have emerged for property managers, including record inflation rates, increasing wages, and rising costs due to global supply chain distribution issues. So it’s no surprise that in the second edition of the Property Management Industry Pulse, we found that reducing and controlling costs is one of the top challenges facing property management companies.

In this episode of The Top Floor, we sit down with Stacy Holden, Senior Director of Industry Principal at AppFolio, to see how property managers can dial up their operational efficiency by reducing and controlling costs. We also explore how they can lay the groundwork for more effective budgeting and spending in the future.

Key Points:

• What the AppFolio 2022 Property Management Industry Pulse revealed
• Why “operational efficiency” is one of the top challenges
• Why controlling costs is so difficult in 2022
• How reducing costs affects residents
• How property management companies can keep costs low
• Areas property managers shouldn’t reduce spending on
• How to use technology to control costs
• Ways property managers can control spending long term
• The ideal state of property management in 2022
• How to choose which tasks should be automated

Key Links:

Maximizing Efficiency: A Data-Driven Look at What’s Holding Property Management Businesses Back: https://www.appfolio.com/blog/2022-top-property-management-challenges/

2022 Property Management Industry Pulse report: https://info.appfolio.com/APM-CD-ASSET-TopChallengesIntegrationsResearch_etb_content_download_form_lp.html

Connect with Stacy on LinkedIn

Affordable housing property management already comes with its own unique set of challenges. But now, property management companies need to prepare for an entirely new set of challenges: Being fully compliant with the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016 (HOTMA) by January 1, 2025.

Even though HOTMA aims to simplify and reduce friction in affordable housing management, bringing welcomed changes for residents, property management companies and teams may still find that making big operational adjustments will be necessary, especially when it comes to staying compliant.

In this episode of The Top Floor podcast, two industry experts offer insights and advice on how property management organizations can guide their teams and residents through some of the most significant changes to HUD’s occupancy requirements in the last 10 years.

Joining the podcast are Jenny DeSilva, the President and CEO of DeSilva Housing Group and Colleen Winship, AppFolio's Affordable Housing Program Manager. Together, they break down the top HOTMA changes, the best ways property management companies can get prepared, and how to stay ahead of HOTMA’s final compliance deadline.

Key moments:

• Jenny explains why HOTMA is so important
• How HOTMA could benefit residents
• The benefits for owners and agents
• The top HOTMA changes to be aware of
• What property management companies need to know about the HOTMA compliance timeline
• Key milestones for HOTMA implementation
• How to approach employee training around HOTMA
• How property management companies can boost operational efficiency
• Changes Jenny would like to see around future affordable housing legislation

Key links:

• HOTMA preparation checklist
• Tips To Prepare For HOTMA And Operate Your Affordable Housing Management Business More Efficiently [Part 1]
• Tips To Prepare For HOTMA And Operate Your Affordable Housing Management Business More Efficiently [Part 2]
• 2023 top challenges and opportunities in affordable housing management

Property inspections can be cumbersome and costly, but they’re vital for protecting the bottom line.

Rather than seeing inspections as just another must-do on your checklist, our two guests this week believe that by optimizing your inspection process, you’ll see a multitude of benefits for property management staff, investors, and residents alike.

Michael Brand, Mid-Market Account Executive at HappyCo, and AppFolio Property Manager’s Senior Product Manager, Kelly Dean, join this episode of The Top Floor podcast to explain exactly why. Michael and Kelly explore the benefits of doing inspections the right way, how to streamline operations, and why tools and tech are essential to nailing your inspection process.

Key Points:

• Why inspections are so vital to property management
• The impact of inspections on NOI
• How to standardize property inspections
• How the pandemic changed resident expectations

• The impact of inspections on business outcomes
• Why you need the right tools and technology in place
• How to make improvements to your inspection process
• Tell-tale signs you need to rethink your inspection process
• How technology can help you do more with less
• Taking advantage of overlooked inspection opportunities

Key Links:

HappyCo: https://happy.co/

AppFolio: https://www.appfolio.com/

AppFolio Stack: https://www.appfolio.com/stack

HappyCo + AppFolio Integration: https://happy.co/integrations/appfolio