Q: What is your long-term growth strategy?
A: Long range, we would like to keep doubling. We are at about 2,220 units now—by the end of next year, hopefully, we will be at 5,000. We still find a lot of projects where it doesn’t seem like there are any solutions, and I guess we have made a specialty out of attacking those types of acquisitions. As you succeed on those projects, more people will come to you with challenging transactions.
Q: How did you determine Monroe’s growth pace?
A: There is definitely pain associated with growing—especially at that rate. Early on, we looked at our systems and decided to switch out all of our systems for resident selection, property management, and accounting and replace them with something that would be scalable [against] our aggressive growth targets. We’ve also been fortunate enough to surround ourselves with some of the best people we could find.
Q: What does multifamily talent look for today?
A: An entrepreneurial spirit, opportunities for ownership of projects, and opportunities to grow. To the best of our ability, we are giving our employees the autonomy to do what they need to do to make us successful. As we grow, we are looking for real estate assets, but we are looking to acquire the human resources along with the properties, and we want to provide them the authority to make decisions on their own. We are not going to be able to survive if we second-guess [everything].
Q: What affordable housing principles guide you?
A: In addition to the responsibility of providing safe and decent housing to our residents as owners and operators of affordable housing, we also have a responsibility to our communities to give back. To that end, I started Community Housing Concepts, a not-for-profit organization to preserve affordable housing in Denver. To date, we have acquired and preserved 13 affordable apartment complexes. It is the right thing to do—and a good thing to do. And Monroe Group, as a management company, directly manages those properties.
Q: Seen any movies that knocked your socks off?
A: I can’t think of the last movie that I did not see with my children. I could probably recite every line from Monsters Inc. and Ice Age 2.
[FAVE FOUR]
Karshmer’s top volunteer efforts:
Habitat for Humanity: “Once a month, the office does a morale-building activity, and that often means working on a Habitat project.”
Homeless Outreach: “With Denver’s Road Home and Volunteers of America, we want to identify a family looking to transition out of homelessness and assist them with job skills, budgeting, and ultimately purchasing a home.”
Community Housing Concepts (CHC): “I founded CHC [and] volunteer as its president.”
- Youth Sports: “I have a 4-year-old and 7-year-old, and I help out with coaching their soccer teams.”
