It’s easy to see why mixed-use property development continues to surge. From portfolio risk mitigation to walkable neighborhood creation, the benefits of blending commercial and multifamily property types are striking.
Unfortunately mixing asset classes has a price.
Just ask any mid-market property developer struggling with lease management, property management, and common-area-management (CAM) issues with back office software ill-suited to the task.
Expert Insight
Few understand the challenges better than real estate industry veteran Greg Daniele. Daniele has held senior leadership posts at a variety of real estate advisory and software companies. Today he serves as principal product manager at ResMan, a leading property management solutions company based in Plano, Texas.
“More and more mid-market multifamily companies are moving into mixed-use development. Enterprise-class asset management solutions are typically out of their financial and personnel reach. Simpler applications address cost and on-boarding but can’t handle complex CAM calculations that are often required.
Where to Turn?
“These companies are stuck in the middle with nowhere to go other than limp along with clunky home-grown systems,” he explains, adding that an Excel spreadsheet is no way to run a growing mixed-use property portfolio.
So, what is mid-market? Daniele defines it as firms managing up to 8,000 multifamily units and up to five million square feet of retail space. Juggling multiple property types can be tricky. “Financial reporting and expense recovery can come up short with applications that are bolted together,” he warns.
Magnificent Seven
What would an ideal mid-market commercial property management application look like? Think of it as the magnificent seven, Daniele says:
- One platform to rule them all. Multifamily, affordable, and commercial properties all managed on a single common platform. No need to sign in and out of multiple systems.
- Smart workflows. Anticipates new property and lease workflows with fail-safe consistency.
- Automated CAM and recoveries. No more guesswork and errors calculating CAMS, no matter how complex the commercial lease structure.
- Time-travel functionality. What did the lease say three years ago? Five? You should be able to instantly summon leases and configurations at a date of your choosing.
- At-a-glance dashboard. Daniele says it must offer on-demand decision support. Quickly visualize asset performance and quickly drill down for details as needed.
- Rapid navigation. Quickly access data without endless tabs and pages.
- Next-gen UI. A sleek, modern user interface may help attract and retain top talent.
Stuck the Landing
Daniele credits many software companies for ably serving the upper and lower echelons of the property management community. Recently, his company, ResMan, took on the middle-market challenge with a goal of creating “… a complete, integrated product. One ecosystem, one platform for all the asset classes you’re managing,” Daniele says. By all accounts, their new product – ResMan Commercial – stuck the landing: “It makes the complex simple, with dashboards that allow us to make decisions fast,” says user Janie Burkett of Crowne Partners, Inc.
For property managers looking for a better way to support mixed-use property portfolios, the news couldn’t come at a better time.
Learn how ResMan Commercial can simplify mixed-use property management.