As a member of both the Santa Barbara, Calif.–based Yardi Systems industry development group and Chicago-based investment group Henderson Global’s technology committee, Cirrus brings tech-powered market analytics to the B and C sector that should offer the firm a compelling advantage. “We’re tracking every property’s marketing listings every day. We use Lead to Lease to track how long it takes us to respond to e-mail leads in hours and minutes. And we have a full-time person monitoring our Craigslist and social media activity,” Heimler says. “We’re using technology to isolate new business opportunities.”
Pending contracts with Berkeley, Calif.–based Pacific Bay Investors; Lahaina, Hawaii–based Housing Technology Associates; and El Paso, Texas–based Hunt Cos. should increase Cirrus’ units under management by 25 percent, to 5,000 units, by the end of the first quarter. For the year, however, Heimler shies away from a target unit count, preferring to keep a more measured pace compared with the growth that saw Stratus jump from 3,000 to 24,000 units in the eight years before the sale.
He’s also relishing the chance to add more units via ownership and bring an owner’s mentality to the business of property management. “When you focus on the ABCs, one client begets another, and the phone starts ringing,” Heimler says.
Finally, he can start answering it.
