The findings of the first BOMA International COVID-19 Commercial Real Estate Impact Study reveal that the death of the office is greatly exaggerated. While many tenants are reassessing the use and the size of their physical offices, a strong majority (74%) see their in-person office space as vital to conducting successful business. The nationwide survey of more than 3,000 office space decisions-makers and influencers gauged tenant sentiments relating to COVID-19, including its impact on their business and their attitude towards the physical work environment and office space decisions going forward. It was conducted in September and October of 2020 in conjunction with Brightline Strategies, with a grant from Yardi. The study’s key findings include: 65% of commercial office decision-makers continue to see significant value in on-site business operations, particularly as it relates to collaboration, coaching and culture. The economic headwinds on office tenants are far reaching, with 33% of respondents saying they have experienced at least a 25% revenue decline since the onset of the pandemic. While a strong majority see office space as vital, 61% of respondents across all tenant sizes report they will reassess space needs. 78% approve of the response their current property owner/operator has implemented during COVID-19. 47% of all tenants say their landlord’s coronavirus response exclusively has made them more likely to renew. 77% are confident they understand how to reduce and manage risk in their physical office. At the outset of the survey, 55% of respondents said they plan to renew their leases, unsurprisingly lower than the Brightline Strategies six-year national index of 78%. However, renewal likelihood increases 11 points — rising to 66% — if properties implement operational changes including new services, features and physical spaces in response to the pandemic. This uptick indicates a true inflection point, showing that a change in operations helps assure and retain tenants. Maximization of fresh air is the “most important” measure for properties to adopt, according to tenants. Additionally, more than 40% of respondents indicated that they would pay supplementary fees for disinfecting stations and twice-daily full office disinfecting. The collective sentiment toward amenities is changing too. There is less focus on traditional built-ins, like onsite gyms and cafes. Almost half say they are seeing more value in personal relationships with their property management company/teams. “Our collective charge was to help owners and operators better understand, mitigate and proactively address emerging industry trends, shifts in workplace priorities and tenant preferences resulting from COVID-19, as well as changes in market attitudes towards the physical work environment and their impacts on office space decisions going forward,” said Robert Teel, vice president of global solutions, at Yardi. Although COVID-19 continues to be a disruptive force for the office sector and its tenants, the value of the office as a key ingredient of business success remains strong. “We have seen a steady and significant rebound in the perceived value and utility of physical office environments since the onset of the pandemic, with nearly 75% of all tenant decision-makers across the country affirming that in-person offices are operationally vital to their businesses, long-term growth and sustainability,” said Henry H. Chamberlain, APR, FASAE, CAE, president and COO of BOMA International. “As our ‘new normal’ emerges, we will become increasingly focused on the form and function of office environments in a post-pandemic world.” Explore more survey data in the BOMA International COVID-19 Commercial Real Estate Impact Study executive summary, including renewal forecasts and space reduction estimates by renewal horizon. Read the press...
Tech Leadership
Yardi Stands Out in Survey
A survey of property owners, operators, real estate investment trust and developers conducted by KPMG LLP confirms Yardi’s leadership as a real estate technology provider. KPMG, a global professional services firm, reported that: Forty-four percent of survey respondents claim Yardi as their property accounting general ledger system provider. The next most popular provider is cited by 11%. “Respondents said they based their choice … on user friendliness, reporting capability, and cost effectiveness. Similar results were found for fund accounting general ledger systems,” KPMG notes. Thirty-two percent employ Yardi for asset and transaction management. Thirty-three percent use Yardi for leasing software. Asked about their approach to investing in property management technology, 79% of respondents said they prefer partnering with a technology vendor. Many organizations noted that “improved decision-making is most valued, followed by the ability to lower operating costs, and improve customer engagement.” The cloud is the preferred system for hosting property accounting general ledger systems for 52% of respondents, with 21% favoring internally hosted onsite systems, 16% outsourcing the function and 11% selecting “other.” Real estate companies’ technology investment priorities over the next 18 months are, in descending order, investor reporting, cybersecurity, asset management, leasing, tax reporting and fund accounting GL systems. KPMG’s analysis of the survey results also offers clues to opportunities for real estate solution providers. “Unlike other industry-leading organizations, many real estate companies are behind the curve when it comes to taking full advantage of new technologies, like data and analytics and artificial intelligence,” KPMG says, adding that continuing to rely on spreadsheet applications for critical financial tasks “can open them up to significant risks.” Learn about industry-leading Yardi solutions for property management, asset management and investment management. View the complete KPMG survey...
Cultural Concerns
Aging Demographics
Expected to command a significant portion of America’s aging population over the next several decades, the nation’s aging Hispanic population will usher in a new era of cultural needs and expectations. That’s according to a new study commissioned by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. After surveying older Hispanics on their attitudes and expectations regarding assisted living and senior housing, researchers concluded Hispanics might “face additional obstacles in getting culturally competent care.” “…49 percent of older Hispanics have already faced language or cultural barriers as they navigate the health care system,” state the report’s authors. “These barriers have resulted in additional stress, delays in getting care, increased time and effort, not getting needed care and higher than expected costs for care.” Respect and Value Expressing feelings of frustration, loneliness and confusion, the survey’s participants expressed concern over the ability of their local health care providers to meet their specific needs. Specifically, respondents reported difficulty communicating with doctors and nurses due to language and cultural barriers. For those experiencing difficulty overcoming these challenges, two-thirds said they experienced additional stress and delays related to receiving adequate medical care. Unfortunately, less than half of the Hispanics surveyed expressed confidence in their local health care facilities and nursing homes’ ability to meet the needs of senior residents. Even fewer respondents felt home health aides and assisted living communities are up to the challenge, with only 20 percent of participants conveying they felt assured of the capabilities of their local home senior health providers. Complex Communications With almost 3 out of 4 Hispanics speaking Spanish in the home, the language barrier remains the foremost barrier to adequate senior care. According to the survey, a little more than a third of respondents reported speaking English “less than ‘very...
Purposeful Surveys
Using Resident Response Data
You’ve probably heard the saying, “You can’t manage what you haven’t measured.” What exactly do you do once resident satisfaction has been measured? The data within your resident survey results can pave the road for a more profitable and enjoyable property—if you optimize use of the data. Make a Plan Before you issue the survey, get team leaders onboard with the process. When leaders are vested in the survey, they will provide enthusiasm, structure and accountability among staff members. Enthusiasm for surveys may be hard to muster. If your leadership sees surveys as a public roast, they are less inclined to throw themselves on the chopping block. The first step is to change the way that the staff sees surveys. Kristin Van Ramshorst, Social Media Specialist at Yardi, encourages clients to see all feedback as good feedback. “Any feedback – positive, negative, or in between – is good feedback and a way to offer better customer service,” says Van Ramshorst. “Respond to negative feedback in a way that is timely, empathetic and identifies solutions. Often times responding in a timely manner can also deescalate complex resident complaints and take the conversation offline faster.” Your plan may also include a strategy for compensation and responsibility dissemination. Consider: Will your property have specific hours for responding to issues brought up in the surveys? How will your staff be compensated for responding outside of normal business hours? Outside of normal business hours, are auto-response messages (i.e. Facebook Messenger) a good option for your property? If there are technical or legal issues reported in a complaint, which individuals at your company or corporate will you escalate the inquiry to? What resources (i.e. training, staff, equipment) do you currently have available at your property to respond to social...
Leasing Genius
Top Survey Results
Do you know how to take the leasing lead in your market? It might be easier than you think! The results of our recent leasing strategy survey revealed that smart multifamily firms have multiple opportunities to increase performance and out-market, out-lease, and out-renew the competition. But to beat the competition, you have to know what they’re up to, right? To that end, we put together these top three takeaways from the responses to our survey of multifamily marketing and leasing professionals across the industry: 87% of property management companies surveyed don’t recognize/reward good follow up activity. Create a strong follow up tracking and recognition program to shape your company culture to instantly outperform 87% of your competitors! 64% of companies have no way to monitor resident relationship activity (interactions with residents). Track and reward resident relationships to prevent the loss of good residents. This will also help you impress new leads coming from other communities who don’t carefully manage the resident experience. 52% of responders don’t set a cost-per-lead goal, and 42% don’t have a cost per-lease-goal. Set concrete goals and measure your performance after one quarter. Is there room for improvement or are you doing better than you expected? Adjust accordingly. “Marketing budgets are limited,” notes Esther Bonardi, industry principal of Yardi Marketing Solutions. “Without standards and measures in place to ensure you are getting enough traffic for your marketing spend, you will easily end up with fewer leads than companies who use ROI reporting to make good marketing decisions.” It’s critical to identify opportunities where you can exceed competitor performance and commit to improvement in those key areas. Establishing standards and tracking results is essential to keeping your team on top of the market. Other interesting survey findings include: 46% of respondents...
Genius Quiz
Calling All Marketers
Are you a property management marketing professional, social media specialist or operations executive? If you answered yes, we’d like to take a minute to pick your brain! We invite you to take our 5-minute marketing genius survey and share your thoughts on online property marketing and SEO in 2015. Take the Marketing Genius Survey As part of Yardi’s continuing commitment to innovation and customer focus, we created this quick quiz to ensure we are meeting and even anticipating your marketing needs in today’s digital space. Our clients are the true experts – you know exactly what you need to maintain and grow your business. This is just one way we take advantage of opportunities to develop our products and initiatives to match your needs and the needs of the marketplace as a whole. This particular survey was designed to help us better understand what importance you place on advertising, search engine optimization (SEO), and search engine management (SEM). Questions include “Do you plan to spend more, less, or the same on ILS advertising?” and “Did you invest in paid search in 2014 (AdWords, remarketing, etc)?” as well as other easy yes or no queries. There is no call to share proprietary information, and you can skip questions at will. Your responses will be submitted to our team of masterminds as we plan updates and new features for the Yardi Marketing Suite, the only completely mobile marketing and leasing solution supporting the entire prospect and resident lifecycle. The results will be shared with you in the form of product enhancements designed to help you support your properties with increasing ease and efficiency. “As marketers, there is tremendous value in understanding consumer, industry, and peer trends,” says Esther Bonardi, industry principal of Yardi Marketing Solutions. “When...
