Morning everyone, and welcome to a new webinar series from Yardi. It's called Procte Insights by Yardi. Um, in this series, we plan to explore the world of technology and how it's shaping the real estate landscape. So, uh, my name is Justin Harley, and I'll be navigating us through all the wonderful things that are happening in this particular sector. And today I'm really excited that we'll be exploring, uh, a hot topic in real estate, which is Bill to rent. And I am delighted to have with me Michael Harrington from Related Argent. Michael, good morning. Good morning, Justin. It's lovely that you can be here with us today. So thanks very much. We are gonna kind of talk about some, some key issues, and I'm gonna pick your, your Wiley Brains and all the experience. And my first question is, I, I detect an accent there, isn't it? That's not, that's not actually from Buckingham Palace, which is behind you, but it is actually from the states. And so what brings you to the uk? Well, first off, Justin, thank you so much for allowing me to be on your show today. I really do appreciate it, and thanks for coming, allowing me to come out here and talk about a topic that I'm super excited about. And, uh, you're right, my, uh, accent doesn't come from, uh, the, one of the many regions here in the UK is I'm slowly picking up on different accents. I actually grew up down in Texas, went school down there, and then got a fantastic opportunity to go up to Chicago, which then led to an interesting opportunity in Pittsburgh, which got me transferred to Raleigh, met an outstanding woman, moved to New York, and then in August of this year, moved over here to London to do two things for related companies and now related Argent. And, and those two things that I came over here to do was to, to build a, a management platform that operate our B T R sites and then also to do lease up of our three schemes that we have coming out. And so I'm super excited to be here because as you can certainly appreciate, PropTech and YAI are one of the things that really helped drive our business. And so I'm really looking forward to talking about that topic here today. Brilliant, Brilliant Michael. Uh, and welcome to the UK and, um, it, it's great to have you and great to have your experience now. So I, I'm relatively new to Bill to Rent. I, I've, I've been at Yardi for three years and still it's new, but, but even dealing with all the wonderful people that I get to deal with on a daily basis, the industry is still relatively nascent here in the uk. Uh, you know, maybe 10 years or so, which is in an industry's lifespan is still still relatively new, but in the states it's been going for some time. And, and I suppose my first question to you is, how's your experience been so far and how does it differ if it differs at all? Yeah. Being over 20 years in property operations back in the States, it's, it's kind of interesting when I took on this opportunity to come over here, I heard that sentiment expressed quite a bit. It's a new industry in the London market. It's a new industry in the uk. You're gonna be challenged to find, let's call it industry personnel or subject matter experts or, or resources even. And it's, it, it was going to be as expressed to me, you know, the real challenge of doing what it is that, that that related ENT wants to do over here. Yet once I've gotten over here now and, and I've had a chance to meet some outstanding industry persons like yourself and other colleagues that the uk A a I've, I've, I've really come to have a different perspective on that sentiment. And while it is certainly nascent when compared to a more mature market like the us, I mean really with 10, 11 years into it now, the vendor network is there, the staffing network is certainly coming along in a much more meaningful manner in which, which staff are kind of current to come available. But, but more importantly I think is that, that I would say that from an adaption of new technology and adaption of, of, of new ideas for how you can integrate different tech into property operations, the UK is actually in advance of the US because you're still in that kind of growing phase and still that early new adoption phase Yeah. Mature enough to know what it is that you have going on, but still open enough because it's not the way it's been done for the last 30 years. Only I've been operating for 10 years in the BTR space. I find a lot of, um, exciting opportunities to be able to come in and try new and different things. Yeah. And sites that we don't have the opportunity to do in the u in the US because frankly it's the way it's always been done and the, and the industry tends to be a little bit slower to adapt change. Wow, that's super interesting actually. And thanks for sharing that. And what, uh, it would be great to understand a little bit more about, uh, related Argent and the plan, the exciting plans that you have, whatever you can share with us. Because, you know, yesterday on LinkedIn there was some, some really exciting stuff around Brent Cross and constantly as I follow stuff, there's, there's so much going on. So it'd be great to understand, you know, what, what the aspirations are for related Argent tar. Absolutely. So related Argent has an outstanding pipeline and B t R sites are gonna be coming out in the next year. Our first site opening up in King's Cross. As you may have seen on our, our, uh, holding page is Author Kings Cross. And this is a real premium product delivery that we're bringing into the Kings cross estate. It's the only purpose-built owner operated B t R site on the estate. So residents in this location are gonna have access to all the outstanding amenities as well as connection that Kings Cross has to offer. As we look beyond that, and as you noted on LinkedIn, Brent Cross is really the future for where we're looking on in our expansion. It's a fantastic site with a lot of great opportunities and B T R is gonna be a key element of that. But Mo another one though coming out is gonna be Tatham Hale, and that's where we do have some really good land options where we're gonna be developing B T R there as well. So related Argent currently doesn't have any sites under V T R and operation starting this fall will be opening our first site, and then within about three years, we're gonna have roughly 1100 to 1200 units of V T R under management and operation. So that's, uh, that's some fast growth there. So I, I like, I like to see that, I like to see that. And actually, you know, one of the topics we hear a lot in the industry, and it's talked about a lot, is around scale. And I was very lucky to host an event with a number of people, uh, a couple of weeks ago, and one of the subjects they talked about is how important scale was in terms of one the investors, how, how they are looking for scale. And obviously that has some benefits around the amount of return on capital that they can get. But with, with scale comes operational challenges in terms of how do, how do you scale, but actually it's really great that you are, you are at a stage here with all your experience where you are starting the journey. So how, how are you, you know, you are right at the beginning, well, I mean, it's not right at the beginning because there's planning and stuff, but you are at a very early stage of the journey going to, you know, x thousands of units or whatever that may be. How would you even go about planning to scale? Uh, what, what, what are, what are the key issues that you are really looking at so that you get them right? So that scale, um, will come. Yeah, it, it's a great question and you're right. I, I would say that related origin is at an advantage because we are building up new our portfolio as opposed to certainly taking over an existing set of portfolios. And with that comes in that kind of legacy operation. And I think that's something that probably holds back, uh, innovation in the states a bit, is that you have so many systems that, uh, organizations run in the background that they have accumulated over the years that kind of prevents them from either scaling quickly or, or, or delivering new sites easily. Hmm. And so I take my own experience and I would say that, um, in my previous portfolio there, the site managers would have anywhere between 14 to 15 different systems to have to log onto to run their sites. Wow. So when I looked at this opportunity and was talking with the stakeholders about coming over here to do this, one of the key, uh, elements that I had stated that would be critical for how we would be successful and how we would build this portfolio is, is simplicity of operation for the site operating teams. Because as a site manager, former site manager myself, I can sincerely appreciate the challenges that an on-site general manager would have when she would log onto one system to do one task, another system didn't know the task, pull out the password book to check one more system for another task. So you really have to try to find the system, uh, that allows you to accomplish as much as you can within the property operations within that single sign-on system in some capacity. And it gets really challenging and there's a lot of operators out there and providers that can sit there and say like, well, we've got this bolt on, they'll take it that bolt on, I'll take it. But when you really start to break it down, it gets pretty challenging in terms of how you can manage all that, what is referred to commonly as the tech stack. And so I think the, the, the more compressed you can keep that and the small you can keep that, the better it is for you to scale up and, and, and bring on new sites easily and keep things simple and operate, uh, operations for both the site team as well as your reporting capabilities out to investors. But the big thing that you're speaking to really awesome when you talk about scale is also attracting staff and, and being able to maintain that a single site operation in a brand new market is one of the most challenging things that any company can take on. As you add more sites, you're able to bring in more staff and then as you have that cohesion of staff, you're able to kind of move them as you need to fill in those gaps. And, and that's certainly something that we're excited about when we open up our second site in Brain Cross. It's so interesting and, and, and you are, you are so right. And it's not just something that affects build to rent, actually affects other parts of real estate. Exactly what you are, what what you are saying. You know, I, I'm lucky enough to, um, deal a lot in flexible workspace as well, and interestingly, you know, I feel sorry for the front desk teams because they're logging into so many different systems. It, it, it puts pressure on their day-to-day and when really what they're there to do is provide great service. Mm-hmm. Which is mm-hmm. Really what I think both sectors have in common, which is about, you know, high quality and high service. So I think that's a fascinating angle. And I guess the staffing thing is something really interesting because I don't think that I'm, in my belief, I'm, I'm a technologist and I'm biased, but I don't think tech technology is the silver bullet. Right? I think that it's a combination of people, process, technology, all of the things go together. And the time that I've dealt with you, Michael, you are very clear often about, um, I suppose what you want in your demands and which is fantastic for, for someone like me. You say something, uh, around the build to rent industry, which resonated with me, which I'm going to mention, uh, which I hadn't heard before. And you talk about it being a transactional business. Mm-hmm. Um, and I'm gonna get you to dig a little bit deeper into that in terms of what you mean. And my context is often we get many people talk about customer service and experience and that's very, very, very important. But, but not often about the transactional nature and how do I need to make transactions. So I'd love you to just, uh, expand what you mean when you say it's a transactional business. Yeah, no, I, I appreciate the question and, and thank you for kind of bringing me back to what I would say is a light bulb moment about a couple of weeks. Uh, or actually yeah, it was about two or three weeks kind of into, uh, into my time here in London, cuz you know, back in the States it was just, it was just what it is that you did and you didn't quite appreciate it. And, and let me preface this though by saying that, you know, when we talk about a transaction based business and we talk about people and we talk about process, you know, none of these things are standalone. These are all kind of ven diagram laid over. And when you get that kind of little center perfect bubble of, like, that's the yeah, that's the operating perfection that you want. But if we pull aside though, this kind of concept of of of B T R or rentals being a transaction based business, I, I, I'll tell you the, the, the journey that I had when I came to that kind of moment about that needing to be a key theme that I speak to when I'm talking about the B t I operations here in, in the London market, and it's this is that, um, a lot of the buildings, the designers, the consultants, the architects, the people that are kind of the, the, the ancillary and and supporting of the construction and the design of a building, were still operating under the for sale model, uh, what I refer to as condo. Y'all call for sale. And, and a lot of that dealt and, and that, and that permeated also into the, into the operating mindset of people that were trying to think about how these buildings would run. And when you think about a for sale building, you're asking a person to come and make this extraordinarily long-term commitment with a high degree of money, uh, on a unit. And so a lot of times people would kind of think, well, we need to be sure and share this information with them and share that detail with them, and it's important to have this partner. And, and it took me, um, to, to kind of recognize that, that I have to shift people's thinking in that regard because in a rental environment, a prospective resident comes in and is going to make a commitment to you not for 5, 10, 15 years they're making a commitment to your building and your operation for, you know, the standard 12 months. But if you're running your sites, well, it's, your average occupancy can run the kind of 22 to 26 months. And so, you know, you need to make that ability to make that commitment to you, even those forests a shorter period of time, as easy as possible as, as, as Amazon really trans transformed the, um, the, the e shopping network, that kind of one click mindset, a frictionless transaction. Yeah. So you have to limit any of those technological hurdles, you have to limit any of those kind of, uh, over and encumbering kind of too much information and you drive the sense of making that commitment and getting to that decision in two different ways. It's, it's a zero based decision. And what I mean by that, I mean, sorry, zero point start decision, what I mean by zero point start is that a lot of times people are starting to think about an apartment that they want to rent without having to kind of make that first step for it. It's kind of in the background of their mind if they're already in that rental market and then once they've committed and they've started that search, they've already kind of moved beyond that and they're at that point. So as easy as you can to bring them from that zero point start where they've started to consider it to making that first uh, commitment to signing that lease. How do you clear that up and you clear that up by making sure that you got a good clean tech stack that helps allow that prospect to move from, I'm thinking about moving from my current rental to Domino into your rental. Yeah. And I suppose everything that goes thereafter as well, because it, it's inter, I dunno whether you've had time, uh, I, I dunno whether you've had time, and this may be unfair. There was a report that came out yesterday, uh, from Sigma Capital. Mm-hmm. Um, and it's, uh, it's actually called the New Ideal Changing Rented Desires in a post covid world. And it's a very interesting report and if you get time to do, have a look and, and it, and I'm gonna jump to what it concludes. So it concludes that, and this is looking at kind of the traditional renter model and built to rent and doing a comparison of the two. And that, um, it concluded a couple things that the service levels in built to rent are higher than the traditional MO model, but still there is a, a way to go for bill to rent in terms of the service levels that renters expect because the renter community is only going to grow. Looking at the macro, um, economics and the opportunity for built to rent is obviously a share of that market. Mm-hmm. Um, and especially as private, uh, you know, private investors are exiting that market too. And I suppose it's quite interesting, and I get to get your opinion on this is, is in their research and there's been a home views research about what renters find important and it's, I find it fascinating how we sit here and we talk about all sorts of wonderful tech, but actually often it comes down to the simple things that renters find important. What's your experience of what renters find important? And and you mentioned kind of the average kind of life cycle of a, a resident, um, and what are the, the kind of hygiene factors do you think that we have to get right. Because I'd be interested in that and that, and that report spec, you know, chucks up a few dealing with maintenance d you know, things like that and doing it quickly, but your view would be amazing. Yeah, no, I I I, I appreciate the same report that comes out. You, you mentioned one that I think really more strongly stipulates the point, and that's the home views with from, uh, from Hannah Mars there. I mean that, that came out and really hit on the head what it is that we're really trying to deliver on and what what bet r residents in the London market in the UK market marketer are starting to appreciate as this, as this segment of housing starts to mature. And, and what that is, is onsite operations that truly respond to the needs of the resident. And, and, and when they have an item, when they have a request, when they have an issue and issues happen, is how that onsite staff responds to that particular issue, makes or breaks that relationship. And, and that's something that as a segment, I don't feel that has been fully, fully captured by many of the providers that are out there. There are certainly some operators here, uh, in the uk in the London market that are, that get this Yes. And are driving to this and, and, and that's gonna be the ones that are gonna stand out. And I think that as you, as you start to see more data come in over the next 2, 3, 4, 5 years, you're gonna start to see that spread between your top quality providers and everyone else and the top quality providers, what's gonna make it different. You go back to that home view report and, and, and I, I would say probably what's in that Sigma report as well is how does the onsite team respond to me when there's an issue? Every renter expects there to be an issue at some particular point. Bulb's gonna break, a handle's gonna come out, the fridge is gonna go on Fritz, but how the onsite team responds to that and how they deal with that is gonna really matter when that resident comes time to fill that survey about their satisfaction. Yeah. And so how do you do that? You have to do that through what we refer to as controlling the touchpoints. And a touchpoint is when a resident connects with one of our staff about an issue that they have, and it's a fleeting, fleeting make or break moment in that relationship between you as an owner operator and that resident. You get it right, the resident's now gonna become your brand ambassador that's gonna be out there promoting your brand and your site to their friends or colleagues and their coworkers. But if that onsite staff member gets it wrong, responds in a way that doesn't quite meet the needs and expectations of that resident, now you've got a detractors her. And that's gonna be a real challenge for you to try to make that up. So when we think about what it is that onsite residents truly want, they want quality, committed and responsive onsite staff that really can meet, and I would say even anticipate their needs. Yeah, I absolutely concur. And it's so interesting as a father of three daughters that are in the rental community, uh, right now, um, their biggest complaint is around, you know, I have a problem and no one gets back to me. A and, and it's, and it still is an issue and a perception and I I love the Sigma Capital Group report because it actually highlighted that, um, something like only 50%, 51%, or, and you can't quote me on the exact number of renters actually know who their landlord is. Yeah. Which is, I find that staggering. I find it, you know, staggering and, and and their expectation around turnaround times on things like maintenance issues. And you may, you may, as an operator perceive is not a maintenance issue as well when they're saying, you know, there's a beeper on the fridge going off or something like, well, you just click the button. Right. But, but it, but, uh, I, I think you're so right about that. How, how do you, how do you, uh, uh, that touchpoint is, is so critical because how you deal with it and how you turn it around is going to be how people define your brand, actually, I think, um, yeah. So yeah. I I totally, I totally agree on, on that kind of stuff. So I suppose, um, I, I have a, a loaded question now, and it wouldn't be a Yardi thing if it wasn't a loaded question. So it comes back to PropTech. Mm-hmm. And, and it doesn't have to be Yardi, by the way, I think. Cause I think this is for everybody and I think it could be, um, there's so much great technology out there and I think, uh, you know, I'm an advocate, um, of, of technology. But how do you foresee PropTech, and it's a kind of general buzzword, I think, um, playing a role in your strategy in terms of, one, there's some things you've mentioned about, okay, there's a, an aspiration to scale and grow. There's an aspiration to provide great quality service and, uh, extend a lifetime of customer. Where, where do you see the areas that technology, and you've talked about tech Stack a couple of times, um, play a critical role in helping you achieve those goals? Yeah, absolutely. The, the, the main thing that we look at for, well, several things, let's break it down, which is the, the first step prospect journey. So a person's out there looking for a site to go and move on a, uh, uh, into another B T R location cuz typically they're coming from another B T R and, and how we want to track them. You need to be able to again, have that frictionless journey for them to kind of see, understand, know your property and then make that easy commitment now into becoming a resident for you. Yeah. And as smooth and as seamless as you can make that, the better it's gonna be. So we need to su select that system and that, and, and identify those roadblocks in that process that allow your prospective residents to do that. And then once they become a resident, now you need a system that's really gonna be geared for the onsite staff to be able to easily manage and meet the expectations and needs on the resident. And so this is gonna be something that's gonna allow for easy maintenance, for service requests to come in, allows you to respond back to the resident. And as the home user report, and I'm sure the signal report comments, it's also probably of our community and how residents can stay connected to one another as well as be aware of things that are going on. So you need a system that's gonna be able to accomplish that. I would say that one thing where I'm still struggling to kind of find a good solution on, I would say there's actually three, three topics. Um, and, and one's gonna be on a good survey tool that allows you to easily survey residents in a manner that kind of quickly, um, allows 'em to easily fill it out. And the manner that they prefer, meaning it doesn't have to be on a computer, can be on the, on the go and it happens at the key points that you want and you can control in that resident life cycle. The third thing that I think is, is, is a technological technological challenge that I haven't yet found a good option for is a builtin. And, and this is new to me for the, um, UK market and something I'm still learning on is the, uh, the HSE requirements. Yeah. And, and we have not yet found a, an, I would say an appropriately sized product. There are certainly plenty of providers that are out there, and I would say even probably some of your listeners are probably muttering under their breath right now about a handful of providers they think could solve that HSE problem for us. Yeah. But again, something that integrates easily into your exer existing ecosystem is something that I would challenge even Yardi to try to find that right product for so that we can solve for them. I'm pleased to admit it. You've mentioned it because I think just in terms of, and I haven't, I'm gonna let, actually I'm gonna let you finish and go for the third one. So yeah, So, right. And then the third one is parcels. There's the parcels are going to be the ever growing problem over the next, currently an existing problem. And it's only gonna get worse. And we have to find the right model that allows us to solve for that. And there's a handful of ones that are out there that we're working through and some are better than others. And again, there's, there's some good providers that are out there. But again, the more you can all integrate this into an existing system, the better it can be for you're saying, but talk to me about your agency here. Cause I'm curious. No, well, I, well, I totally agree. And, and it's, it's, it's such a common requirement and I think that it's something that increasingly in Europe we see that there are, um, there are a stringent regulations and, uh, around, um, how you comply with safety checks, with gas, electricity, you know, all of those things. And it's a critical area. Yeah. And I think it's an area that we see probably more requests on, um, whether it be integrations or whether it be, you know, things that you develop in, in the existing platform to make it easy for people to see, you know, when I look at a unit, how does that stack up? Right? How, how, you know, how does it, how does it stack up in terms of its performance, uh, both at a unit level and a development level. So it's kind of a, a really interesting area, I think that, um, I think is an opportunity for somebody. Yeah. Well, it's coming to a head October 1st, building safety case is gonna come out for any new site that opens up. And this is a big thing for operators to get their arms around and everybody's kind of scrambling right now, but it's something that we need to really keep an eye on about how you can integrate it in for operators, onsite operators to be able to easily meet the needs for when that building safety inspector shows up. Yeah, no, no, that's, um, that's spot on. Okay. So the next question that I'm going to ask is, I suppose around the proposition that you have and how, how your proposition, this is a related argent proposition is going to be different to other propositions, and you don't have to give away any secret sauce or anything like that. But, but what are, what are the key kind of values in as you, as you roll out your, um, residential platform, what are, what are the kind of key pillars that, uh, are gonna make you stand out? A great mentor of mine and, and somebody who I admire for both their effort in the, uh, property operations environment back in the states and, and what they've done, uh, had a great phrase about New York rental operators. And they, he said, uh, he goes, look, anybody can have a gym, heat and hot water, and you can call yourself a luxury rental operator. And so I think the same analogy is gonna start to apply here in the London market, if not even already, where if you've got a fitness center and you've got an amenity room and you've got a front desk, then you're gonna call yourself a premium B t R provider. And so you have to now start to find ways to stand out, and you have to find ways to differentiate yourself from everybody else. And I would say that many providers, a respectful handful number of providers are now starting to kind of identify with this one, and they're starting to call it in on the service level. And now that starts to mean different things because when you really peel back exactly what it is that they're providing, this again goes back to how are the staff engaging with that resident? And for some of these operators, when they say, yeah, yeah, we've got outstanding service. You say, okay, well tell me about your staff hiring. Tell me about your staff training. Tell me about your staff cultural development, and then tell me also, are these staff members really yours? And more than a handful of times when I've asked a series of questions on tours, the question, the the first response is, oh no, we, we, we, we contract that out to somebody else. Well, well, right there, you already have a disconnect between what it is about that person at the desk representing your site, connecting with the resident, because the engagement that that onsite staff member's gonna have is, is already diminished about how they're gonna promote that brand. So related Argent is taking the tac, which is that we are bringing our site onto the related origin employee platform, and they're gonna be our employees. And more importantly than that, we're gonna be involving them in the cultural history of related origin of the Kings cross estate and providing them with an extensive series of training tools that we have developed back in the, in, in the states to bring over here for how they engage. And this involves, uh, what's referred to as a conversation migration tool. It involves an anticipating needs tool, it involves a conflict resolution, and then most importantly involves a kind of continual engagement with the resident in terms of how they respond to certain criteria and issues. And when you're able to capture those things, that cultural development, that connection with what it is that we want to do and the history that we have, and then you involve them in the corporate. So you don't have an onsite team and a corporate team, you have a team, then you're really able to sit there and deliver what it is. We feel that more residents here in the London market want, which is a recognition of who they're dealing with, understanding who their, their, their, their landlord is, and then also that responsiveness when the issues come up. And that's where you can start to really develop those brand ambassadors that help promote your place and your brand to their coworkers, colleagues, and going out in the market and saying, Hey, I live in a related argent building and it's phenomenal. Let me tell you why Joni at the desk is great. She greets me the way that I wanna be greeted every morning. And she always has and knows when my parcels are ready. I had an issue with the, with a door handle the other day, and it got fixed before I got home. That's what people expect, and that's what we're here to deliver. I love that because I, I, one, I'm a true believer in it myself in terms of, you know, it starts with people and investing in the people will make sure that they do the right thing when, when things get a bit tough and they need to make decisions, they're empowered and educated to, to be the best they can. And I think that, that, that really comes across in brands. And I, I, I love that investment in people. I think it's, it's something we do really well at Yardi, and I think that it, it really helps kind of develop a service culture. It's interesting, there's a, again, I an analogy with flexible workspace, and I won't mention who it is. They have a policy of sending, uh, all their staff on a hospitality course. So they go on a, the the top hospitality course in Switzerland in terms of, you know, how, how hotels operate. And they, and, and they, and it's continuous as well. It's not just a one-off thing, it's a continuous, uh, development, which I, which I absolutely love. So, so that, that to me, um, I is phenomenal. Um, I think that probably brings us, uh, kind of where the questions I had, I, I like to kind of leave people with maybe a couple of, uh, insights. And I'm gonna ask you to kind of share, I suppose three things that if you were to advise someone in the built to rent industry, maybe th and that doesn't have to be three, maybe 1, 2, 3, what would be, uh, Michael Harrington's kind of three tips on operating built to rent environment as well as you possibly can that you are willing to share? You don't, don't give away the secret source, Michael. No, no, no. I mean, you, you, you go back to to, to great companies, uh, what, uh, that had started out. And you think of like Southwest Airlines when they were in their heydays back in the kind of late nineties and up to the two thousands there. Um, and you know, they, they used to invite, uh, competitive airline executives as well as onsite staff to come and, and, and attend, attend their trading course and, and talk with them and meet with them as often as they would want because they recognize that even though they were kind of sharing what it is that they had developed, they, there was no way to easily emulate that because that culture just wasn't there. And so I would say that that related Argent has a very unique benefit in our operations for V T R and that we're able to develop this from the very beginning. And, and you said it earlier, and it, it is unquestionably, I would say that the, the, the key element that everyone here needs to be mindful of when they're starting A B T R and that it is truly a people business. Yes, the development manager that's on this deal that is looking to the build this site or buy this site has some type of, you know, gross to net or tear sheet that says, you know, your OPEX must be X percentage of your total income, and we need to be delivering this type of return at this particular date and et cetera. And that's unquestionably why we are in the business about what we do is delivering on investor returns. But, but how you get there matters and how you get there is through the people that are gonna be at that site. And you cannot not invest in the people that are on the site. And you have to do that through paying them appropriately, not just the minimum scale and the the current market, but you have to pay them appropriately. You need to give them a good benefit package that's gonna be different outstanding. And, and here's where it gets really hard. Now, a lot of people can do that now. You have to connect them to what it is that you want to do and make sure that that onsite staff member, everybody from the, the person who's there managing the bins, to the person that's fixing something in the departments, to the person that's at the desk, and especially to the onsite leadership team, that they truly understand what it is you wanna deliver from a cultural aspect of connecting with that resident and delivering outstanding service. And that's the hard thing that not everybody gets and cannot distill down from a piece of paper that may comment about it to how it actually gets delivered. That transition between something at the top that says we are gonna do X to how it gets delivered, that's the challenging part for, yeah, for, for what somebody who's starting out in B T R needs to work through, think about how they deliver that and then deliver that on a day in and day out in consistent basis. And if you can do that, then you can excel quite a bit and you can have outstanding ambassadors for your brand, from your residents, but most people tend to kind of make some good comments on a handful of things, but then really take that time to deliver it down when you actually start talking with some of the onsite staff. A and, and again, I I, I love that, and actually it's so consistent with some of the other things that you've been saying is that, you know, I I would just add to that is, is, you know, the people's important, but also giving them the tools to the job tools to do the job, uh, that they need to do. So making it as frictionless as you possibly can for them. But I also think that ties into your, your point about, you know, are there better survey tools? Because I think if you can survey those key customer touchpoints as, and when they happen and you have some kind of feedback that helps a, um, that helps the process of continuous development and improvement. And I think that that kind of fits back to the people and it's easy really, isn't it? No, Justin, it's not easy. It's very, very, very hard. And there's only a certain number of people that are out there that can do that. And to your point, you gotta have the right tools and you do, you gotta have the right people to get it done. And when you give the right people the right tools, and you have the right mentality and the right cultural mindset around it, then yeah, it can get a little bit easier. But, you know, property management is in own unique operation as many people and listen to lecture can appreciate. Uh, but uh, that's why we're here and that's what we do. Um, mi Michael, there's only a couple of things I I've got to say. Um, uh, one is when you, uh, when you're ready to kind of, um, launch your first development, please can you invite me? I'd love to come and have a look. That would be fantastic. I'm super excited about what you guys are doing. And, and secondly, it only remains for me to say thank you so much for giving up your time and sharing this. I know that the audience will find your insights so valuable, um, around, you know, uh, technology built to rent, um, and I think people, so Michael, thank you so much for taking the time. Not a problem at all, Justin, thank you very much for the time this morning and thank for the engaging questions. I really appreciate it. Y'all take care. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Hi everyone. Morning, Michael, how are you? I'm great, Justin. Brilliant. Well, thank you so much for sharing your amazing insights. It was, it was great to kind of just, uh, uh, listen and kind of go all through the journey, so thanks so much for that. Um, the good news, uh, uh, for those who are still on, uh, thanks for, for, uh, sticking with us. We have a couple of questions and we've got some good questions here. So, um, I am going to start with, um, if you're ready. What is the most common bottleneck when it comes to Bill to rent operations? Where do most providers get caught out in your experience? Uh, wow. Yeah, it's a good one. I, i it, I don't know if it would be the most common bottleneck, but it's certainly one that I see quite a bit. And, and, and that is the kind of lack of attention and detail to, to, to the, um, uh, site presentation standards. And so, you know, you build the site, you put the effort into it, you get things going, and then you've gotta really sit there and focus on how that site presents on an ongoing basis. So it might open up and look really great, but it's in six months, a year, year and a half, if you're not maintaining those continual standards, it can get remarkably challenging to kind of maintain that expectation as you start to go through that renewal cycle. So I would say one thing that is, uh, challenging for a lot of, uh, BT r operators and multi-family operators as well, is having that consistent performance around site standards and cleanliness and presentation. Yeah, nice one. And a actually, I, I've got something that I would like to add on that one. Um, because in my role we, we do see a number of common themes where there are bottlenecks and often it's around data actually. Mm-hmm. So, uh, it's, it's around data. So how do I get the data that I want when I want it as quick as I want? I want it to make better decisions. Right? Right. And, and often the challenge that has happened, and you say it in the, uh, in the, the session we just did, it's about kind of streamlining the tech stack as much as you can, is the bottleneck is often caused by having too many different systems that actually don't communicate. So the data is not consistent. And, and, and, and often I see that's caused by departments going off and buying a bit of technology for that department to work and a bit, and no overall strategy. So, so that's something I would say is a, a a a bottleneck that we see is something that, um, is ongoing actually as you scale. So, uh, I dunno whether you would agree with that statement or not, but, uh, a hundred Percent agree, a hundred percent agree with that. David, outstanding on that one because you've gotta really maintain and be, and be diligent about as you're thinking of the new things that you're bringing to your ecosystem, how it's gonna fit in and how it's all gonna flow through. But Yeah. Perfect. All right, so I have another, uh, another question here. Now, now this is, this is quite a long one. Alright, so, so, uh, it's from David. So David, thanks for, uh, engaging. Um, so, uh, he's asking, uh, can you provide some examples of how related Argent fosters an agile culture of innovation and continuous improvement among staff members, particularly when it comes to leveraging PropTech effectively in build to rent and business and other business operations? It's a big one. That one. No, yeah, it is, but it's also a very, it's a great question and I really, it is really appreciate David asking it too. And, and, and, and here's how I'll respond to that one, which is, um, throughout our career, I've always fostered the idea that, you know, as much as a regional manager or, uh, a regional operations director might be able to kind of know when they walk onto the side exactly how they're gonna accomplish something or how they're gonna do something they don't know it as well as the onsite staff that are currently there. And so you have to find and cultivate those onsite team members that truly understand what are the needs that they have in that particular building to service those residents. And you have to allow them that space and that opportunity to try something new and, and be willing to take the risk that if it doesn't work, you're willing to make the adjustment and get back into it. Now, when you layer tech into that, it can get complicated because you have to bring in other aspects of the operational team. You have to bring in the IT team, you have to bring in other departments, as you say, and it can get a little, um, uh, challenging at times to make sure that that, that you're applying appropriately a tool that the onsite team members will use effectively, that they're aware of exactly how to use it. And more importantly, it's gonna be beneficial to the residents. But if you're able to develop from early on that mindset at the site level that, hey, you know, I've got a great idea and I wanna give it a try, and you're willing to let that onsite member give that idea a try and, and, and, and give them those boundaries to make that risk when it comes to something new and it comes to some type of new idea, this new tech, this new, uh, this new, this new add-on to your existing system, then, then yeah, you're, you're able to then, uh, cultivate and generate that idea that we're gonna, we're gonna keep trying different things and keep adjusting and, and, and moving on. Um, and you know, this is, uh, certainly something that, that we have consistently applied, uh, back in the states and certainly something that we're gonna be doing here. We're allowing the onsite team members to make those critical decisions and give them that operating space, uh, to make the small improvements they're gonna generate higher resident satisfaction. Tremendous. Makes a lot of sense. So David, hopefully that, uh, I know this is one way, but hopefully that answers your question. I've got a, I've got another question here. Um, in what ways is related Argent utilizing PropTech to not only streamline the initial customer journey in the B T R sector, but also to enhance customer experience and customer care post move in? So there's a, a couple of questions in that one. So we'll, we'll start with the, the, the first one, which is the customer journey. Yeah. So that, By the way, the answer Yep. By the way, the answer is you putting Yardi in just Right. I'd like to thank our podcast host today, Yardi, or, uh, in my response to this question. No, I, no, you're right though. It goes back to what we did talk about in the session, right? Which is how do you streamline that process to make it as fiction, frictionless as possible for the prospective resident who has started their decision journey to then can become your actual resident? And the way that you do that is you, you evaluate all the different parts are in that process and make it as easy as possible with this few systems as possible so that they're not kind of bouncing in and out of different systems. And, and, and Yardi, uh, to y'all's credit certainly has that journey there, which makes that, uh, process remarkably easy for the prospective resident that comes in and then also for, uh, uh, for the onsite staff members as they have that single system that they can go to. And then after the resident moves in, again, that customer, uh, experience at the site and, and how they engage in the community, how they connect with other residents, how they engage with you as the owner operator, all matter in terms of how that system dials in allows that to happen. Too many systems, it gets clunky for the resident to try to communicate with you, do I go onto this one? Do I go into that one and write, allow, go. And, and, and as they have those questions about how to communicate with you, uh, or how you might respond back to them, then it starts to break down that relationship that you have with your resident, which then starts to impact how they will perceive your brand when they're going out and talking to other, uh, perspective renters in the marketplace. Thank you, Michael. And actually the, another question here, uh, this one's actually for me, but I'm, it kind of leads on quite nicely and the question I'll just read it for, for the audience and Michael, feel free to, um, to chip in, uh, this question is, are there any, are there any emerging PropTech trends or innovations that you believe will have a major impact on the built to red sector or other sectors in the residential sector, like customer care? How is Yardi preparing to adapt to these changes? So it's so, so, so it's a great question actually. And um, uh, again, I had the fortune o o, uh, of being at, uh, another event yesterday, uh, which was a built to rent, uh, uh, event. And we were discussing AI and we were discussing artificial intelligence and the impact that that is going to have on all our lives, um, and how will companies use that. And I think at the moment people are still getting their heads around it and, um, but anyone who's used chat G p t, uh, and tried things with it, it it is absolutely extraordinary. And I think that, you know, we, we've been playing with it here in terms of writing HTML templates, for example. So typically you'd go to a person and they'd write an HTML template that you might wanna put in your system. Well chat G P T can now do that for you. So that job actually is, has it, it never quite goes away, cuz I think you still, you still need someone to oversee the data and the information you've got, but I think the emergence of AI is certainly something that we are going to see in streamlining both customer care, um, and, uh, and the prospect journey too. Um, and I know in terms of Yardi's investment, it's something that we have invested in, uh, tremendously. And, and actually it's a perfect question and, and um, because it's something later this year we'll be, we'll be releasing something for build to rent around the automation of processes using AI and uh, chat. So that, that would be my thing that I would say is a really big innovation that's gonna really change the way we work. Michael, I dunno whether you've got anything to add or No, you answered it brilliantly on that particular part, which is absolutely that kind of chat G B T that's coming into in the AI and, and also how it kind of does that kind of initial touchpoint for when a resident wants to communicate with you without being in a face-to-face conversation. Yeah. And so many systems now have gotten remarkably better at that kind of initial conversation point before you get brought onto somebody with a more complex issue. Yeah. And even I would say on some simple requests that are able to respond back and Yeah. Um, as y'all had alluded to at a, at a recent, uh, uh, dinner that y'all hosted, you know, there's, there's some pretty amazing tech out there that's gonna help property operators solve those kind of simple, simple blur tasks or requests that come in from residents, um, that frees your staff up for doing other things. I think I think one other, uh, emerging, uh, trend that I think is gonna have a, a, a, an impact on property operations is gonna be in the, in the realm of sensors and, and how different sensors throughout the building, not necessarily, um, uh, the kind of more common ones, uh, uh, such as occupancy sensors or things of that nature that all start to play it. Um, there was a, I can't call 'em now, they were coming out in California and they had, they had developed a system and it didn't quite kind of get to where they wanted it to, but it, it would recognize, uh, via the, uh, the resident's cell phone ping when they were coming down so that before they came into the lobby entrance to their, their, their profile and their request had actually popped up on the screen. And that was something I was super excited to see. And I think when you start to kind of get that sense of how you can, uh, better anticipate your residents needs through some type of technology aspect, and it's gonna be, again, elevating that customer experience and as, and as well raising that resident satisfaction. Yeah. No, I, I I th and I, I, I love that because I think that that that is exactly the kind of technology that is available. The tools are available, it's now stitching it together and, and actually I think the challenge for the likes of yourself and people that are running operations and the boards are now thinking about, and you talk about this a lot, is about people culture and, um, and how technology's gonna affect them. Um, you know, that, that, you know, uh, if I was a content writer right now, I, I would worry slightly because you still need editors, but if I'm the writer, I, I, I see AI as a way to actually create a hell of a lot of content. Uh, but it still needs to be checked and it still needs to be edited, and that's where human beings come in. Um, but I think there are, uh, uh, there's a lot of change that's gonna happen in the next couple of years around this area. Yeah. It, it's the greater merge of the high tech and the high touch and fortunately in profit operations. Yeah. And, and, and particularly, you know, it's called concierge buildings, you still have both of those elements and, and residents unquestionably want the high tech option. They wanna be able to communicate with you in the manner that they want, but issues are gonna occur, things are gonna pop up and they're gonna have to engage with your staff at some particular point. And so the better that you can merge that high tech and that high touch into a seamless transaction for that resident that gives them the option that they want to be able to communicate with you and then effortlessly resolve that issue, then the better position you're gonna be, and the emerging technology that we're seeing in both chat G B T and AI is gonna be a remarkably effective, I feel, in how we as property operators can provide that level of expected service in the future. Yeah, totally agree. Okay. I think that just about wraps it up unless there's anyone wants to put any more questions in, but I, I, uh, have all the questions through. So I think what we'll do is I'll, I'll do a wrap up and it just remains for me to say, um, Mike, Michael, thank you so much for your time. Uh, I really appreciate and sharing our insights. It's truly valuable and um, I look forward to catching up soon. Justin, thank you and the entire Yardi team for, uh, allowing me to be on here and share my thoughts. I really enjoyed it. Y'all got a great organization and, uh, I too look forward to catching up with you at the next event. Thank you, Michael. Take care. Bye-bye Y'all. Take care. Bye bye.