Wednesday, December 18, 2024
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Southeast Feature Archive

Conference CoverageFeaturesGeorgiaMultifamilyMultifamily & Affordable Housing Feature ArchiveSoutheastSoutheast Feature Archive

InterFace: Multifamily Investors Are Bullish on 2025 Sales Market, Though Many Hurdles Will Carry Over into New Year

by John Nelson

Speakers on the investment sales panel at the annual InterFace Multifamily Southeast conference were overall bullish on the sector’s investment prospects in the new year. The event, now in its 15th year, was held on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta. To kick off the panel, moderator Paul Berry, president and COO of Mesa Capital Partners, discussed what a recovery could look like in terms of investment sales volume. Editor’s note: InterFace Conference Group, a division of France Media Inc., produces networking and educational conferences for commercial real estate executives. To sign up for email announcements about specific events, visit www.interfaceconferencegroup.com/subscribe. Berry said that in the six years leading up to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, annual U.S. multifamily investment sales volume hovered between $155 billion to $195 billion per year. He noted that due to robust inventory growth during that time, a “normal” yearly sales total would average out to $180 billion to $190 billion. “2021 saw ‘double normal’ — it was $350.7 billion,” said Berry. “The first three quarters of 2022 were at that same level before it slowed down by the end of the year, but it still eclipsed $300 billion.” He …

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FeaturesHeartland Feature ArchiveMultifamily & Affordable Housing Feature ArchiveNortheast Feature ArchiveSoutheast Feature ArchiveTexas & Oklahoma Feature ArchiveWestern Feature Archive

Forecast Survey: What’s Your Take on Commercial Real Estate in 2025?

by John Nelson

The editors of REBusinessOnline.com are conducting a brief online survey to gauge market conditions in 2025, and we welcome your participation. The survey should only take a few minutes to complete. Questions range from property sectors that you are most bullish on heading into 2025 to trends in deal volume to your outlook for interest rates. The results of our 14th annual survey will be compiled and published in the January issues of our regional magazines. Conducting these surveys is part of our mission at France Media to provide readers with indispensable information, and we couldn’t do it without your help. To participate in our broker/agent survey, click here. To participate in our developer/owner/manager survey, click here. To participate in our lender/financial intermediary survey, click here. (Note: Please remember to click on “done” to properly submit the survey.)

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District of ColumbiaFeaturesOfficeSoutheastSoutheast Feature Archive

DC in Denial on Post-COVID Office Property Valuations

by John Nelson

Commercial property owners in the District of Columbia are crawling out of a post-pandemic fog and into a new, harsh reality where office building values have plummeted, but property tax assessments remain perplexingly high.  Realization comes slowly Immediately following the pandemic, many office property owners adopted a wait-and-see attitude toward the volatility permeating the sector, clinging to hopes that the rising popularity of remote work and similar office worker practices would prove temporary. Once the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates to combat generational inflation in 2022, however, hopes for a “return to normal” vanished and a grim reality set in.  Recent transactions involving office properties in the District clearly indicate that investors recognize the negative impact these market forces have exerted on office building valuations and are now pricing those changes into the amounts they are willing to bid for acquisitions. These recent sales show office building values have declined by more than 50 percent from pre-pandemic levels.  The other shoe began to drop on office market pricing in early 2023 with a rise in distress transactions, in which the office owner sells or forfeits the property to resolve some form of trouble, typically financial. These turnovers in ownership …

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FeaturesGeorgiaMultifamilySoutheastSoutheast Feature Archive

How Multifamily Owners Can Guard Against Renter Fraud

by John Nelson

Scammers lurk in the background of virtually every industry, and the multifamily sector is no exception. Some renters will leap at the chance to exploit loopholes in the system and take advantage of unprepared landlords. “As a baseline definition, we classify rent fraud as any act of intentional deception by a renter to deceive the property owners to gain financial or personal benefit,” says Josh Albrechtsen, senior vice president and general manager of front office solutions at RealPage. “Fraud is evolving constantly. This is not a one-and-done problem solve. The trends and behaviors of the fraudsters indicate an ongoing chess match.” Unfortunately, renter fraud is increasingly common. In January, the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) released the results of a fraud survey, which collected responses from 75 property owners, developers and managers. A whopping 93 percent of survey respondents stated that they had experienced fraud over the past 12 months. Additionally, 71 percent of respondents had encountered increased fraud activity in the last year. Snappt, which specializes in assisting apartment property managers with document fraud detection, reported that of the nearly 3.3 million application documents its platform scanned in 2023, approximately 177,000 were fraudulent. That represents an average fraud rate …

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FeaturesLouisianaSoutheastSoutheast Feature Archive

The Supreme Court Takes on Tax Takings

by John Nelson

By Angela Adolph, Esq. of Kean Miller LLP Federal courts rarely adjudicate property tax matters, which have traditionally been the province of state courts. In May 2023, however, the U. S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in a case that squared state property tax law up against the Fifth Amendment takings clause, which prohibits taking private property for public use without just compensation. Taken for taxes The events leading to Tyler vs. Hennepin County began in 1999, when Geraldine Tyler purchased a Minneapolis condominium that she occupied until she moved into a seniors housing community in 2010. Tyler retained ownership of the condominium but failed to pay property taxes on it for several years, resulting in approximately $2,300 in unpaid taxes and $13,000 in interest and penalties. Acting in accordance with Minnesota tax forfeiture procedures, Hennepin County seized the condominium and sold it for $40,000. This extinguished Ms. Tyler’s $15,000 tax debt, and Hennepin County kept the remaining $25,000. Minnesota’s tax forfeiture procedure required the county to give the delinquent taxpayer adequate notice of the tax sale; notably, the procedure lacked a mechanism for a delinquent taxpayer to assert a claim to any sale proceeds remaining after paying off …

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Amira Choice
Conference CoverageFeaturesGeorgiaSeniors HousingSoutheastSoutheast Feature Archive

Technology Can Complement — But Never Replace — The Human Touch in Seniors Housing Communities, Say InterFace Panelists

by John Nelson

ATLANTA — Though the older population is often seen as removed from modern technology, tech products offer great promise to the seniors housing sector. Participants in the “Technology Revolution: Enhancing Resident Care and Operational Cost Effectiveness” panel at the InterFace Seniors Housing Southeast conference (held recently in Atlanta) all agreed on this point. Importantly though, the panel — which was moderated by Mark Petty, vice president of corporate accounts with ICON — also highlighted the fact that seniors housing is an industry rooted in human interaction. Given this fact, the panelists concluded that technology can complement and enhance, but never replace, the human touch. Editor’s note: InterFace Conference Group, a division of France Media Inc., produces networking and educational conferences for commercial real estate executives. To sign up for email announcements about specific events, visit www.interfaceconferencegroup.com/subscribe. Three Questions A strategic approach in the purchase and application of technology within seniors housing communities is paramount, pointed out Joe Jasmon, CEO and managing partner of American Healthcare Management Group. In addition to being highly helpful, the products offered by tech companies can be costly. “To have tech just to have tech is really a waste of time, effort and money,” asserted Jasmon. …

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Conference CoverageFeaturesGeorgiaSeniors HousingSoutheastSoutheast Feature Archive

Expect Seniors Housing Liquidity Issues to Persist Into 2025, Says InterFace Panel

by John Nelson

As a bridge lender across the full spectrum of seniors housing, Live Oak Bank has been able to capitalize on the limited liquidity in today’s market that has resulted in stalled transactions and refinancing challenges in this niche property sector.  “Trust me, I have a certain advantage right now with the lack of lenders [active in the space], and I enjoy that because it enables me to be very strategic on relationships and the people that I choose to partner with and grow. But having liquidity back in our market is necessary for a healthy seniors sector,” believes Chad Borst, managing director of seniors housing at Live Oak Bank, headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina. Editor’s note: InterFace Conference Group, a division of France Media Inc., produces networking and educational conferences for commercial real estate executives. To sign up for email announcements about specific events, visit www.interfaceconferencegroup.com/subscribe. Borst would like to see banks that moved to the sidelines in recent years due to the disruption in the capital markets return to the playing field. “I want the permanent financing market to open up more broadly. I want other banks to come back because it will help the overall health of our …

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Conference CoverageFeaturesGeorgiaMultifamilySeniors HousingSoutheastSoutheast Feature Archive

Promote from Within or Hire from Outside? Employee Retention Is Top of Mind for Seniors Housing Operators, Says InterFace Panel    

by Kristin Harlow

ATLANTA — Staffing, particularly at the regional director level, kicked off the discussion at the “Best in Class Operators’ Blueprints for Success in a Challenging Market” panel at the 11th annual InterFace Seniors Housing Southeast conference on Wednesday, Aug. 28 in Atlanta. Pilar Carvajal, founder and CEO of Innovation Senior Living, said her firm is focused on developing from within and rewarding those who have worked hard for the company. “We are keeping a very close focus internally. We think that’s where we will find our talent as we grow,” said Carvajal. Examples include developing the resident care director into an executive director or the executive director into a senior executive director who oversees more than one property. Joining Carvajal on the panel were Lindsey Hacker, executive vice president and CFO of Distinctive Living; Kristin Kutac Ward, co-CEO of AgeWell Solvere Living; Lou Maranto, senior vice president of sales for Discovery Senior Living; and Todd Filippone, president of SRI Management. Charles Mann, chief sales officer and co-founder of Accushield, a provider of security and entry management software for the industry, moderated the discussion. InterFace Conference Group, a division of France Media, hosted the event at the Westin Buckhead. “We’re constantly looking …

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Conference CoverageFeaturesGeorgiaSeniors HousingSoutheastSoutheast Feature Archive

Careful Balance of Business Fundamentals, Quality Care Is Key to Seniors Housing Success, Say InterFace Panelists

by John Nelson

By John Nelson Seniors housing is a sector that has a long track record of carefully balancing care for its residents with the fundamentals of real estate, namely the return on investment in the form of monthly rental rates. Equity and debt partners have appreciated the sector as an investment vehicle for decades, but are now fully grasping how important operators are to realizing those gains. This was the topic of discussion among the “power panel” of executives at InterFace Seniors Southeast, an annual conference that was held at Westin Buckhead Atlanta on Wednesday, Aug. 28. Panelists were asked by moderator John Lariccia, CEO and founder of WelcomeHome Software, to summarize the state of the seniors housing industry in a single word. Doug Schiffer, president and chief operating officer of Allegro Senior Living, selected “encouraged” as the best term to describe the current mood of the sector. “The encouragement comes into the fact that both versions of capital, whether it was equity or debt, have actually recognized now the importance of the operator,” said Schiffer. “For quite some time, it was about the importance of the real estate and how the buildings were designed, and then ‘we’ll go find an …

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Build-to-RentConference CoverageFeaturesMultifamilyNorth CarolinaSingle-Family RentalSouth CarolinaSoutheastSoutheast Feature Archive

Build-to-Rent Sector Remains in a Sweet Spot, Say InterFace Panelists

by John Nelson

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Build-to-rent (BTR), or purpose-built neighborhoods of single-family rental homes, has been an emerging subsector of the multifamily continuum the past several years. The housing type fills a niche for renters as it offers more living space and privacy than typical apartments, but is more affordable and amenitized than for-sale homes. The BTR sector began its ascent during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic when a confluence of factors —the rise in work-from-home and hybrid work schedules, an increase in household formation of younger millennials, the desirability of more private space including garages and backyards — led to a sharp increase in demand for single-family rental (SFR) homes. Underpinning the increased demand for BTR living is the unaffordability of homeownership for a large swath of Americans. As of mid-year, home prices are now 47 percent higher than they were in early 2020, according to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Home insurance premiums have also risen aggressively in the recent past — up 21 percent between 2022 and 2023, according to the study. Meanwhile, mortgage payments are increasingly untenable as interest rates have also risen dramatically in recent years. For these reasons, institutional investors are actively participating …

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