Can a real estate investor ever have too much transparency?
Not likely, especially in the aftermath of 2020. Take the multifamily sector. The aftershocks still echo as many institutional and private investors have demanded more transparency, accountability, and granularity.
How many units are occupied? How are rents being collected? What’s the delinquency rate? What’s being done to mitigate it? Are existing assets being repositioned? How are renovations going?
The mounting need to provide operational key performance metrics along with financials each quarter is no easy task.
It’s a challenge Adam Vanni is familiar with.
As a Senior Portfolio Manager at Fairfield, Vanni and team are responsible for reporting on 187 properties across 34 U.S. markets with $10.4 billion under management. His firm offers a variety of investment vehicles, including, joint ventures and open and closed-end funds.
“Over the last three years, the details investors want to know have become even more comprehensive and exacting,” Vanni explains.
The Fairfield investment team strives to meet investors’ growing appetite for information with a couple of strategies:
1. Synching Operational and Investment Reporting. Fairfield is vertically integrated, combining acquisitions, entitlement, development, construction, renovation, property and asset management, and dispositions. This comprehensive expertise creates exceptional market insight into the multifamily sector.
For nearly two decades Fairfield has partnered with property management leader Yardi to link this robust accounting detail directly into its financial reporting processes. The integrated technology platform informs both sides of the business.
“It’s not unusual to have the investment and operation sides of real estate run by different teams within an organization. Having a single connected solution can optimize access across teams,” observes Chris Barbier, Yardi’s senior director of investment management. “The property owner can publish data on a timely basis without having to export and import across multiple disparate systems.”
2. Launching On-Demand Investor Dashboard. Soon Fairfield investors will have access to a wholly automated reporting solution. The new dashboard, now in late-stage development from Yardi is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2024. “It will give investors the information about their investments, when they need it,” according to Vanni.
The dashboard promises to increase property transparency far beyond the reports now available. “This will enable our investors to view key metrics across all their Fairfield holdings. The investor dashboard will offer a dynamic, data-rich solution to complement existing static reports.”
Vanni sees the new capability as a competitive advantage. Reporting efficiency and speed simplify life for investors. “Investors will see how their investments are performing through our ability to report on key performance metrics as well as provide information on a consolidated basis. Being able to automate is a big advantage,” Vanni says.
Today, with pressure on investment managers to be more transparent and detailed in their reporting, the power of a single, integrated automated solution is compelling.
“We reviewed multiple single-point customer relationship management solutions,” Vanni concludes. “In the end, it came down to having a customizable user interface while leveraging our existing accounting platform, extending its capabilities without going back and forth between different applications. The dashboard from Yardi is going to be an exciting advancement for our investors.”
Learn more about how the power of accounting and investment integration delivers more transparency and insight for multifamily investors.
