For real estate companies with a leasing or brokerage division, commission management can be a complex, multistage accounting process that consumes a lot of staff time and resources. If you’re involved in brokerage and consolidated financial activities and looking to make these processes more straightforward and efficient, consider combining those operations with property management on one platform.

Inefficiencies With Separate Platforms

Historically, property management and brokerage operations have been performed on separate operating systems. This scenario can produce several inefficiencies. For example, calculating complex agent commissions for each deal requires much manual data entry into the property management and accounting system, with agents moving across split plan tiers and different tier structures within a deal.

Invoice processing and commission splits often are entered into the property management and accounting system long after the fact. Yardi clients have reported that up to 25% of commissions they calculated manually were incorrect.

Additional complexities include:

• Commission variations due to the type of transaction, such as a lease, sale or fee.
• Brokers’ custom commission structuring can vary by region.
• Cash vs. accrual accounting methods.
• Commission invoicing and receipt.
• Distribution calculations and payments to agents.

Executing all these operations accurately and keeping detailed accounting records is crucial not just for staying compliant with tax regulations and monitoring a company’s financial performance but also for providing transparency to the agents.

Handling property management and broker activities separately also prevents executives from obtaining a complete, real-time financial picture of what’s happening across the business.

When a broker transaction generates an invoice, for example, that invoice wouldn’t be visible for months until the tenant moved into the building. An open receivables report would show upcoming property management fees and rent payments to be collected from tenants but not brokerage activity or what agents were owed from that income.

CommercialEdge Commissions: Simple and Sophisticated

Is it possible to manage property management and brokerage activities from a single platform? One that synchronizes accounting and property management to deliver a consolidated financial image more accurately and with less staff labor? Yes, and that is where CommercialEdge Commissions comes in.

The CRE solution, part of CommercialEdge and fully integrated with Voyager Commercial and Yardi Elevate, connects agents, operations and accounting processes by centralizing all deal data, documents, invoice dates and commission splits. It tracks invoices, monitors due dates and automates even the most complex commission distributions.

CommercialEdge Commissions provides complete commission and back-office solutions for brokerages and leasing teams by streamlining operations, elevating productivity and boosting revenue with automated workflows powered by real-time business analytics.

Equally important, Commissions brings property management, brokerage and commission generation into one system. All activity is recorded in Voyager in real-time and can be configured to support cash or accrual basis transactions.

This centralization is much more efficient than tracking brokerage transactions with spreadsheets outside Voyager, then repeating those transactions to keep Voyager up to date. There is no more unnecessary manual data entry and manual calculation of complex commission splits among agents and brokerages.

Yardi clients find Commissions simple enough for busy brokers yet sophisticated enough for small, medium or large enterprises, as Susan Olinsky, senior VP of finance for Colliers Philadelphia, notes:

“CommercialEdge Commissions has automated what we were doing manually, which was prone to error. It can handle all transaction types, so to me, that’s the highest recommendation you can get — that it can handle your business needs.”

Susan Olinsky, Senior VP, Finance, Colliers Philadelphia

Managers can view commissions, rent, property management, receivables and more and gain a real-time, consolidated view of the enterprise in Voyager, with the added convenience of being able to pull the data into Yardi Forecast Manager. Commissions can also accommodate the accrual accounting favored by most brokerages.

CommercialEdge Commissions eliminates siloed data, provides a deal data repository, generates custom-branded invoices, calculates broker distributions, provides transparency to agents on their earnings and commission calculations and supports accrual, cash and hybrid accounting methods. The complete integration with Voyager provides consolidated financials for a real-time understanding of business health and broker performance.

Conclusions

Real estate business operators are discovering they can standardize operations on a single connected solution, with Voyager and Elevate on the property and asset management platforms and CommercialEdge for revenue lifecycle and brokerage operations.

With tools for marketing, listings and syndication, pipeline and deal management, legal and research and market data, the CRE software is a one-stop solution that saves time, costs and staff labor.

The post Key Tools for Simplifying Brokerage and Financial Management appeared first on CommercialEdge.

Walkable urban spaces are known as well-connected, mixed-use areas, including different real estate products from multifamily and single-family housing to retail and office spaces, as well as recreational areas, such as museums or sports venues, located within a half-mile radius. 

The 2023 Foot Traffic Ahead report, released by Smart Growth America and produced in collaboration with Places Platform LLC, takes an extensive look at walkable urbanism in the U.S. by ranking the top 35 metros based on what percent of their real estate inventory (by square footage) is in walkable areas. The report focuses on four asset types: office, multifamily, retail and for-sale housing. 

Across the 35 metros ranked, around 16% of all four real estate products are in walkable urban places, the report reveals. However, the proportions between these product types in walkable spaces differ significantly. Overall, 42.1% of all office spaces in the top 35 metro areas are in walkable urban spaces. Multifamily makes up 30.4%, retail 18.5%, whereas for-sale housing accounts for 11.6%.  

To rank the metros, the study draws on data from Yardi Matrix, Rocktop Partners, the American Enterprise Institute Housing Center and other publicly available data.

Coastal Metros Take the Lead in Walkability 

Looking at all four property types, the highest-ranking metro regions for walkability are New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles. On the other end of the spectrum, the lowest-scoring regions include Orlando, San Antonio and Las Vegas.  

Unsurprisingly, the most walkable urban metros tend to be on the coast, with historic rail transit networks and a history of more compact urbanism predating 1940. However, the lowest-scoring metros — mostly in the Sunbelt — are just undertaking the effort to introduce walkable urbanism for the first time in generations, the study notes. 

While the percentage share of different product types varies across the metros, office and multifamily products are the most concentrated in walkable urban places, followed by retail. New York City stands out with 73.2% of its office, 70.3% of its multifamily and a significant 59.1% of its retail space in walkable areas.  

At the same time, Boston has 47.3% of its office, 44.4% of its multifamily and only 11.2% of its retail inventory in walkable urban spaces. The lowest ranking metro, Las Vegas, has only 6.5% of all office, 4.4% of all multifamily and 7.4% of all retail in walkable areas.  

Walkable Urbanism Puts Upward Pressure on Real Estate Prices 

The walkability scores have a notable economic impact on metropolitan regions and the overall U.S. economy. Although walkable urbanism accounts for roughly 1.2% of the land within the largest 35 metros, it accounts for 19.1% of all U.S. real GDP. Evidently, this means that walkable hubs account for a large amount of the region’s tax revenues from land values and other sales taxes. However, this also resulted in a price premium for office and multifamily products in these areas.   

While the percent change in premiums has decreased since 2018 in almost every metro region largely due to the pandemic, real estate in walkable urban spaces is by no means more affordable now. For instance, in New York City, the price for office product premium decreased by 52% from 2018 to 2021, but still stood at 105%. At the same time, the premium in Boston was positioned at 83%, down only 5% over the same period.  

Conclusions 

The high demand for walkable urbanism and the lack of supply is expected to continue to drive up price premiums in the near future. According to the report, the imbalance between supply and demand underscores the urgency of policy and zoning reforms regarding the development of well-connected mixed-use communities to promote social equity, drive economic activity and boost overall health and resident satisfaction.  

The post Walkable Urbanism to Drive Future Real Estate Development in the U.S.  appeared first on CommercialEdge.

However, maximizing listing exposure can be challenging without the right technology. Relying on outdated or manual processes to sync information across marketing channels can hinder lead opportunities. Thus, it’s crucial to centralize property information in a single, connected system that allows for automation and eliminates inconsistencies for a seamless experience for prospective tenants. 

Utilizing multiple listing services feeds (MLSs) and listing syndication services is one of the primary methods of ensuring heightened listing visibility and an increased lead flow. A single content distribution platform allows you to keep all your listings up to date on all marketplaces where they have been syndicated. For example, as soon as lease information is updated on a property, the listing will disappear from all listing services without the need to manually remove the space from different marketplaces. 

Maximize Leads on Your Listings  

By leveraging the CommercialEdge Listing Network, part of the Yardi commercial marketplaces, you can automatically distribute to the rapidly expanding network of marketing channels, which includes CommercialCafe, CommercialSearch, PropertyShark, Point2 Commercial and 42Floors.  

These marketplaces rank on the first page of Google, bring in more than 2 million visits per month and generate over 300,000 qualified commercial real estate leads annually. The CommercialEdge Listing Network ranks in the top 10 spots on Google with more than 1,500 keywords and hundreds of those claim the top three positions. Some of the search phrases with high rankings are “New York City office space for rent,” “Los Angeles commercial real estate,” “Chicago commercial real estate,” “Austin commercial real estate” and more. 

Commercial real estate professionals can publish their listings on the network by creating a free account on the CommercialEdge Marketing platform. This allows agents and brokers to post unlimited free commercial real estate listings (covering all asset classes), with the option to syndicate to the entire CommercialEdge Listing Network.  

Additionally, for heightened exposure and maximized lead opportunities, CRE professionals can strategically promote listings with premium ads, ensuring they are on the top of search pages across the entire network. 

The CommercialEdge Listing Network 

• CommercialCafe 

CommercialCafe markets commercial offerings across multiple asset types. Tenants can search for commercial and coworking spaces across the country, with the possibility to compare listings and contact brokers who list their spaces on our network. 

• CommercialSearch 

CommercialSearch is updated daily and tailored for all commercial asset types. This marketplace encompasses properties listed for sale and lease, and easily connects tenants with brokers for a seamless experience. The internet listing site provides CRE brokers the opportunity to market their properties and manage their portfolio of listings while increasing exposure across the entire CommercialEdge network of marketplaces.    

• PropertyShark 

PropertyShark provides entry-level research and data on residential and commercial real estate properties across the U.S., offering insights into sales, ownership and distressed assets to a wide range of real estate professionals from brokers to investors. Beyond this, PropertyShark also provides residential, commercial real estate and coworking listing services, allowing real estate professionals to find and research investment opportunities across the country. 

• Point2  

Point2 is another site within the CommercialEdge Listing Network with a reliable and up-to-date listings inventory that includes all commercial property types, as well as single-family homes and residential communities marketed by major brokerages, attracting an active and engaged audience. Tenants can search hundreds of thousands of listings and easily connect with a broker through our intuitive platform. Point2 is available in the U.S. and Canada.     

• 42Floors 

The most recent addition to the CommercialEdge network, 42Floors can bring your property in front of a growing audience to help you maximize exposure and boost your business’ growth. The recently redesigned website provides access to a high-quality commercial property search engine, including more than 320,000 listings across the country.    

The Yardi network of listing platforms also includes CoworkingCafe and the recently acquired CoworkingMag. Both websites consistently rank high in Google searches, helping operators and commercial brokers boost exposure for flexible office spaces. 

A Complete Solution to Power Effective Marketing 

CommercialEdge Marketing, part of the CommercialEdge complete software solution for CRE brokerages, provides a streamlined way to maximize leads on CRE listings. Through centralized and automated listing management, CommercialEdge Marketing allows for an easy and optimized publication of listings, ranking your properties high in search results. The marketing module also ensures effortless syndication to leading third-party marketplaces as well as your own website to boost exposure. 

Additionally, the CommercialEdge marketing platform can be synced with Yardi property management software to automatically update data on spaces and properties regarding key lease information, such as expiration dates. This data can be used to automatically publish and unpublish listings as spaces become available or occupied. 

Other tools for optimized marketing available through the CommercialEdge platform include automated emails and brochures. The platform automatically pulls in property and listing data and sends emails to a contact or list of contacts, eliminating any manual processes. Similarly, it’s possible to create brochures using branded templates and real-time listing information — these brochures are efficient in email marketing or listing websites. 

• • • 

With continuously changing CRE market dynamics, leasing professionals who draw on finely tuned marketing strategies will capture the most opportunities to elevate business growth. Leveraging the power of a strong listing network in one centralized system can help you boost your lead pipeline with less effort and more efficiency. CommercialEdge Marketing offers a streamlined solution for powerful lead generation and listing syndication.   

The post Capture Leads with the 2^nd Largest Commercial Listing Network in the U.S.   appeared first on CommercialEdge.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Global Medical REIT is a net-lease medical office real estate investment trust. With a portfolio exceeding 4.9 million square feet across the U.S. as reported as of Sept. 30, 2022, the REIT acquires and leases purpose-built healthcare facilities to leading healthcare systems and physician groups.  

The company’s disciplined investment strategy focuses on uncovering high retention and patient-centric acquisition opportunities in premier secondary markets bolstered by favorable demographic and decentralization trends. Through this approach, Global Medical REIT consistently provides strong returns for its shareholders and ensures lasting relationships with its tenants. 

The Challenge: Limited Portfolio Reporting and Multiple Systems 

With 189 medical properties across the U.S., Global Medical REIT strives for total transparency and requires access to portfolio-wide reporting for easy data access across teams that streamlines leasing activities and deal flow processes.  

Before implementing CommercialEdge Deal Manager, the firm encountered difficulties with its previous solution due to high costs and the lack of access to portfolio-wide reporting, leading to inefficiencies in their deal management processes. Additionally, the tool lacked the possibility of business-wide process integration, which resulted in discrepancies in the leasing data.   

The Solution: Access to On-Demand Data and Detailed Reporting 

Deal Manager, part of the CommercialEdge solution suite, is a leading CRM and deal-making software offering full transparency and visibility into deal metrics throughout the lease lifecycle. Key metrics can be viewed on demand for proposal evaluations and more, while detailed reporting provides actionable insights and helps with performance analysis by property, market, agent and other attributes. 

By integrating Deal Manager with Yardi property management software, clients gain real-time tenant- and lease-level data such as schedules, expenses and clauses, as well as access to current unit availability, floor plans and interactive stacking plans. This integration streamlines communication and enables clients to enter deal terms, track proposals and calculate and store net effective rent at the deal level.  

“Deal Manager has helped us streamline our leasing activity and deal flow. The system has facilitated better communication and coordination between brokers and internal decisions makers, and the integration with Voyager has automated processes, which has increased productivity.”

Daniel Magney, Asset Manager, Global Medical REIT

The Story: One Connected Solution with Portfolio-Wide Reporting and Insights 

As a Yardi client since 2018, Global Medical REIT was already an active user of Yardi Voyager and, by adding Deal Manager, the company found the answer to its portfolio-wide reporting challenges. Moreover, this one connected solution helped the firm streamline its leasing activity and deal flow. 

“Deal Manager provides an excellent tracking system for busy asset managers and brokers and greatly assists with the progression of the deal as well as the analysis needed to make good leasing decisions. Since we are already Yardi users, it is an efficient way to assist in our budget forecast program. This program is also very intuitive for our users and requires little handholding with third-party users.”

 Dawna Powell, VP, Asset Management, Global Medical REIT

Easy and fast access to accurate leasing data 

Thanks to Deal Manager, the Global Medical REIT accounting team is more self-sufficient and can access leasing activity without asking the asset management team for information. 

Global Medical REIT captures every property’s activity across its portfolio and can provide reports to investors with greater speed and accuracy. At the same time, working with external brokers is also easier due to the tool’s intuitive interface, which requires little training and ensures effective collaboration for all parties involved.  

Seamless implementation 

Since smoothly transitioning from its previous system to Deal Manager, Global Medical REIT can generate portfolio-wide reports and has a complete pipeline overview, all in one place. The company was able to transfer all its deals and go live with Deal Manager in just a matter of weeks. 

“Deal Manager provides our organization with a cost-effective tool that enables us to manage our leasing pipeline all in an easy-to-use interface. The Yardi team made the implementation quick and easy; we were able to go live in a few weeks.”

Sean Tu, SVP of Asset Management, Global Medical REIT

The post Global Medical REIT Streamlines Deal Flow and Portfolio-Wide Reporting with Deal Manager  appeared first on CommercialEdge.

Lease Creation: A Fraught Process 

When executed manually, commercial lease documents comprise numerous Word templates for leases, amendments, addenda and exhibits that are stored separately. The legal department’s staff must then manually populate the draft lease with information about the property and space occupied, start and end dates, rent amounts and increments, insurance and other terms applicable to the deal under negotiation. 

Clauses and legal language are often manually copied from other documents or websites into the draft lease. And because different property management companies might be involved for different regions, lease documents might be managed differently with different language. Amending the draft and circulating it for review can be akin to restarting the process and entering new data. Communication is often executed via email, with the document downloaded, edited and uploaded again; in some cases, the parties edit a shared document. In any case, there is no formal tracking of versions or approval steps. 

As an added complication, the leasing team often has no means of knowing the document’s status, so members must query the legal department for updates. What’s more, determining which clauses need to be in the lease, drawing them from documents stored on a shared drive and then manually copying them to the new lease document can add more opportunities for error. The process might also prove costly as it can require hiring outside counsel or a staff paralegal to amend terms from an old lease document with terms of the current deal. 

This scenario holds true for options as well. As with clauses, options require the legal team to confirm with the leasing agent what was discussed with the tenant, back-and-forth email negotiations, phone tags, video conferences or other channels that lack the capability for tracking approval steps or versions. 

The whole process can be time-consuming, costly and slow down the deal. 

CRE Solutions That Provide an Edge 

Fortunately, CRE platforms that use automation dramatically streamline lease document creation, making the process easier, faster and more accurate at every step. In addition, these solutions centralize template organization and storage, enabling the auto-generation of single or multiple documents that can be separated or combined. 

Lease documents can be created from fewer templates while containing accurate data for any number of lease and property types, regions, markets and other criteria. Additionally, terms, clause additions and signature blocks are automatically populated based on the deal under negotiation. 

CommercialEdge Legal, part of the CommercialEdge revenue solution suite for CRE, is a Deal Manager module that eliminates the time-consuming, labor-intensive and costly legal aspects of lease creation through powerful automation. The CRE tool makes finalizing lease agreements much simpler by automatically generating lease agreements with customized approval workflows, document templates and sophisticated formatting capabilities, ensuring that prospective tenants get the proper documents faster and without manual intervention.  

Lease Creation at the Click of a Button 

With the Legal module, custom terms can easily be populated into a template, along with basic information such as the tenant’s and building managers’ names, space to be leased, security deposit and lease start and end dates.  

The system also contains a library of lease- and property-level clauses — sections covering conditions such as janitorial service, common area maintenance, repairs and lease terminations that are specific to certain tenants — grouped for easy insertion into the appropriate section of the template and automatically included into the tenant record.  

With all information populated into the draft, the lease document, including all applicable clauses, can be created at the click of a button with 95% accuracy, with only a few minutes’ worth of tweaks remaining to be made. The document is then ready for automated online routing to legal counsel and others for review and revision. 

Simplified review 

From that point on, any changes to the draft are made within the centralized system, with multiple versions tracked and maintained throughout the process. The Legal module makes it easy to upload and compare redlined versions following internal and external reviews.  

With a powerful approval workflow, the documents can be reviewed and approved before being sent to the external party. As a result, there’s no need to send emails with separate documents and different versions.  

Easy electronic signing 

The last but crucial step — getting signatures on the final document by using proprietary electronic signature capability within CommercialEdge Deal Manager — is just as easy and efficient. The system configures default signers, sends multiple copies in a single envelope with document visibility control, and regulates signer changes based on deal square footage or total rent as a threshold.  

Benefits of automation and centralization 

The automation and centralized storage in the Legal module make lease completion vastly simpler and better organized than chasing documents through different versions. The solution can also reduce the number of templates a property management company needs to maintain. The Legal module users have documented the following results: 

• Lease documents produced in 5-10 minutes 

• Elimination of rekeying and duplicate entries with automated data flow to the Yardi property management system (Yardi Voyager) 
• Easy assembly of the template, deal term data and clause/option information into one document 
• A clause library created and maintained with the latest lease language to embed data points from the deal into the clause language seamlessly 
• Clause group creation to organize clause language that’s relevant to, but not limited by, property, lease type or market 
• Effortless redlining and revision tracking and built-in version comparison with lease agreements populated by information from the finalized proposals 

• Enhanced online editing capabilities directly within the application 
• Full transparency so the entire leasing team can see each step as it happens 
• Staff efficiency enhanced by leasing teams’ ability to access versions on their own, without the Legal department’s assistance or added legal services costs 
• Expedited signing with built-in, secure electronic signatures that sync with Yardi Voyager 

Additionally, efficiency comes from bulk editing clauses in one screen, with immediate rendering in the document. This keeps the entire process in one platform instead of scattered across emails, Word docs and PDFs. 

CommercialEdge Legal provides a straightforward and efficient approach to lease document creation. If you are looking to eliminate the challenges of putting together a lease agreement through manual effort, consider using an automated CRE solution that reduces lease creation to a few clicks. 

The post Lease Creation in Just a Few Clicks with CommercialEdge Legal  appeared first on CommercialEdge.

Many CRE property owners have discovered that optimizing occupancy requires shortening the lead-to-lease cycle. Achieving that goal calls for technology that eliminates manual processes and integrates marketing with the entire leasing workflow in a single connected solution. So, where to start? 

Maximized Listing Exposure for Effective Marketing 

Effective online marketing begins with assembling the right information in a single, connected system. This system should then power as many marketing channels as possible, like property and company websites, listing sites, brochures, email content and so on.  

Managing all marketing content in a single system makes for easy publication on listing portals, with the goal of displaying your availabilities as high in search results as possible. The CommercialEdge marketing module does just that, with centralized and automated listing management and effortless syndication that maximizes listing exposure. 

With CommercialEdge Marketing, listings are not only published on your website but also on leading marketplaces and the rapidly growing CommercialEdge Listing Network, which includes CommercialCafe, CommercialSearch, PropertyShark, Point2 Commercial and 42Floors. These listing sites rank on the first page of Google and generate hundreds of thousands of qualified leads annually. 

What’s more, users of Yardi property management software can sync spaces, properties and key lease information, including expiration dates, directly with CommercialEdge Marketing. Those key lease dates can then be used to notify the marketing and leasing teams of space coming available, an automated process that saves brokers the manual effort involved in updating websites and listing services. 

CommercialEdge also forges the link between listings and deals, with leads from client- and public-facing sites pushed directly to CommercialEdge Marketing and Deal Manager for further negotiations. 

Email, a Key Component of Optimized Marketing 

Email is another popular marketing medium that can be simplified with the right tools. Email marketing is a powerful resource for advancing CRE timelines through professional and responsive email campaigns and automated email and brochure creation. 

CommercialEdge Marketing is an example of a platform that automatically pulls in property and listing information and transmits emails to a contact or a list of contacts — without having to update the information through different fields and filters manually.  

Ready-to-use email templates can easily be saved for later use, enabling information to be displayed for as many properties and future leasing cycles as desired. When a template is applied for a property or space, it pulls in tags that map to various data points, including the property type, size and pricing information. Email templates are then automatically populated with current property and listing information. When emails are ready to send, they can be distributed to individual contacts or curated contact lists directly from the CommercialEdge CRM in Deal Manager. By using dynamic templates, the whole team is enabled with email automation that stays on brand and provides accurate information.  

Customized brochures can be created, updated and dispatched in a similar fashion. CommercialEdge Marketing allows for easy brochure generation, with branded templates that can be applied for any property and automatically populated with real-time listing information. Once created, brochures are always ready to use, either in email marketing or on listing websites. Furthermore, any changes made to the listing details in the CommercialEdge Marketing tool are automatically shown in any saved brochures or emails generated in connection with the respective space or property. 

CommercialEdge Marketing provides a comprehensive database for storing published, unpublished, off-market spaces and so on, making it easy to select specific spaces from a certain property and market them to prospects based on their exact needs. For instance, in case a property owner isn’t marketing all availabilities but would like to show a “pocket listing” to a prospect, having a system that stores all marketing content across spaces and provides easy access to data in one place is imperative. That way, an effective email marketing tool streamlines the entire process by enabling the user to email out spaces that may not be marketed publicly with minimal effort. 

Complete Portfolio Visibility and Real-Time Availability 

Desired marketing outcomes are most easily attained when marketing and leasing are not only integrated but also connected to the property management and accounting system used to manage the properties. That lets agents list properties as soon as they’re available and avoid late and inaccurate listings. 

CommercialEdge Marketing helps market commercial spaces by automating listings based on actual availability through integration with property management and accounting systems. With all marketing elements managed in one place, the platform provides complete visibility into every managed space, organized by lease expiration and the spaces marketed. 

Moreover, the platform can distribute listings to other marketplaces, saving the time and inconvenience of manual entry and data transfer, and automates the change of each stage from off-market to unpublished to published.  

So, if you’re looking for a CRE solution that reduces leasing cycle times and boosts revenue at the same time, consider moving your business forward with a full-service marketing platform such as CommercialEdge Marketing. 

The post Put CRE Marketing on Autopilot with CommercialEdge  appeared first on CommercialEdge.

Hartz Mountain Industries, a leading real estate investment firm headquartered in Secaucus, N.J., has been an active developer and dealmaker in the tri-state area since 1966. Focused on industrial and multifamily assets, the company’s portfolio spans major East Coast markets, including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Florida, as well as metro Atlanta and Charlotte. With a sharp focus on consistent growth, Hartz captures opportunities thanks to its well-established architectural, construction, design, engineering, legal, marketing, leasing, property management and financial teams. 

The Challenge: Tracking Deals in Disconnected Data Sources  

A Yardi client since 1997, Hartz’s portfolio has undergone multiple transformations. Before working with automated asset management solutions, Hartz tracked deals on paper spreadsheets that staff would annotate and bring to the company’s weekly meetings. Following those meetings, the admin team would make updates manually.   

Several years ago, before implementing CommercialEdge Deal Manager, Hartz adopted a third-party deal management solution to help streamline the deal tracking process. Over time, they encountered difficulties with their former system due to data issues. Their weekly meetings lacked up-to-date information, and their processes required multiple points of data entry and resources to ensure their data was accurate — they needed a single source of truth.   

The Solution: A Centralized Data Source 

Deal Manager, part of the CommercialEdge solution suite, is an advanced CRM and deal-making software that simplifies transaction management with complete visibility of deal metrics throughout the lease lifecycle. The connected solution centralizes communication, prospect information, proposal terms and NER and other economic calculations at the deal level. In addition, a fully featured mobile application enables users to manage deals and approvals from anywhere.  

The Yardi property management integration goes even further to give clients a single source of truth with real-time tenant and lease-level data, including expirations, rent schedules, expenses, options and clauses. 

The Story: Real-time Data, Streamlined Deal Tracking and Complete Pipeline Visibility 

“If you want to track deals efficiently and ensure your executives and other teams know what’s going on in real-time from a single source of data, Deal Manager is a necessary product — including its fantastic mobile app.”

Lawrence Garb, Executive Vice President, Hartz Mountain  

Real-time synchronization

“One of my main goals for Hartz was to use one database that provides a single source of data, so we could eliminate interfaces along with waiting for updates and manual processing,” Lawrence Garb, Hartz’s executive vice president, noted. Garb went on to explain one aspect that he appreciates in particular: when updating a lease in Deal Manager, it is also instantly updated in Yardi Voyager and vice versa.  

Data visibility

Another significant benefit of using Deal Manager, according to Garb, is getting daily, weekly and monthly digests with deal activity, upcoming lease expirations and other pertinent information to executives and dealmakers. “I can see if deals were executed, and I don’t need to pick up the phone and make calls. Going from a spreadsheet updated weekly to something updated in real-time is a huge advantage.” 

With its leasing team being less comfortable with technology than other teams, Hartz welcomed an intuitive system like Deal Manager. The ease of use is a big win and has ensured company-wide adoption.   

A powerful and flexible mobile app

The mobile app of Hartz’s previous solution lacked functionality, and the vendor stopped developing it. Garb said that having a mobile app is vital for the company, and every team values being able to look at leases and other documents on the go. The Deal Manager mobile app also functions as an asset management app for the company.   

“We’re not only entering deals on the road and on the fly, but we can also look up existing tenants using the app. In Yardi Voyager, we have all lease documents, including PDFs of leases and amendments. For every tenant, we can view information with the Deal Manager app. So, for all kinds of asset management tasks, including tracking, we’re using the app,” he said.   

Garb provided an example of how the Deal Manager app streamlines his deal-making: he can meet with a tenant at their parking lot to discuss lease terms or confirm an expiration date, with the ability to review documents and sign a lease on the spot. With quick access to complete documentation and attachments for properties and invoices in one place, Hartz gains all the benefits of seamless integration, collaboration and speed of deal execution.  

The post Hartz Mountain Streamlines Dealmaking with a Single Source of Data appeared first on CommercialEdge.

Property data comes from a single, consistent source — a centralized database of property and listing information that supports all the marketing and dealmaking needs of CRE professionals. This single source of truth automatically updates all marketing materials, as well as syndicated listings across marketing channels, property sites and company websites. By leveraging a single database to drive listings and marketing automation, listing information is always up-to-date and your company’s branding is consistent across all channels. 

Powered by a user-friendly email builder, the marketing tool allows CRE professionals to design and send custom and branded email campaigns. For branding consistency across marketing and leasing teams, email campaigns can be saved as templates for company-wide use. And if any changes occur on a property down the line, any saved templates are automatically updated with the newest information. 

Emails are fully customizable using the intuitive drag-and-drop editor, which enables users to easily insert essential listing elements. This way, email content can be populated with details such as property name, floorplans, lease rates, space availability, broker contact information, high-resolution photos and more. What’s more, users can also include attachments as well as links to property brochures and availability reports. 

The preview tool provides a real-time view of the email design, which is optimized for different types of devices, from mobile to web browsers, ensuring that email campaigns are adapted to and are visually appealing on every platform.  

Once the email campaign is ready to be sent or scheduled, users can send it to a lead or a list of contacts from Deal Manager CRM. In addition, as a campaign performance assessment tool, the easy-to-use interface provides a range of valuable metrics, including open rates, unique opens, click rates, unique clicks and more. 

CommercialEdge Marketing comes standalone or fully synchronized with Yardi property management software. For Yardi clients, property and space information is in sync with Yardi Voyager to ensure that only the latest and most accurate information is marketed to prospects and clients.  

Powered by up-to-date property information, the CommercialEdge email marketing tool empowers CRE professionals to bolster their marketing and dealmaking processes and provide prospects and clients with a brand-consistent experience. 

The post CommercialEdge Enhances Solution Suite With Powerful Email Marketing Tool appeared first on CommercialEdge.

Partners is one of the largest and fastest-growing independent commercial real estate firms in Texas. Based in Houston, the company provides full-service solutions for office, industrial, retail, land, life sciences and multifamily product types. Partners offers brokerage, investor and project services as well as valuation advisory.  

Partners Capital Group is the firm’s private equity arm, which includes an investment management platform specializing in the acquisition and disposition of office, industrial and retail multi-tenant properties. The investment management team runs numerous fund vehicles that buy and sell property with the goal of generating competitive returns for investors.  

The Challenge: Managing a Fluid Portfolio with Disparate Systems 

With a small team and frequent acquisitions and dispositions, using disconnected systems to manage brokers and leasing transactions created challenges. In addition, the lack of a dynamic feedback loop between property management and deal management led to inefficiencies, including manually hunting down tenant information.  

The Solution: Deal Management Built Into a Connected Platform  

Deal Manager, part of the CommercialEdge suite of revenue-focused solutions, is an intuitive CRM and deal-making tool that simplifies revenue management with complete visibility of deal metrics throughout the lease lifecycle. With the Yardi property management software integration, clients gain real-time tenant and lease data, including schedules, expenses and clauses.  

This seamless sync provides access to current unit availability, floor plans and interactive stacking plans, ensuring a complete portfolio overview and a 360-degree view of the company’s client base. Additionally, centralized communication streamlines workflows by enabling users to enter deal terms, track proposals and calculate and store net effective rent at the deal level. At the same time, automatic budget comparison and lease spread metrics ensure stronger decision-making. 

“The Yardi platform including Deal Manager has significantly elevated our capabilities across the board. We’ve become more sophisticated, timely and accurate — which makes Partners not just a better landlord, but an even better fiduciary for our investors.”

Kelli Walter, Partner, Asset Management, Partners

The Story: A One-Stop Shop for Asset and Transaction Management  

The industry has embraced a single connected platform for portfolio management as a best practice, and Partners has taken the same approach. When Partners adopted Yardi Voyager as their property management and accounting solution, they also implemented Deal Manager to gain all the benefits of a one-stop shop, according to Kelli Walter, partner of asset management for Partners.  

“Our portfolio is very fluid. We buy and sell properties frequently, with the asset class and tenant mix constantly evolving. Our lean asset management team facilitates all leasing transactions, along with managing brokers, and needed a tool to keep us organized and help us underwrite tenant credit quickly and accurately. Deal Manager solves all these issues for us,” Walter said. 

Centralized Data and Key Metrics

Deal Manager’s holistic tie-back to Voyager was the most significant selling point for Partners, according to Walter. With Deal Manager synched seamlessly with the Voyager platform, Partners gains numerous operational efficiencies, including a document repository, deal stage history and valuable metrics. Tenant information is always up to date, which means deal metrics are also up to date.  

Document transfer from Deal Manager to Voyager is a massive benefit for Partners. The feature “allows us to efficiently aggregate information from essentially pre-leasing to translating to tenant files in one fell swoop, which saves leasing and property management time,” Walter explained.   

The firm utilized another deal management tool for years, but once they moved their business operations to the single Yardi platform, they found that Deal Manager was superior to the tool they previously used, particularly as part of the “Yardi ecosystem,” as Walter described it.   

Greater Efficiency and Simplified Lease Renewals

Walter noted that Deal Manager is very valuable to Partners’ leasing process. Deal Manager has benefited Partners’ brokers, property managers and executive team alike — and they all love using it. When asked about the most considerable operational improvements Partners has gained using the deal management solution, Walter replied, “Efficiency including easier lease renewals! We don’t have to hunt for tenant information anymore.”   

Walter also mentioned other process improvements and time-saving efficiencies, including “more consistent, robust document storage [and] more timely entry of deals from pre-leasing onto the rent roll. Analytics on our rent rolls have also been a huge benefit. Reporting in Deal Manager is better than our former system provided. We’ve also experienced time savings thanks to centralized data and automation, including having reliable information and not needing to do ‘clean-up work’ after the fact.” 

Advice to Peers Seeking Better Deal Management

Walter had some advice for firms considering adopting a tech solution to optimize deal management. “The world is only getting faster. If you’re not using Deal Manager or a tool like it, you’ll continue to fall behind. Deal Manager gets people out of email, organizes deals and data exceptionally well and simplifies the credit underwriting process for leasing — which makes it faster to get deals done. It also provides extremely valuable transparency into the deal curation process that can be used to analyze the effectiveness of your leasing and asset management teams.” 

The post Partners Centralizes Data and Simplifies the Deal Lifecycle on Deal Manager  appeared first on CommercialEdge.

Friction in the leasing process, however, can arise from the need for more efficient, timely data sharing. To illustrate this point, let’s consider a lease opportunity scenario.  

How Resource Discrepancies Stall Leasing Flows 

A leasing team pursuing an opportunity uses market leasing data, budgets, historical leases, comps and more. But it’s difficult to reach that information when it is stored in folders on multiple desktops or in a file cabinet. With vital details not coming together quickly enough, a prospective tenant might elect to lease space elsewhere. That means a lost commission or a smaller year-end bonus for the leasing agent, while the asset manager is left with vacant space and a missed chance to secure a rent-paying tenant.   

Going a step up from a single transaction, we can see similar issues when an asset manager compiles data for a budgeting and forecasting cycle. Brokers often track their deals and pipelines on separate spreadsheets. In pipeline reviews with the leasing teams, the asset manager must understand each spreadsheet and analyze the data. There is no easy way to compile each team’s update into one standardized view without manual effort from the asset manager. This makes it challenging to get real-time budgeting and forecasting pipeline information.   

One Platform for the Entire Lead-to-Lease Lifecycle  

How can the scenario of a missed leasing opportunity or delayed budgeting and forecasting be preempted? By avoiding siloed information systems and manual data imports that produce inconsistencies throughout the deal cycle. And by relying on technology platforms that house all deal information in a single connected solution.  

This approach avoids error-prone, time-intensive data transfers and relieves staff of manually tracking leads and tours. It also provides a reliable system for tracking activity at the top of the funnel, such as leads or property tours, giving leasing teams and executives complete pipeline visibility. They can see if there are sufficient quality leads downstream to maximize revenue on the property and compare a deal to the annual or underwriting budget in real-time.  

Property management technology providers are making deal management more accessible and efficient with platforms that house all deal entry, tracking and approval. If you’re in search of a deal management system, look for one that:  

• Ensures a consistent process for gathering, managing and reporting deal information.  
• Encompasses NER calculators, LOIs, deal sheets and lease documents. 
• Allows automatic comparison to budgets, prior leases, and other relevant benchmarks 
• Provides access to all parties needing to see detailed tenant information and expiring rent.  
• Automatically imports expense information.  
• Enables a lease to be automatically abstracted directly into the property management system.  
• Includes a sophisticated approval workflow that avoids email tracking or printing deal sheets for signature.  
• Offers access from any device.  

One advanced system is Deal Manager, part of the CommercialEdge suite of revenue-focused solutions. Deal Manager transforms real-time data from the Yardi property management and accounting platform — which has complete data on upcoming lease expirations, tenant options and encumbrances — into complete deal pipeline visibility. It also enables full deal oversight, approval functionality and comparison of proposals against the approved budget. Furthermore, it makes revenue assumptions more accurate by seamlessly adding deals to Yardi Forecast Manager. 

“Deal Manager’s holistic tie back to Voyager was the biggest selling point; rent rolls are always up to date, which means deal metrics are always up to date. Document transfer as well from Deal Manager to Voyager was huge — it allows us to efficiently aggregate info from essentially pre-leasing to translate to tenant files in one fell swoop which saves leasing and property management time,” Kelli Walter, partner of asset management for Partners, explained.

Immediate Pipeline and Productivity Improvements 

Such systems centralize prospect files for easy reference, eliminate duplicate data entry with full integration with the property management and accounting system, enable side-by-side deal comparisons and automatically populate forecasts with deal data. They can also accommodate complex commission structures and provide full details in approval emails, with approval or rejection done within the email. As a result, brokers can spend their time engaging prospects instead of entering data.  

“Technology like Deal Manager gets folks out of email, organizes deals and data exceptionally well, simplifies the credit underwriting process for leasing, which makes it faster to get deals done, and provides extremely valuable transparency into the deal curation process that can be used to analyze the effectiveness of your leasing and asset management teams,” Walter added.

Team members who need to know about a deal’s progression are automatically notified, letting all team members see each step’s impact on the forecast immediately, rather than days later. In addition, the degree of data capture possible with such a system offers a clear look into revenue potential. 

Deal management capabilities are enhanced with a mobile app that enables fast entry of leads and tours, ensuring those crucial details are always up to date. Brokers can scan a QR code and log a tour. Users can smoothly manage prospects and oversee each stage of the deal flow while automatically comparing deal economics to approved budgets and prior leases.  

“With all information at hand in real-time, our team can evaluate and approve without back-and-forth phone calls and emails,” said Richard Hickson, executive vice president of operations for Cousins Properties, an Atlanta-based REIT. “Our leasing, asset management and legal teams communicate more efficiently with Deal Manager, and that makes us quicker. That’s the largest impact of Deal Manager for us.”  

Consider also the advantages of having all these capabilities in a single connected system instead of pulling together information from disparate systems. That’s a formula for getting deals done and never missing an opportunity.  

The post Eliminate Siloed Data and Streamline the Leasing Process  appeared first on CommercialEdge.