Well you stayed alive to ’25: What’s next? Expansion? Selling out? Getting your hands around the operation and trying to make it more efficient?  You and your peers will be sharing successes and failures and learning things along the way in this unique unscripted discussion.

Financial projections, market analysis, tenant base, operating expenses & pricing will be among the information featured when 2 SFR portfolios are pitched to potential buyers  

• Getting through Section 8 inspections: Should you do them inhouse or outsource?
• What kind of tech are you using that might be different than market rate housing?
• How do ESG and impact investors view the SFR affordable housing sector?
• How are you saving money on operations while improving tenant experience and turnover
•  Working with those who need assistance
• Considering government regulation and minimal wage growth what can you do about the rent?

• How is AI changing search marketing?
• AI in virtual tours
• AI chatbots vs. virtual assistants
• Concerns regarding fair housing
• Tenant screening and streamlining lease procedures
• Attracting your ideal tenant
• Marketing neighborhoods vs. houses
•  What kind of predictive analysis are you using? 
• How are you using AI to automate advertising? Analyze and monitor online sentiment

• Leasing applications
• Are smart home apps becoming AI home apps?
• How AI is helping maintenance efficiency?
• AI integration with other technology
• Effective methods to train your AI
• Are you using voice applications? Are they replacing humans?
• Which applications haven’t worked as expected for you?

• How have you been improving your lead sources?
• Mergers & portfolio buys out there
• Vacation rentals: Are you keeping as is or changing over to SFR?
• How are old standbys like direct mail and skip tracing working?
• Finding land
• Where are you finding distressed properties?
• Is the notes market starting to pick up?
• What kind of technology is out there?
• Find of the year

• How have you been improving your lead sources? • Mergers & portfolio buys out there • Vacation rentals: Are you keeping as is or changing over to SFR? • How are old standbys like direct mail and skip tracing working? • Finding land • Where are you finding distressed properties? • Is the notes market starting to pick up? • What kind of technology is out there? • Find of the year

• HPA, cap rate or gross yield: What is the best measure?
• Short term borrowing rates, 10-year bond yield or 30- year fixed rates: Which interest rates are most important to you and where will they be in 1 year? 
• What are the driving economic factors behind your prediction?
• Best case vs. worse case interest rate and SFR performance predictions
• How can we get back to 2022 numbers?
• What will rates need to be to get those on the sidelines to commit?
• What kind of scenarios can you see distress spiking?
• Where are inventory levels going?
• What kind of performance impact can politicians have on the market?

• The latest tactics and services available to improve margins and simplify operations
• How are you controlling costs while maintaining enough services to minimize tenant churn? 
• What are some of the best practices you would like to implement to enhance your operations but haven’t yet? Why?
• Reducing hoteling costs due to uninhabitable home expenses
• Minimizing wifi portfolio costs
• How much should you pay for outsourced asset management?
• How are you keeping turn times tight?
• How are you helping out late payers?
• Credit and debt payments… How are you preventing chargebacks? 
• Have you been going more conservative with expense/capex underwriting? What are you NOI assumptions?

• Are You Selling Pre- or Post- Occupied
• How early are you comfortable getting  on the developmental highway to build maximum exit optionality
•  Today are you selling retail or institutional? What kind of pricing can you get from both groups?
• Taking into account the market
• Impact of negative leverage •
• Why choose a forward takeout versus a stabilized sale versus a sale at Co
• Different point in the economy, different exit options?
• What kind of ROI are you looking for to exit?

• Are you looking at workforce housing? Can you make it pencil?
• Are you seeing any distressed BFR or land deals?
• Markets you like for ’25? Staying away from?
• Are you starting to cut back on amenities to reduce HOA costs?
• Are you starting to look at ADUs?
•  Are you looking to hop in earlier on the development cycle?
•  The financing side of things
• Would you increase new construction if interest rates come down? How much?

Bring any lessons learned from your first and most recent BFR may include builder sentiment and how you are translating that into reality, construction pipeline and the newest best practices and the latest iterations for strategic partnerships

• How much of a rent premium can you get for different BFR types in a market?
• What kind of gross/market cap rate are you looking for? Return on cost?
• Where are the change orders coming from? How you can avoid
• Comparing with suburban and tertiary
•  ADUs as a solution
•  Comparing “C” vs. “A” class customers and markets
• Will you build more if costs and interest rates come down? How much?

• How you need to train, track and use virtual assistants to assist?
• Price and availability of large lots
• Scaling the financing side
• How does your growth plan change in different economic scenarios?
• Should you follow the moving trucks?
• Establishing broker relations
• What are the new next markets?
• Do you look for specific neighborhood or larger?
• One growth strategy that you believe in that others do not

For BTR there are assumptions on the property management side like maintenance, marketing, turnover costs and insurance will be less expensive… This session will examine if these myths are realities for new communities and if they are changing as communities age. Other discussions will focus on

• How do you ensure consistent and high-quality service levels when selecting different property management companies
•  Strategies to employ to maximize occupancy rates and minimize turnover
• Latest technology you are utilizing
• Maintenance and repair request administration
• Centralization vs. outsourcing
• Highest ROI amenity and community features
•  Cost-effective operations vs. high-quality living experience
• And the data says…

•  Per unit operating costs: What is the real inflation you are expecting?
•  How much in rent increases are you budgeting? Tenant renewals?
• What are you monitoring the most on the construction/rehab side?
• Where did the budget blow through your expectations last year?
•  Budgeting for vacancy and turnover costs as you raise rent
• CapEx: When to spend and when to defer
• Operational expenses: Where are you budgeting the greatest increases?

• Rent growth and retention in 3-4 bedroom vs. smaller townhomes and casitas
• What do you think about the ADU revolution? Are you adding to your communities?
•  Operating expense management: What is the latest best practice you have adopted?
• Where is lending? Where is it going?
• Investor top of mind
• Where is the land market today?
• Do you see products or specific markets softening?
• Cap rate trends and underwriting metrics

• How do demographics compare to apartment renters?
• Vertical apartments; townhouses, semi-attached, stand-alone: A rose by any other name….
• Rent premiums, performance and ROI
• Are what you look for in an investable market the same?
• Comparing the property management part
• What is the debt and equity financing availability and structure like?

 

•  Raising capital as interest rate outlook changes
• Are you and your partners in an acquisition or property management mode?
• Risk-adjusted returns and target IRR
• Latest JV iterations
• Staffing, outsourcing vs. in-house and tech infrastructure needed to work with institutions
•  What kind of equity is interested in scattered site?
• Underwriting criteria cap rates and yields

• Are wholesalers involved in your pipeline?
• Are you seeing any distressed scattered site SFR, BFR or land deals?
• Favorite data sources
• What has been your acquisition volume this year vs. last year? Next year?
• Where can you get in on the ground floor?
• Acquiring communities vs. scattered site portfolios
• What are you looking to sell?
• And your favorite market analytic is…

• How far out are you modeling compressed margins?
• ROI on scattered site vs. BTR in your portfolio
• What do you think of the luxury home rental market? 
• New acquisitions/communities vs. focusing on operational ROI
• At what level of interest rate/home value are you a buyer?
• Where are today’s market risks? 
• Which demographic are you looking to target?
• Identifying future growth markets… What are you going to do about your inventory in non-growth markets? 
• What is currently your company’s biggest challenge? The industry’s?

• Will costs continue to rise or are we starting to see some flattening?
• Which items are having the longest delay? Getting cheaper material vs. timely delivery and how much that is worth
• Should you manage in-house or outsource?
• The deferred maintenance decision tree
• Contech: How are you using tech to optimize asset and construction management?
• Finding resource to model increasing labor and material rates
• The best scheduling app available is…
• Where are the change orders coming from? How can you avoid
• Contractor management & sourcing
•  Keeping future maintenance costs down: End of life predictions for components and materials

• How has this economic cycle changed the profile of the SFR renter?
• Today’s renter: Are dropping rates turning renters into buyers?
• How do demographics compare to apartment renters?
• Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z: Who are renters by choice vs. by necessity vs. future buyers? What kind of products and amenities do they like?
• Consumer trends and the impact on the rental market
• Are garages and backyards the #1 amenity? 
• Where is average stay going? Will it increase or decrease as the millennial generation matures?
• What you need to know about different nationalities?
• Comparing multigenerational, foreign born and other niche demographics
• What is the equity looking for?

•  Stabilized properties structures
• What are the minimum DSCR requirements for your loans? What are the real requirements if you want to win the deal?
• Underwriting and stress testing
• DSCR thresholds for SFR vs. BTR vs. flips; Thresholds for different markets
• How important is tenant turnover?
• Property maintenance, capital expenditures and reserves 

• What is your vacancy goal?
• What are the first things you do when you take over a neglected house or community?
• Does a sale leaseback strategy maximize occupancy?
• Making cash for keys work
• How much vacancy will you stand to raise rates?
• What is your strategy for low rent but dependable tenants who really can’t afford more rent?
• When to evict? When can you evict? The latest on state laws
• Strategies in markets with differing inventory levels
• Tenant screening enhancements
• How can you keep a human-first approach as technology becomes more enticing?

As interest rates drop financing homes will cost less for both institutional owners and retail home purchases. Will there be a lessening demand for rentals as tenants move out of SFR, being now able to afford new homes or will the demand for homes increase prices, continuing to keep the purchase of a new home out of reach?  Other discussions will include

• Home price appreciation expectations: Will prices continue to rise?
• Where is rent growth going?
• Comparing the apartment, BFR & SFR markets and tenant competition
• Housing starts: Do you expect growth?
• When multifamily supply sneezes does SFR get a cold?
• Rent absortion 
• Impact of the new administration
• Where will rates be in May? Next December

• How can you compete with deep-pocketed home builders for land?
• Land NPL opportunities
• Who is financing unentitled land acquisition and structuring for the more challenging entitlement property? Evaluating the status of CDD bonds and A&D loans
• Pre- & Post- acquisition risk minimization strategies
• Phased construction best practices
• Are you using modular?
• Keeping your exit options open
•  Local regulatory and what makes sense given your unique situation
• JV’s and how they are structured today
• The individual lot market

 

• Working through all the different proforma structures
• What waterfall are you offering your investors?
• Do you still need to offer more LP friendly splits?
• Crafting a compelling narrative for the new SFR/BFR investor
• How is it finding JV money?
• Is it getting harder or easier to raise an institutional fund? 
• Your most challenging equity investor this year… The whole story

• Is it a good time to do a development deal?
• How are land prices looking?
•  Opportunities and risks in recent enacted and pending legislation
• Which markets are your favorites? Where are you avoiding?
• Expected job and population growth
• Where have you seen uptakes in local delinquencies?
•  Which lenders are becoming more active in local markets
• Why Arizona vs. other puddle jumper markets

• Suddenly in vogue… RTL loans and the fix & flip market
• Investor demand in DSCR and other lending products: What is the impact?
• How are your rates and structures changing as the Fed changes?
• Securitization markets: Will they be tightening? What will be the impact?
• How are you treating distressed clients?
• Insurance coverage: As prices rise are you allowing less coverage in any cases?
• Origination volume expectations    

• Draw down loans and how long to find the property after the loan closes?
•  Are you thinking about financing forwards?
• Deferring construction fees, completion guarantees, liquidity and deposit requirements, reserves needed and recourse
• Where is your leverage comfort level?
• Financing land vs. construction vs. combination
• Bigger vs. smaller projects; Major vs. tertiary markets; Single vs. multiple deed projects
• Moving from warehouse line to agency facility
• Bridge financing on pre-stabilized
• Workouts and what other questions are owners asking?

• How much do interest rates need to drop to get ROIs back to where they need to be?
• Different regions, different flip markets and how they are performing
• Are valuations starting to go back to reality?
• Developments in the cost side: Labor, materials and contractor management updates
•  Are hold periods improving?
• Is competition thinning out?

• As homeowners are not moving where are you finding inventory?
• Equity terms and conditions
• Who will be increasing their lending in 2025?
• Where are renovation budgets going? Carry costs?
• What are the characteristics of inventory that is of interest?
• Financing rates, structures, capital access and terms
• Exit strategies that are working the best
• Evaluating the last deal you didn’t do
   

• Preparing for a vacancy: Cameras and motion detectors for turns, rehabs & empty
•  Minimizing wifi cost of portfolio
• Lease centralization
• Any big news on big data?
• How sophisticated will property management software look?
• What will AI look like in 2 years? 5?

 

• Are you scaling up or pulling back?
• How much scale can you build?
•  Successfully working in border towns
• Currently liquidity and rent appreciation compared to primary markets
• What are the main challenges you face when entering into a new tertiary market?
• What are the characteristics of a secondary/tertiary market that won’t support SFR & BTR?
•  Who is financing? What does the structure/rates look like? 

What is your growth plan? Is it time to exit while values are still high? Are you expanding your geographic focus or looking into other local residential or commercial options.  Hear from others who are facing the same issues as you in this discussion where your questions come first

How can being a part-timer be an advantage? Is it a good time to be expanding your portfolio and give up your day job? How can you compete with the larger players? How are you finding properties? Will be among the questions asked in the un-panel formatted session

• How much is seasonality worth?
• Tracking condition
• Automated value models
• Value of a BTR community vs. scattered site
• Historic home prices: How resilient in different market scenarios
• Where is the gap between ownership and rent at? What number would be a positive indicator for the SFR market? Negative?
• How does changing demographics impact value?

• How much can title insurance fees change amongst providers and in different locations?
• Taking advantage of re-issue rates and bulk discounts
•  Impact of shorter closing periods
• Fixing defects
• Are you working with lenders to get their insurance coverage down? 
• When is the best time to get insurance quotes?
• The latest concerns in Arizona and western states
• Should you close with an attorney or title company?
• When bundling rental properties with personal lines is not a great choice
• How much do higher deductibles save?

• How far out are you modeling compressed margins? • ROI on scattered site vs. BTR in your portfolio • What do you think of the luxury home rental market?  • New acquisitions/communities vs. focusing on operational ROI • At what level of interest rate/home value are you a buyer? • Where are today’s market risks? • Which demographic are you looking to target? • Identifying future growth markets… What are you going to do about your inventory in non-growth markets?  • What is currently your company’s biggest challenge? The industry’s?

• How are you keeping new communities fresh? 
• Solving rental turnover pain points and 2nd & 3rd generation turn strategy
• Existing tenants… Is it cheaper to keep her (or him)?
• Rehab vs. getting a new tenant in immediately
• Short- vs. Long-term savings approach
• When do you consider outsourcing? What for?
• How does structure change the way you think about costs?
• Are you hearing about more venture capital money coming into the property management industry? What will be the impact?
• Future PM trends we are talking about
• Keys to finding great vendors
• In a world where customer problems can be solved without talking to a human or a human in the US: How is this changing your staffing?

• Which areas are changing?
• Recent smile state rent hiccups… What is the sugar that will make it go away in a most delightful way?
• Which markets will perform best in a dropping interest rate environment?
• Are the best markets to flip and rent the same?
• Is it time to reconsider the Northeast? Other out-of-favor areas?
• Where has the greatest home value appreciation happened? Would you buy, hold or sell there?
•  Is the best guide to tomorrow high return markets yesterday’s best performers?

• When do agency takeouts work best?
• Where are the largest friction points with borrowers?
• Honoring term sheets: How long?
• New loan doc developments
• Rates, points and prepayment fees
•  Working with clients in trouble
• Why did you drop your last client?
• Hint of the day: Refi now or wait to interest rates go down

• Demand and risk return bogeys from accredited & impact investors
• Rent vs. own math for the institutional owner
• Fractional bankruptcies, regulatory and consumer protection hurdles to overcome
•  Unbundling the home and creating a fractional entity
• Who is responsible for maintenance?
• Equity rich home equity owners vs. new loan origination/downpayment assistance approaches
• Scaling ability and tenant evaluation
• What is your target market? Do you recruit specific tenants for this option or do they come to you?
• What is in the marketing piece? Any SEC stuff to worry about?
•  Underwriting vs. standard exits   

• Best communication and education practices between management and tenants
• Vehicles to communicate and the demographics to consider
• Optimal response time
• Getting the tenant involved: Preventive maintenance best practices
• Do tenants expect to have leak detection?
• What scattered site can learn from BTR communities
• Handling the overnight shift
• Staffing best practices
• ROI on smart home devices and maintenance

• Floorplan and amenities you look for
• What kind of density do you need to make a workforce housing BTR pencil?
• Getting communities built… What kind of workforce housing concessions did you have to promise? What was the AMI?
• What kind of rent raise? How do you determine?
• Agency financing and are there any tax advantages?

How should you be messaging anti-SFR, nimby government officials and newspaper columnists? How about HOAs that don’t want any part of SFR? Let’s get together and brainstorm… Maybe we can take something back home and improve our industry’s message.

• Top acquisition priorities and how technology is turning these lemons into lemonade
•  What kind of technology have you found most useful when evaluating property performance?
• Data verification best practices
• What kind of balance between tech and people do you employ? See in the future?
• Apps that help you analyze MLS deals
• Finding a fit in the technology partnership
• Build, buy and integration 5 years from now… How will acquisition tech change?
• Are you using AI in your decision making?

•  Should you go with individual or single plate?
• Comparing master plan tenant retention, cost, rent level and exit value vs. traditional build-for-rent or scattered site SFR
• Master planned vs. traditional BTR amenities: What are the high return ones and how much more rent do they translate into?
• Should BTR be entwined with for-sale or segregated?
• What kind of target demographics are you going for?
• Are you trying to get into more master planned communities?

• Where is the capital coming from?
• Transitioning from for sale to build-to-rent: What were the hard lessons?
• Capital requirements and how are you financing
• Are you keeping for your own portfolio or selling off? When are you selling: Pre- or post-occupied?
• What does your joint venture structure look like? What are some of the unique points?
•  Warranties and guarantees you give your buyers
• What kind of scale makes you comfortable?

• What types of property types are trending? • Impact of different interest rate scenarios • As insurance rates & taxes rise: Planning for a profitable portfolio • Demographics and demand impact performance • How will AI & tech change the industry? • M&A: Will the level rise? Where will it be coming from? What will be the impact? • How many more residencies will be needed in 5 years? 10? How does this undersupply impact your investment strategy? • How may Congressional legislation impact the industry

• Your appetite for SFR & BTR is growing or shrinking?
• How is pending Federal regulation impacting your investment in this market?
• Would you rather put out equity or debt? What do you look for in a JV partner vs. someone you are providing debt?
• What are you looking for in a scattered site acquisition?
• Ground up BTR or buying post-stabilized?
• Self-assessment… What are you most demanding in?
• Why didn’t the last deal that you looked at not meet your requirements?

 

• What is your MSR income/forecasting process? What are the different scenarios and their income forecasts?

• How do you handle tenants who refuse to allow adding the resident benefit package to their lease? • Any interest in wellness and green?  Is it worth the expense? • BTR: All the amenities but where is the ROI? •  Loyalty and retention incentives; discounts and partnerships and health & wellness offerings: Do they really work? • What do pet packages look like? How much you can make by allowing pets? • Are high speed internet and Wifi even considered an amenity anymore?

• How much should you be spending on amenities?
• Managing resident experience on scattered sites- Do you hold resident events?
• How do you stay ahead of the technology?
• Your latest community building experience
• What kind of reward and recognition program works?
• Which is the most recent new customer service initiative you have undertaken?
• Resident experience vs. rent level: Where does tenant retention come from?

• Is there more than just AI? What is your favorite residential prop tech investment for 2025? Least favorite?
• What kind of ROI are investors looking for?
• What kind of disruptive models are you seeing?
• Funding level trends
• What kind of innovative exit strategies are out there?
• Tomorrows challenges and risks

 

• Crafting a complimentary all residential investment strategy
• Is it a good time to fix and flip?
• Opportunities in mobile and manufactured housing
• Students and seniors: Which demography is to you likening?
• Where value-add strategy has the most bang for the buck?
• Capital resource allocation and where can I get the best financing terms?
• Vacation rentals: Are you keeping as is or changing over to SFR?
• Where are you allocating? How is that changing?

Contractors, remote flipping and your insights will be the session agenda along with your questions and insights

• What has changed over the previous 6 months? What do you see moving forward over the next 6 months?
• Where is tomorrow’s SFR scattered asset & BFR supply coming from?
• The politics of SFR and the impact of the next administration
• New BFR construction: Will we see records?
• Are you seeing large institutional demand picking up? •
• Which is winning?: Rent and amenity growth vs. insurance and property tax increases?
• Going back to the office…
• If rates drop as expected… 

•  How is AI impacting?
• Vendor consolidation: Have we’ve seen just the tip of iceberg?
•  In what direction are margins going for scattered site vs. community BTR vs. multifamily
• What are you doing on the insurance side?
• Is you tenant base changing
•  New technology to assist
• Where are property management and vendor fees going?

• Where is tomorrow’s SFR scattered asset & BFR supply coming from? • New BFR construction: Will we see records? • Are you seeing large institutional demand picking up? • Looking at market places • Local regulations and how they are impacting • How is the financing looking? • The merger option: Are there large portfolios out there?

The questions will be more probing and the answers more specific as this panel consisting of owners and property managers will be asking pointed questions to vendors, the types of questions you would want answered when evaluating a new product or system for your operation including the economics of signing up for a platform, brain damage, onboarding & Integration with other platforms, and SOC 2 cybersecurity compliance.

•  What are you using AI for? What is the expected savings/ROI?
• How are you safeguarding your data? What about cybersecurity?
•  What goes into your build vs. buy decision?
• How do you identify who the right vendor is?
• Property management apps
• What are some of the new programs and technology you are looking at? What kind of cost are you looking for?
• What new technology has been your best money-saver? Which technology has been not-so-much?

• Common vs. preferred equity… Where are we going?
• Working it out
• Are you looking to structure to derisk? How?
• Do you work with financial brokers or go direct to the lender? What is their vetting process?
•  Why did you drop your last finance provider?
• How cautious have you been on financing? If the economy improves how might this change?
•  The fund vs. deal-by-deal decision
• Out of the box thinking on financing

• What types of property types are trending?
• Impact of different interest rate scenarios
• As insurance rates & taxes rise: Planning for a profitable portfolio
• Demographics and demand impact performance
• How will AI & tech change the industry?
• M&A: Will the level rise? Where will it be coming from? What will be the impact?
• How many more residencies will be needed in 5 years? 10? How does this undersupply impact your investment strategy?
• How may Congressional legislation impact the industry

• Interest rates, inflation and economic uncertainty? Are you worried?  ]
• Regulation: What would you do if owning over 100 homes would be a negative?
• How much house appreciation would make you a seller? Buyer?
• Any local market holdings starting to keep you up at night? What is your plan?
• Do you think you might lose tenants if interest rates drop? Are you looking towards longer leases or lease to sale options?
•  Will you think about selling some equity to lessen risk?
• Can you make up for a weak rent appreciation outlook with additional experiential benefits?

•  Exit caps of retail vs. institutional
•  NOI & Cap rate differences when underwriting scattered site vs. portfolios vs. BTR
• Impact on interest rates and interest rate expectations
•  BFR, fees and community amenities 
• The impact on escalating, non-controllable expenses like maintenance, insurance and property taxes 
• Modeling rent increases 
• Taking into account locations, product, community types and amenities 
• How are exits being underwritten
• Why should you re-underwriting properties you already own? What would you do with the data?
•  Re-underwriting existing portfolios

 

• What to look for in a value-added lender?
• How much value can an ADU add vs. having a backyard?
• How much does additional square footage translated into additional rent?
• Exit strategy… Are you flipping to investors, home owners or keeping yourself?
• Are we still looking for office space?
• Do modern kitchens and bathrooms have the most ROI?
• BTR: What kind of community upgrades do you look to do?
• Approaches to newly bought portfolios

Come and participate in discussion areas like leadership, self-awareness and future vision. First timers and veterans are welcomed.

• Getting through Section 8 inspections: Should you do them inhouse or outsource? • What kind of tech are you using that might be different than market rate housing? • How do ESG and impact investors view the SFR affordable housing sector? • How are you saving money on operations while improving tenant experience and turnover? • Working with those who need assistance • Considering government regulation and minimal wage growth what can you do about the rent?

 

• Who should you be approaching?
• When is IRA money your best choice?
• What is the capitalization structure you are looking for?
• Target returns, cash flow and appreciation
• Using syndication and crowdfunding platforms
• Debt service coverage ratios
• What kind of property level information is needed? Market level?
• Loan terms and pricing