I have a bumper sticker that says “Energy Is Sexy” that I used to decorate my office door with. One day the VP of Human Resources came by and looked at my sticker. I held my breath, waiting for the discussion of what was appropriate in the workplace. She simply sighed, looked me square in […]
If you’ve heard of induction cooking, you may be wondering if it is actually relevant within the apartment industry, or just another buzzword or fad.
While some may think induction and electric cooktops are similar, there is actually a very big difference with induction versus electric cooking, and it comes down to efficiency. An induction […]
We can all agree that we are living in a very different world today than we were just 3 or 4 years ago. So many things have changed in our daily lives recently, and the ways we work and live are no exception. We have new priorities and focuses, as well as new preferences.
The […]
While the working remote trend is still going strong, many of us are going back to the office and some of us never left. The office working environment gives us an opportunity to explore ESG practices and stimulate ideas that may transfer to multifamily properties. Here are some suggestions for office ESG practices:
Shared offices/cubes: […]
In August of 2022, our friend and colleague, Vicki Parrish, passed away. Vicki was an influential leader in our industry, specializing in utility billing management.
Vicki attended Texas Tech University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences. Since the 1980s, Vicki helped shape our industry and worked at both utility billing and property […]
In literature and for some in life, one of the conflicts is Man vs. Self, which represents the epic internal battle against our weakness to make ourselves stronger. Set goals: “I am going to workout” or “I am going to rewrite this letter (repeatedly)” because we are not feckless. Mediocrity is not our state, and […]
It is interesting to see how different people/organizations choose their objectives and design their pursuit of excellence. Excellence itself means different things to different people/organizations. For some it means increasing Net Revenue, for some it means increasing IRR and for others excellence can be achieved by controlling expenses.
More so today than in the past, […]
Utilities are usually among the top three operating expenses at a multifamily community, but they are also among the most complex to forecast.
For budgeting exercises of any kind, it often makes sense to first identify what you will use as your baseline, and then identify which adjustment factors will be applied. But budgeting […]
The Utility Management Advisory (UMA) is pleased to announce that the winner of this year’s Sustainability and Innovation Award is American Realty Advisors (ARA)!
The Sustainability and Innovation award celebrates excellence in energy, water, and/or trash management, as well as projects demonstrating measurable enhancements in sustainability practices.
The award was presented to ARA during the […]
Some time back I saw the movie The Pursuit of Happyness with Will Smith. It really inspired me to strive for excellence. While the movie focuses on the struggle of a young black man, the underlying theme was really a search for fulfilment of the protagonist’s dream. The character, Christopher Gardner, succeeded because, in all […]
