Two of my favorite people joined up on the Multifamily Collective podcast to create a fascinating discussion on the subject of current and future multifamily operations, especially with a marketing bent.  Mike Brewer of the Multifamily Collective and COO at The RADCO Companies had Mark Juleen, COO of J.C. Hart Company, on for this in-depth look at the impact of technology on staffing, cryptocurrency and blockchain opportunities in real estate, the Metaverse, and what reputation management truly means.

If you take a look below the video, you will see some timestamps for some of my favorite moments!

[17:39]  Do data and technology have the capability to optimize team member headcount? 

Analyzing how improvements in technology relate to staffing:  Does improved technology result in properties not needing as many people?  Can people support multiple properties.  Or does that excess capacity allow companies to build up routines to help elevate the value of the community?

[20:57] Eliminating routine work through technology

When one can remove rote work, does that facilitate moving back to a relationship view of business rather than a transactional view of business?  Plus, even though we all know that chaos can hit a property, can data be used to anticipate times during the week that is least likely to have an influx of those types of needs?  If so, data can then be used to create structured blocks of time for administrative elements on-site.

[30:50] Cryptocurrency and the blockchain’s role in multifamily. 

Blockchain technology excels when creating autonomous systems that have checks and balances and don’t require a human.  In the real estate space, the optimal use of these technologies may be in real estate investing.  That said, even today real estate still needs a wet signature, let alone moving over to a token-based system of some sort, so adoption may still be years away.

[34:15] Metaverse “Real Estate”

it is endless, so how can that piece of real estate hold value?  Will Metaverse be full of abandoned meta neighborhoods as people move to new, better neighborhoods?

[44:21] What is coming up within the marketing world in multifamily?

Marketing is always testing to capture people’s attention.  It’s really challenging to get some random person be interested in a property brand.  However, whose attention do we already have?  Our residents.  They are already invested in the brand, and we can add value there.

[49:01] The term “reputation management” gets used in a very strange way

Reputation management isn’t about responding to reviews, it is proactively developing strategies to get that 5 star review through making a good experience for the customer, and if it’s not, fix it!