It’s that time of year again, budget season. In a normal year, budgeting comes with it’s own set of challenges, in a year with a global pandemic, it can seem nearly impossible. 

I had the opportunity to sit down with 3 multifamily friends to chat how they were weathering the budget season in the middle of a pandemic.  Marcella Eppsteiner, Vice President of Marketing for Mission Rock Residential, Kim Boland, Director of Digital Marketing for Morgan Properties, and Savannah Wheeler, Vice President of Finance, Treasury and IT for Mission Rock Residential discussed next years budgeting strategy and how to adjust to an unpredictable world moving forward. 

Embracing Nimbleness and Agility 

Pivoting in the time of COVID requires nimble responses and openness to change. ”During a week in March where everything stopped, we realized 2020 was going to be an outlier,” Marcella says. 

Mission Rock Residential, which typically does extensive performance evaluations for each of their communities when planning budgets, won’t just be comparing year over year, but several years to get a better idea of how far off they are from the norm due to the pandemic. Marcella shares that this year’s data alongside the five previous years should be a key factor for budgeting, along with prioritizing requests.

“Traditionally, we would share feedback and input for the strategy. This year, the real difference is seeing the granular data points that are strategy-determining factors for each department,” Marcella  says.

This year’s global economic upheaval propelled the Morgan Properties team to get creative, and increase leads and occupancy using the tools they already had in place. 

“We learned a lot from last year, because our company went through so many changes and grew significantly,” Kim says. “We’ve been able to do a lot of smaller things that haven’t cost as much money, so we don’t need to budget as large.

Prioritizing Needs Over Wants

In times of uncertainty and radical change to business as usual, priorities shift for both companies and prospects. Keeping employees and renters safe while searching for a new home requires reallocation or additional funds to facilitate the process from afar.

Savannah points out that multifamily budgeting usually progresses as more of a push-and-pull process, but the pandemic requires prioritizing requests. From there, it’s all about investing in the right technology. 

“This year is about prioritization — what we need versus a wish list,” Savannah says. “What do we need to get through this time? Then, investing in the tools and technology to have the edge.”

In addition to technology, budgets now include money earmarked for safety and extra cleaning. Kim says for this year’s budget they allocated money for PPE. “Fortunately, we had a mild winter last year. We were able to move money from removing snow to sanitizing.”

Collaborating and Capitalizing on Expertise

Collaboration and fully leveraging each department's expertise consistently came through as a theme during our conversation. “When approaching the budgeting process, you aren’t reinventing the wheel,” Kim says. “There are people in your company with great knowledge — people willing to help.”

“Budgeting is really about the superpowers of each department,” Savannah says. “Get rid of the ego and let each department bring their knowledge to the table.” She says predicting is difficult in a normal year, let alone during a pandemic. “It’s not about who knows the most,” Savannah continues. “What is the expertise each department brings and leverage that.” 

View asking for help not as a sign of weakness, but as a sign of working smarter and utilizing your resources. Marcella adds, “Leverage internal resources. Do not underestimate the power of your peers.”