Ask the Expert

Danielle Nguyen — VP of Research, John Burns Research & Consulting

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A Conversation About the State of the Single-Family Rental Industry For the serious real estate investor, studying and analyzing data is of primary importance to help achieve success through solid and rational decision making. Data takes the emotion out of making decisions. One important caveat is to be careful whose data you are looking at and putting your trust in. For this discussion, we reached out to a leader in the industry, John Burns Research and Consulting. John Burns Research and Consulting produces independent research and custom consulting advice to help executives make the most informed decisions possible. REI INK sat down with Danielle Nguyen, Vice President of Research, to discuss the Single-Family Rental Industry and to discuss some insights into what lies ahead. Danielle, to begin, how about some background on you and how you became the Vice President of Research at John Burns Research & Consulting? I have been at John Burns Research and Consulting for approximately eight years, starting on the Demographics team—learning the ins and outs of how demographics impact housing. I then transitioned onto our Research team, where I sit today. My main focus areas are our for-sale (new construction) and rental (single-family rental, build-to-rent, and apartments) coverage. Can you tell us a little about John Burns Research and Consulting and how our readers can get in contact? John Burns Research and Consulting provides independent research and consulting services related to the U.S. housing industry. We help our clients make informed housing investment decisions based on our market research, knowledge, and experience in the sector. We service our clients two different ways. First, our Research memberships are full of timely analysis and forward-looking insights—all supported by data to help our clients make the best decisions. And our consulting services provide our clients with customized analysis to help them answer specific questions on topics ranging from developing strategy to acquiring a specific property, community, or company. We have experts strategically placed across the country who know their markets extremely well to be able to guide our clients through important investment decisions. Your readers may visit www.jbrec.com for more information. I know your data and reports are proprietary, but can you give us a little insight and directional indicators into the State of the Single-Family Rental industry? Here are a few important bits of information I can share. The single-family rental (SFR) industry remains in solid form. SFR rent growth is normalizing in most markets compared to historical long-term averages through January 2024. However, the over-all supply/demand dynamics support continued rent growth in 2024 and beyond—albeit likely less robust than in 2021–2022. Single-family new lease asking rent growth rose +4% YOY nationally in February 2024. Single-family new lease asking rent growth increased 6%+ YOY in 38 of the top 99 SFR markets we track as of February 2024. Some markets, like Chattanooga, TN, Knoxville, TN, Savannah, GA, and Lexington, KY, saw +10% YOY single-family asking rent growth in February 2024. The economy remains strong with solid job growth, a healthy labor market thanks to immigration, and rising incomes year over year—though at a slower pace than year-ago levels. And home prices are rising YOY across most top housing markets, aided by very low resale inventory. National SFR occupancy trends are in line with the historical average, per the US Census, correlating with healthy but moderating rent growth. Also, for-sale affordability challenges put homeownership out of reach and support demand for SFR through longer tenant retention. Nationally, the monthly mortgage payment to purchase a typical single-family starter home exceeds the monthly SFR Rent by $1,000+ on a similar home. Saving for a down payment remains the number on financial hurdle for purchasing a home, based on our New Home Trends Institute’s Household Sentiment Survey (March 2024). Higher borrowing rates and limited for-sale resale housing supply have flowed into tight SFR inventory. This drastically reduces investor home purchases along with higher financing costs (rising cost of capital). With severely limited resale supply, SFR operators look to homebuilders for inventory and building new homes to rent (BTR) to grow their portfolios, according to our 4Q23 SFR Survey. Overall, we expect resiliency for the SFR industry and for single-family rent growth. National single-family new lease asking rent growth has historically stayed positive even in recessionary periods, compared to home price growth and apartment rent growth. There has been much press lately portraying the real estate investor as the “bad guy” and being responsible for skyrocketing home prices and locking the little guy out from buying a house. Do you and/or JBREC have any opinions you can share on that? New and resale home inventory is still near all-time lows. Despite resale inventory ticking up slightly, housing is still undersupplied today — which may prop up home prices. With rates hovering around 7.5%—challenging affordability—many would-be sellers/homeowners may stay in their homes and will likely avoid selling unless necessary. Investors remain a relatively consistent 23% to 25% of the market, with both investor and owner-occupant activity declining due to rising interest rates (rising cost of capital). Large rental investor groups began selling more homes than they are buying, and small rental investors continued selling as well. Nationally, institutional investors (1,000+ homes) account for just 3% of total investor-owned SFR homes, with mom-and-pop investors (1–9 homes) owning the majority of SFR homes (80%). Across the top 20 markets, institutional investors account for 2% (Riverside-San Bernardino, CA, and Austin) to 24% (Atlanta) of all SFR homes within their markets.

A Discussion with Alex Offutt and Team, Constructive Capital

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The Lending Industry is Changing and Lenders Must Adapt a Client Focus The lending industry has evolved and continues to do so. It has gone through many cycles and adaptations over the years. The industry has expanded and diversified, and as a result innovative lending models have emerged along with an increased focus on customer service. Alex Offutt currently serves as Managing Director of the Wholesale and Correspondent Divisions of Constructive Capital. REI INK discussed with Alex and members of his leadership team how wholesale capital providers are adapting a client-focused mentality and why that focus is so important in our current market conditions. Alex, first off, just a brief synopsis on Constructive Capital? Alex Offutt // Constructive Capital is a nationwide provider of stable capital for business purpose loans. We built the company to be an efficient engine that can help our clients, both big and small, continue to grow their businesses. These relationships form the framework of how we approach each day and each loan entrusted to us. Given the changes we have seen industry-wide over the last few years, and the changes that are certain to happen in the future, our goal is to remain a constant for our clients and their borrowers. We also have several members of the Constructive team with us. Kyle, from a client’s perspective, what are some elements that are crucial for success in this current market? Kyle Concannon // Clear and concise communication around underwriting conditions is crucial. As the overall credit market continues to tighten, we routinely see new capital market guidance which influences our underwriting and credit criteria. If these changes are not communicated in a timely matter it can lead to a less than optimal timeline and closing experience for the borrower(s). Our clients trust us to execute on their borrower’s loan and earn repeat business. The sales team is trained to think like an underwriter. We think through the loan from submission to closing and identify issues early in the process. We also perform quality checks throughout the life of the loan while it is in process with us. Our clients routinely tell us that they are able to keep borrowers returning to them and earning new referral business from many of those same clients. Benn, is there anything you want to add? Benn Jackson // Our clients repeatedly tell us their end goal is to close loans as quickly and efficiently as possible. To meet our clients’ needs and expectations, we prioritize complete file submissions. Our clients appreciate our approach because it increases file velocity. Once their complete file hits our portal, we move fast. We empower our brokers by giving them a significant amount of control. They choose the AMC and Title company, and other third-party vendors. Our best clients spend time pre-submission putting documents together with care and with intention resulting in a higher quality file that consistently closes faster. We routinely close files inside of a week. In fact, 64% of all our submitted files close within 14 days. We love working with organized professional brokers who want to leverage our speed to gain client satisfaction. Michael, customer loyalty is key. Why do your clients keep coming back? Michael Fuller // Our clients consistently tell us that there are many reasons why Constructive Capital is their go-to source. These reasons range from our competitive prices to our speed of execution. But in my experience, the number one reason we have so much repeat business, and referrals from our clients to others, is the personal service we give to each of our partners and their clients. Between weekly calls and monthly office visits to my clients, they know that we care about them and their borrowers and that Constructive will do anything within our power to get their loans closed. We are not just faceless names behind a cell phone number, but real people who have many years of experience in the Business Purpose Lending (BPL) industry. Our clients value the communication, transparency and diligence of our unparalleled operations team that ensures a smooth process, from opening to closing. Also, it is imperative that we constantly keep our clients up to date on all guideline and policy enhancements and changes, so that our clients can execute for their borrowers in the most efficient manner possible. We routinely hear that this regular communication between us and clients is invaluable as nobody likes to be surprised for any reason when a loan is submitted. This unrivalled transparency is a key tenant of our client relationship. Most importantly, our clients regularly tell us that we continue to earn and keep their business because we always answer the phone and are always available to our clients, even when we know we must deliver the occasional piece of bad news. Ashley, what do your clients tell you about their experiences with Constructive? Ashley Jackway // Our clients tell us that there is a demonstrative advantage of working with Constructive, through the eyes of their borrowers. This stability is key. They love being able to set an expectation for turn times, and then being able to exceed the expectation by closing quicker than what the original set goal was. Our clients vocalize regularly how smooth our process is and how easy it is to work through challenging situations and loans with our entire team. Our clients are always complimentary of our ability to handle difficult scenarios. Our ingenuity and creativity in constantly working to solve problems gives our clients the confidence to keep sending us more business, which in turn helps them continue to grow their business. Alex, you get the final word. Alex Offutt // At Constructive Capital, our highest focus has and always will be on our clients. To that end, we are regularly engaging with our clients for feedback, both positive and negative, to continuously enhance our overall product and client experience. Stability, transparency, efficiency and execution are not just words for us, but rather are

Q&A with Alison Tulio, President, Incenter Tax Solutions

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A Conversation on How Property Taxes Influence Investment Property Acquisitions & Management Whether you are buying, selling, building or managing a real estate investment portfolio, property taxes are an important consideration. They can be a bell-weather for changing market values, an advantageous selling point for sellers and their real estate agents and, of course, they impact the net operating income (NOI), cap rate and financing math. If a property is over-assessed, a property tax appeal can also deliver an unexpected payday. Property managers may use the savings to make property improvements or add amenities that will attract tenants willing to pay higher monthly rents. We sat down with Alison Tulio, Esq., President of Incenter Tax Solutions, to get her thoughts on property taxes and their influence on the decision-making process regarding real estate acquisitions. Ms. Tulio has more than 15 years’ experience in this area, and she has previously represented and advised real estate investment companies on acquisitions, sales, financing and leasing matters. What are the high-level property tax trends in today’s real estate market? Real estate is always in a state of flux and, therefore, property taxes are as well. The housing market is constantly reacting to interest rate changes, higher or lower occupancy rates, inventory shortages or surpluses and expanding or softening purchase cycles. Property taxes follow these same cycles. In markets that have experienced significant real estate appreciation over a short period of time, properties may be under-assessed. In other words, local property taxes may rise even as home prices stabilize or cool. On the other hand, the U.S. needs to add more than 4 million rental properties by 2035 to meet growing demand. If property values in a desirable rental geography such as Austin, Texas, flatten out, taxes should eventually decline while rents continue to creep up — improving property NOI. It is hard to predict from one county to the next which is why monitoring your property taxes is so important. In addition, assessments as well as market values change year to year. If you are not having your taxes reviewed every year, it could result in a missed opportunity for savings. Meanwhile, if you invest in commercial office properties, you may still be struggling with high vacancy rates caused by the pandemic. Your property values should be coming down along with your property taxes. We have been conducting a pretty steady flow of property tax appeals for commercial property investors and managers for this reason. The savings are typically used to spruce up properties or make upgrades to systems or amenities like common kitchens or bathrooms. Why do the property tax math up front? Across much of the country, real estate prices are ‘normalizing’ and interest rates are peaking. However, both remain comparatively high and will be for the foreseeable future. Investors need to be aggressive about managing their borrowing costs and cashflow. Even a slight uptick in property taxes can upset the most judiciously prepared financials. Conversely, a reduction can change property ROI for the better while delivering some liquidity for reinvestment. If you are applying for financing, property taxes are taken into account as part of the property’s carrying costs and capitalization rate. Therefore, lowering property taxes will lower the projected debt-to-income ratio for financing calculations including borrowing limits and interest rates. Factoring in future property tax adjustments based on local market values and trends should inform 5-10 year ROI projections on rental properties. Especially in areas where there is a cap on property tax increases. These work as a hedge through markets of strong appreciation. The property values may go up significantly, but the property tax cap protects against tax spikes that negate property income projections. Two percent of assessed value is the U.S. average taxrate for multi-family rental properties. How do property taxes influence real estate purchase decisions? At the very least, local property tax rates indicate if a town or city is ‘business- or industry-friendly.’ For residential real estate investors, tax rates reveal how towns and cities compare on quality-of-life priorities including local investment in schools, public services and amenities such as libraries and parks. This is especially important to investors in SFR and multi-families. Obviously, local property taxes also reflect resident wealth levels — a key consideration in any real estate investment strategy. Real estate pundits currently predict a 10% decline, a correction really, in property prices as the market normalizes. Checking a city or town’s recent property tax adjustments history may help investors better project near-term property cap rates. In geographies where housing prices have skyrocketed since the pandemic, property taxes that lag behind higher assessment values are likely to go up. This knowledge may help determine if an investor should buy, sell or hold a property. More tactically, real estate agents may use the prospect of lower property taxes in locales that are over-assessed or beginning to see pricing declines to entice investors. Some go so far as to request a property tax review prior to listing. If the reviewer determines an appeal would likely be successful, the real estate agent can use this as a positive selling point. Reviews are free so the agent has nothing to lose if an appeal is not recommended. How do property tax appeals work? The property tax appeal process varies throughout the United States. Each taxing authority has a deadline for filing the appeal. Property owners can conduct the appeal themselves, but it can be daunting. They need to make sure they are using the correct data and or formulas, gather the appropriate documentation, hire an appraiser if required and attend the appeal hearing — all of which is time-consuming. A professional property tax appeal firm will first tell you whether or not your appeal has a strong chance of being successful. If yes, they will then take care of all the documentation and preparation for the appeal, including the appraisal. If advisable, they will also hire an attorney specializing in tax appeals to attend the hearing. There

How to Maximize the Value of Single-Family Rental Properties

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From Simple Fixes to Longer-Term Strategies, These Ideas Will Help You Make Sure You AreNot Leaving Money on the Table When you’re seeking to maximize the value of your single-family rental (SFR) investment, you’re strategically thinking about the property’s entire lifecycle. And ensuring a successful future for your SFR properties means having comprehensive investment property services in place now. Those services should span remodels, repairs, ongoing maintenance, tenant turns and everything in between. Do you have a strategic plan that helps you save money over the long term? Andrew Nolan, President of Commercial & Residential Rental Services at MCS, a national property services company, offers his insights on the essential elements that can help you get there, whether you own 10 properties or a portfolio of 10,000 homes. What is one thing investors often overlook that could help them maximize the value of their single-family rentals? Many SFR investors are lacking a simple tool to help them manage their properties effectively—a database that catalogs the fixed assets within each home they own. For example, how old is the HVAC unit? When was the water heater last serviced? Have there been roof repairs? An asset database is key to staying on top of property maintenance, and that’s critical because missing key maintenance checks can lead to expensive capital investment repairs and replacements later. But having a detailed record of your assets, as well as which services have been performed and when, can help you properly maintain the properties. This work ultimately helps prevent unnecessary costs and headaches. Plus, this data can enable predictive analytics so you can perform preventive, versus reactive, maintenance. From a cost-saving standpoint, what are some of the most important preventive maintenance items? Number one is to perform regular air filter changes. Dirty, clogged filters can damage your HVAC system, leading to costly repairs or even replacement. Don’t rely on tenants for this task — studies show that only 18% of Americans change their air filters in their homes once a month as recommended, and nearly 30% don’t change them at all. Regular air filter changes can also help lower monthly electric bills by as much as 15%, because clogged filters significantly reduce a system’s efficiency. Other key items are plumbing, roofs and gutters. Don’t wait for an emergency call from your tenants. Regular plumbing maintenance, like cleaning drains to prevent backups, can help avoid costly repairs and the fees associated with emergency calls. And don’t overlook exterior maintenance—avoid standing water, leaf and debris clogging, and other problems that could lead to expensive repairs by scheduling regular gutter and roof maintenance. It can be easy to overlook exterior maintenance. What are some other ways to reduce those costs? Watch your landscaping water usage. Keep water use (and related expenses) down by performing regular inspections of your sprinklers and/or irrigation systems. If needed, you may also want to consider monitoring water use via smart water systems that can provide remote monitoring and control Winterization of sprinkler systems and outdoor faucets is also essential. If you wait too long to winterize outdoor plumbing, you could end up with costly damage to the home’s water lines. Preventive maintenance is one of the most time-consuming aspects of property management. Are there ways to be more efficient about it? Definitely. With your asset database in place, you are able to build proactive preventive maintenance plans. Having an established maintenance plan in place can help reduce or prevent potential repairs and extend the lifespan of everything from HVAC units to plumbing fixtures. Plus, you can use the information to make decisions regarding capital-investment replacement and preventive maintenance schedules. We recommend at least biannual maintenance checks that include: »HVAC systems (following ASHRAE standards) »Roofing »Water heaters »Filter changes »Plumbing »Winterization of sprinkler systems and other yard maintenance (especially important for HOAs) This is where a trustworthy property services partner can really make a difference when it comes to overseeing critical investment property maintenance and management tasks. A good partner can help you build and maintain your fixed asset database, keep preventive maintenance schedules and serve as a maintenance expert for your entire SFR portfolio. Beyond handling these critical needs, your property services partner also can help you understand and consider the bigger picture of your entire portfolio, so you can confidently decide when and where to make capital investments strategically. What about when a property is unoccupied? How can owners use that time to their benefit? Unoccupied rentals cost you money, so this is when you need to really focus on efficiency. Your properties need to be brought up to code, made livable for occupancy, maintained along the way and refreshed between tenants. But this is also a good time to make any updates that could increase your ROI—up the home’s curb appeal, swap out any dated fixtures and flooring, upgrade old appliances. These are things that can be tackled quickly and will help you get maximum value for your rental property. Beyond the hard costs of maintenance, renovations and updates, are there other things that SFR owners can do to save money? Something that property owners tend to ignore is the value of their own time. No matter the size of your portfolio, if you have to dedicate your time to calling vendors for every asset, it will be hard to find time to continue growing your portfolio and building your business. This is where a centralized SFR property services partner can make a big impact by keeping your assets in good quality condition, giving you a one-stop shop for everything from landscaping to plumbing and electrical repairs to utility activation/deactivation and eviction support services. This means shorter vacancies, greater local code compliance and potential financial savings realized from regular maintenance. What should owners look for when vetting a property services provider? Whether it’s occupied maintenance, tenant turns, inspections, seasonal maintenance, or renovation work, look for a single partner that can manage it all with an experienced team of service technicians, project managers

Lending, Real Estate, and How Both Sectors Could Change in the Coming Year

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A Q&A with Dave Goldstein, Founding Partner, Bavex Lending When Dave Goldstein, founding partner at Bavex Lending, says his company wants to be your lender, he’s not kidding. Bavex is known for what Goldstein refers to as “the most aggressive pricing and leverage in the industry,” meaning that he and his team are determined to help real estate investors get good deals done. “We know that everything in lending is going to have some risk, so we have built our credit box in such a way that we are able to lend investors money whether they are a first-time investor or have decades of experience in real estate investing. We fund projects really focusing on the asset,” Goldstein explained. Bavex Lending offers an array of products to serve investors, from renovation loans and bridge loans to ground-up construction and rental loans on stabilized properties. “We are unmatched in our service and speed in getting our clients to the closing table,” Goldstein said confidently. “We are fellow investors, not career lenders. We built our company with an investor mindset because our team has extensive real estate experience in renovating homes, building homes, and acquiring rental portfolios. This means we understand what investors are trying to do and we understand what they need from a lender.” REI-INK sat down with Goldstein in early 2023 to talk about lending, real estate, and how both sectors could change in the coming year. Goldstein said things could look different in 12 months, but some things will remain the same. “The best opportunity will be a property that you can add value to and that is regardless of the economy, interest rates or any other factor,” he said. “It’s our goal at Bavex to help as many investors as possible get there.” The market is pretty volatile these days. From a lender’s perspective, is there room for new real estate investors in today’s market? The short answer is, “Yes.” Because we primarily look at the asset, we have tailor-made a program for people starting out in the business. At Bavex, we look first at the deal, and then we look at the investor’s experience. When you speak with a Bavex team member, we review every aspect of the project, making sure the investor’s capital is protected and that the deal is a good one. We all know that interest rates have been on the rise. How have rising rates affected Bavex Lending and its clients? Rising rates have definitely affected Americans in general and the real estate market in particular. However, this is a good opportunity for some investors. What we are seeing right now is that there are a lot more properties available for purchase and real estate investors who had been priced out of deals are now able to move into the market again and acquire properties at a discount. As a result, even though interest rates are higher, we are seeing borrowers coming to us with properties that they would not have been able to get their hands on even just one year ago. Interest rates are, to a degree, making this market a little more of a buyers’ market and are presenting opportunities to investors which we haven’t seen in a long time. I have seen in the news that many banks are taking a really long time to close on a deal. How long does it take to close a loan at Bavex? At Bavex, we simply do not have to deal with the things that banks have to deal with. We do not need your W-2s or your tax returns. Once we receive a full file [title work, appraisal, inspection, etc.], we often close extremely quickly. In fact, we sometimes close in less than 24 hours. In one of my favorite success stories, a borrower-investor who, today, has probably successfully invested in almost every real estate sector and almost always with our participation on the lending side, relied on our ability to close fast. This borrower came to us at about 3:00 p.m. on a Tuesday, and he had to close the deal by Wednesday. His lender had just pulled out the afternoon before closing. He expected to lose the deal — and six figures in earnest money — when he came to Bavex to see what we could do. We looked at the deal and agreed that it was a good one, and we did not want him to lose the deal or his deposit. By the end of business next day, we had helped him close that deal. That is not even the end of the story. Within 12 months of getting the bridge loan from us, he refinanced the property (it was two duplexes in Philadelphia) into a 30-year rental loan and started another project — borrowing from us, of course. Since that first project, we have done a few dozen projects with that borrower. In fact, we are closing another deal with him tomorrow on a ground-up construction deal for a four-unit property in Philadelphia. Since then, he has taken advantage of every single product we offer in his real estate investing strategies. That must make you really proud. We are definitely proud to be a part of saving the deal for him and of developing a long-term relationship through this process. We are always there for our investors. It is our goal to get our borrowers to the “next step,” whatever that may be, when they come to us for lending services. Sometimes we are helping investors go from doing a dozen projects a year to doing two or three times that, while other times we are helping people go from doing one project, maybe even their first project, to doing multiple projects, generating real wealth, and sometimes creating millionaires on our watch. That is a huge point of pride for me and for my entire team. Through this process we are creating long-lasting relationships, where our investors turn to us again and again,

Q&A with Nickalene Badalamenti-Kalas

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Meeting Asset Management Needs in a Changing REI Market As investors expand property portfolios across the United States, many are encountering new challenges in the administration of turns, make-ready, renovations, and ongoing property maintenance field services. REI INK spoke with Nickalene Badalamenti-Kalas, President and CEO of Five Brothers, the asset management service provider, to help unpack these trends and discover how Five Brothers is assisting property managers and owner-operated investors with the divergent realities they face from market to market. You have led Five Brothers for eight years as President and CEO. Can you give us a short “2022 in Review” and provide some historical context as well? Yes, I took over the company on the heels of the 2008 crash. That was a challenging time and, despite certain difficulties arising primarily from the pandemic, 2022 showed itself to be a good time for investors to seize opportunity. More properties emerged from forbearance allowing investors to expand their portfolios and turn more properties. Are you optimistic about 2023? The upswing in investor activity is definitely continuing and we expect 2023 to be a great market for the investor. We’re already seeing a steady increase in field service requests to conduct turn- and make-ready tasks. Our vendor network stands ready to provide these general repair, cleaning, painting, and ongoing maintenance services. That said, we are increasingly engaged by investors to assist them with a range of developing challenges, particularly as they expand their portfolios to more distant, less familiar territories. With a nationwide field services vendor network, Five Brothers is well-positioned to help. What are some of the other challenges? Some additional challenges are the expected fallout of the last few years due to COVID, labor shortages, material and fuel price increases, and other factors that have resulted in a tight contractor market. Some investors are therefore having difficulty finding the right talent to provide timely turns, make-ready and ongoing maintenance services. And while we’ve been impacted as well, Five Brothers has the considerable advantage of a strong, stable, and mature relationship with our contractor partners. They’re remarkably committed and energized by the new investor market opportunities we’re seeing. Additionally, we’ve been very successful in bringing on new, qualified field service talent — independent and insured painters, cleaning personnel, general contractors — who can deliver quality services cost-effectively with tight timelines and with full regulatory compliance. Through local referrals from our general contractors, we also hire qualified licensed professionals when the job requires their services. Can you speak more about the compliance issues? Well, compliance can really be a big challenge for rental properties. At Five Brothers, we’ve invested tremendous resources in infrastructure, technologies, and personnel to ensure the turns, make-ready, renovation, and regular maintenance activities our field staff conduct agree with every code. This job requires that investment because compliance varies not just from state to state, but often from neighborhood to neighborhood. And they’re fluid: they are in a continual state of flux, so we continuously update our code compliance database. As an asset management company, our focus remains on the risk management associated with violations and mitigating extraneous fees. This is a major component to ensuring investors are maximizing their portfolio value. With our help, they focus their energies on their property assets, rather than its upkeep, or ever-changing compliance requirements. What else does Five Brothers bring to the REI equation? Other issues we see commonly involve exterior landscaping, general exterior structure repairs and seasonal maintenance. Within our tenant- and market-ready portfolio it is customary to complete cleaning, painting, and general repair services. We have the people and the quality control measures to carry out these jobs quickly and correctly on behalf of our clients. Our dedicated staff knows our vendor resources well and is particularly adept at dispatching the right talent for each job. We are also making continual system and process updates in order to provide clients with maximum account transparency with respect to work completion status. Transparency is a high priority for our clients in the SFR space. The bottom line: whether evaluating a potential investment property, bringing a property up to code, providing maintenance and/or refreshing between tenants, we are optimally equipped to assure that service requirements are completed quickly and effectively, every time. What trends do you see developing in the SFR market? One in particular is the increasing adoption of smart-home technologies. For example, our contractor network is conducting more and more smart lock and thermostat programming and installations. These smart devices allow investors to remotely control their assets such as manage energy use, administer access, prevent damage and monitor activity. Investors are looking to implement this technology in greater numbers, and Five Brothers is there to support the need. Another trend we’re helping our investors manage is the standardization of contractor service pricing schedules, nationwide. This is a massive process change, and as investors expand to new markets, they are encountering eye-opening variances in pricing. With Five Brothers’ long-standing — more than 55 years now — partnership with our field service network, we’re helping to normalize fees such as these, so investors know what to expect across their entire portfolio, regardless of locale. Finally, as weather events continue to intensify, investors are looking for ways to monitor and respond quickly to major storms like the recent hurricane Ian. We developed our proprietary CLADE resource specifically to address that need. CLADE merges weather/disaster reporting, asset location, and our FiveOnline asset-history database, into one easy-to-use platform. This keeps our clients informed about the status of their properties potentially in a storm path. They can take preemptive action to protect their properties, or more quickly identify damaged assets to accelerate claims. Recent history shows us just how important weather and disaster reporting is to the real estate investor. Do you have any final words for the real estate investor? With investors no longer buying just in their own backyard, and with compliance requirements varying from city to city, it is imperative that they