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Halloween is almost upon us. Texas has finally dropped out of triple digits for the year (phew). There are those who are excited about the presence of pumpkin spice in their drinks. That means it's almost time for NMHC OPTECH, the show that has so gracefully brought down the curtain on the annual multifamily conference circuit for as long as I can remember. I've been thinking some thoughts ahead of this year's event, the first of which I share in this post.

As companies seek to centralize property management functions, they find themselves coming up against rigidly property-based processes. Leasing—the highest profile of these functions—owes its design to the "coverage" model. Properties always needed at least one person on duty to answer phones, conduct tours, and support the leasing process. Companies centralizing leasing operations have to reimagine processes, tasks, and ultimately, jobs that have been the same way since time immemorial. 

Conference season is in full swing. Last week saw Blueprint 2023 in Las Vegas, which brought together its own distinct audience, including a well-attended multifamily section, in which I got to participate. As I will share in this post, a fresh format facilitated some fresh perspectives on centralization. 

It's been a while since I wrote about the situation facing multifamily revenue management (RM). For anyone who hasn't been following developments over the past ten months or so, a series of articles and lawsuits have alleged that our industry's long-established RM practices constitute "A new kind of cartel that allows the nation's largest landlords to indirectly coordinate pricing."

We all love leads, don't we? Anyone engaged in the marketing and selling of any product cherishes that confirmation: someone is interested in your product and ready to be sold to. Leads are the lifeblood that keeps sales pipelines full. However, some recent in-depth conversations with individuals I consider to be true thought leaders in our industry have changed my perspective on this prized commodity. These conversations have led me to think that, as one put it, leads may be for losers.

This week I had the pleasure of attending RealWorld 2023, RealPage's annual user conference in Las Vegas. It was an enjoyable couple of days that at once offered a glimpse of the future of an evolving industry giant and a trip or two down memory lane. I will share my thoughts on both in this article.

Centralization, as we all know, is a hot topic in the multifamily industry. This conversation began a few years ago when a few public REITs began to talk about changes to their property staffing models. I, among others, initially believed that once centralization started, everyone else would follow. If a few companies were achieving superior returns, the rest would naturally want to emulate them.

NAA APARTMENTALIZE 2023 is in the books, and it was a week of high energy and excitement in Atlanta. The industry's biggest trade show seemed especially full of new and exciting innovations, particularly for those focused on technology. 

In the few weeks since this year's AIM conference in early May, I have been reflecting on AI, which was the dominant theme of this year's show. Like many people, I have been tinkering with generative AI since late 2022. Some ideas from the sessions at AIM have changed how I think about this technology, as I will describe in this article.

The 2023 Apartment Innovation and Marketing (AIM) conference is in the books, and it was another great one last week in Huntington Beach.