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Fall conference season is fast approaching, and this year's program promises a few interesting conversations. I've been preparing what promises to be an intriguing conversation on a topic that seems to be growing in importance: how multifamily operators select technology. A lot has changed about the tech itself and how we fund the companies that make it. Both provide important context for a session that I am particularly looking forward to at Blueprint next month.

A little over a year ago, I recorded a series of interviews with the leaders of technology companies helping our industry address the growing problem of fraud.The interviews developed a couple of themes emerging from the most recent 20for20 Annual Survey. Fraud had jumped to the top of many executives' priorities, and there seemed to be an unusually large number of software vendors helping to address the problem.

Two major themes seem to be coming up lately in multifamily technology and operations. One is centralization—the dominant idea in how companies are restructuring work. The other is tech bloat—the growing problem of companies buying too much technology without fully accounting for the associated costs. As with so many big topics in multifamily, the two ideas are starting to converge.

Another outstanding AIM conference is in the books. It was a terrific few days in Huntington Beach—with what felt like the best ever crowd in this event's long and successful history. Among the many interesting conversations at the show, some focused on topics familiar to readers of this blog, a few of which are outlined below.

The second Funnel Forum is in the books, and it was a great few days in paradise—sorry, I mean Terranea—one of the most beautiful resorts on the conference circuit. A busy week saw lots of announcements and deep conversations about the hot topics of AI and centralization.

In the weeks following the recent launch of this year's 20for20 Annual Survey, some of the most interesting briefing calls have focused on one central observation: There's a lot of tech.

The year has started with a lot of fresh insight into centralization. First, there was the recent release of the new white paper about how third-party managers are progressing toward a centralized operating model. This week, the focus switches to another big centralization topic: maintenance.

Readers of this blog will know that I frequently study and write about centralization. It has featured heavily in the last four editions of the 20for20 annual survey, and—SPOILER ALERT—it will get more coverage next month when the 2025 edition drops.

The last major multifamily technology event of the year took place last week in San Diego. And with it, AppFolio FURURE appears to have established itself as a major fixture on the industry's event calendar.

A couple of things stood out: with double the attendance of last year's event, this show is now on par—for attendance and content—with the largest user conferences in our industry. More impressively, FUTURE presented the broadest and most cohesive vision I have seen of how AI may change property management.  

NMHC OPTECH 2024 is in the books, and what an event it was. As we noted last week, this year's was another record-setting crowd. As always, the event seemed to fly by. There is much to unpack, so this article will share thoughts on the launch of RETTC (pronounced "ret-see"), key technology themes that stood out, and finally, some reflections on the future of this excellent event.