MRG shines at awards ceremony
Posted in Awards
MRG employees walked away with a number of top honors at the Apartment Association of Greater Memphis’ annual Diamond Achievement Awards ceremony held January 13, 2012:
Maintenance Technician of the Year, 1-299 units: Eddie Ybarbo, Rocky Creek Apartments
Property Manager of the Year, 300 units+ : Michele Gore, The Westbury Apartments
Assistant Property Manager of the Year, 300 units+ : Libby Flanagan, Champion Hills at Stonebridge Apartments
Outstanding Management Team, 1-299 units: Champion Hills at Windyke
We know that having the right team available on property is critical to achieving the exceptionally high occupancy rates and low turnover rates that MRG enjoys. Congratulations to these high-performing employees who help us attract and retain residents in MRG-managed apartment communities.
Interest in multi-family investing on the rise
Posted in General News, Multi-Family Trends
According to a November 2011 article in NuWire Investor, it appears that everyone wants a piece of multi-family. Buoyed by regulatory pressure on traditional lenders like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, investing by non-traditional lenders is on the increase. Life insurance companies now hold 6% of multi-family debt, increasing their holdings by 18% in Q2 2011 alone. In a report released by Chandan Economics in early November, which examined the 600 banks that hold the largest apartment lending exposures, 278 of these banks increased their net exposure to the apartment sector in the second quarter. Default rates on multi-family loans are now lower than for broader commercial real estate and have been on the decline since Q3 of 2010.
Further evidence comes in this MHN Online article, where Rohit Anand, a principal in the Washington, DC-area office of KTGY Group Inc., Architecture + Planning stated, “When we talk to investors, developers, and equity partners, the asset of choice for them to invest their money in right now is multifamily, based on the demand that they see coming from this generation. I won’t name names, but at some of the big Wall Street investment banks, the people in multifamily investment banking tell me that their peers on the office side, or retail or other asset classes are doing hardly any volume. All of the volume in these investment banks providing equity is to multifamily.”
Tags: Makowsky Ringel Greenberg, MRG, multi-family investing, multi-family real estate
Laurels condo sales on the upswing
Posted in General News
If there’s a tremendous silver lining in the cloudy real estate market, it’s multi-family. So when we look at the overall MRG portfolio of investments, it has been an exceptionally good year.
Of course had we had a crystal ball back in 2007 when we began development of The Laurels, a 40-unit condo community, we would have made a different decision. While we developed a great property, the timing was bad. Despite the major downturn in the housing market, we’ve stuck with the project. knew we had a very desirable product. As a Commercial Appeal article published this past summer reports, we’ve continued to make progress despite further market erosion in 2011. As we wrap up the year, we’re pleased to have 75% of the units occupied.
Multi-family shines in otherwise tarnished real estate market
Posted in Multi-Family Trends, Press
At Makowsky Ringel Greenberg, we see opportunity ahead for multi-family real estate. While institutional investors may be looking more at larger markets for opportunities to invest in new multi-family development, with occupancy rates of many area apartment communities hitting the mid to high 90′s, we believe the Memphis metro is already seeing demand begin to exceed supply. And economic and demographic factors are likely to make this an enduring trend. Read more in this recent Daily News article profiling some of the things we’ve been doing at MRG to maintain some of the most competitive occupancy and retention rates in the market.
Tags: Makowsky Ringel Greenberg, MRG, multi-family real estate
MRG helping to provide hope to area unemployed.
Posted in General News
Through our involvement in HopeWorks, MRG is helping the area’s chronically unemployed to find meaningful work. HopeWorks offers a 13-week program that includes daily classes, counseling, mentoring, community meals, computer training, job interview preparation, GED preparation and much more. The program is followed by a hands-on internship that lasts for up to six weeks.
Barbara Taylor, MRG vice president of administration is secretary of HopeWorks’ board of directors and has been involved in the organization for a number of years.
Learn more about HopeWorks in this Daily News article.