NEWPORT BEACH, CA-Gene Fuller, newly named director of asset and property management for Voit Real Estate Services, sees a lot of work ahead. Fuller, whose position is newly created at Voit, tells GlobeSt.com that asset management services—which are important regardless of market conditions—"are valued more now because a lot of the assets today have issues."

Fuller's role at Voit will be to oversee the Orange County-based company's existing asset and property management portfolio, as well as "smoothly on-boarding new clients, properties and portfolios," according to the Voit announcement regarding his appointment. He is responsible for the profitability, results, training and management of Voit’s asset and property management projects and team.

Robert D. Voit, CEO of the firm, comments: “Gene’s breadth and depth of experience acquiring, managing and advising major institutional organizations throughout the Western United States over more than two decades is a great match for our increasingly large and sophisticated third-party client base.” Those third parties are mainly financial institutions, according to Fuller, who comes to Voit after a career that included his most recent post at GE Commercial Finance, a division of At GE, Fuller was senior director of its North America Equity division. Earlier in his career, Fuller was with Equitable Real Estate/Lend Lease, where he was responsible for investment management in Southern California, Arizona, Colorado, and Hawaii. Previously, he was SVP of investment management for Value Enhancement Fund LLC, a national value add investment adviser with $4 billion under management.

Fuller tells GlobeSt.com that the assets Voit is managing range from stable to REO and everything in between, including much in the category of distressed assets. The assets are mainly office, industrial and retail, with one or two multifamily projects. Voit's goal with the distressed properties, Fuller says, is to "clean up the issues so that they can become opportunities."

Although Fuller says that, "The underlying fundamentals of asset management are the same in any market" and that everyone should heed them in all markets, he adds: "The reality (before the recession) was that people kept buying assets and cap rate compression was so rapid and rampant that, even if you bought it incorrectly, that cap rate compression would cover up the flaws."

In today's market, by contrast, Fuller says that owners and asset managers must adhere to the fundamentals. "The fundamentals are pretty simple," he says. "You have the bricks and mortar, you have the tenants, you have the operating expenses and you have to stick to those fundamentals to make sure that you underwrite correctly. A lot of folks got away from that." Tenants are "hugely important" because they help drive value, he says, so that maintaining tenancy is part of maintaining the asset—along with following a plan to help the ownership meet its goals and objectives.

Fuller tells GlobeSt.com that he joined because of its commitment to and experience in asset services. "There are a lot of companies that want to provide asset services, but they really don't know how to do it. Bob (Voit) has made a commitment to it, and he has hired a lot of good people to meet that commitment to asset and property management." Considering Voit's experience and the demand today, he foresees significant growth for the company in the asset services realm.

The institutions that Voit is managing assets for are relying on the company to "come in and be a surrogate owner and really give them options and strategies," Fuller says. "We really put on the ownership hat on behalf of the institution."

The goal in wearing that owner's hat is "creating value at the property level," Fuller says, "and that's the reason I'm here."