COSTA MESA, CA—Analyzing valuations forwards and backwards and focusing on renovation needs and project pro forma business plans are among the top-of-mind issues for asset managers, according to speakers at a recent IREM OC asset-management luncheon and roundtable here. The panel at the event, which drew approximately 150 real estate professionals, featured Southern California leaders discussing the relationship between the asset manager and property manager.

Chris Hite, president of Coreland Cos., moderated the panel, which included Angela Kralovec, asset manager of BlackRock; Charlie Russo, senior asset manager of Laurus Corp.; Jack Loughridge, VP of CapRock Partners; and Sandra Vaughan-Acton, director of real estate development for Cal Poly Pomona Foundation.

Kicking off the event, each panelist talked about the areas in which they spend a majority of their time. Kralovec said that she is constantly analyzing valuations forwards and backwards, while Russo said that he is focused on renovation needs and project pro forma business plans. Vaughan-Acton is focused on supporting the mission of the institution. 

When discussing the ideal qualities of a property manager Loughridge wants his property managers to be his eyes and ears at the property, with constant communication about any and all issues, while Vaughan-Acton believes a good property manager should act and perform as if they own the building. Kralovec wants her property manager to be entrenched in the financials, understanding what they are and why the numbers are the way they are.

In terms of a single metric that is the most important to them, Russo and Kralovec stressed the extreme importance of tenant feedback in the form of surveys or outside sources like Yelp.

GlobeSt.com recently sat down with David Rowley, managing director of investor services in the property- and asset-management division for Colliers International, to discuss in detail the challenges property managers are facing in the quickly changing environment of property and asset management. Rowley told us exclusively, “If you think about it, property management encompasses accounting, customer service, marketing, physical operations/engineering, contract management, project management and risk management. The historical model has been for a property manager or property-management team to handle all of these tasks simultaneously. The model that our industry is organically shifting toward is compartmentalization and centralization of the various disciplines, driving up service levels and driving down costs. On the financial side, with cap rates for core assets at all-time lows, the market demands that assets be managed dynamically and efficiently, which is why I think you will see a shift in the coming years to a more dynamic pricing model for management services basic on value-add performance.”