22-Year M/PF Research President Resigns, Opening Investment Counseling Firm

Yesterday's announcement comes just 1 1/2 years after RealPage's takeover of the nationwide data service and about nine months after selling the commercial portfolio to Roddy Information Services, also a Dallas-based data provider. Witten told GlobeSt.com that the internal changes had nothing to do with his decision to open an investment advisory service for apartment investors, developers and lenders. "I think I can add more value with applying my experience to helping investors," Witten emphasizes, "than I can by producing market research. It's kind of an evolution."

Witten is negotiating for space at Preston Center in the North Dallas submarket. The new venture, Witten Advisors, will start out with just two employees - Witten and a lone assistant. "No one from M/PF is going with me," he stresses. He remains a close friend of M/PF founder, Oliver Mattingly, who parted ways with M/PF after sealing the RealPage takeover in July 1999. But, Witten says, Mattingly is not part of this start-up business. Mattingly too is a consultant in the metroplex.

Witten expects the office to be up and running this month. He is in the process of tying up loose ends at M/PF - including a presentation for next week's US Apartments Markets Conference in Phoenix.

Witten's venture is budding from a similar effort he has handled in recent years at M/PF, that of investment counseling. The M/PF foray into the field has been limited, with only Witten acting in that capacity. He is starting out with a client portfolio in place. "I think there's some real opportunities available to me that are not in the core of what M/PF has done or will be doing in the foreseeable future," Witten explained to GlobeSt.com.Witten had started working for M/PF in 1973, some 12 years after its founding. Five years later, he had been named president. He is a familiar speaker at nationwide conferences, including those of the Urban Land Institute, National Multi Housing Council and National Apartment Association.

The years have provided him with "a principal's perspective" on apartment investment and development, he says. Unlike his early days at M/PF, today's world has an abundance of data. The challenge now is "to sort through mounds of statistics and to filter through anecdotal market stories," he says. His new role is taking him into the world of strategic decision-making for development and investment opportunities and evaluation of underwriting.

In a prepared statement, RealPage CEO Steve Winn also blames the parting of ways on different interests. Witten's interest in the investment arena "is not part of our core mission at M/PF Research," explains Winn. He goes on to state that Witten will be using M/PF data and new products to advance the advisory venture.

RealPage, headquartered at 400 International Parkway in the Dallas suburb of Carrollton, is a consortium of multifamily service providers. In addition to M/PF, RealPage consists of Rent Roll Inc., a property management software developer; RealPage Communications Inc., a custom Web site designer; ChannelTech Inc., a mobile computing solutions provider. RealPage also has offices in Kennesaw, GA, Herndon, VA and Williston, VT.