Edward Wolff Discusses 2013 Multifamily Outlooks

ATLANTA—As the new COO of Cortland Partners, Edward Wolff is on a mission to create value for a better life. Cortland, which acquires, develops and operates multifamily real estate, is keeping him busy—and that’s just the way he likes it.

In his new role, Wolff is charged with maintaining performance excellence across Cortland’s operational support functions. He brings nearly two decades of strategic leadership in both real estate and technology business sectors.

GlobeSt.com caught up with Wolff to talk about why he joined Cortland, the firm’s strategic initiatives for 2013 and what he sees on the multifamily front in the years ahead.

GlobeSt.com: Why did you join Cortland Partners?

Wolff: I joined Cortland because of the company’s mission “Creating Value for a Better Life” and our four guiding principles: Empowerment, Respect, Integrity and Excellence in everything that we do. The opportunity to build a world-class platform with smart people in a dynamic, entrepreneurial environment doesn’t come around every day. You can make a difference, add significant value and have fun along the way. Our vision is to be recognized as thought leaders in the industry through our performance.

GlobeSt.com: How would you describe Cortland Partners’ operating platform and your strategic initiatives that you are planning for 2013?

Wolff: Our focus is to build a “world class platform and a comprehensive tool kit for our associates.” We have prioritized our strategic objectives based on maximizing high quality NOI that is sustainable and with low volatility. We are implementing revenue management through YieldStar to optimize rent, implementing a social media program to drive SEO while creating a significant internet presence, and leveraging technology applications to streamline processes to make the site teams efficient and effective to service our residents.

GlobeSt.com: What is Cortland Partners seeing in terms of the multifamily growth in the United States?

Wolff: Multifamily continues to grow and be in vogue given the improving demographics and economics. We have a defined strategy to be in the Sun Belt in core markets: Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Austin, Raleigh, Nashville, Jacksonville, Tampa and Orlando. We will always be opportunistic and capitalize on assets with arbitrage opportunities that align with our corporate strategy.

GlobeSt.com: What is Cortland Partners working on currently?

Wolff: We are focused on enhancing our operating platform, implementing strategic initiatives that optimize property and associate performance, implementing systems and processes that scale in order to bring about measurable efficiencies. We take a deliberate, intentional and disciplined approach to every initiative that must meet specific criteria in order for us to proceed with deployment.

GlobeSt.com: What is Cortland Partners looking for in a multifamily acquisition?

Wolff: Our strategic objective is to generate outsized risk-adjusted returns. To do so we must capitalize on inefficiencies in the market place. These arbitrages create opportunities to outperform the market.  

So we look for arbitrages to exploit that are present in a variety of fashions—ownership distress, capital stack distress, physical plant distress, operational distress, macro and micro market misperceptions, and cost of capital mispricing of risks.  Some acquisitions have all of these arbitrages while others may have only a few and the comprehensiveness of the inefficiency will vary from deal to deal. The common denominator in all of our acquisitions is the presence of arbitrage opportunities that allow us to get ahead of the curve and generate outsized risk-adjusted returns.

GlobeSt.com: What types of investors is Cortland Partners attracting?

Wolff: Those who understand our research-driven approach to decision making and share a common appreciation for our execution and return profile.  We have attracted investors ranging from high net worth individuals to private family offices, to private equity groups supported by pension, endowment, and investment banking company investors, to traditional pension fund and insurance company institutional investors. We have individual and institutional investors from here in the States, from the Netherlands and from Israel—a truly international presence.