Mastering Asset Management: 7 Secrets to Multifamily Real Estate Success

John Harcar (00:00.788)
Okay. Hey guys, welcome back to our show. I’m your host John Harcar and I’m here today with Cyndee Harding and what we’re going to talk about besides I’m in her journey in business and in real estate is, you know, what it really means. What is a true asset manager? She’s going to walk us through that through her experience. I’m super excited, but Hey guys, remember an investor fuel. We help real estate investors, service providers, really all real estate entrepreneurs, two to five X their business.

We’re providing the tools, the resources in the community to level up and grow the business you want to have, which in turn makes you live that life you want to live. So Cyndee, welcome to our show.

Cyndee Miller Harding (00:41.487)
Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be here.

John Harcar (00:44.718)
Yeah, I’m excited to learn more about the asset manager piece. think it, you know, I think you’re right. I think there are some things that people overlook. But before we go down that rabbit hole, why don’t we talk a little bit about you and kind of your background in business and in real estate and you know, the things that brought you brought you to today.

Cyndee Miller Harding (01:02.863)
Thank you so much. So I was an accountant for 25 years and I stopped doing accounting and taxes and I decided to do multifamily. So it was a perfect segue for me. I love numbers. love my specialty with my accounting was small businesses. And if you think about it, an apartment complex is a small business. It has its own income. It has its own expenses.

Different nuances with it. And so I was such a easy transition for me Just because I love helping people grow their business So that relates to helping the portfolio grow or helping the asset grow so I have been doing this since 2017 Right now I have eight properties that I own and asset manage and I am always looking for more opportunities

Asset managing is definitely my passion.

John Harcar (02:03.406)
If you’ve ever watched any of my podcasts, I like to go backwards a little bit. So back in the day, growing up school, whatever it might be, were there any influences? Was there any exposure to, to real estate, to, uh, to a landlording, to apartments? I mean, things that maybe might have planted a deep seed that spawned years ago or years later.

Cyndee Miller Harding (02:28.015)
think it’s possible. When I was a teenager, my dad started buying different rentals. Some were commercial buildings, some were single homes. Never really got into multifamily, but I was exposed to that. But really, how I got into multifamily is my youngest son was renting a home with a roommate and they decided that it would be smart to buy that house and then flip it.

John Harcar (02:44.855)
Okay.

Cyndee Miller Harding (02:57.069)
So they approached their dad, the financier, and said, this is our plan, what do you think? And my husband said, well, we’re not young and we don’t have time to do it one at a time. So how can we do this faster? And so my youngest son, at that time he was about 22, he went and found multifamily and he actually brought it to us. And we are a family owned and operated business.

John Harcar (03:00.6)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (03:20.533)
Awesome. Okay.

John Harcar (03:25.07)
I love that. All right. So your, your son was already in it. So for you guys and your piece in the multifamily, was it just the financial part? Um, I mean, obviously you mentioned you did the numbers, but when it came to the, day to day, the, the, maybe the rehabbing of units, the marketing to find, uh, people, you know, who did all the, those, operational pieces.

Cyndee Miller Harding (03:47.215)
So that was, it started out with just me doing it full time. My husband has a W-2, so I was doing it full time. And then as our business grew, actually both of our sons work for us. So that’s how we ended up being a family-ran business.

John Harcar (04:04.91)
Okay, that’s awesome. What were some of the challenges and some of the things, you know, that you, that you started running into as you got going?

Cyndee Miller Harding (04:12.921)
Well, it’s always interesting when you are doing a multifamily and we do it through syndication. So we have partners. And so that’s always an interesting challenge, learning everyone’s personality and how do we all work together and how do we bring information to each other and just make sure that there’s really good communication. So that was probably one of our biggest challenges in the beginning.

was defining the roles. What is the role? What is the responsibility that goes with that role? So we actually have really flushed that out and we have roles and responsibilities. So we know when we’re going into a new asset, who is going to take care of what? That really does cut down on the complications that go along with it. And it allows me to focus really managing the asset. Because I don’t want to manage partners. I don’t want to manage ownership. I want to manage the asset.

John Harcar (05:06.306)
Yeah. Sure. No, you don’t want to micromanage whatever everybody else is doing. And that’s really important that maybe a lot of operators might lack or are hesitant to put together are those systems and processes. But as you grow, as you see, you have it all dialed. You know the seeds people are in. You know the steps need to be taken. So it’s an easier process. But it probably wasn’t when you started. You to learn that.

Cyndee Miller Harding (05:30.908)
no.

John Harcar (05:33.548)
Were there any, was there any mentoring? Was there any coaching that you took part of?

Cyndee Miller Harding (05:38.415)
I did have some coaching with Trevor McGregor. I don’t know if you’re familiar with him, but I did coach with him. And then also we really relied on the book Traction. So that helped us really sort all of that out. We just did it ourselves. yeah, so that helped us get that part of it. So that is running smooth. And now we’re, you know,

John Harcar (05:49.357)
Yeah.

John Harcar (05:56.11)
Good for you.

Cyndee Miller Harding (06:05.431)
eight properties we’re focusing on our investors and creating those great returns.

John Harcar (06:10.606)
That’s awesome. So you have eight properties. What type of properties do you have? Are they apartments, multifamily?

Cyndee Miller Harding (06:14.681)
They’re all multi-class. They’re all multi-family. They’re C-class value add. And that’s what we really focus on. And we find that that particular, the C-class value add allows us to work with our philosophy of from complex to community. So when we buy a complex, it usually is distressed.

The owner has decided to sell, so maybe they’ve not done deferred maintenance or they’re not watching renewals. So it really is a complex and our goal is to turn it into a community.

John Harcar (06:53.304)
Okay. Are you out there, like other specific things you’re looking for in some of these complexes, some distress markers, something that you know that that might be that prime property to do that?

Cyndee Miller Harding (07:06.969)
Sometimes the numbers always have to work. That’s part of the number part. But sometimes I do look for ways that we can create a community. And so we’re looking, even if they don’t have amenities, do they have space for amenities? How can we really focus on our residents’ needs? We believe that every person has the right to live in a beautiful, safe place, no matter what their income level is. And so we really work on

John Harcar (07:10.07)
Sure.

Cyndee Miller Harding (07:36.463)
taking it from a complex into a community. We do two events every month and it allows people to know their neighbor. And we also focus on changing the perception of the leasing office. Most people think of the leasing office kind of as the principal’s office. They only go there when they can’t pay their rent or they have maintenance that is not being taken care of.

John Harcar (07:55.894)
Hahaha

or there’s something wrong with the problem.

Mm-hmm.

Cyndee Miller Harding (08:03.309)
So we focus on changing that. We want the residents to know that the on-site is their advocate. The on-site is on their side and helping them. So we make sure maintenance is done within 24 hours unless we need to order parts. And if it takes more than 24 hours, like I want to know why. yeah, so we really work on making sure that our residents feel like they are valued and they are heard.

John Harcar (08:21.582)
Yeah, explain yourself.

Cyndee Miller Harding (08:30.745)
So doing the two events, one of them is a pay on time incentive. So basically if they pay their rent on time, they come to the leasing office, sometimes it’s as simple as cupcakes for your family. Or we do have bigger ones, we do usually two twice a year, and we’re getting ready to do backpacks. school’s getting ready to start. And last year we have four communities that are in one town.

So we bought 60 backpacks and all the supplies to go in it. And then in August, our pay on time incentive was pay your rent on time and you can come and get backpacks and your school supplies. Because we don’t want parents to have to choose, am I going to pay my rent on time or am I going to get the supplies that my child needs to go to school? So we’re always trying to be aware of our residents and the demographics of who lives in our properties.

John Harcar (09:22.957)
That’s incredible.

Cyndee Miller Harding (09:29.519)
Because not all of our properties, that would be a big hit with. But this particular one, it was a, I mean, we passed out all the backpacks and we are very frugal. Like we watch Amazon Prime, I don’t know if that’s giving a shout out to Amazon. On Prime Day, that’s when we buy all the backpacks and the school supplies. We make sure that we’re being really good stewards of the funds that we have and that we’re actually providing great benefit. But.

John Harcar (09:45.986)
Yeah.

Cyndee Miller Harding (09:55.897)
When we do the, complex to community, there’s three Rs to it. So the first R are renewals. Our renewal percentage is really high. People love when they live in our communities because they know that we value them as a resident. And then we have high referrals. And basically our referral program is called Pick Your Neighbor. And we’ll send it out to residents and say, pick your neighbor. You you love living here, you want to be with people that you want to be with, so pick your neighbor.

John Harcar (10:21.144)
Mm-hmm.

Cyndee Miller Harding (10:25.943)
And so that our referral program is very, very successful. And then the third R is returns. And that is where our investors come in. They’re able to get the returns that we have projected for the asset. And at the same time, they know that they are really doing those things that have an impact in the community where the residents live.

John Harcar (10:48.6)
That’s awesome. And you kind of hit on it a little bit earlier when he said some things might go over at some residences than others. What kind of like response or participation, you know, are you getting when you’re doing this? Because I mean, some operators might look at that and be like, that’s going to cost time and money that I could put elsewhere. Right. Why don’t I just, you know, lower the rent a little bit or just something to that effect? Like, why go through all those that hassle?

Cyndee Miller Harding (11:13.625)
Yeah, time and effort, right? That’s what it is, a lot of time and effort. There is some cost, but the ROI is amazing. And we get that. We know that because of our referrals and of our renewals. So it is definitely worth it. But it does take time. It does take energy. And it also takes a PM that understands what your value is and what you’re trying to accomplish. But we really support our PMs.

John Harcar (11:16.621)
Yeah.

John Harcar (11:25.699)
Mm-hmm.

Cyndee Miller Harding (11:43.535)
One of the things that we did that is hard to measure the ROI is we had a property that had a lot of children a lot of three bedrooms and it had no really area for the kids so we put in a playground and You know, how do you measure a return on a playground? Well, we there’s a couple of ways that we can do it not by dollars But we’ve had people that have actually come to the complex when they see the playground

John Harcar (12:10.178)
Yeah, kind of looks like we froze up a little bit here. Let’s see if it bounces back.

Cyndee Miller Harding (12:12.825)
They’re like driving around looking at different apartments and they see that we have this great playground and so they stop in. We have the only one like that in town and then also when the playground was being installed, there was a little hill, it was down like in a valley. The kids would sit up on the hill and watch the playground being put together. And it took them five days.

John Harcar (12:24.366)
Not sure what happened here.

John Harcar (12:30.178)
Are you there?

John Harcar (12:38.567)
that’s cool.

Cyndee Miller Harding (12:41.101)
and the on-site would go out and take pictures and send it to me because these kids were waiting for the playground to open. So what kind of return?

John Harcar (12:46.904)
Well, you could measure, could possibly measure the ROI maybe by the, mean, but I guess that would fall into renewals. Cause I mean, if a family has got a place where they kids can go play and it’s right there versus not having it, that would prompt them to stay longer. I would think, well, that’s, mean, that truly is awesome. So what’s an asset manager? mean, what do do anyways?

Cyndee Miller Harding (13:08.879)
I manage the managers basically so I am the I’m the lady Yeah, so I’m the liaison between the property management and the owners now I happen to be one of the owners But there are other additional GPS so we have other owners and so what I do is I work really hard with the PMS to Move the business plan that we have set out forward. So that’s my job is to make sure that we’re following the business plan

John Harcar (13:11.886)
Tell us a little bit more about it.

Cyndee Miller Harding (13:38.607)
that we’re making the returns that we anticipated, and if there is any issues, what do we do to solve it? I also have an asset management team. So I have people that volunteer that either are general partners or limited partners that have volunteered to be on the asset management team. In fact, that playground I was talking about, we had an asset management team member did all of the research, found out what was the best one.

John Harcar (14:06.542)
That’s awesome.

Cyndee Miller Harding (14:06.575)
who is gonna meet the timeline, because what we try to do is take everything we can off of the PM’s plate, the property manager’s plate, because we want them to focus on what they do, and that is leasing and collecting. Yeah.

John Harcar (14:17.868)
property. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Okay, so you you’re managing all these folks. I mean, when you’re doing all when you’re doing all that, and you’re kind of that liaison in that middle, man, I mean, are there any kind of challenges to that? Like, I mean, are you having to, you know, I mean, are you getting like a lot of feedback on this part to really watch more on this part? I mean, how does that whole dynamic work for you?

Cyndee Miller Harding (14:42.519)
Yeah, you have to be really thick skinned to be an asset manager. I will tell you that because you’re the first one that gets thrown under the bus first and the last one to get any praise. But you know what you’re doing. And so it’s one of those things that you just have to do it. I do it for the love of it. I love seeing a complex become a community. And it’s all through the efforts of

John Harcar (14:50.798)
Right

Cyndee Miller Harding (15:08.661)
enforcing with the property management the business plan so that we’re moving forward but also being very aware of our timelines and what are we looking for what’s coming up for renewals and I feel like part of it is really knowing the demographics. I’m very focused on the residents so I want to know who lives in our community and what are their needs and how do we meet those needs so that they stay.

That is a challenge that we have. And then we have the challenge of trying to communicate that to the property management and then also getting approval from the GPs. Yeah, absolutely. But I want the property management to have one voice. I don’t want them to have conflicting information. So that’s why we really streamline it so everything runs through the asset manager.

John Harcar (15:46.67)
from the GPs. Yeah, I get that money approval.

John Harcar (15:58.051)
Yep.

John Harcar (16:02.776)
Great idea. So you said you have eight properties where you, how many, if we talked a year from today, how many properties would we be talking?

Cyndee Miller Harding (16:12.463)
hope about 12 to 15. We are really, we’re in an acquisition mode. Yeah, yeah, right now we’re in an acquisition mode. So we just closed on a property in Tyler, Texas. And we’re all over the United States. I actually live in Arizona, but we have properties in Mississippi, Texas, and Kentucky.

John Harcar (16:15.47)
Okay, so you’re almost looking to 2X your business.

John Harcar (16:25.751)
Okay.

John Harcar (16:34.456)
Beautiful. Well, our mastermind, our company is based out of Dallas. So I know we got a lot of operators there as well. What do you think before we kind of let folks know how to get in touch with you, what do you think of all this time in business, all your ups and downs, all the goods, the bads, like what are some of the things that were your true keys to success? The things that kept you kind of guided and going.

Cyndee Miller Harding (17:01.263)
First, I think in my family, because they’re just so supportive and we have this can-do mentality. So if we have a project, we just all jump in and make sure it gets done. So that helps knowing that you have that support. And then also we really focus on systems and processes. And you have to just trust the process. We know it’s a proven concept. know investing in multifamily is proven.

John Harcar (17:12.216)
Mm-hmm.

Cyndee Miller Harding (17:27.253)
and we have seen it time and time again. And yes, there are ups and downs, but if we trust the process and we keep moving forward and doing those things that are gonna give us the renewals, that are gonna give us the referrals, in the end is going to give us the returns for our investors.

John Harcar (17:44.718)
Follow the blueprint. What do they say? If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Just follow it. Don’t try to make a better wheel. If folks that are listening that maybe they might be working on some deals they want to talk to you about, maybe just something that you mentioned or said resonated with them, what’s the best way for them to be able to get in touch and connect with

Cyndee Miller Harding (17:49.761)
Exactly. Just follow it.

Cyndee Miller Harding (18:06.703)
They can go to our website, it’s High Caliber Multifamily. Just type that in and we’ll come up. And you can get on my calendar. I love talking with people to help them if they’re stuck. Like I can help you kind of see and then maybe get one more step forward and then it just releases everything. And then we also have our calendar available for Tyler who does our underwriting and acquisitions and Lorik who also does asset management. So.

We’re here to help you. There’s plenty for everyone. And we just really believe in helping people.

John Harcar (18:44.386)
Very cool. And we’ll take all that information and we’ll put it in the show notes. So that way, guys, you’ll be able to just get in touch with them immediately. Cyndee, thank you so much again for coming on here and sharing all your knowledge. Guys, I hope you enjoyed it. I know I did. And we’ll look forward to seeing you on the next one. Cyndee, thank you again.

Cyndee Miller Harding (19:03.567)
Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

John Harcar (19:05.986)
You’re so welcome. All right, guys, have a good one. Cheers.