Scheduling

• Pop Quiz: Q&A With Freddie Mac's Mike May

  Apartment Finance Today recently sat down with Freddie Mac's Mike May to get his perspective on the competitive landscape, both against chief rival Fannie Mae and the private sector, as well as the company's plans for 2011.

   
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  Use Excel to Budget Next Year's Project Mix (Subscriber content)

  Take some pain out of the yearly exercise of creating your jobs budget

   
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  Temporary Fix

  THE PAST FEW YEARS haven't been great for apartment owners. Turns out corporate housing companies have had it just as bad.

   
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  Using the NAHB Chart of Accounts to Organize Your Business Finances (Subscriber content)

  Here's an effective way to organize and categorize expenses and job-cost data and compare the results with your forecasts.

   

• Michael Berman: CWCapital to Grow Platform, Enact 'Whole New Vision'

  In a wide-ranging interview, Michael Berman, president and CEO of CWCapital, discusses his company's acquisition by Fortress Investment Group, the state of the multifamily market, and his work in helping to shape our nation's future housing finance system as chairman-elect of the Mortgage Bankers...

   
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  How a Remodeler Survived the Housing Bust (Subscriber content)

  Unlearning bad habits picked up during the boom years is the first step to recovery.

   
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  Jacks of All Trades

  OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, many multifamily CFOs added a new, albeit unfortunate, bullet point to their resumes: “loan workout specialist.” Some could probably also add: “crisis management expert.

   

• Capture Rate

  TO PARAPHRASE AN OLD QUESTION: If prospective residents call and nobody hears them, do they still make a sound?

   

• Multifamily Developers Make Moves to Round Out Their Business Models

  Throughout the recession, many multifamily builders diversified to survive, positioning themselves for long-term stability.

   
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  Strategic Budgeting and Your Break-Even Volume (Subscriber content)

  Take a look at your “break-even volume,” which is the bare-minimum volume of work that you need to complete (and get paid for) in order to keep your doors open.

   
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  Relaxed & Scrutinized

  A QUIRKY DYNAMIC IS AT play at the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs)—borrower scrutiny is at an alltime high, even as credit conditions begin to loosen.

   
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  Pop Quiz: Q&A With Tom Gleason, Executive Director of MassHousing

  Tom Gleason has spent his career working in affordable housing lending and community development finance.

   

• Budgeting and Forecasting Software Gains Traction

  While changing a key business process can be disruptive, sometimes the cost of staying the same gets prohibitive.

   
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  The Long and Short of It

  THESE DAYS, THE SMALL-BALANCE loan marketplace seems to be divided into two types of executions: long-term loans from Fannie Mae and short-term loans from banks. And their terms couldn't be more different.

   
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  Putting Social Media to Work for a Construction Business

  Putting social media to work

   

• Freddie Mac Plans More Emphasis on Multifamily

  Freddie Mac's CEO Ed Haldeman says "we want to bring more emphasis to the multifamily business," as the company revamps internal systems and seeks to close the competitive gap with Fannie Mae.

   
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  Above the Line or Below the Line? (Subscriber content)

  In recent years I’ve spent a lot of time speaking to and consulting with builders and remodelers, big and small, and I’ve noted that there’s often confusion about what types of costs go where on a financial statement.

   

• JLC Report

  Uncertainty abounds as lead-safe remodeling deadline nears; Haiti says no thanks to formaldehyde trailers; U.S. glassmakers lose out to Chinese company; more

   
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  Recession Lessons

  The Great Recession has claimed among its victims some of the industry's largest owners and developers.

   

• Developers Diversify to Stay Recession-Proof

  Some developers are surviving, and even thriving, in today's market by re-engineering thier business plans and turning thier focus to recession-resistant sectors such as the receivership business, student housing, and historic renovations. The overriding trend is to diversify.