CARROLLTON, Texas (March 1, 2010) — RealPage, Inc. (www.realpage.com), a leading provider of on-demand software and software-enabled services to the rental housing industry, today announced it is offering outsourced revenue management advisory services for property owners and managers who want to utilize revenue management, but do not want to incur the costs and staffing to support it in-house. The service is built around RealPage's popular YieldStar Price Optimizer solution, and staffed with a team of seasoned, multifamily and revenue management experts.
"At this point, most multifamily owners and operators know they need revenue management to get their pricing right and compete effectively," said Janine Steiner Jovanovic, president of YieldStar. "But many are hesitant to commit the resources necessary to support the function in-house. Some don't have enough units to justify the up-front investment and an in-house revenue management specialist. Now, they can outsource the function affordably to experts at YieldStar."
Revenue management (a more scientific approach to apartment pricing) is being aggressively adopted throughout the multifamily industry. It has proven to deliver a significant competitive advantage to properties that have embraced it, delivering a two percent to five percent revenue performance over market on a sustained basis, in up and down market conditions, on varying asset types throughout the country.
However, resources are necessary to support the shift in pricing and performance management, including training of both on-site and home-office teams, business process change management, and ongoing monitoring and adjusting to achieve maximum results from the system. On average, at least one, dedicated revenue management professional, must be added to support every 10,000 units managed. The YieldStar Revenue Advisory group allows owners and managers to outsource daily pricing and ongoing revenue oversight for any size portfolio, preventing the need to commit internal resources.
"We wanted to change the outdated methodologies that were used in setting rents at our communities. There was a need for our management providers to get on-board with revenue management and we wanted to help guide them in the right direction. Being an institutional investor that outsources management to many different fee managers, this was a complicated process and the team at YieldStar was the perfect partner for us to implement this strategy with," said Stephen Adams, senior vice president of asset management at LaSalle Investment Management.
"By outsourcing to YieldStar, we've got a team of multifamily experts handling revenue management for us, who essentially act like an extension of our team," continued Adams. "They monitor pricing and revenue performance at our sites daily, collaborate closely with each of our fee managers and provide consolidated reports to us often, so we always know what's going on across our portfolio. We didn't have to make the investment to add staff, and we get the benefit of all of YieldStar's expertise. They have a vested interest in our mutual success and they have done an excellent job serving both our needs as well as the needs of our fee managers. This initiative has lead to more rental revenue and greater confidence in our management providers during such a challenging economic cycle."
The entire press release can be found at http://www.realpage.com/company/news/press_releases.asp?id=147.