ith a rousing strain of John Sousa’s ‘Stars and Stripes Forever,’ the Athens Drive High School Band announced the start of the March 11th event

- the Grand Opening of Lake Johnson Mews’ Clubhouse. With a modernist design focusing on coziness, conversation

Grand Openings Exude Southern Comfort

“The Newsletter So Good Someone Named A Company After It”

Please visit us at www.prgrealestate.com

THE CORNERSTONEVolume 12, Issue I PRG Real Estate Management, Inc. Q4 2010/Q1 2011

Lake Johnson Mews Clubhouse

and computers (free WiFi!), the clubhouse elegantly adds to the rich Southern Comfort of this 201-unit property located right on Lake Johnson in the western part of Raleigh, North Carolina.

A hearty and hungry crowd of residents, visitors, associates and well-wishers nestled on plush couches and plump easy chairs while noshing on delectable catered goodies. Many marveled at the over-sized, granite table intended for study groups, book clubs, game nights and more. The inviting pool view, enticing lakefront with its recreational opportunities, and dimensionally-generous floor-plans garnered admiration and interest of touring guests and prospective residents. Property Manager Jay Rawls stated, “Every challenge during construction was worth waiting for since this remarkable amenity can be thoroughly enjoyed by all of our residents.” Regional Director Bunny Blake added, “It’s so appreciated by our residents and staff that PRG invested the resources to upgrade and enhance our already great property here.”

W Meanwhile, just a couple of miles to the north another fabulous PRG Clubhouse Grand Opening was getting underway at The Villages of Lake Boone Trail. While the natural lake setting and colonial architecture of Lake Johnson was always a beauty to behold, not so with the diamond in the rough Villages of Lake Boone Trail. There the transformation has been nothing short of miraculous. New vinyl siding, roofing, and paving

has transformed the property from the proverbial ugly duck to a beautiful swan. Opening of the newly remodeled clubhouse was the final step in the total transformation of the property.

PRG initially purchased Lake Johnson Mews and The Villages of Lake Boone Trail in 2009 and both properties continue to exemplify the kind of performance that keeps our investors and partners so enthusiastic. Lake Johnson Mews’ team, under the capable direction of Manager Jay Rawls, scored as a top 3 finalist in The Top Gun Award for best collections in the PRG portfolio in the 4th quarter of 2010. The Villages of Lake Boone Trail under manager Laura Roten has been a consistent performer right through the challenges of major construction. Both properties are on budget and producing the kind of returns that other companies can only look upon with envy.

Find us on Facebook

ou can’t pick up an industry trade journal or attend a meeting of apartment professionals without reading or hearing about the good times that are predicted for our industry.

While the single family home market is still stagnant and other commercial real estate sectors like office and retail are still working through the issues of too much supply and too little demand, the apartment market is poised to benefit from the improving economy and Americans’ desire to rent versus own their home.

At PRG we aren’t counting on just the economy or changing preferences for apartment living to continue our winning ways. We are counting on our 400 employees to execute our basic property management plan that is always the foundation of successful operations in our industry. And not ones to stand still, we are concluding the roll out of new improvements to our operating platform like SiteStuff, Lease Rent Options (our technology driven pricing program), PayScan, Vaultware and the YARDI Call Center this quarter to make our properties even more efficient.

To ensure we deliver consistent maintenance response to every resident at each property, we recently established

the Regional Maintenance Supervisor position to focus on timely completion of resident work orders, turn all vacated

apartments in less than 15 days and assist National Construction Manager Bob Black with property improvement projects. The team of Tony Elliott, Juan Bettancourt, Jon Milton, Chad Cook, and Jim Gantz is already having a favorable impact on our operations and results.

We are in the home stretch of getting each PRG property on the newly established YARDI Call Center to ensure we are available to all residents and prospects 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The project has the added benefit of tracking the results of our advertising so we have reliable information to make more cost effective decisions on where to place our advertising and marketing dollars. Kudos to Chief Technology Officer Dilan DeSilva for taking this idea from concept to reality over the last six months.

Whether it’s the basics of leasing, maintenance, collections and customer service

or the implementation of the latest technology that improves the effectiveness of our valued employees, the PRG team is focused on making 2011 the best year yet. And if we do get the anticipated assist from the economy, our results will only be that much better.

2011: What’s IN—What’s OUT

Y

Earn Retirement Funds Now!IN

•Lead with Purpose•LeaseRevenue

Optimization Tools (LRO)•24/7 Yardi Call Center

Agents Answer Phone•Payment Options• Inviting Enviro-scapes•Meet Budget Standards•Concentrated Marketing

with Analytics•Vaultware Auto-postings•Field Trainer Program•“It” Color: Honeysuckle•e-Letters, e-Lerts, Texts•Regional Maintenance

Experts•PRG Standards Met•Smart PRG Maintenance

Uniforms

nlike many firms today, PRG helps their employees to build individual Retirement Savings Plans! Why rely upon the government to take care of you at retirement? By depending on yourself plus a little

help from a friend, your employer, PRG employees can have money with which to retire.

PRG will match 50% of participating personnel’s first 6% of contributions to the PRG 401k Plan. That’s free money!

Every employee who is at least 21 years of age and has completed three months of full-time employment at PRG is eligible. That includes 400 PRG staff members throughout our firm who can earn up to 50% matching by PRG for every dol-lar of the first 6% contributed by each associate.

Joining the PRG 401k Plan is one of the most important deci-sions one can make.

So – what are you waiting for – a personal invitation? Here it is: Steven Berger and Jon Goodman want you to take full advantage of the PRG Associates’ 401k Plan. So, now what are you waiting for? Sign up today! Contact Alerus at (800) 795-2697.

OUT•Promises, Promises•Should we run a Special

Now?•Please Leave a Message

at the Beep•Pull out the old

Checkbook•Economy Landscaping •Property Centric with

Guesstimates•Post daily with every ILS•Sales Training Only•“It” Color: Turquoise•Only Hard Copy Texts •Un-coordinated Area

Efforts• Inconsistencies•Vendor Uniforms

U

IN: New Maintenance Look on Lexington Teams

T

S

The Raving Fan PRG Excellence Award

ony Elliott joined PRG in 2009 as Maintenance Supervisor at our largest property – 864-unit Linkhorn Bay Apartments, considered by many to be the flagship of the company’s

portfolio. Since Tony’s arrival, every measurement of maintenance effectiveness and service has improved including open work orders, quality and quantity of ready apartments, budget compliance, property curb appeal and employee turnover. Tony diligently responds to every request, whether from a resident, colleague or third party contractor, and ensures that every project is followed through to satisfactory completion. Tony was recently selected as the Regional Maintenance Supervisor for Virginia with his positive impact already felt at the other properties where he assists. We are thrilled to have Tony as part of our PRG team!

uzanne Maddie joined PRG as an Manager In Training (M.I.T.) in January 2009 and was promoted to Property Manager at Treetop Apartments in April 2010.

Since leading the property, Treetop has steadily progressed to become one of the top performing properties in PRG. Occupancy today is over 97% at Treetop. Plus Suzanne is a leader in the Show Me the Money competition in 2011 with an impressive 25% Net Operating Income increase compared to the same period in 2010. Yet her most extraordinary results are in collections. Suzanne consistently improved delinquency from over 9% in May of 2010 to less than 3% in February 2011.

Suzanne works closely with her entire team to deliver outstanding service to her residents and prospects alike. Their results under Suzanne’s capable leadership are evident in the financial success of the property. We are grateful for and impressed by Suzanne’s continued dedication and exemplary professional performance.

n a PRG first, the entire team at Glendare Park earned the Raving Fan Award for the first quarter of 2011. The Raving Fan Award is usually given to an individual who

has gone above and beyond to satisfy an internal or external customer. However, the entire Glendare team was presented the award based on a letter written by a couple who has resided at the property for over 12 years and watched the property blossom under PRG’s ownership. The residents were somewhat con-cerned with rumors of what would change under new owner-ship. They have been nothing but impressed with the improve-ments in the physical asset and the transformation of the office and maintenance staff into true customer service ambassadors. Angie Cooke, Property Manager, and Chad Cook, North Caro-lina Regional Maintenance Supervisor, lead the PRG team at Glendare and are doing an excellent job! Congratulations Team Glendare for your stellar service and as the first staff to win this prestigious quarterly award.

I

ancaster Arms Apartments, PRG's 74-unit Section 8 property in Lancaster, PA was awarded the 2010 Excel-lence in Management Award by Pennsylvania Housing

Finance Agency (PHFA) for its overall excellent performance as a provider of affordable housing in Pennsylvania. The property was presented this award for receiving superior scores and excellent inspection results from the audits and inspections conducted by PHFA last quarter. Lancaster Arms is the only Section 8 property in PRG’s portfolio.

This award-winning team is led by Property Manager Betty Hurdle with Senior Management provided by Meschelle Sensenig-Roten. Attentive, responsive customer service and at-tention to details are provided by Maintenance Supervisor Jose Alvelo, Maintenance Assistant Jerry Wright and Administrative Assistant Donna Harnish.

Congratulations on this distinguished award and thank you for your exemplary efforts, Betty!

L

PRG Excellence Award

PHFA Award

OctoberRenee Herbert finished strong in October with an impressive 27 approved applications for the month at Coquina Bay!

1. Renee Herbert Coquina Bay 272. Louis Cabrera The Palms 173. Anna Wyatt Bavaria 16

NovemberDonna Harttree at Tiffany Square and Renee Herbert at Coquina Bay each had 16 approved applications in Novem-ber! Only one application behind, Brittani Patterson had 15 approvals at Woodcreek. 1. Donna Harttree Tiffany Square 161. Renee Herbert Coquina Bay 162. Brittani Patterson Woodcreek 15

DecemberAshley Carroll at Lancaster Green had the most approved applications in December!

1. Ashley Carroll Lancaster Green 142. Louis Cabrera The Palms 123. Crystal Whitten Willow Ridge 11

JanuaryToccara Daniel tops the list in January with 17 approved ap-plications at Hyde Park. Great work increasing occupancy!

1. Toccara Daniel Hyde Park 172. Bridget Ballinger Park Ridge 142. Jon McClintock The Palms 14

FebruaryJayme Presley had a huge finish in February, by far the number one spot with 27 approved applications.

1. Jayme Presley Linkhorn Bay 272. Matt McClintock Villas/Palms 173. Samantha Burnham Linkhorn Bay 16

MarchJayme Presley tops the list for the 2nd month in a row – 28 ap-proved applications! Anna Wyatt at Bavaria had 24 approved applications and Samantha at Linkhorn had 17 approvals.

1. Jayme Presley Linkhorn Bay 282. Anna Wyatt Bavaria 243. Samantha Burnham Linkhorn Bay 17

Revenue Management Embraced

YARDI Call Center says “Hello”

RG is rolling out a financially-savvy portfolio initiative: Lease Rent Options (LRO), a revenue management sys-tem hosted by the Rainmaker Group. Similar to pricing

models used in the airline and hotel industry, revenue manage-ment in the multi-family industry sets rents on a daily basis for each apartment based on current availability and demand, historical occupancy, leasing patterns and market conditions.

Daily pricing changes enable our communities’ rents to stay ahead of the market in anticipation of future market and prop-erty changes. LRO generates rents that maximize revenue to produce the optimal balance between occupancy and rent. This consistent, unemotional, statistically-driven approach to rent pricing has yielded 1-4% incremental rent growth for other multi-family users. Further, the LRO system provides flexible lease terms to match a resident’s desired stay while optimizing lease terms to smooth out renewals so not all are grouped in one season. Results of our 6-month pilot showed that rental revenue at the PRG test properties using LRO collectively increased 1.6% in comparison to the PRG control properties that set pricing independently. 4 out of 5 test properties out-performed control properties. So, PRG launched LRO portfolio wide with all properties live by April 1.

“IreallylikethatLROtakestheday-to-daystressawayoffiguringoutpricing.LROmakessurethatwearefair,firmandconsistentwithallprospects and residents.” Laura King, Woodcreek Manager

“I like how LRO’s pricing structure keeps us competitive with our local market. The weekly market survey updates allow LRO to adjust our prices accordingly, keeping us a step ahead. ” Chris Umbaugh, Carolina Woods Manager

RG properties are now open for business every day, around the clock! How? Yardi Call Center’s team of professionally trained multifamily real estate experts

now serve as an extension of our leasing and management of-fice 24/7/365. These friendly Agents answer every leasing and service request call while documenting all information directly into each property’s Yardi database account.

Since our Yardi Call Center agents work with immediate access to our resident and property information, including real-time unit availability and pricing, they collect and enter prospect information, create guest cards, set appointments, determine marketing sources, write maintenance request details, and will eventually access resident payment informa-tion. PRG’s unique best practices and procedures are followed and upheld in every interaction. Residents and prospects alike get personalized telephone service and no longer get placed on hold or asked to leave a message at the beep! Yardi Call Center analytic reporting allows us to know the number of leases generated from each marketing source, the breakdown of qualified and unqualified prospect calls by mar-keting source, and the total call volume into each community. Through this information, our cost per lease can be analyzed and funds re-directed to the most effective marketing vehicles.Business is booming and blooming with the assistance of our Yardi Call Center partners.

P P

Top Gun Collections “The Titanium Tool Belt” October

The Titanium Tool Belt Award goes to Chinoe Creek, The Corners, and Governor’s Ridge in October. Nice work preparing all vacant apartments for occupancy!

Chinoe Creek Lester StormsThe Corners Dave EubanksGovernor’s Ridge Edward Winzek

NovemberTopping the list this month with the most ready apartments compared to vacant apartments, Governor’s Ridge, Chinoe Creek and Glendare Park take the prize!

Governor’s Ridge Edward WinzekChinoe Creek Lester StormsGlendare Park Chad Cook

DecemberThe winners of the December Titanium Tool Belt are Lester Storms, Chad Cook, and Craig Richards! Each maintenance team had ALL vacant apartments ready within PRG’s required turnaround time of 30 days. Chinoe Creek Lester StormsGlendare Park Chad CookCarolina Woods Craig Richards

JanuaryIn January, Park Ridge completed the most ready apartments under the direction of maintenance supervisor Ronnie Murdock. Nice job, Ronnie, Ed and Donnie – thanks!

Park Ridge Ronnie MurdockGovernor’s Ridge Edward WinzekRiver Oak Donald Cook

FebruaryEd Winzek is at the top of the list for the 2nd month in a row with all vacant apartments ready to lease. Also accomplishing the PRG standard on all vacants are Chad Cook and Jim Gantz.

Governor’s Ridge Edward WinzekGlendare Park Chad CookLancaster Green Jim Gantz

MarchCascades tops the list this month under the direction of Kenny Griffin – great job! Hampton Chase, led by Tim Dickinson, is also at the top of the list this month. And Lester Storms at Chinoe Creek makes the list for yet another month!

Cascades Kenny GriffinHampton Chase Tim DickinsonChinoe Creek Lester Storms

OctoberCascades Apartments takes the top spot in collections this month with almost every dollar collected. Close behind, Chi-noe Creek finished with 0.49% and Lake Johnson with 0.64% delinquency.

Brandy Schultheis Cascades 0.10% Rachel Baptiste Chinoe Creek 0.49% Jay Rawls Lake Johnson 0.64%

NovemberBrandy Schultheis collected every penny of rent this month at Cascades! Great finish! Jay Rawls had an almost perfect month, with only 0.04% of charges outstanding. Rounding out the top three, Danielle finished with 0.38% delinquency at River Oak.

Brandy Schultheis Cascades 0.00%Jay Rawls Lake Johnson 0.04% Danielle Porche River Oak 0.38%

DecemberBrandy Schultheis at Cascades Apartments ended the month of December with the lowest delinquency in the portfolio; only 0.03% of charges were outstanding for the month! Wow! Brandy Schultheis Cascades 0.03%Jay Rawls Lake Johnson 0.35%Rachel Baptiste Chinoe Creek 0.44%

JanuaryBrandy Schultheis at Cascades finished in the number one spot once again with 0.01% delinquency! Tammy Hebel has reduced delinquency each month, ending in January with only 0.15% of charges outstanding.

Brandy Schultheis Cascades 0.01%Tammy Hebel Huntington 0.08% Rachel Baptiste Chinoe Creek 0.23%

FebruaryHilton Village takes the number one spot this month at 0.31%; Cyndi has reduced delinquency 8% since December!

Cyndi Minsterman Hilton Village 0.31%Sandra Arriaga Banyan Grove 0.36%Rachel Baptiste Chinoe Creek 0.43%

MarchOur top three properties in March all had less than 0.5% of rent outstanding for the month. In his first month as manager, Alex reduced Tates Creek delinquency to 0.30%. Tammy Hebel Huntington 0.19%Alex Becker Tates Creek 0.30%Sandra Arriaga Banyan Grove 0.32%

PRG HONOR ROLLShow Me The Money! Q4 Variance 1. Hollie Robinson Linkhorn Bay $132,0832. Sarah Bower Staples Mill $46,158 3. Danielle Porche River Oak $15,796

Linkhorn Bay Apartments, the 864-unit property in Virginia Beach, performed well above budget all year. Under the direction of manager Hollie Robinson and maintenance supervisor Tony Elliot, the property beat 4th quarter budget by $132,083. Excellent job, Team Link-horn!

Staples Mill, the 437-unit property in Richmond, also beat their budget this quarter. Effective rent increased almost 3% in the 4th quarter. Revenue growth combined with excellent expense control enabled the property to exceed budget by more than $46,000.

268-unit River Oak located in Louisville rounds out the top three, beating quarterly budget by almost $16,000. Occupancy remained strong in the 4th quarter, averaging 97.5%. Enduring occupancy combined with increasing rents positions River Oak for a successful start in 2011.

Show Me The Money! Q1 Variance 1. Nayeli Lozada Park Ridge $49,7852. Amy Cain Whispering Pines $42,1573. Chris Hirth Hyde Park $38,316

Park Ridge Estates, the 308-unit property in Durham, North Carolina, is the leader in our Show Me the Money for the 1st quarter of 2011. Under the direction of man-ager Nayeli Lozada and maintenance supervisor Ronnie Murdock, the property beat the 1st quarter budget by $49,785 and have increased net operating income 26% from the 1st quarter of 2010. It’s going to be a great year for Park Ridge.

Whispering Pines, the 376-unit property located in Co-lumbus, Ohio, beat 1st quarter budget by an impressive $42,157. Amy Cain has positioned the property for a suc-cessful year, achieving 2% effective rent increases from the prior quarter and improving NOI 35% from this same time last year.

Hyde Park rounds out the top three, beating 1st quarter budget by $38,316. Chris Hirth is off to an excellent start at this 262-unit property in Chester, VA.

Congratulations Meschelle!

Welcome Stormy!

RG is very pleased to announce the promotion of Meschelle Sensenig-Roten to Regional Director

of South Carolina and Eastern Pennsylvania. Meschelle has been with PRG since 2004. In addition to her years of successful oversight of the Villages of Lancaster Green and Lancaster Arms, she has played pivotal roles in her capacity as National Construction Administrator and author of the Policies & Procedures manual. In her new role, Meschelle is responsible for the regional oversight of all five South Carolina properties while continuing to oversee the two Lancaster, PA assets.

Meschelle, a graduate of Goldey-Beacom College in Wilmington, DE, holds degrees in Accounting and Com-puter Science. She possesses several industry designa-tions and expects to complete her CPM soon.

tormy Mayersky joined PRG in Philadelphia as the Digital Marketing Manager. Under the direction of Dilan DeSilva, Chief Technology Officer, Stormy will

work to bring PRG to the forefront of the digital age, improving com-munications and overall presence of PRG’s communities online.

Stormy graduated cum laude from Temple University in Philadelphia with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Marketing. She was most recently employed with a printing company as a Brand Manager where she focused mainly on e-marketing, including search engine optimization and social media. She pioneered the movement into blogging and mobile marketing, propelling the firm into the first pages of Google.

P

S

Meschelle Sensenig-RotenRegional Director SC/E. PA