MFE Leadership Summit: Content Takeaways

For my own purposes I wanted to record some of the key points that were made at the 2008 MFE Leadership Summit. This is merely a summary of my notes and not in any way meant to be comprehensive. The editors of MFE will prepare a more formal recap in an upcoming edition of MFE. Please feel free to chime in with other points.

Equity Panel (Steve Lefkovits, Ann Ossewaarde, Scott Anderson, Charles Wu)

* Real value comes from good management.

* Multifamily is well positioned to hold up in the economic downturn

* Cheap money that didn't understand the market will get hurt badly

* Don't underestimate the influence of the foreign buyer - many of these deals are not highly leveraged and the decline in property values will not have a major impact.

Leadership Panel (Shabnam Mogharabi, Christy Freeland, Jeff Goldberg and Tom Toomey)

* Many of the professional managers are focused on driving revenue and not as obsessed with cost.

* In tough times/markets we should be ramping up marketing efforts instead of cutting back.

* Now is the time to push rent growth in your best properties. Renters left apartments to pursue home ownership and are now coming back with no where left to go.

Other Panel Takeaways (Technology, Green, Affordable & Accessible)

* Immigration policies need to address the realities that many markets and local economies will be facing in the coming years. We need to seek reform that is fair to both American Citizens and those who are here contributing to our economy without documentation.

* Workforce housing is an issue that we must constantly keep on the agenda both nationally and locally.

* Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be stabilizing forces in multifamily housing that will counter the departure of CMBS sources

* The fundamentals of single family housing and multifamily must be considered independently with regards to investment. The multifamily rental market remains the beneficiary of strong demographic trends and has not experienced a spike in supply.