A Better way to Lead with Jared Miller

In this interview, Patrick Antrim, CEO of Multifamily Leadership shares time with Jared Miller who is a Managing Director, Asset Manager & Operations leader for Homestead Development Partners.

Jared started Homestead Development Partners with his partners in 2015 and is capitalizing on his 20 years of apartment management experience. He’s a regular speaker at industry conferences and has a core belief that there is a better way to create a leading company, do business and deliver exceptional products to the market.

On the show, we discuss:

• Discuss the role of a Managing Director in Multifamily. Looking at activities through the owners perspective.
• Jared shares the value of his onsite experience and other roles in operation.
• Homestead Development Partners projects and what their working on
• The Helix brand discussion. Urban and high end properties. Developing the brand by spending time in the local market, conversations and focus groups with students. Don’t develop a brand up front and expect for it to live and thrive over time. It needs to evolve with the community.
• Each local community is unique. Look at the market and allow the market to help dictate the direction of the brand = their Archive brand a result of listening and responding to community values and essence.
• Lease up as a start up. Understand the bigger picture of the brand and determine who will be part of that experience.
• Locally developing the brand locally and allowing it to evolve. Same approach from staffing perspective. Team needs to understand what brand stands for.

The true brand differentiator is the people that back up the brand.

• Multifamily experience is mostly trial and error. People that can explain the how’s and why’s will help people to understand the culture and develop talent.
• Culture needs to come from the top and care about each person.

What Jared looks for when hiring a Multifamily Property Management Company

• A structured RFP (Request for Proposal) process. Find the right management company for the specific property and market based on what you are trying to deliver.
• Spend time to develop the RFP, go through the responses and then get to a face to face meeting.

When the pressure is on, how you maintain the commitment to culture

• Senior housing can feel like a lease up every year. Intensity of tracking results with constant pressure points. Make sure to regularly reward and recognize onsite teams. Help the onsite teams with ideas to keep the ball rolling. Spend time with the onsite teams individually. Onsite teams are looking for more and would like to learn about career paths. This is a good investment of a top leaders time and you can discover some creative ideas and maybe even innovation.
• Get out in front of the business and set the teams up for success.

How to recruit and attract leaders

• Choose a Multifamily Management company that has a good track record for finding talent.
• The owner needs to set the tone and be realistic what it will cost. Don’t just assume old assumptions by previous management companies.
• Comparison to the Automotive Industry on importance to focus on the internal strategies of your company.

On-boarding employees in a growing company

• Owners need to be involved and play a part of what the vision is for the company, property and brand.
• As Owners, stay involved throughout the employee experience.
• Disney training is a great hospitality experience
• Hiring fairs – 4-5 minute interviews following a customer service, product, brand presentation that allows you to watch and observe strengths. Advertise a few weeks in advance and give specifics. 30 minute introduction followed by interview.
• People want to work on winning teams

What to look for in a leader

• For student housing you need . a strong personality. Empathetic, caring and maybe even a student mentor that can be assertive to set things right. Must be hospitality minded. Leading hospitality organizations should be emulated.

Millennial

• Challenge your assumptions about Millennials. Listen and let people feel valued. Sometimes they approach work differently.
• Sometimes we need to check with the source before operating from data assumptions. Specifically about Millenial employees.
• People do have different expectations.
• If you help guide people in the right direction, they should be happy.

Jared’s key to success

• Fortunate to learn from the best in the business. Leveraged amazing people that helped guide Jared.
• Lane Company provided an opportunity and the Regional Vice President gave him a chance.
• Pay attention to the best companies. Pick what is great and build on it.
• Listen to all the information that is coming at you and get clear on what matters. Focus on the information that matters.

Multifamily Opportunities

• Investment perspective: Challenging to cut thorough the assumptions. Dig in and find the rare opportunities someone is not looking at in the right way.
• Construction cost forces us to be very cautious of where we build.
• Look for what’s right for your investors

Culture and how it creates yield for investors

• Multiple factors to the total cost of employees. What are the opportunity cost by not having the right person?
• Different challenges at each position
• Simple math on employee turnover and the impact to value.

How to take your career to the next level

• Make sure you are in the right place.
• You should feel value and have the opportunity to grow. Now or maybe down the road.
• Find the people that will listen, give sound advice, be your advocate and help you navigate the challenges you will face in your career.

How Jared used accountability to fast track his career

• Been fortunate to grow with few companies. Carefully positioned himself and found people that could help and guide with good feedback.
• Always look for ways to add value, fix problems.
• The Multifamily Industry can sometimes feel “clicky” We focus on the talent that’s been around and everyone knows versus the young person coming into the industry.
• Embrace people and their perspective of where they are in their career.
• Part time leasing in college can be a powerful tool to introduce people to the industry.
• Make the connection that people are working for real people in the investment process.
• Look at the big picture.
• People are your investment and without the people, we don’t have corporations.
• Take the time to communicate. It doesn’t cost money and will keep people engaged in your company.

Final thoughts from Jared Miller

• A leader in Multifamily. Take the time to reflect on how you arrived where you are. See who you can help along the way.
• Big talent gap, help mentor to fill that gap.

CONNECT with Jared Miller

Homestead Development Partners

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