“The newsletter so good...somebody named a yacht after it!”
MERION
REALTY MANAGEMENT, LLC
Intrepid
Volume 2, Issue 3 • October, 2010
Deep in the Heart An Address You’d Be
of Houston! Proud to Call Home!
A T
nd just like that, on October 1st Merion’s portfolio grew by another he sign at the front door said “2350 Bagby
1,162 units with an expansion into Houston that added two more Street.” And before we even entered, we knew
properties to our portfolio. The addition of the 792 unit Brompton that most folks would be proud to call it home!
Court and the 370 unit Reserve at Fountain Lake increases the Merion port-
The property is named “Metro Midtown.” It’s a 419
folio to 31 properties, 8,144 units, 8 states and 250 employees! Not bad for
unit beauty which was built in 1998, and the burnt or-
our first 18 months of existence!
ange and pale green with white accented exterior can
The addition of assets in Houston is just outstanding, and as a result we have only be described with one word: “hot!” The property
assigned responsibility for managing them to two outstanding managers. is situated in the Mid-town section of Houston, and it
The properties will fall into the Southern region overseen by our Southern is an area which has undergone impressive gentrifica-
Regional Vice President, Pamela Penny. And relocating to the city will be tion. Surrounded by shopping as well as outdoor eat-
Sr. Property Manager Summer Davis, who will directly manage Brompton eries, there is no doubt in your mind that lots of people
and will supervise activities at all assets in Houston on a day to day basis. will want to live here!
Summer comes to Merion with a wealth of experience. She has been in the
industry for eight years, and was previously employed at a privately held in- And so, on November 1st, Merion will grow once
vestment company where she had direct responsibility for seven assets and again! We will be adding asset #32, for those of you
for the entire state of Florida. And as if that is not enough, she is a long time still counting, thereby raising our total unit count to
colleague of both Bob Dominy and Pamela Penny. 8,563 and assigning it to Ashley Rowland, she of 62.8%
NOI increase at Heights at Skyland fame!
Both communities are considered “A” assets that anyone would be proud
to own. Brompton Court is situated in Houston’s famed Medical Center,
and in addition to economic advantages it is an attractive part of town. The
community features five sparkling swimming pools, a state of the art fitness
center and substantial covered parking. The property boasts 12 spacious
floor plans which range from 631 to 2,045 square feet! Brompton also has
its own shuttle bus system, is close to MetroRail, and if its proximity to the
Medical Center was not enough, it is also near Rice University.
On October 1st we also took over management of the Reserve at Fountain
Lake, which is located outside the Sam Houston Tollway, and just off route 59
in Stafford. We’re extremely pleased
that Troy Wilson will be joining Me-
rion to continue to manage The Re-
serve. This is a beautiful apartment
community which features a spar-
kling swimming pool with wifi ac- Metro Midtown
cess! It is also conveniently situated
within walking distance to shopping The community itself is surrounded by well mani-
and restaurants. cured landscaping, black aluminum fencing, and fea-
tures two alluring swimming pools with wi-fi access!
We’re also pleased that our prede- It also has a new cardio life center, a heated spa, a dry
cessor, Rockwell Management, has sauna, and the Metro Café with Starbucks coffee bar!
done such a fine job managing the Rents presently range from $1,085 to $1,955, so you
assets and is turning over to us two can tell that this is one desirable place to live!
communities that have performed
well as investments over the years. Metro Midtown is a trophy asset, and we could not be
It will now be our job to do what we more pleased to be turning it over to the very capable
have consistently done in the past, hands of Pamela, Summer and Ashley who intend to
and that is to take them to heights do to this valuation what they have done to so many
The Reserve previously not seen! v investments before! v
A few words from our president!
RMD:
“Let’s Bring a Little Swagger!”
I
t was a cool, crisp autumn day. It was just the kind of day that made you think
about one thing: football! And it was late in the fourth quarter. “Coach!” It was
my star quarterback calling out my name. I could tell by the tone of his voice
that something was different this time. The seconds which remained were few. The
score was close. The opposition was tough. And it was a new field that we were
playing on. I called “time out” and motioned for the team to join me on the sideline
for some intense instruction and a last minute pep talk. As the team hustled off the
Our President & CEO field, I recall thinking to myself, “what will I say…what will we do?”
Robert Dominy The few moments that it took them to assemble felt like an eternity. But in that pe-
riod of time, I began to think about this team, and compared it to my teams over the
years at a variety of employers, and especially the team at Merion.
Over the years, there had been many a tense moment, when the task at hand seemed
insurmountable. Everyone, from lenders to servicers to asset managers, says that
Here at Merion, “this time will be different. This time it will be more difficult than you have experi-
enced in the past.” But how different, and how much more difficult could it possibly
when you put be? At the time that I left General Investment in the early 90’s, we were producing
67% of the profits with 40% of the assets with a portfolio in New England, New
York and Pennsylvania. In 1995, our team at the 10,000 unit Mid-Atlantic region
it all together, within Winthrop Financial realized a 15.5% same store NOI increase in our first full
year of operations. In 1996, at GDC Properties we had a 10.6% NOI increase at our
you have a team East Coast portfolio, and then followed that up with a 14.1% increase in 1997. At
PRG, we had a 25.4% same store NOI increase at our Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern
which is not only portfolio. And here at Merion, with lots of help from the greatest field management
team ever assembled, our same store NOI has increased by 9.1% despite a dreadful
of high quality, economy. But the thing I thought to myself while the group assembled was this: no
matter how much more different, no matter how much more difficult anyone thinks
it can be, WE HAVE NEVER NOT DONE IT!!!
but also one How has so much been accomplished this time around? Let’s take a look at a few
examples. In Sarasota, at the Class “A” Tuscany Apartments, Lindsay Savage Sink
which is totally has achieved a $312K favorable variance and a 28.9% increase to NOI. And the most
important factor in this accomplishment is that it has been achieved as a result of
confident that it Lindsay’s outstanding recruitment and training of personnel. With Class “A” assets,
success begins and ends with the performance of the person at the point of the sale!
will win. In Tuscaloosa, Ashley Rowland has racked up a sensational 62.8% increase to NOI!
How many communities in the nation have done that? And one of the ways that she
has accomplished this was by becoming the ancillary income queen of the world! At
Morrowfield in Pittsburgh, Rochelle Levine has generated a 34.9% increase to her
NOI. How did she do this? Well, a 99.4% occupancy rate and a zero delinquency
rate just might have something to do with it! And what do these markets have to
do with one another? Come to think of it, these assets in Sarasota, Pittsburgh and
Tuscaloosa have only one thing in common, and that is that they are communities
managed by Merion!
Here at Merion, when you put it all together, you have a team which is not only of
high quality, but also one which is totally confident that it will win. This group re-
minds me of the Florida State Seminoles of the nineties, which finished in the top
five 14 consecutive years, and of which announcers would say, “they bring a little
swagger to the field!”
So I called my team into a huddle, and surveyed so many pairs of nervous eyes peering
up at me, their coach, like they were waiting for divine intervention. “Guys,” I said em-
phatically, “let’s bring a little swagger to the field!” And with those words of admon-
ishment, the Moorestown six year old flag football team dashed back onto the field,
and proceeded to roar into the end zone in the closing seconds to win yet again! v
2 • Intrepid • October 2010
Enhancing Financial Performance
I
t’s not often that a compa- a perfect choice for her! Erin she facilitated and led long/ Merion at this time engaged a
ny has an opportunity to graduated in December of short term strategies to man- search firm to find a chief fi-
hire a talented CFO who is 2000 with a B.S. in Account- age client finances to achieve nancial officer, and the rest is
seasoned not only accounting ing, and was immediately business goals and to maxi- history!
but who also served as a COO. hired by Andersen, LLP as a mize profitability. Erin accepted the position be-
And when you find one who staff auditor. She stayed there Erin had a number of out- cause she was intrigued with
not only brings those capabili- for a year and a half before standing achievements while the opportunity to get in on
ties but is also personable and moving on American Eagle at Brunner, but after a four and the ground floor with a young,
works as well with the field as Outfitters, Inc., as an accoun- a half year stay was recruited rapidly growing company
does Erin M. Buehner, CPA, tant. away by a client for a second such as Merion. She also was
you hire her quickly! That was a busy time in Erin’s time when she accepted the pleased that, in addition to the
Erin is a native of Pittsburgh, life, and in addition to her position of Chief Operating usual responsibilities of her
but when it came time to go work she also prepared for the Officer at Brady Communi- position, she would also have
off to college, Penn State was CPA exam. This she passed cations. While at Brady she the opportunity to become
successfully in April of 2003, was responsible for extensive deeply involved in acquisi-
and that led to a new position streamlining in the reporting tions, and have the chance to
as Senior Auditor at Deloitte structure, and also managed become involved with the so-
& Touche. all outside accountants. licitation of equity as well!
After a brief stint as an execu- But as luck would have it from But the feeling most definitely is
tive recruiter, Erin began to Merion’s perspective, Erin’s mutual! It would be hard to be
demonstrate a nasty habit for next move would be motivated more pleased than we are with
being recruited away by cli- by love! And once she became the way that Erin has fit into
ents! In March of 2005, she engaged to someone planning this organization. And judging
was hired away by Brunner, to open a dental practice in by the reaction from the field
where she assumed the posi- Philadelphia, she began in- after our recent conference in
tion of Director of Client Fi- terviewing with firms in the Annapolis, they are every bit as
Erin M. Buehner immediate area. Fortunately,
nance. Reporting to the CEO, pleased as we are! v
More Money Than They Bargained For
T
here is a multitude of just outside Birmingham last So while we will be sorry to Many thanks to Southern Re-
lenders across the real April, expectations were not see Cardiff move out of the gional Vice President Pamela
estate landscape these especially high. Merion portfolio some time in Penny, Sr. Property Manager
days involved in foreclos- late October, we have already Courtney Gammon, and to
It did not take long however to
ing upon properties. In most been advised that we will be Daniel Orr himself for a job
become acquainted with the
cases, when they select a man- getting back a larger property extraordinarily well done! v
Merion magic in managing
agement company, the most some time in November!
turnaround assets. Under the
that they expect is for that
direction of property manager
company to responsibly keep
Daniel Orr, the property beat
the wheels of administration
its budget by $35,992 in April,
turning until a disposition can
$27,089 in May, and $24,996
occur. However, when they
in June. Those are pretty sub-
hire Merion, they just might
stantial numbers at a 140 unit
get a lot more money at the
property!
time of disposition than they
bargained for! Through September, Cardiff
exceeded its budget by over
Since early in 2010, Merion $15K in net rental revenue, by
has been the management $33K in ancillary income, by
company of choice of a par- over $10K in Administrative
ticular lender whose name Expense, and by more than
we will not mention. And so
$14K in our favorite area to
when we assumed the reins cut, Contract Repairs!
of the 140 units Cardiff Cove
Intrepid • October 2010 • 3
The Dream Team
Pamela Penny,
Southern Regional Vice President
Pamela joined Merion in March, 2009 as Southern Regional Vice President. Ms. Pen-
ny is a 2002 graduate of the University of Tennessee, where she received her degree in
Communications.
Pamela joined a private real estate investment company in 2002 as a Manager In
Training. She rose rapidly through the ranks of field management, finally becoming
a Sr. Property Manager over three South Carolina communities in September, 2004.
She was eventually promoted to the position of Regional Director of the Carolinas in
the summer of 2006. She became Regional Vice President in February of 2008, and
had full P&L responsibility for 19 assets throughout the South.
She has a reputation as an exceptional recruiter and a very strong trainer. Her prop-
erties over the years have consistently demonstrated superior financial performance.
She now directs 21 of Merion’s 31 assets.
Chris Keeling,
Sr. Property Manager
Chris is a 2007 graduate of Appalachian State University, where he obtained a B.A. in
Public Relations and Advertising. Prior to joining Merion, Chris directed operations
at five communities consisting of 1,800 units situated in Virginia.
Chris is now based in Raleigh and is responsible for six assets, including one in Atlanta
and three in Macon. Under his direction, the 312 unit Ashley Vista outside Atlanta is
a staggering $127K ahead of budget, with an impressive 15.2% increase to NOI. Chris
is an accomplished college recruiter, and his many trips have helped him to gain a
reputation as a road warrior.
Courtney Gammon,
Sr. Property Manager
Having grown up in North Carolina, Courtney is a graduate of North Carolina State
University, where she obtained her B.A. in Business Management, with a concentra-
tion in Finance. Prior to joining Merion, Courtney had entered the field of property
management, and swiftly rose up the ranks to become a Sr. Property Manager over four
properties.
Upon joining Merion, Courtney established her base in Nashville, and is now responsi-
ble for directing operations at seven communities. Her area of operations includes all of
Tennessee as well as Birmingham, AL. Known as a very thorough professional, Court-
ney merits high marks for the manner in which she has driven Stonebridge in Memphis
to superior performance. Few others could have achieved the 21.2% NOI increase or the
$97K positive variance which she has been responsible for. As a result of her substantial
capabilities, she has been given many of Merion’s toughest assignments.
Danielle Henry,
Sr. Property Manager
Danielle is a graduate of the University of W. Florida with a B.A. in Psychology. Hav-
ing begun her career originally with Lane in 2001, Danielle was working for Sawyer
Realty Holdings as a single site property manager before Merion acquired manage-
ment of the portfolio. Danielle now directly manages Kings Mill in Pensacola, while
supervising three additional assets.
4 • Intrepid • October 2010
Lindsay Savage Sink,
Sr. Property Manager, National Training Director
Lindsay is a North Carolina native and graduated from North Carolina State Univer-
sity. Prior to joining Merion, she had worked in property management as a property
manager, a marketing director and as a training leader.
At Merion, Lindsay serves as Sr. Property Manager for investments situated in the
Tampa to Sarasota metropolitan areas. Her effectiveness as a line manager can be seen
in the performance of Tuscany where she has achieved a $312K positive variance, and
a 28.9% increase to NOI. However, Lindsay does so much more for our organization!
She is a terrific recruiter, a fabulous trainer, and does an outstanding job hosting our
many national seminars.
Summer Davis,
Sr. Property Manager
Summer only recently joined Merion, but she has a wealth of experience in the indus-
try. Summer is a graduate of UCF in Orlando, and prior to coming on board directed
seven assets in the state of Florida. After working for Merion in a single site capacity
for a short stint in Montgomery, Summer has recently taken over as Sr. Property Man-
ager in Houston. These are critical new assets to the Merion portfolio, but Summer
will more than be up to the challenge. She will be responsible to directly manage Bro-
mpton Court, while supervising two other Houston properties.
Christina Prescott,
Sr. Property Manager
Christina is a native of the state of Alabama, and is also a graduate of the University of
South Alabama, where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Health Science. A stickler
for detail, she spent several years in the banking industry where she rose to the position
of teller supervisor before entering the property management industry. At the time
that Merion took over the Sawyer portfolio, she was working as an assistant manager
in Mobile. However, since that time Christina has been recognized for her outstanding
work, and she now is Sr. Property Manager over Inverness I and II, as well as the Planta-
tions at Hillcrest. Her three Mobile properties represent a total of 602 units. Christina
still demonstrates that banker’s attention to detail, and great things are expected from
her Southwest Alabama communities!
Jana Arena,
Sr. Property Manager
A graduate of the University of South Alabama, Jana is based in Pensacola and manages
Cordova Regency. In addition to this, she also supervises the neighboring Crestview
Oakleigh, and hits the road to supervise Plantations Pine Lake in Tallahassee. Through
third quarter Jana was exceeding budget at all three communities!
Alissa Marcolongo,
Sr. Property Manager
Alissa came to Merion in the acquisition of the Sawyer portfolio, and she brought a
wealth of experience with her. A graduate of the University of Phoenix, she was a prop-
erty manager of the Fort Dix/Maguire Air Force base housing where she successfully
transitioned over 2,300 military homes from government housing to privatized hous-
ing. She directly manages 1303 Delaware, where she has achieved a 31.3% improve-
ment to NOI, and Steward’s Crossing, which has achieved an 8.7% increase to NOI!
Intrepid • October 2010 • 5
Leadership Conference Crab Cakes and
at 8 Knots! Budgets!
That’s what Maryland is all about! Or at least that is
what it was all about over October 12th and 13th, when
everyone in Merion at the property manager level and
above convened at the Westin Hotel in Annapolis for
a two day meeting to kick off the 2011 budget season!
Also in attendance were several members from the
home office, including CFO Erin Buehner, Control-
ler Pat Blum, and Director of Human Resources Sarah
Weisenberger.
The meetings, which require extensive preparation,
were hosted by Southern RVP Pamela Penny, National
Training Director Lindsay Savage Sink, and a number
of Sr. Property Managers. Day One was kicked off by
Pamela, who had produced an extensive video which
documented the outstanding Merion spirit, from the
sand castle building competition in Pensacola to Mi-
How do you top a year with a 9.1% rise in NOI, in a tough economy, with chael Jackson at last year’s budget event.
no end in sight to the shortage of jobs? That was the question that Meri- This year’s meeting was the second held under Merion
on senior management was recently confronted with. And that was the management, and the increased skill level in budget-
reason that Bob Dominy hosted his highly talented team consisting of ing was amazing! So much so that everyone was able
Pamela Penny, Chris Keeling, Courtney Gammon, Lindsay Savage Sink, to get out to the Annapolis Chart House for dinner a
Danielle Henry, Jana Arena, Summer Davis and Alissa Marcolongo at a bit earlier than expected! v
two day meeting in Oxford, Maryland.
Naturally, there is nothing like salt air to get the brain cells going, or at
least air off the brackish waters of the Chesapeake! And of course, the
primary mode of travel was Chasseur, the 37’ sailboat which is becom-
ing something akin’ to the family dog to this group!
A $1.4M favorable variance, a 9.1% increase to Same Store NOI, and a
1.1% rent increase over a sixty day period were all nice to reflect upon.
But just where do we go from here?
There was no shortage of ideas. Everything on both the income as well
as the expense side of the equation were under consideration. The host
of ideas included everything from additional roof top antenna leases to
new bulk cable programs. You’ll just have to watch for our 2011 Q1 In-
trepid to find out more! v
Taking
new site was launched in early October! The web site
is conveniently organized by a number of tabs. Prop-
erty Management discussed our managerial philoso-
High Tech to phy. Acquisitions sets out our criteria for buying new
properties. Repositioning discusses our value add ap-
proach to Heights at Skyland in Tuscaloosa. And the
a Higher Level! tab for Brokers and Lenders discusses how we conduct
our relationships with those professions.
The site moves on to a tab involving the biographies
Will Hummer In a company as young as Merion, absorb- of our key players, and in a company which places the
ing 31 properties, hiring 250 employees, value on human assets which Merion does, we consid-
and blowing most major REITs into the nearest weed patch in terms of er this of utmost importance. The web site next fea-
financial performance has been an all encompassing task over the past tures a resident portal which allows our residents to
18 months. That has left little time for the development of a sophisti- pay rent and schedule work orders via the web site. It
cated web site, and since last December we have limped along with a also allows prospective residents to reserve an apart-
temporary site. ment, and to search our communities.
But that is not the case any longer! Thanks to Will Hummer, property The address is merionrm.com, and we invite you to
manager of the Heights at Skyland and our own in-house web expert, a take it out for a ride! v
6 • Intrepid • October 2010
The MRM Honor Roll
RazzLe DazzLe LeaSing awaRD Don’t that Debt Look SmaLL, Y’aLL
July July
Nicole went straight from getting her marketing degree from Note to file: will anyone ever lead the company in this cat-
USF to the top of the heap at Merion! egory ever again with even a single dollar being delinquent?
Merion delinquency is only 1.34%!
1. Nicole Messina Palma Sola 23 1. Chris Keeling Thornhill $0.00
2. Octavia Oree Courtyards 20 1. Danielle Henry Kings Mill $0.00
3. Justin Lane Waters Edge 19 1. Marcel Willis Pine Lake $0.00
1. Ann Armistead Hillcrest $0.00
August August
Alessandra won for her fourth time this year, while Mike had Note to file: this is not a misprint! The same four managers
a terrific month in Wilmington and Kristin showed the begin- recorded a perfect month once again! Delinquency for August
ning of good things to come in Mobile! was only 1.35%, and that’s portfolio wide!!!
1. Chris Keeling Thornhill $0.00
1. Alessandra Silva dos Santos Courtyards 24 1. Danielle Henry Kings Mill $0.00
2. Mike Gantner 1303 21 1. Marcel Willis Pine Lake $0.00
3. Kristin Thompson Inverness 18 1. Ann Armistead Hillcrest $0.00
September
September This may be getting monotonous to some of you. However,
Chad captured his first Razzle Dazzle, while Kristin and from our vantage point, delinquencies at zero are a very good
Tiffany were shakin’ and bakin’ down in Mobile! thing. Hmmm….and this coming after all we have been read-
ing about delinquencies on the rise elsewhere!
1. Chad Thomas Falls Spring Creek 18
1. Danielle Henry Kings Mill $0.00
2. Kristin Thompson Inverness II 17 1. Ann Armistead Hillcrest $0.00
3. Tiffany Fussell Inverness II 17 1. Chris Keeling Thornhill $0.00
PReSiDentiaL exceLLence awaRD Show me the moneY!
July 1. Lindsay Savage Sink Tuscany $312,172
In July Aaron Maas, Property Manager of the Ashley Vista 2. Rochelle Levine Morrowfield $167,020
Apartments in Lithonia, Georgia took home top honors for his 3. Aaron Maas Ashley Vista $127,078
award winning performance. Aaron did exactly what Merion’s
managers, who are fully empowered to act like owners, are en- We thought that it was pretty cool to have had three prop-
couraged to do. He looked at his operating statement and found erties above the $100K threshold in last quarter’s Intrepid.
ways to make more money! Aaron took security in-house and But Lindsay Savage Sink is making those who achieve those
$
saved $5,675 per month! With expense savings in other catego- numbers look like a bunch of pikers in comparison with her
ries, he reduced expenses by $14,046 for the month of July alone, staggering total! Rochelle Levine continues to defy logic with
and racked up a $127,711 positive variance for the year! No her performance at a property with only 156 units. When did
wonder his property shows a 15.2% NOI increase YTD!!! that last happen?!?! And Aaron Mass continues to display
that Merion’s philosophy of betting on ability over age does
August indeed pay dividends!
In August, our winner was Lindsay Savage Sink, Sr. Property
Manager and National Training Director based in Sarasota,
Florida! All Lindsay did in August was to beat her budget by a
noi gRowth LeaDeRS
whopping $26,679, best in the company, and increase her YTD 1. Ashley Rowland Heights Skyland 62.8%
variance to a positive $278,474! But Lindsay’s outstanding 2. Rochelle Levine Morrowfield 34.9%
performance goes well beyond the numbers! She also groomed
Christian Axness to manage Stonebridge in Memphis, and 3. Alissa Marcolongo 1303 31.3%
Christian has done a wonderful job there. She also produced Let’s see here, if we invested with a herd mentality, logic
outstanding managers in Jason Holland (Cloverleaf), Ali Flick- would lead us to conclude that we should be buying proper-
inger (Palma Sola), and Blake Messina (N. Ingle)! ties in Tuscaloosa, Pittsburgh and in Wilmington! Given
that we cannot find a research firm anywhere making those
September sorts of recommendation, we have to conclude that these
staggering NOI numbers must result from superior man-
Our September winner was Will Hummer! All Will did was agement! Ashley Rowland has successfully transformed
virtually all of the behind scenes work to enable Merion to Heights into a cash machine and is now headed to Houston!
launch it’s new web site. And as if that was not enough, he Rochelle Levine has caused her asset built in 1919 to oper-
also enthusiastically packed up lock, stock and barrel and re- ate like it just recently came out of the ground. And Alissa
located to Tuscaloosa to assume the reins as the new property Marcolongo has given new life to her 1958 vintage building
manager of the Heights at Skyland! with the two pipe HVAC system!!!
Intrepid • October 2010 • 7
*)#$$%&
*$#$$%&
Too Big to Succeed!!!
"#$$%& Hmmm…. We’re going to have to guard against this!
'#$$%& Given that we are almost up to 9,000 units ourselves,
we’re going to have to make sure that we do not fall into
(#$$%&
the same trap that so many companies in this industry,
)#$$%&
both public and private, over 10,000 units have fallen
$#$$%& into. Those big, slow, lumbering organizations have
!)#$$%&
successfully implemented systems to the point that they
have eliminated all innovation and entrepreneurism
!(#$$%&
from the equation! And with that, they have lost all
!'#$$%& capability to react in a timely fashion to market condi-
!"#$$%& tions! To them, one size fits all! To us, you can’t do
things in Sarasota the same way you do in Pittsburgh!!!
Thriving in the Shadow of Graceland
Once upon a time, there was a second tier city on the west side commodity driven market. But then as of the first
of Tennessee in which very few property management companies quarter of 2010, the city was taken over by a Sr. Prop-
were happy. The reason for this was because in the depths of reces- erty Manager named Courtney Gammon. And the
sion, there were no jobs, unemployment was high, and few proper- rest of the story sounds more like a fairy tale, except
ties other than Graceland could make any money. The name of the it is all true!
town was Memphis.
At Merion, people always come first, and Courtney
Fortunately, the list of properties performing unsatisfactorily was quickly recruited Christian Axness from Bradenton
not comprehensive, and the name of one exception to this located to relocate to Memphis and to take over this attrac-
on the Northeast side of town and was “Stonebridge.” Oh yes, the tive asset in a challenged market. She also hired Bren-
property had been underperforming like so many others in this nan Trezevant to become the new marketing direc-
tor, Natalie Cunningham as the new MIT, and Kevin
Lampshire as the new maintenance supervisor.
The results have been staggering! NOI has increased
by 21.2%, while the property has a favorable YTD NOI
of $97,136! How many properties in Memphis have
achieved that? The property is also a healthy 94.2%
occupied, and has offered no concessions this year. It
has also implemented a new water and trash billing
system, and has earned $72K from this activity. The
property has further saved $18K on electric because
with high occupancy, it paid far less in heating bills
last winter.
Stonebridge Under Courtney’s direction, you can just chalk up
Memphis as one more Merion growth market! v
The Best and
Brightest! MERION
REALTY MANAGEMENT, LLC
We have always promoted Merion as a company
for Superstars! When we are on the recruitment Phone: (610) 896-7500
trail, we aggressively pursue the best and bright- Fax: (610) 896-7533
est from the state’s top schools. A perfect exam- 308 E. Lancaster Avenue • Suite 310
ple of this is Ali Flickinger, a 2009 graduate from Wynnewood, PA 19096
the University of Florida. Ali is one Gator with a E-mail: RDominy@merionrm.com
terrific future! At Merion, we’d rather not auto-
mate. Instead, we teach people to ……think! v