Education

FUTURE 2024: Key Takeaways for Investment Managers

By Brittany Benz December 10 2024 min read
AppFolio Blog 2024 IM FUTURE Recap 1140x641 1

FUTURE  2024, hosted by AppFolio, is the new must-attend premier conference for professionals across the real estate industry. With over 90 speakers, 40 engaging sessions, and two inspiring keynotes, this year’s event was centered on the convergence of AI and real estate — a topic especially valuable for those looking to set themselves apart from the competition.

Whether you attended in person or missed the event, this recap dives into the most essential insights and strategies for investment managers shared at FUTURE 2024.

Key FUTURE 2024 Highlights for Investment Managers

Much of this year’s focus was tailored to helping investment managers harness technology to drive greater returns. Industry experts shared insights on emerging trends, maximizing efficiency, tech-powered fundraising, and more — offering a roadmap for staying competitive and driving results in an evolving real estate landscape.

Beyond the Horizon: The Evolution of Real Estate Investment

As product development lead for AppFolio Investment Manager, David Gaultiere gave a compelling presentation about how investment managers will need to use technology to manage real estate portfolios in the future.

With changes in interest rates, inflation, and the cost of housing, David believes this is one of the most challenging real estate environments in a long time. For investors, competition is higher than ever, there are endless options for limited partners (LPs) to invest their money, and there’s been a dramatic rise in app-based investing.

Without the right property technology (PropTech) in place, your bottom line — as well as profitability for you and your investors — could be impacted. However, David envisions a bright future ahead. Here are three key ways he believes investment managers can address these challenges.

  • Supply technology access to address changing investor preferences. 

In the AppFolio 2024 Investor Survey, 91% of respondents said they wanted to receive communication through their investor portal — a 30% increase from just three years ago.

With new regulations like 506c and Regulation A, sponsors can now streamline marketing and automate investor onboarding through public investor portals. These online portals not only improve communication, but also increase visibility for investors and boost productivity.

  • Centralize back office operations to maximize efficiency.

David emphasized that the smartest asset managers are using AI to drive business insights. He said, “Imagine if you could instantly and automatically get data on the performance of all your investments — rent growth, NOI, occupancy, CapEx, delinquency … Imagine if you could visualize your entire portfolio, no matter where it was managed.”

He explained that IM teams are wasting time on siloed systems and data, static reports, disparate processes, and manual spreadsheets. Because of these inefficiencies, limited partners are feeling delays from the disconnect between property managers and their investment managers.

David confirmed this software exists today in AppFolio — a powerful platform that integrates all your data in one place. “From investor relations to asset management to property operations, our platform will power all aspects of your business, freeing your data and streamlining insights, so you can drive your business forward and maximize investor returns.”

  • Drive asset performance with data-driven insights and AI.

David also revealed an AppFolio solution specifically designed to help investment managers derive insights, improve asset performance, and strengthen investor relationships.

AppFolio provides a centralized platform to bring all your data together. AppFolio Alpha™ bridges the gap between day-to-day operations and investment performance to automatically:

  • Instantly aggregate and normalize disparate property data.
  • Quickly analyze property performance and make data-informed financial decisions.
  • Effortlessly share rich data visualizations via reports and portals for improved investor relations.

Did you miss this year’s conference? Register now for FUTURE  2025.

Tech-Powered Fundraising: Streamlining Real Estate Investment From Pitch to Profit

Staff Product Manager for AppFolio, Jerry Cohen presented on how to engage with investors using digital tools like social media, email campaigns, AI, and technology specifically designed for investment managers.

He outlined the following four key steps in the fundraising funnel with actionable strategies that can take you from the initial pitch to a locked-in investment.

  • Build awareness: Connect with investors online.

Having an online presence has increased in importance today, especially for potential partners who will be researching your business.

Jerry recommends engaging with your network via social media and building an audience by sharing what they care about. You can do this by positioning yourself as a thought leader, celebrating your wins, and promoting investing offering specifics.

  • Create engagement: Target and retarget specific cohorts with messaging or opportunities.

To create engagement, you need to make sure you’re reaching the right people with the right messages at the right time. Jerry shared two tactics — email and engagement — that can help you do just that. 

With targeted email campaigns, you can: 

  • Share newsletters with relevant content that potential investors care about.
  • Email offerings directly to prospects.
  • Drive to the contact form on your site or link directly to a public offering page.

You also want to create multichannel engagement, which is when you’re interacting with customers across multiple platforms or channels. Marketing engagement platforms, such as HubSpot or Salesforce Marketing Cloud, can help you manage touchpoints across social media ads, blog posts, emails, and more.

Plus, if you’re using  AppFolio Investment Manager you can drive campaigns directly to a lead form within the platform and even integrate your marketing automation tool for a more personalized investor journey.

  • Drive them to consideration: Manage the sales process via AppFolio Investment Manager.

As your audience moves from the engagement to the consideration stage, Jerry highlights how managing the entire sales process in one platform can help you acquire capital quickly and efficiently.

With  AppFolio Investment Manager, you can:

  • Use AI to extract key details from your private placement memorandum (PPM) and populate data to reduce double data entry.
  • Share offerings with your existing LPs or prospects via the online portal. 
  • Create and share videos as a storytelling opportunity.
  • Track where each prospect is in the fundraising funnel, including managing soft and hard commitments and communication history.
  • Lock in the investment: Complete the steps to invest in the Investor Portal.

Finally, Jerry wrapped up his presentation by demonstrating how the Investor Portal handles the entire closing process from collecting details to collecting funds. Even after the deal is done, you can still use the Investor Portal to manage performance, communication, and payments.

Best of the FUTURE Expo Hall: AppFolio Alpha

AppFolio Alpha  made a lasting impression on investment managers attending FUTURE. This innovative AI-powered data aggregation and visualization product is crucial to streamlining investment and property management operations. It equips asset managers and investor relations teams with the quick, error-free reporting needed to maximize performance on existing assets regardless of macroeconomic conditions, availability of fundraising and capital, or potential new deals.

The real estate investment industry is transforming with technology as the driving factor. As investment managers learned at FUTURE 2024, staying ahead means:

  • Embracing data-driven tools to manage assets.
  • Leveraging PropTech solutions for seamless investor relations.
  • Mastering tech-powered fundraising strategies.

To secure capital and maximize returns, investment managers are turning to more sophisticated investor pools. The real estate industry is undergoing a technological revolution, and AppFolio is here to be your trusted innovation partner.

Learn more and book a customized demo to see how AppFolio Alpha can benefit your business today and into the future.