FOURMIDABLE Assumes Management of 2 Midwest Properties
The communities total 404 apartments located in Michigan and Missouri.
Real estate management firm FOURMIDABLE was been appointed to manage two affordable Section 8 apartment communities in the Midwest. The properties, featuring a total of 404 apartments, are located in Michigan and Missouri.
Sycamore Meadows, a 262-unit affordable community in Ypsilanti, Mich., offers one-, two- and three-bedroom townhomes, some of them featuring basements. The property is situated near the downtown district, recreational areas and public transportation.
Alcazar Apartments, in Kansas City, Mo., features 142 affordable apartments, in a blend of studio, one- and two-bedroom floorplans. A business center is among the notable amenities. As they are at Sycamore Meadows, rental rates at this HUD Section 8 apartment community are based on 30 percent of gross income.
Challenge met
“This particular ownership group gave us a tougher property to manage last summer in Flint,” Michael Schocker, FOURMIDABLE president, told Multi-Housing News. “They knew of our reputation working with affordable housing, and we did a decent job with a very tough property. The ownership group is in a growth mode, seeking additional properties, felt confident in us and decided to give us a couple additional assignments.”
Both the newly-assigned apartment communities are far more stable properties than the property in Flint, he adds. “There are always challenges when you take over a new property, including implementing your policies and procedures,” Schocker said. “But other than that, there is not a big hurdle to overcome. It’s just a matter of stabilizing the management and simply having a tighter grip on the operations.”
In January, FOURMIDABLE assumed management at a quartet of properties in the Midwest and South.
More complexity
One common challenge to all management firms these days, he adds, is collecting rent. During the pandemic, the question of whether residents must pay their rent monthly has gone from a comparatively black-and-white issue to multiple shades of gray, he said.
“There are moratoriums and state and federal rent subsidies,” he said. “And that’s led to a whole greater level of complexity in management oversight of any property. That makes it a little more difficult because a resident can interpret what they read any way they want. You can still be evicted, but unfortunately when this happened, a lot of renters just felt like they had carte blanche.”