Customer Story
Paladin Realty Partners, LLC: Achieving Sustainable Growth Through Intentional Investing
Paladin Realty Partners, LLC
Established: 1995
Headquarters: Los Angeles, CA
Asset Type: Workforce Housing (Rental and For-Sale)
Investment Type: Fund Manager, Developer, and Operator
Over the last three decades, Paladin Realty has managed 400+ real estate investments across the Americas with an emphasis on workforce housing, including over 20,000 rental apartment units in the United States and 40,000 for-sale housing units in seven countries throughout Latin America. In talking to Fred Gortner, Co-Founder, COO, and Head of Strategy, and Evan Pickering, Vice President, we delved into how having one technology platform has empowered them to reach new operational efficiency gains and propel sustainable growth.
10x faster
100x faster
“AppFolio Investment Manager does exactly what we need. It’s competitively priced, dynamic, and they are always adding new features.”
Evan Pickering
Vice President, Paladin Realty Partners, LLC
Turning Capital into Change
Paladin Realty is an institutional fund management firm that, among other things, focuses on investing in, renovating, and repositioning older Class B and Class C multifamily apartment buildings in Southern California. Their mission is to make an impact in their communities by providing affordable and modern workforce housing. They also invest in for-sale residential properties, rental apartments, zero-carbon affordable housing developments, student housing, offices, lodging, and land developments throughout Latin America. Fred explains:
“Two-thirds of households in Southern California rent because they can't afford to buy a home. And it's this huge permanent renter class that exists, which is one of the most supply-constrained markets in the country. We are providing an improved living experience that's still affordable to the target audience that we're trying to reach in Los Angeles. The same supply-constrained dynamics exist in Latin America.”
With over $2 billion worth of real estate investments in the U.S., and over $5 billion invested throughout Latin America, and 30 employees, their large and complex firm needed a seamless solution that could help them increase transparency and get time back. Fred shares:
“We were looking for a system that we could scale because of the number of investors, particularly as we were starting to bring more family offices and smaller check sizes into our fold. We needed a system that could grow with our needs.”
Before AppFolio Investment Manager
With their previous software solution, the team at Paladin found it difficult to uncover insights, and many of their business-critical processes were manual and time-consuming. Evan explains:
“The service we were using previously only had a K-1 investor portal and quarterly report investor portal, but not a CRM. It didn't give us any insight into the associated contacts or what associated investment entities rolled up into what their holdings are with us. It wasn't a clean investor portal. It took us at least a hundred times longer to upload K-1s and manage that process.”
One Platform. A New World of Possibilities.
In their search for new investment management software, they were particularly drawn to AppFolio Investment Manager for its scalability and AI-powered capabilities. Fred goes into detail:
“One of the things that attracted us to AppFolio was that it had scalability and the ability to customize to our needs for our local multifamily business. AppFolio was also used by a lot of our property managers. So the property-level information integration was attractive to us.
It was also much easier to manage K-1s since everything was automated with AI. Now K-1s take just five seconds. And that's just one aspect that we're utilizing AI for. We utilize it for CRM, the fundraising platform…we've figured out a really good way to generate interest in our upcoming deals.”
Transforming the Investor Experience
When it comes to attracting and retaining investors, effective communication is key. With AppFolio, Paladin can provide their investors with the modern, on-demand tools they need to stay connected and informed while streamlining their accounting processes. Evan explains:
“AppFolio really set us up to be successful in terms of providing 'white glove' communication to current investors, prospective investors, and our waitlist investors. To me, that's the most powerful. We used to have to hand deliver checks, but now everything is tied into their Investor Portal, which saves us time and offers a better experience. We get compliments on the platform from our investors all the time.”
Insights in an Instant
Along with improving communication, the mobile capabilities in AppFolio give the team at Paladin more flexibility since they can access key reports and information right from their phones. Evan shares:
“Having the app at our fingertips and being able to walk into a meeting and look up how much capital an investor has invested with us and have that available without having to email somebody to pull it up and look at some schedule in Excel and email it back...It just cuts that time to 1%.”
Competing in Today’s Market
From a competitive standpoint, Paladin believes their technology platform and white-glove approach to customer service helps them stand out and work more efficiently so they can have more time to focus on going after new deals. Evan explains:
“Having an investor portal is a prerequisite to being competitive, but beyond that, it needs to be incredibly responsive and fast. With the AppFolio Investor Portal, we can upload fund documents and distribute quarterly reports 10 times faster and more effectively. It has freed us up to do everything else, and makes us leaner, more efficient, and more attractive to new capital.”
Investing in the Right Technology Partner
With rapid growth comes growing pains, but having a reliable technology partner they can depend on, whether it’s to troubleshoot an issue or listen to feedback, has made all the difference for Paladin. Evan explains:
“Everyone we’ve talked to at AppFolio is extremely responsive. We get answers within the same day. We also really have a say in the product development. It matches really well with our firm in that they are growing alongside us as we are growing too.”
A New Way of Working
While many growing investment firms can get bogged down by tedious, day-to-day tasks, Paladin is able to set their sights on the horizon and have the headspace to bring their vision to life.
“Growing our businesses and not worrying about the frictions and the challenges of managing that growth is what gives me the greatest satisfaction in my work. AppFolio has been instrumental in being able to achieve this.”
Fred Gortner
Co-Founder, COO, and Head of Strategy, Paladin Realty Partners, LLC
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