Customer Story
Venture Real Estate Company: Maximizing organization, communication and efficiency
Venture Real Estate Company
Established: 2013
Headquarters: Cincinnati, OH
Venture Real Estate Company is a Cincinnati-based real estate investment management and redevelopment firm focused on multi-family real estate and syndication.
Asset Type
Multifamily
Investment Type
Syndications
“AppFolio Investment Manager speeds everything up and organizes everything at the same time, allowing us to communicate with our investors professionally.”
Steven Rice
Owner and Managing Partner, Venture Real Estate Company
A Partnership with AppFolio
Venture's Principal and Managing Partner, Steven Rice, handles the investor side of the business and financial operations. We met with Steven to discuss how they are using AppFolio Investment Manager to add value to their business.
How has AppFolio Investment Manager impacted investor relations?
A lot of investors like the simplicity and the transparency of everything. They like to be able to login and see how their investments are doing. We've had a lot of people reach out in person and say, "This is awesome."
What processes are you streamlining using both AppFolio Investment Manager with AppFolio Property Manager?
We were looking at different softwares and we love AppFolio. This is going to be our first time uploading and sharing K1s. It's a lot easier than gathering everybody's emails and then sending individual emails to each investor with their K1s. They can now login and get them. It just speeds everything up and organizes everything at the same time.
Probably one of the most helpful things is the time-saving efficiency and organization. Previously, I would have to build everything out in Excel with a template based on everybody's ownership and then I would manually put in the distribution and manually create the bills. Now, I just plug it in and it calculates it and automatically creates the bills. In Property Manager I pay the owners and that's very helpful. It also helps with not making mistakes. The possibility of making a mistake goes way down. In terms of reliability and security, people may not think about it much, but AppFolio updates development in order to keep data secure for our company and our investors.
“We needed investment management software that manages communications so nothing falls through the cracks. The benefits are communication, professionalism, organization, transparency, and simplicity. Our investors love it.”
Steven Rice
Owner and Managing Partner, Venture Real Estate Company
How will AppFolio Investment Manager help you achieve your business goals?
Since our inception, we have transacted over 800 units and we've raised almost $10 million for a new property acquisition. AppFolio Investment Manager is definitely improving our professional look and helping us organize as we continue to grow and get more investors.
Would you say it's helping you attract new investors?
Usually investors ask: "How is the communication?" This is a great communication tool. When we're in meetings and face-to-face presentations we can say, "Look, you have an investor login. You're going to be able to login and see how your properties are doing, view distributions reports, all your tax documents, and find all the documents you signed for the investment subscription agreement and operating agreement—it's all uploaded on there." We've been selling that feature now as part of our company.
How is AppFolio Investment Manager a partner with you and your business?
It definitely falls right in with our brand and what we're trying to project and communicate. It helps us to have a good presentation face and trustworthiness. We're the best at what we do, we're professional, and we are number one in every area that we operate. We want people to associate our company with the best real estate operators.
This is a representation of what we're building. It allows us to communicate with our investors professionally and keeps it organized. AppFolio is really professional and we and our investors really appreciate how the team continues to get better and better.
How was your transition into AppFolio Investment Manager?
It was very smooth. I don't think there was ever a hiccup anywhere. The team was very friendly, knowledgeable, and quick to answer.
Would you recommend AppFolio Investment Manager to other investment managers?
Yes, it's a great program. We needed investment management software that manages communications so nothing falls through the cracks. The benefits are communication, professionalism, organization, transparency, and simplicity. Our investors love it and so do we.
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