Final Job Description: Jack McAdams Job Description (Affordable Housing Intern)

Affordable Housing Asset Management and Acquisitions Intern


Do you know the responsibilities of an affordable housing intern? I was not familiar with the tasks that came with the title when I first learned about the position. While the focus of the position sounds self-explanatory, there are aspects of the gig one might not associate with the title. 


Affordable housing generally falls under multi-family real estate, which involves small and large buildings with multiple rentable units. Chances are you’ve probably lived in a multi-family building.  Although affordable housing is a part of multi-family housing, it does vary from traditional multi-family real estate. Affordable housing gives lower income individuals housing opportunities that they can afford. Affordable housing tenants are either given units at a lower market rent rate, or units that comply with the tenant’s housing subsidy. The tenant’s housing voucher can cover a partial amount, or the entire amount, of the tenant’s rent.


As an affordable housing intern, I work on maintaining all our properties functionality so that they operate efficiently. Additionally, I find potential properties that are good investment candidates. Specifically, I handle the following tasks:

  • Asset Management 
  • Acquisitions
  • Research  

Altogether, these responsibilities help facilitate the well-being of the company’s investment portfolio. To be more insightful about each task that comes with the internship, I will elaborate on each of them.

Asset Management


Asset management refers to the management of the property and makes certain that the property is operating properly. Furthermore, good asset management guarantees that the tenants living at a particular property are happy with their living conditions. The following situations are some of the many tasks that pertain to asset management:

  • Updating older units that are either damaged or need repair.
  • Answering tenant complaints and maintenance requests.
  • Painting the exterior so the building does not appear dated.
  • Adding light fixtures that allow tenants to see better at night. 

Answering the above tasks results in a property that is well managed. It validates that we are catering and listening to each of our tenants.

Acquisitions


Acquisitions is all about finding a property that would make a good investment. The properties I consider for acquisition will further improve the company’s current portfolio of affordable housing investments. I find properties by making use of the available listing services on the internet. These websites include LoopNet, Redfin, Century21, and Zillow.


When sourcing a property, I follow this process:

 

1.    I read the description of each property that catches my attention until one stands out amongst the others. 

2.    After I deem a property a worthy investment in my head, I will call the real estate agent listing the property and inquire about more information. 

3.    Following the inquiry, I will assess the additional information to conclude whether or we should execute the investment.

4.    If all goes well, I will connect the realtor and my boss with each other, and hopefully they can execute a deal.


Typically, I am looking for a property that isn’t small, but also not monumental (around 10-20 units). Furthermore, it is crucial for me to consider the vacancy of the building. A higher vacancy is better because you can lease to new tenants under your terms rather than waiting for the previous owner's lease to expire.


Research


The research that I conduct mostly pertains to the properties that the company I work for owns. This research is concerned with unit rents and potential tenants. For instance, I must calculate the outstanding balances for tenants that have been late to paying their rent. Also, I make note of every future rent increase in each tenant’s lease agreement. By doing such, we can collect the proper amount of rent owed to us. 

 

In terms of potential tenants, this research requires me to source and screen prospective tenants. I can do this using the website, AffordableHousing.com, which connects me with prospective tenants who have already filled out the necessary information I use for screening via the website. Through this research I can find good tenants that can occupy the available units across our properties. 

 

Sometimes, however, I get to conduct research outside of rents and potential tenants. One example of such research is sourcing potential lenders that can finance future developments. Lenders are individuals that loan you money in today's market and generally request a larger return in the future. Lenders request a larger return since they provided you the necessary capital now in today's market to acquire your investment. 

 

To source potential lenders, I pull the title from adjacent properties. The title of a property simply shows the owner, lender, and a brief breakdown of the property. Once I compile a group of titles, I can get an idea of potential lenders that are loaning capital to projects in the area. From here on, I can reach out to these lenders and see if they are interested in financing our company’s upcoming affordable housing developments. 


Passive Sentences: 0%

Flesch Reading Ease: 44.8 (I tried hours to improve this, but I have no clue what increases and decreases the number)

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 10.9

Comments

  1. Alyssa CustinoJanuary 22, 2024 at 2:55 PM

    Hi Jack! This job seems very interesting, but challenging. Did you visit any of the properties you were managing while you were an intern?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hannah WuJanuary 23, 2024 at 12:25 AM

    Hey Jack! It sounds like you gained a ton of real-world experience through this internship. Have you always been into real estate?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Vivian 340January 23, 2024 at 4:55 PM

    Hey Jack! I also have some similar experience working in the real estate industry. What I did was property management, very similar to your description of asset management. I, however, haven't worked with acquisitions or research so it was interesting to get a glimpse at those other roles you did.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Parth SuriJanuary 23, 2024 at 11:55 PM

    Hey Jack, appreciate you sharing so much in-depth information about being an affordable housing asset management and acquisitions intern. It was particularly cool to learn about the research process and how rents are increased.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ChloeJanuary 29, 2024 at 7:03 PM

    Hey Jack! This is an important job and I'm so happy to hear that you were receptive to the tenants needs both when sourcing new properties and maintaing existing ones.

    ReplyDelete

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