It seems like yesterday I was in Portland, Oregon leading and being lead by a team of twelve stellar real estate gurus. Collectively, we managed a portfolio of nearly 4000 units in five very different sub-markets. It was an absolute blast. And, during that time we managed to pull off some pretty innovative things. At least I think so.

In late 2004 and leading into 2005 we started playing with blogs and video. In the beginning the blogs were created to serve as a testament to the team in Portland and would include everything from recipes to leadership awards. And, all the contributions to the blog would be made by volunteers within our talented group. That blog [Portland Rocks Newsletter] is still going strong today – two years beyond my departure from the market. Video also became a big part of the adventure. We were in the beginning stages of creating everything from resident maintenance training videos – i.e., How to unclog your garbage disposal, to Welcome Home Maintenance Videos like this;

I was blown away by the efforts on Matt Steen and the team at LaSalle Apartment Homes in Beaverton, Oregon. They took this project to a whole new level and blew my expectations out of the water. I can recall the day I veiwed this video, I was speechless and so very proud.

It’s hard to explain the abosolute pleasure it was to lead and to be lead by such an amazing group of people. I owe much of learnings and motivations about the industry to each of them. Guys like this, who made it happen on the front lines of the business day in and day out. I hope you enjoy the fruits of their labor as much as I did/do.