News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Multifamily Veteran Suzanne Lovelace Joins RealtyCom Partners
Opens Southeast U.S. Office for National Telecom Consulting Firm
LARKSPUR, CALIF – January 16, 2012 – RealtyCom Partners, a leading nationwide telecommunications consulting and asset management firm specializing in the apartment industry, today announces the addition of Suzanne Lovelace, CAM, to its senior management team as Executive Vice President. In her new position Lovelace will be responsible for strategic planning, new business development, operations and client management for RealtyCom Partners’ extensive multifamily portfolio.
“RealtyCom Partners is dedicated to providing our clients with the best resources possible to enhance their telecommunications strategies,” said Don Clark, CEO. “The addition of Suzanne’s impressive tenure and familiarity with the multifamily industry further re-enforces this commitment by delivering an unmatched understanding of the challenges facing multifamily portfolios. We are thrilled to add her to our team and are confident her involvement will benefit our clients, our prospects and our business on multiple levels.”
Lovelace brings more than 25 years of real estate and multifamily property management experience to RealtyCom Partners, which currently manages the telecommunications agreements for more than 400,000 units in the industry. She will also be responsible for opening RealtyCom’s Southeast United States office in Atlanta, effective immediately.
Lovelace’s experience in the multifamily housing industry includes senior roles with regionally and nationally recognized apartment operators Equity Residential, Sentinel Real Estate and Kolter Communities as well as entities serving the industry. Prior to joining RealtyCom Partners, Lovelace was a key executive in the launch of RentWiki, a socially driven rental search website. She also served as the senior vice president of corporate development and operations for the brand and was responsible for the business infrastructure platform and processes including human resources, client relations, contract management, accounting, collateral and financial audit, and tax compliance and filings.
“I’ve held numerous roles in the multifamily industry, many times in very different capacities, and I am particularly excited about my newest role working with RealtyCom Partners,” commented Lovelace. “I’m confident my experience and relationships will help grow our business while simultaneously delivering greater value to multifamily portfolios across the country.”
Lovelace is licensed as a Real Estate Broker in multiple states and has served on the Board of Directors of local and statewide apartment associations in the states of Florida, North Carolina and Massachusetts. She has held multiple National Apartment Association leadership roles during the past decade, most notably serving as its Chairman-Elect of the Board of Directors. She will remain deeply involved with the leading apartment industry associations including the National Multi Housing Council, the National Apartment Association and others.
###
“California’s Telecom Paradigm Shift”
Voice, video, data and wireless options offer numerous choices for multifamily industry
Source: Perspectives Magazine (California Apartment Association)
September, 2007
By Don Clark
RealtyCom Partners’ CEO, Don Clark recently published an article in Perspectives Magazine for CAA on the state of the telecom industry in California and the many opportunities it presents owners and their residents. Although the piece specifically addressed California’s situation, the issues covered are a microcosm of what is happening in the residential real estate industry across the country.
# # #
FCC Ban on Exclusive Contracts with Video Providers
Source: NMHC
[October 31, 2007] – The FCC voted to retroactively prohibit exclusive agreements between apartment firms and video service (cable) providers.
Under the FCC’s Order, apartment firms are no longer permitted to leverage their bargaining power via the granting of exclusive access agreements with video companies to provide better service and lower prices to residents. (In exchange for granting exclusive access to an apartment community for a limited term, voice, video and data companies have often offered lower fees, expanded products, and higher service standards.)
It is important to note that the FCC ban does not apply to exclusive marketing agreements and does not give providers mandatory access to properties. The ban on exclusive access agreements comes despite the fact that the FCC has on more than one occasion found that exclusive agreements in the residential setting can help create competition–in late 2000, the FCC banned exclusive contracts in commercial properties but specifically exempted apartment properties.
In recent years, NMHC/NAA, as members of the Real Access Alliance (RAA), have successfully pushed back efforts by telecom firms in a variety of states to enact legislation that would mandate forced access to residential or office buildings.
NMHC/NAA and the Real Access Alliance submitted comments to the FCC objecting to the new regulations and reminding the Commissioners that the issues at stake are very complex and do not lend themselves easily to simplistic solutions.
Despite this educational effort, the FCC now states that it is concerned with how apartment owners’ freedom to negotiate telecommunications contracts affects the Commission’s goal of encouraging multi-channel video competition and promoting broadband expansion.