Business Management Management Strategies
EverGreen Solutions Launches MF-Oriented Web-Based Budget Tool
March 20, 2008
By: Judy Feldman, Contributing Correspondent

EverGreen Solutions, a Washington D.C.-based real estate technology and consulting firm, has announced the launch AptBudget.com., aimed to ease some of the hassle of budget spreadsheet building for multi-family commercial real estate professionals. “AptBudget is brand new and a big thing our clients need,” said Georgiana Oliver (pictured), president & CEO of EverGreen Solutions. “This is all client demand -- they were all screaming for this.”

One of AptBudget software’s big pluses is the way it handles formulas. “Because the spreadsheets were going from person to person, and the formulas, many of which were super-advanced, were a problem,” she advised. “If I’m an executive, it can really bother me that my budgets aren’t secure, and (that) the spreadsheets can get all messed up.”

EverGreen designed AptBudget.com particularly for the real estate industry, to improve the entire process of building and managing budgets. Most property managers build and work within budgets using spreadsheets for each property. This method requires long hours of labor intensive work. AptBudget’s user-friendly format uses a “wizard” that walks clients through the process, step-by-step. The system will download data from previous years’ budgets, and will make automatic projections for the future. And because it is web-based, it is easy to track all versions of a budget as it can change, as well as to flag errors, immediately.

AptBudget will also help to create revenue projections. It can handle variables and assumptions that can change – such as rents, occupancy, utility bills and payroll. Real estate managers can review, approve, update and change budgets, and it is easier to keep track of all these changes. AptBudget allows the import and export of budgets to and from an in-house property management system, so the transition to using AptBudget is smooth. It is available for use in real time via the internet, and the cost is $500 per property. EverGreen will host the website.

Added Oliver, “AptBudget will work with all software including MRI, RealPage and Yardi Systems. It’s particularly unique because you won’t need Excel anymore. And being web-based, it is so much more secure, and user friendly.” Some present or prospective clients, she noted, include McCormack Baron Ragan, Fairfield Residential, Real Property Systems, Evergreen Realty Group, Federal Management, and Schochet Associates.

 
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