As anyone who works in affordable housing can attest, it’s complex. The property managers and owners who do so are passionate about helping low-income families. They must constantly jump through critical, evolving compliance hoops, and they do so for some of the lowest compensation levels in the business. No matter how big or small, every property management company is at risk for compliance lawsuits.
No one needs more resources and support than the Affordable property manager. But as with any complex field, the support must come from those who know the complexities inside and out. We’re proud of ResMan’s Affordable solution, but it wouldn’t be what it is without our team of affordable experts.
Together, these three members bring a combined 63 years of affordable and conventional experience and leadership to both our Affordable product and to our affordable housing clients. Their expertise (which continues to drive our Affordable product innovation) and their passion for the niche are a truly winning combination.
Twenty two years ago, Janel Ganim found her way to affordable housing through two separate property management roles that included accounting and new software implementation. In 1998, she took a job with a property management software vendor, where she was asked to learn HUD. She applied that knowledge for more than 13 years across Support, Quality Assurance, Business Analysis, and, finally, Director of Product Management, Affordable Housing.
During those years, Janel focused on affordable housing, becoming deeply involved with industry clients, NAHMA, HUD, tax credit industry events and pre-sales events. She holds NCHM Certified Occupancy Specialist and Tax Credit Specialist certifications.
For NAHMA, she vice-chaired and chaired the Affiliates committee, each for two years. A highlight of her affordable experience is being elected to the one Affiliate seat on the Board of Directors. She has served one year of her three-year term. For HUD, Janel has participated in several industry groups before industry roll-outs, co-chaired and sat on multiple groups, including co-writing the draft notice for electronic signatures and storage, her biggest industry impact to date.
New to ResMan since February of this year, Janel started in a business development role to focus on affordable housing thought leadership, the Product Development roadmap, and staying ahead of the market’s compliance needs. In April she was asked to oversee the Product team (Core, Affordable and Reporting products). She is currently focusing on budgeting product updates, a custom report writer, updates to our affordable housing waitlist, tightening up functions of existing features and improving our partners’ first 90 days with ResMan by collecting better data upfront during onboarding.
Janel recognizes that affordable property managers have greater challenges, responsibilities and liabilities than others, and often less training opportunities. “I love to create a great product that keeps site staff within intuitive compliance guardrails,” she says.
Twenty three years ago, Rue worked at a property management company where she met her current Affordable coworker Janel and also leasing agent Elizabeth Francisco, who would go on to become ResMan’s founder.
In 1997, Rue moved to another property management software organization, where she spent 13 years in Sales and two years in Affordable Business Development. During this time, she received her affordable accreditations through NAHMA, traveling around the country meeting with reporting agencies, building credibility and trust, which resulted in deep, ongoing relationships within the industry. Affordable became Rue’s “home.”
With certifications in HUD Section 8 and Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Rue has chaired and participated in NAHMA committees for 20 years. She holds both a Certified Professional of Occupancy (CPO) and Specialist in Housing Credit Management (SHCM) designation.
Rue learned about ResMan through a few different sources, but when dragged to meet someone at a 2014 NAA show, who turned out to be none other than her former coworker Elizabeth Francisco who had launched the ResMan start-up, she knew she wanted to be a part of that team. She has served as the face of Affordable at ResMan since 2016. With 20 years in sales, she now leads as a Solution Engineer, learning the needs of the industry, presenting solutions within the product and delivering product feedback to Development. She and Elizabeth eventually persuaded Janel to join ResMan.
Rue has met many affordable housing managers and owner/agents, including a woman who had to walk her property with a shotgun, it was so unsafe. She is amazed at their love and commitment for serving low-income families, and it made her want to make their lives easier. “And I love how the affordable industry gives back, such as NAHMA’s annual college scholarship for a low-income college student of any age. We’re making a difference in people’s lives at every level. As for ResMan, it’s fun to take this fantastic product to market and get to hear people’s reactions and “wow” moments,” she says.
In 2001, Corbin du Mont graduated college with a major in Business Communications, a minor in Marketing, and no knowledge of affordable housing whatsoever. He fell into it in his first job, PAWA House of Florida, a leading training organization and HUD service bureau, where he found, to his surprise, that he loved working with subsidy programs. When the company was acquired by PMCS, he worked remotely in a supervisory role with 80-100 sites in his portfolio, remaining a total of five years. During this time, he received training with NAHMA and SAHMA. He later went on to a variety of affordable property management organizations, serving as both a conventional and HUD property manager and a HUD Compliance Officer and earning designations in Certified Occupancy Specialist (COS), Tax Credit Specialist (TCS), Certified Professional of Occupancy (CPO) and Rural Housing Development. He also received REAC certification/training through American Property Consultants.
“ResMan is my dream job,” he says. “After the vendor solution testing I’d done, I always wanted to work with a vendor in affordable housing.” He’s been with ResMan since 2017, serving as a Senior Business Analyst/Product Manager with a focus on the vouchering process and HUD. He brings his work with clients and the affordable industry to the ResMan product team with a view to staying ahead in the industry and leading the charge for affordable property managers.
“The jobs I’ve had really set me up well to understand how fundamentals in the background work and how to use that knowledge in creating what the affordable industry needs. ResMan was already a huge jump for affordable property managers, better than others, but it has grown into an even better product.” He’s especially proud of the automated TRACS messaging on the compliance dashboard, the special claims calculator, and the ease of certification workflows.
The ResMan Affordable comprehensive compliance suite is always up-to-date, automating, ensuring accuracy and helping you avoid costly compliance risks.
But you’re never on your own. Our three affordable experts speak HUD, Tax Credit and Rural Development. They know the language and will even work through your challenges with your contract administrator, if need be.
If you’re interested in ResMan as a software provider for your daily operations, book a demo to see the product up close.
