RPM Careers Spotlight: Jay Rawls
Name: Jay Rawls
Title: Director, Multifamily Operations
Company: MyNiche. Division of Lat Purser & Associates
Email: jay.rawls@latpurser.com
Local NC Affiliate: GCAA
Tell us about your career:
My career in the apartment industry started as I was graduating from Wofford College. I attended a career fair where I was introduced to PRG Real Estate, and I was ultimately recruited into their Manager-In-Training program, where I began working on site at a 456-unit property just one week after my college graduation.
After less than 1 year of aggressive leasing and management training, I took over a 216-unit property in Spartanburg, SC. I later moved to Raleigh to manage a 250-unit property. Still with PRG, I became a multi-site manager in the Triangle area, where I remained for six years. My next role was as a Regional Director with Palm Beach Gardens, FL- based developer, Ram Realty Services, where I was responsible for assets in the Carolinas and Georgia. After several years with Ram, I briefly left the apartment industry to join the real estate department at Delhaize America, where I oversaw US-specific property management for one of the largest grocery operators in the world. Although I enjoyed this new adventure, I missed multifamily. I realized I needed to come home to the apartment industry. I returned in 2016 to assume my current role.
I am the Director of MyNiche Apartments, the multifamily division of the Charlotte, NC-based firm, Lat Purser & Associates (LPA). At MyNiche, we develop and manage well-crafted apartment communities in the Southeast. As a firm, LPA focuses on multifamily and commercial development, acquisitions, construction management, and property management. In my role, I oversee property operations for a growing portfolio of more than 30 communities in the Southeast. Approximately half of our portfolio consists of assets we manage for third-party clients. I'm responsible for business development and act as the liaison with our third-party owners/management clients.
I hold a Bachelors Degree from Wofford and I'm a licensed real estate broker in NC, SC, and GA. I'm an active member of the Greater Charlotte Apartment Association, where I serve as the Board Chair of The Rental Housing Alliance, GCAA's newly-formed Super PAC. I also serve on the bus tour committee where I regularly narrate both the new construction and rehab bus tours. I'm extremely honored to be a part of the 2020 AANC Leadership Lyceum Cohort.
What advice do you have for someone just starting in your field:
Learn as much as you can from everyone you encounter. Ask questions. Absorb everything. Volunteer to help. Every property, every market, every investment strategy... they are all so different. The more you can be exposed to, the more you will be effective and capable of making the best decisions for an individual property or a portfolio. Embrace the concept that as housing providers, we are providing a critical and significant product. Recognize that your role in the industry has a major impact on so many communities and in the lives of so many people. In your pursuit of the maximum return on investment, always remember to focus on community-building and on providing the very best resident experience.