When Bill Phares decides to do something, he doesn’t hold back! After spending 20 years in restaurant management, he decided to jump in with both feet and try his hand at managing properties. In 2008, he joined Case Huff & Associates and started a new career managing a 67-unit apartment complex. He was the manager, day-porter, maintenance man, and leasing agent. That was at the very time that the housing bubble burst. Tim Huff saw the writing on the wall, and in 2009 encouraged him to get his real estate license. Immediately thereafter, Case Huff began to take on more multifamily properties, many of which started out as receiverships. Bill managed those properties through the receivership, foreclosure/” fire-sale” processes, and came full circle when Case Huff was hired as the management company for the new owners, and he became the Property Manager. These owners bought more multi-family buildings, and in time, Bill was overseeing more than 25 multi-family properties (1,800+ units), with some 35 employees (apartment building managers, maintenance personnel, day-porters, and leasing agents).
In 2013, Case Huff decided to move away from managing multi-family buildings and move towards managing commercial properties. Bill’s management repertoire expanded overnight as he began managing major, anchored retail centers; mixed use, small office buildings; and several industrial buildings. His experience also grew outside the confines of the Valley of the Sun, as he took on management of a number of vacant buildings in outlying areas of Arizona, eventually selling several of them. Reflecting on his years in multi-family management, Bill says, “I have found that you still deal with exactly the same problems, just fewer tenants and bigger numbers—no bed-bugs though!”
For Bill, “Yes is the answer; what’s the question?” It served him well through his years of managing restaurants, and that same mindset transferred over as he expanded his managerial experience in the real estate industry. His clients attest to his attention to detail and customer service skills, especially as it relates to lease negotiations and renewals. He firmly believes that tenant retention is THE major indicator of a property’s successful management and the main driver for sustained profitability. Consistent tenant retention is one result of having a professional, hands-on manager taking care of the project, a Case Huff trait that resonates with all their property owners.