NCHMA Market Study 101 Seminar (Columbus, OH)

Robert Lefenfeld

Mr. Lefenfeld is the founding principal of Real Property Research Group, Inc., (RPRG) a national market research firm with offices in the Columbia, Maryland and Atlanta, Georgia. RPRG offers a wide array of real estate market research services including rental housing market research, for sale market analysis, seniors housing studies as well as commercial, economic and fiscal impact analyses.

Mr. Lefenfeld has over 30 years of experience in the field of residential market research. Before founding Real Property Research Group in 2001, Bob served as an officer of research subsidiaries of The Reznick Group accounting firm and Legg Mason. Bob is a founding member of the National Council of Housing Market Analysts (NCHMA), for which he has served as National Chair and currently serves as chair of its FHA Committee. He is also on the adjunct faculty of the Graduate Program in Real Estate Development, School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, University of Maryland College Park and an instructor for the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Multifamily Underwriter Certificate program.

Bob holds a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from The George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts - Political Science; Northeastern University.

Mary Ellen Shay

Mary Ellen Shay is the founder and owner of M. E. Shay & Co. Real Estate Market Analysis, a market research firm that specializes in affordable housing projects. She is also a registered lobbyist representing Public Housing Authorities and Local Housing Finance Agencies in California and Washington DC. Prior to her current employment, Mary Ellen was a VISTA volunteer in Shasta County and co-founded the Self Help Home Improvement Project (SHHIP) with her fellow VISTAs. SHHIP is one of the oldest operating non-profit housing corporations in California, dating back to 1973. In l975 Mary Ellen went to work for the City of Redding, where the CDBG and Section 8 programs were just getting underway. After moving to Sacramento, she worked for the State Department of Housing and Community Development, eventually becoming Section Chief of the Department of Community Affairs. She left the State in 1984 to start M. E. Shay & Co.

Mary Ellen is a past President of the National Association of Housing Market Analysts, which she helped found in 2001. She is a former member and Chair of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco’s Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, and is also a member of the Board of the California Housing Consortium. Over the years she has taught numerous affordable housing development programs for the National Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies and other organizations throughout the country and has written articles on real estate market analysis and affordable housing development for trade publications. She attended Washington University in St. Louis and graduated from San Francisco State. She is still a very proud Gator.

Rob Vogt

Robert Vogt is the principal of the real estate market research firm Vogt Strategic Insights (VSI). The firm, based in Columbus, Ohio, is comprised of more than 30 professionals and specializes in providing real estate market feasibility studies and project consulting across the United States. Mr. Vogt has conducted market feasibility studies for the past 35 years. In this time, he has conducted, written and reviewed more than 11,000 market studies for market-rate and affordable Tax Credit apartments, as well as studies for single-family subdivisions, condominiums, mixed-use developments, office, retail space and elderly housing throughout the U.S. Mr. Vogt is a founding member of the National Council of Housing Market Analysts, an association formed to bring standards and professional practices to real estate market feasibility. He is a past chairman of this association. Mr. Vogt is a member of the Columbus Board of Commission Appeals and a member of the Urban Land Institute. Mr. Vogt has a degree in Finance, Real Estate and Urban Land Economics from The Ohio State University.