HOME GROWN - Property Management Company's Priority Is Putting People First

NHE manages more than 200 apartment communities and HOAs across the Carolinas. But it’s people, not property, at the forefront of the company’s mission.

“Everything we do is interacting with people, our residents, our owners. That's the hard part and the most gratifying part,” says Taylor Davis, CEO and owner of the company founded decades ago by his father.

“It's not complicated. We treat people the way we would want to be treated. My dad always said, ‘We're not in the property management business, we’re in the people business.’ And that's so true.”

Harris Davis Sr. started the company in 1969 in Orangeburg and named it N&H Enterprises (the initials of his wife’s name, Nancy, and his own).

At 13 years old, Taylor began working summers and some weekends, collecting litter at two properties the company managed – a shopping center and an apartment community for low-income senior citizens.

“I went between the two and just picked up trash,” Davis says.

Davis left Orangeburg to attend Furman University but returned after graduating in 1994. He moved the property management company to Greenville a few years later while working through the ranks. He bought the business from his parents in 2017, and his father died three years later.

In the meantime, the business and its footprint grew.

“My dad got to experience a lot of our growth, not just on the property management side, but to see us get involved in the development of affordable housing. That didn't exist until 15 years ago. We've completed more than a dozen projects,” Davis says.

Harris Davis started his career as a home builder and appreciated the development side of the company. “He was proud,” his son says. “He was my mentor and my sounding board; I would call him when something great happened, whether he was my boss or just my dad.”

NHE now manages 102 affordable housing communities across the Carolinas; 34 market-rate or conventional communities in the Carolinas and Georgia; and 84 homeowners associations in the Upstate. The company has grown to 465 employees.

The business may be much bigger, but Davis says he keeps up with what’s working and what needs improvement through surveys and interactions with the staff.

In September, NHE was recognized for the fourth consecutive year with an award from Best Places to Work in South Carolina. The award, given by Best Companies Group in partnership with SC Biz News, is based on company practices, programs, benefits and surveys of employees.

“We have happy employees. And that translates into happy residents, happy customers, happy vendors,” Davis says.

“We have the best people. I’d put them up against anybody; they go the extra mile. That's our secret sauce. I love the people that I work with.”

NHE manages four communities in Asheville – an area devastated by Hurricane Helene. NHE employees collected donations and funds and are making frequent trips to the area to provide direct aid, Davis says.

“Seeing what our people are doing every day up there … We have people who care, who put their jobs and the people they're serving above their own needs.”

When Davis started working full-time at the company 30 years ago this June, NHE managed only HUD-subsidized independent housing for people with special needs.

“We'd work with faith-based organizations, community-based organizations, and they hired us to navigate the world of HUD, something we've been doing longer than any other part of the business and something that we have developed a reputation for doing well,” Davis says. “You have to know how HUD wants things done.”

That was the extent of the business in Orangeburg into the 1990s. Davis moved to Greenville permanently in 1998 and established an office to manage a condominium association. In the early 2000s, the company began managing its first conventional, market-rate multifamily property.

“It's hard to describe what NHE does; we are involved in different things. But everything we do has something to do with housing, people's homes. Literally, everything that we do. That's the common thread,” Davis says.

NHE has developed affordable housing in addition to managing both affordable and market-rate multifamily apartment and condominium communities. The company has four new projects expected to begin construction in the next six months.

“The Greater Greenville area has a lot of new apartment communities. It’s been fortuitous for me and NHE – and it's a slow process – to move our corporate office from Orangeburg to Greenville,” Davis says. NHE also continues to manage homeowner associations and is expanding into Charlotte.

And for 15 years, NHE has employed service coordinators who work at the affordable housing properties that the company manages, as well as many owned or managed by others; 77 members of the staff serve in that role in 20 different states.

“It’s a fancy term to describe a social worker,” Davis explains. “That person works inside a HUD-subsidized building for seniors and disabled residents to provide social services programs. It's funded through a HUD grant.

“It helps our vulnerable elderly population to stay in independent living settings, longer, before they need skilled care that is much more expensive in Medicaid dollars. That's something we're passionate about.”

The program is also good for NHE’s bottom line, he says, because it decreases the turnover of tenants.

Another 288 employees serve on-site at communities; the others work in administrative positions.

Davis says the maintenance teams at multifamily communities probably have the hardest jobs. “Our biggest challenge has been finding skilled and hardworking and customer-friendly maintenance staff. We've been fortunate to have some great long-term maintenance professionals,” he says.

NHE manages a total of about 12,000 multifamily apartments and condominiums. The company manages HOAs for another 20,000 units and lots.

“We grew a lot in 2023, more than any other year. Slow and steady is the goal for the foreseeable future. We're at a good size. But we always want to grow. There's no fun in not growing,” Davis says.

“More ownership groups are looking for best-in-class property management, and that's been good for us.”

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: HOME GROWN - Property Management Company's Priority Is Putting People First