Apartment Budget

Last week, I discussed what it would be like to be an exceptional apartment community, and how that would affect our view of our community, our confidence in our product, and our entire operational process.  I would like to expand upon one of the bigger elements:

Creating a community that truly provides a memorable experience shifts
work from a sales-oriented model to an experience-oriented model.

What does that truly mean, and why is it so difficult?  As I mentioned, if you have a scarce product, and you have high demand, sales happens easily on its own.  The problem is somewhat of a “chicken and the egg” scenario, however, because how do you allocate labor to creating an experience, when you need that labor to plug the holes from residents walking out the door? 

By Linda Day Harrison, theBrokerList, Chicago, IL

Do you make decisions and move forward or do you contemplate things to the point that you become a speed bump? What is a speed bump? A speed bump is the person in an organization that stops progress and/or is afraid to make a decision out of fear of failure.

By Jo-Anne Oliveri, ireviloution intelligence, Brisbane, Australia

I’m sure you are beginning to understand the vital importance of an operational due diligence being conducted prior to your offer to purchase a rent roll becoming unconditional. Once that contract is unconditional you are bound to proceed with the purchase regardless of how inferior the business is that you are purchasing. Yes, I understand that in most purchases there is a retention period, usually three months (again, this is a time period I do not agree with) whereby you have the opportunity to not pay for any managements that you may lose in this period. But, under normal rent roll contracts it’s fairly standard that a percentage of the purchase amount is usually withheld in a solicitor’s trust account and is released when the retention period has expired. Some agents believe this period is their safe guard. Well, I’m here to tell you that you must not be lulled into a false sense of security and, with that said, I feel another article is worthy of this subject.

By Linda Day Harrison, theBrokerList, Chicago, IL

Today more than ever, many people do not have traditional sources of employment income. With the job market shrinking, many of us are working for ourselves and are creating jobs by starting businesses and new ventures. With that being said, how does a self-employed individual purchase a residential or commercial location with the stringent financing requirements currently in place?

By Carla Toebe, New Century Realty, Kennewick, WA

If you have decided to delve into the world of property management then the banking procedures will be a bit more involved than simply having a bank account, making your deposits and payments, and balancing the register at the end of the month. I want to stress that every state’s laws are different. Much of what I talk about in this article relates to the best practices specific to the state of Washington.

The first rule of business is to establish a trust account with your commercial bank. Oddly enough, once you have sat through the session to get this going, do some telephone banking and ask the representative what kind of account you have set up to make sure it was actually set up as a trust account. Just because they tell you that it is a trust account doesn't mean it is. You have to follow up to make sure that the personal banker did their job correctly. You could find out the hard way that this account was never in fact a trust even if you were told it was. If it isn’t a trust then it will not be protected from potential seizure in the event of bankruptcy or other issues with separate personal or business accounts. Do your due diligence and don't rely on the initial set up.

By Linda Day Harrison, Manager Labs, Chicago, IL

There are business models in all shapes and sizes. There are retail stores, medical and legal practices, cleaning companies, general contractors, grocery stores, etc. So when you think about a business, how many business models do you know of where the business owner outsources the entire business to another party? For instance, if you visit your local grocery store, is it managed by a grocery management company? How about a retail store management company? So what makes the residential real estate investment business any different? Why are there so many property management companies and outsourced service providers to the property industry?

According to a colleague of mine, the answer is quite simple, “It is not easy, there is so much at stake, and there are many moving parts.” Also, when you think about properties as investments, there are often multiple partners and joint venture groups who own the assets. In those cases, the managing partner realizes they do not have enough time or expertise to do all of the functions required of them to maximize the value of the asset. That is what outsourcing offers.

Are donations really required?

Seeking donations from vendors have become the standard for many of us on the property management side. Is it really the answer to our lack of budget for resident retention programs or corporate meetings?

As much as we talk about the importance of recycling, the United States is the number one trash-producing country in the world.  This means that 5% of the world’s population generates 40% of the world’s waste! With last week being National Recycling Week, I thought it would be fun to show you some ways to conserve waste and save money by repairing, versus replacing, your appliances.  The below infograph, from Part Select, shows the cost to replace some common appliances.  If you click on the buttons, possible symptoms and their fixes are shown.  Have fun playing around with this and maybe next time one of your resident’s dishwasher leaks, you can save some money by repairing it.

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A Simple Way To Conduct A Utility Billing Audit

Here's how to conduct a quick and simple audit:

1. Know the rules of the game.
2. Collect relevant billing data.
3. Build a spreadsheet and graph the data.

1.  Know The Rules Of The Game