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Let Your Clients Know that They Can Be the Bank and Prosper

Posted on 14. Feb, 2012 by Marc Courtenay.

Houses in America are “the best value they’ve been in many generations” according to a housing analyst I interviewed recently. He enthusiastically reminded me that this is the time investors can “…pay below-market prices as banks try to unload properties.” This is a reality in every region of the country right now.

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Twitter How-To’s: Part 3 of the Twitter Series for Property Managers

Posted on 10. Feb, 2012 by Charity Hisle.

The @ sign is like magic, it is called a Reply or a Mention and is public. When you use the @ symbol before someone’s name (for example: @CharityHisle) you are targeting that update TO that person. Twitter even links to that person’s account to help connect your followers to one another.

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Trends for Managed Property and Rental Housing

Posted on 07. Feb, 2012 by Marc Courtenay.

This apparently is the beginning of a nationwide trend, according to CNNMoney.com. They also reported that more than 4 million homes have been lost to foreclosure over the past five years. That’s a big inventory to add to the existing numbers of unsold homes, and that foreshadows a trend that will be more like a bottoming-out process on home pricing.

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Landscaping Resources for Property Managers

Posted on 02. Feb, 2012 by Rob Maday.

Out of the countless ways a conventional landscape can become more “green” and sustainable, we’ve compiled a list of 3 suggestions with the best ROI for property managers.

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Federal Laws Property Managers Must Be Aware Of – Part I

Posted on 31. Jan, 2012 by Mary Girsch-Bock.

Sometimes it seems as if all property managers spend a majority of their time memorizing various rules and regulations. New employees in particular are always trying to learn basic rules such as “when do we return security deposits, or what account does this deposit go into?”

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10 More Pinterest Tips for Property Managers!

Posted on 25. Jan, 2012 by Charity Hisle.

In our last post about Pinterest, we discussed why each property management group should have a Pinterest account. But how do you get creative with your account without being too salesy?

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How to Attract “Generation Y” Residents for Your Rental Properties

Posted on 23. Jan, 2012 by Marc Courtenay.

Believe it or not, there are up to 80 million people between the ages of 16 and 29 who will be filling your vacancies in the year ahead.

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Should Your Property Management Company Investigate Pinterest?

Posted on 17. Jan, 2012 by Charity Hisle.

With over 4 million users, Pinterest is now in the top 10 list of social networks! It is a unique (and public) website that allows users to organize and share images and videos from across the web with one another. Think of Pinterest as an online bulletin board!

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Top Reasons To Be Optimistic About Real Estate Market In 2012

Posted on 16. Jan, 2012 by Aaron Bosshardt.

Every agent I have has positive feelings about the year 2012. What’s even more shocking is that bank executives I have been talking to are positive for the first time since 2008. If you are a looking to perfectly time a long-term purchase of real estate, then this might well be the year to do it.

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The Importance of Property Maintenance, Part 2

Posted on 09. Jan, 2012 by Mary Girsch-Bock.

If you find yourself neglecting the small items, you’ll soon be on the hot seat for more expensive repairs. Building managers can find themselves with a run-down, in-desperate-need-of-repair building a lot sooner that they think.

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Rental Housing and Apartment Rental Market Trends for 2012

Posted on 04. Jan, 2012 by Marc Courtenay.

The year 2011 will go down in history as the year when the rental housing and multifamily apartment rental markets began to tip in favor of owners and landlords.

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What Property Managers Need to Know Now About the Real Estate Market

Posted on 30. Dec, 2011 by Marc Courtenay.

Property managers need to streamline the application and screening process of filling vacancies. Finding good renters in this economy is becoming a numbers game. The better you know the condition of the housing market in your area, and the more potential renters you can reach and process, the more you’ll succeed.

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30 Tweet Ideas: Part 2 of the Twitter Series for Property Managers

Posted on 22. Dec, 2011 by Charity Hisle.

Twitter is one of the most difficult social networks to explain and to learn for property management professionals. Often I hear questions like, “What do we say?” or “Who are we talking to?” Let’s try to clear up the confusion today!

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Always Ask Residents if Something Needs Fixing

Posted on 20. Dec, 2011 by Lisa Trosien.

I remember when I first started in the apartment industry, someone told me to always ask my residents if there was anything in their apartment that needed fixing.

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Market Fun Holiday Events For Residents

Posted on 16. Dec, 2011 by Mary Girsch-Bock.

While the holidays always make us think about ways to engage residents in the holiday spirit, there are many activities and events that property managers can organize and easily implement that can be used not only during the holiday season, but throughout the year.

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The Importance of Routine Maintenance

Posted on 12. Dec, 2011 by Mary Girsch-Bock.

With marketing activity being ramped up in a tough rental market, property managers are sometimes guilty of neglecting property maintenance. Warning: you do so at your own risk.

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Celebrate the New Year with your Staff: 4 Fun Ideas

Posted on 08. Dec, 2011 by Marc Courtenay.

The year 2012 is almost upon us. You staff has worked long and hard to fill the vacancies, please the residents and fulfill the expectations of your clients. So it’s time to show them how much your appreciation while at the same time reinforcing their positive efforts to help your property management business to grow and “flourish.”

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What is Twitter? Part 1 of the Twitter Series for Property Managers

Posted on 05. Dec, 2011 by Charity Hisle.

Believe it or not, the world has not abandoned Twitter, in fact, just the opposite. While Facebook and Google Plus use are declining, Twitter is gaining users globally. The average user sends a half a Tweet per day and the site has reached 360 million registered users.

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Think Lodging Credit is Easy? Think Again

Posted on 02. Dec, 2011 by KTS-Law.

There has been a recent influx in lawsuits by employees in the property management business. After much consultation and defense of employers in this industry, it has become clear that many employers fail to correctly pay taxes on lodging credit. One of the major problems employers have is grasping the understanding that lodging credit is still “compensation” for tax purposes.

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Don’t Be Like Seaworld

Posted on 30. Nov, 2011 by Lisa Trosien.

On a recent family vacation, we went to Seaworld (you probably guessed that by the title of this blog post). After paying the fairly hefty entry fee, we headed straight to the dolphins because they are my girl’s favorite at Seaworld.

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How to Select a Property Manager

Posted on 21. Nov, 2011 by Marc Courtenay.

A recent set of circumstances helped me to realize that property managers might want to know how owners and investors go about selecting a manager for their property.

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Rent vs. Buy

Posted on 15. Nov, 2011 by Mary Girsch-Bock.

It’s been a tough economy particularly for housing these last few years. Only in recent months have there been any concrete signs of recovery. It’s a buyers market for those looking for housing with record low mortgage rates and record low prices. But for some, renting makes much more sense economically, particularly for the short term, which is generally less than five years. So how do you convince someone that it’s in their best interest to rent?

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College Prep: Sustainable Off-Campus Living

Posted on 10. Nov, 2011 by Jennifer Newton.

College and university campuses are increasingly defining sustainable practices for their campus communities. This is, in turn, raising the bar for students’ off-campus expectations.

If your property is near enough to a campus to provide housing to students or staff, take a moment to assess any green attributes that could be leveraged to attract eco-conscious tenants. If you discover your property doesn’t have much to boast about, let this exercise be an incentive to you to explore adding a few green assets to your property.

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Winterizing Your Property

Posted on 07. Nov, 2011 by Jennifer Newton.

Frozen pipes. Drafty rooms. Broken tree limbs. Ice dams. These are just a few of the potential joys winter offers to the unsuspecting property owner — in addition to, of course, regularly shoveling and de-icing sidewalks and driveways.

Here are a few things to put on your list for winterizing a property so you stay curled up on the sofa with a cup of hot cocoa instead of trudging out into the cold to fix something at your rental property.

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