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50 Interviews with Property Managers: 7 Lessons For Your Business (Feb. 24 Webinar)

Posted on 25. Feb, 2010 by Aimee Miller.

In this February 24th webinar video recording, Mike Levy, author of the book 50 Interviews: Successful Property Managers, shares the top 7 lessons he learned while interviewing successful property managers. He provides examples and ideas about how to incorporate these lessons into your business.
Read a case study on how Ray Scarabosio of Jackson Group Property [...]

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The Best Property Management Companies Are the Ones That Have Built Strong Teams

Posted on 22. Feb, 2010 by Mike Levy.

Over the last several months I have interviewed 50 of the most successful property managers across the United States. Excellent people skills and an enthusiastic and positive attitude were qualities of successful property managers. But the one thing that became very clear, early on in my interviews, was that building strong teams was critical to [...]

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Secrets of Successful Property Managers: Attitude Makes All the Difference

Posted on 04. Feb, 2010 by Mike Levy.

Over the last several months I have interviewed 50 of the most successful property managers across the United States. What I started to realize was that there was a common attribute that many of the successful property managers shared – and it was having a positive and enthusiastic attitude.

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Ditch That Rent Check: A World of Online Payment Options

Posted on 28. Jan, 2010 by Jim Semick.

Sure, the lowly check will be with us for a while. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t help send checks the way of the dodo bird. According to a Federal Reserve System study, check usage is in steep decline, and checks now represent only 30 percent of all non-cash payments. Electronic payments are now the clear winner with consumers.

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Secrets of Successful Property Managers: Excellent People Skills are Critical

Posted on 27. Jan, 2010 by Mike Levy.

Over the last several months I have interviewed 50 of the most successful property managers across the United States. One thing I consistently heard over and over from the property managers, is the importance of having good people skills. The five critical people skills identified were:

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Bigger Isn’t Always Better: The Trend Towards Renting Smaller Apartments

Posted on 08. Jan, 2010 by Heather Blume.

When she was in 8th grade, as is tradition in my family, my sister got her first set of matched luggage. It was dark blue with tan piping and I remember it was from JC Penny’s. For 8th grade promotion, I think she received all the pieces to that luggage set that she hadn’t gotten [...]

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5 Inexpensive Ways to Improve Your Rental Properties

Posted on 16. Dec, 2009 by Marc Courtenay.

If you had an unlimited budget for upgrading your properties you wouldn’t need an article like this one. In the current economic reality, we have to be creative and financially careful when we are trying to make our units more appealing.

As a property manager, you know what it is like to have a tight schedule and an even tighter budget, so I thought I’d share with you some simple and “cheap” ways to spruce up your inventory to attract new residents.

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Top 10 Property Management Pitfalls (Presentation by Daniel Bornstein, Landlord Attorney)

Posted on 17. Nov, 2009 by Aimee Miller.

On Thursday, Nov 12th we hosted a seminar in San Francisco. Daniel Bornstein, Landlord Attorney with Bornstein and Bornstein (www.bornsteinandbornstein.com) presented an insiders view on how to avoid common property management mistakes that cost your business money and result in potential liability.
View more presentations from AppFolio
Top 10 Property Management Pitfalls

Failure to draft and execute outstanding [...]

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More Green Incentives For Residential Property Managers – Part 2

Posted on 08. Oct, 2009 by Marc Courtenay.

The “science” of being an effective Residential Property Manager changes with the times and the priorities that our society establishes. Part 1 of this article covers ways in which property managers attract and retain residents with green incentives.
Today’s homeowners and home-renters are motivated to save energy and be “earth friendly.” That is why the “Green” [...]

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Does Size Matter: Revisiting Your Pet Policy

Posted on 07. Oct, 2009 by Heather Blume.

Let’s play a game. I’m going to show you two pictures and I want you to pick which dog you think would be a better fur-resident in your community, bearing in mind your current pet policy and your own personal prejudices and biases to certain dogs.

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Challenging Times, Creative Solutions and Fair Housing

Posted on 29. Sep, 2009 by Jamie Sternberg.

Vacancy rates are rising; rental rates are falling; resident retention is becoming more difficult; water, sewer and trash rates are increasing; and the overall economic forecast looks bleak – there is no doubt that these are challenging times for the rental housing industry. Competition for residents is stiff, and property owners and management companies are [...]

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Interview with Todd Breen, President of Home Property Management – Being Profitable with Section 8

Posted on 24. Sep, 2009 by Aimee Miller.

Recently I had the opportunity to chat with Todd Breen (South East Regional Director, FARPM; Faculty at the Property Management Academy in Florida) about how his company (www.624home.com) makes the Section 8 program profitable. While I was stuck in the office, Todd was actually spearfishing on a yacht in Florida…this is the fish he [...]

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2 More Ideas on How Property Managers Can Prosper in Today’s Economy: Part 2

Posted on 04. Sep, 2009 by Jennifer Newton.

This is the second part of my article on best practices for property managers to continue to grow their business, even during our tough economy. In the first article I talked about providing excellent service to both types of your clients – owners and residents. My second two best practices are around building a strong [...]

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Green Incentives For Residential Property Managers – Part 1

Posted on 31. Aug, 2009 by Marc Courtenay.

There has never been a better time for creative ways to attract and retain the kind of residents you want to rent or lease your properties. Appealing to thoughtful, conscientious and responsible people is actually easier than you think.
When I was a practicing counselor (I have an M.S. in Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage, [...]

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Who Wants to Earn a Steady Income? 5 Best Practices to Find New Property Management Clients

Posted on 25. Aug, 2009 by Russell Munz.

It’s not who wants to be a millionaire these days, it’s who wants to earn a steady income.
Nine years ago my business partner asked me to grow the property management business so it would pay the bills during a bad real estate market. Now our firm Pyramid Real Estate Group in Stamford Connecticut has over [...]

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2 Ideas on How Property Managers Can Prosper in Today’s Economy: Part 1

Posted on 21. Aug, 2009 by Jennifer Newton.

I believe that property managers have the opportunity to get more clients during this recession so they emerge with an even stronger infrastructure once the economy turns around. Here is the first part of my thoughts on four areas to focus on right now so you can prosper in today’s economy. This article will cover [...]

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The Dawn of Outrageous Opportunities for Property Managers

Posted on 06. Aug, 2009 by Marc Courtenay.

Interviewing property managers these days has been a very interesting experience. That’s because these are “the best of times and the worst of times” for property managers.
After all, on the west coast of the U.S.A. vacancy rates are up sharply. One Portland, Oregon property manager said he can’t remember a time when he has placed [...]

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Does a Landlord Have to Accept Section 8 Vouchers?

Posted on 30. Jul, 2009 by Robert Machado.

While HomePointe (my property management business) does accept any legal source of income, our clients reserve the right to not participate in the Section 8 Program. The Section 8 Program involves signing a government lease, not ours. It also involves submitting to mandatory inspections both at move in and annually. Finally, it also mandates longer [...]

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Service Sells: 5 Rules of Property Management Customer Service

Posted on 28. Jul, 2009 by Aimee Miller.

Have you ever read a website or a company description that says something like…”We pride ourselves on delivering terrible service. Really, great service is expensive and we don’t think it is worth it so instead of great service we will provide pretty adequate to bad service. Thanks for your business.” Probably not! Really, we all [...]

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Property Management Best Practices to Protect Property Values

Posted on 23. Jul, 2009 by Agi Anderson.

Property Documentation with Photographs
“A picture is worth a 1000 words,” holds true with protecting investments for your owners. Make certain you take first-rate photos prior to move-in, digital photography makes this a simple, effective task. Show the condition of the entire property inside and out. Include; appliances, fixtures, walls, flooring and every room of the [...]

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6 Tips for Communication Clarity with Your Residents

Posted on 16. Jul, 2009 by Heather Blume.

You know, not everyone has a gift for writing. Some people don’t even have the basics.
When I was younger, my mother was a librarian and an English teacher. She and I would sit at the kitchen table in the evenings, me struggling with the complexities of Algebra (many of which I, to this day, still [...]

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Challenges and Solutions for Residential Property Managers – Part 2

Posted on 14. Jul, 2009 by Marc Courtenay.

What an exciting time for residential property managers! As successful people well know, a crisis can equal an opportunity.
In Part 1 of Challenges and Solutions for Residential Property Managers, I discussed how property managers can attract and retain residents, even in today’s economic climate. For this article I’ll turn my attention to owners.
One of the [...]

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Challenges and Solutions for Residential Property Managers – Part 1

Posted on 10. Jul, 2009 by Marc Courtenay.

If you’re a property manager in today’s market you know you’re facing conditions that you may have never faced before. Those who are proactive and innovative will prosper, even in today’s economic conditions.
Currently in markets like Southern California, vacancies are at levels not seen in over 15 years. One property manager there told me, “Competition [...]

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Five Ways For Property Managers To “Pool” Their Resources

Posted on 07. Jul, 2009 by Heather Blume.

As temperatures rise, so do easy chances for resident retention!  Summer is a great time for connecting with your residents and one of our greatest warm season assets is, of course, our pool.  However, there is more to using your aqua resources than a single large gesture of the large summer pool party.  You can [...]

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The Credit Crisis and Its Impact on Rental Housing

Posted on 02. Jul, 2009 by Marc Courtenay.

“When it comes to property management and the credit crisis, things are changing all the time…this is unprecedented in our 40 years of experience.”
This is a quote from an interview I conducted with a partner of a prominent Southern California residential property management company. She is also an owner of both single family and multi-family [...]

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