Awesome Infographic pitting the Do-It-Yourself Landlord against the Landlord-With-the-Property-Management-Company. Happy Friday! _Trevor Courtesy of: AllPropertyManagement.com

Pinterest is a new but RAPIDLY growing social network which can be a powerful tool for the promotion of a property management business and/or apartment building. The website was imagined as a place where users would communicate by creating picture boards and adding pictures (called “pins”) to the boards for the entire world to see.  […]

The maintenance team that a property management company employs is critical to the customer service and resident retention an apartment building.  The attitude, demeanor, punctuality and friendliness of Mr. (or Ms.) Fix-It is often times the difference between a tenant moving out as soon as their lease is up or choosing to live at the […]

Today we move forward with our exploration of potential interview questions that a real estate investor or landlord should ask property management company candidates.  The original blog post for this series can be found here:  How to Interview and Hire the Right Property Management Company for Your Apartment Building We have put together a list […]

This week we continue with our suggested list of questions to ask while interviewing property management company candidates for your property.  The original blog post can be found here:  How to Interview and Hire the Right Property Management Company for Your Apartment Building We have put together a list of 12 questions to consider asking […]

This is a huge win for those of us in the Los Angeles multifamily real estate market.  See article from the Fair Housing Coalition below.  What are you thoughts on this ruling by Judge Yaffe? -Trevor The case is Barbara Darwoush vs. City of Los Angeles – 10/06/2011 A recent ruling by Judge Yaffe may […]

Is your Homeowner’s Association maximizing the amount of reserves it could be holding?  Our experience with HOA and Community Management is that t elected Board does not always have the time or resources to look for cost savings in every single detail of the Association’s monthly bills (let’s face it, homeowners are busy).  In an […]

There are many reasons to rent an apartment in stead of buying a home these days. One reason that is frequently overlooked is the customer service you receive as a renter from a property management company. Instead of having to find the right handy man, plumber, electrician, etc – one call or email to your property manager and the issue is on schedule for repair. As a renter, you do not have to worry about who is going to fix what and when and for how much – your property management has got you covered!

This is article that I found on The Real Estate Channel’s website seemingly creates a set of mixed emotions for the multifamily and residential rental industry. While we, as property managers and investment property owners want rental demand to increase in our apartment buildings, we do not necessarily want this increase to be at the expense of our single family home investments – or do we? If our portfolios are weighted more towards multifamily, then perhaps this article is good news… What are you thoughts? Are we seeing the first signs of a multifamily dominated real estate market?
-Trevor Henson

My latest post on Property Management 2.0 discusses the feasibility of installing electrical sub meters on a master metered apartment building in the midst of a recession. Do the numbers make sense? Will there be resident turn over? Check out blog.firstlightpropertymanagement.com for the full article.