Property Management

Sad day in our industry

Please take a moment and digest this one. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Bette's friends and family...

IREM Mourns Member Bette Fears

We are deeply and profoundly saddened to report that Bette Fears, ARM, an honored member of our IREM community, was killed Wednesday, August 8, by an allegedly disgruntled tenant, while performing her duties as the manager of ParkPlace Apartments, Coeur d'Alene Idaho. The tenant then took her own life.

IREM President Robert Toothaker, CPM, mourning Bette's "senseless and tragic death" called her "one of our organization's most passionate and enthusiastic members, a distinguished professional, and a role model for everyone who knew her. I know that she will be sorely missed by you, her IREM colleagues, and others whose lives she touched and that we all extend our deepest sympathy to Bette's husband, Lonnie, and other family members."

Bette, 67, lived at the ParkPlace Apartments, which is managed by Tomlinson Black Management, Inc., AMO, Spokane, WA. She was resident manager of the complex for over a decade. Tomlinson Black executives speak of Bette as a consummate professional who has broad recognition by her professional colleagues for her commitment to best practices in her workplace and in the industry. She earned recognition twice as IREM's "ACCREDITED RESIDENTIAL MANAGER (ARM) of the Year," and served nationally as a member of the IREM Foundation's Scholarship Committee and several others. As well, she was an active member of our Inland Northwest Chapter No. 49, is credited with motivating numerous colleagues to earn their ARM credential, and was a primary organizer of some of the chapter's social service and community outreach activities.

Funeral arrangements are pending. [via IREM]

Apartment Keys

Keys!!!! It is the necessary evil in our business. I am fully convinced, he/she who manages this well reigns supreme in the business of property management. We could say, it is the "key" to success, pun intended.

What can we make very good?

Seth Godin speaks about on the pretext that very good products and services end up being able to charge more. Is that not so true? I can think of a number of times in our business where the service is not so hot and or product is sub-par; what happens? We offer up discounts on rates and or big concessions to both renewals and new sales. We give it away to compensate for the mis-steps.
What can we make very good? We can make very good product and very good customer experiences. And, the byproduct will be higher rental income!

Tell us how you make your product very good? Tell us how you make your service very good? Thanks in advance for the time. M

The Green Expo

Do we really need an expo about Green Practices? (Link Here) We should really call this what it is; How to market to Americans who subscribe to saving the world and happen to call their view of the world: Green.

Here's a quote that sums it up for me, emphasis mine

“Developers (driven to cash in) are hungry to know how green can (make "green" backs (pun intended)) work  for them,” observed Bill Roschen, AIA, co-principal of Los Angeles-based Roschen Van Cleve Architects, at the “Greening Affordable Housing: New Innovations from the Field” seminar. “We need to find more innovative ways to push the creative envelope on sustainable affordable housing to encourage more developers.”  (Link Here)

And then there was 10 and then 9 and then...

REITs Primed for More Takeouts (link)

Archstone going Private

Forbes on Archstone Sell I always thought EQR would end up in a merger with Archstone. The next 30 days will prove to be full of surprise, I think.

Natural Beauty

I heard a statement the other day from someone in our industry that truly took me aback. "There is no such thing as natural beauty," they proclaimed with absolute authority. And, the statement came as they were putting on lip gloss. "It's all about image."

I think the highly sought after and incredibly successful in our industry are in fact the Naturally Beautiful, Authentic and Transparent...

The "image" is in the Authenticity.

But hey, that is one guys opinion.

The single biggest expense in Business

We all know the single biggest expense is payroll. The trends in technology are moving us in the direction of reducing the headcount.

It will be the outsourcing of back office and highly repetitive tasks that will happen first. On line payment options, third party accounting firms etc...will take away the current day tasks of many of our Assistant Mangers.

I think the secret is out now, they will be the first to go. So my cry to all of you; It's BRAND YOU time in this so called YOUniverse! It's time to shine or be extinguished.

Downsizing of Middle Managment

  Palm just introduced the tool that will allow more assets to be run by fewer people. AM's RM's and AVP's beware and be ready. This is the tool that will get you out of your office and into the field. I will have more on this in future posts.

Renewal Parties

Tired or Wired? I think that renewal parties are old, tired and frankly not what residents truly desire or care about in this attention economy!