Last year was a good year for apartment sales in the Puget Sound region. In fact, with $2.6 billion of property changing hands, it was the third best year ever. So let's see how active investors are this year by comparing the first four months of 2012 sales activity with the same period this year.That will tell us whether investors are still serious about this market, or just horsing around.

With more than 260,000 rental units in Utah, there are thousands of security deposit disputes each year. In many of these cases, the dispute comes down to a disagreement between the landlord and tenant over damages and cleaning. This problem is best solved with a thorough and detailed inspection process.

Housing cost burdens among working renters rise for third straight year; cost burdens remain steady but challenging for working owners.

Buried under mountains of property management paperwork? Do the projects seem to never end? Imagine how good you would feel if every day you could start with a clean and organized desk? Well dream no further! By following the three powerful tips listed below, your dreams will become reality!

Setting up your system:

Qualifying prospective renters can seem especially challenging when you must establish their eligibility to rent based upon income. While it is necessary to determine if callers and visitors can qualify to rent at your community, coming right out and asking someone for their annual income can be perceived as an invasion of privacy. (Would you like a total stranger to ask: “How much money do YOU make?”) Recently the following question on this subject came up:

Dear Maintenance Men:
My tenant has a toilet that has little cracks in various places. It has small cracks, but no leakage. I looked online and they said you could epoxy it or replace it...but you must do something. How can you tell what will work? What would be the best thing? Also, do toilets just crack over time? (“I read your column every time! That and the Legal Corner one.”)
Kristina

Dear Kristina:

Not long ago, it was common to smell cigarette smoke in Washington workplaces and restaurants. But with mounting evidence that secondhand smoke causes disease and death, and the passage of Washington’s smoke-free indoor air law, people have come to expect clean air where they work and live.

Apartment Insights 1st quarter results show the Pierce and Kitsap rental markets rebounding, but the Kitsap market continuing to weaken according to Tom Cain of Apartment Insights. The data are from his Seattle firm’s statistics and trends on 50+ unit properties in Pierce, Kitsap and Thurston counties.

VACANCY: 6.24%

Following seven consecutive months of gains, the list of improving U.S. housing markets remained virtually unchanged in April, with 273 metros on the National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI), released today. This total reflects a net reduction of one market since March and again includes entrants from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Don’t let TV’s ‘World’s Worst Tenants’ on Spike TV dictate how you manage your properties. Most of us have seen depictions of landlords on TV and in movies as illimitable in their abilities of ridding of delinquent tenants. Landlords who implement the methods that these shows illustrate for entertainment purposes could find themselves in big trouble. It is absolutely against Landlord-Tenant Law to use “force” to evict a tenant. Locking your tenant out or shutting off the utilities to the unit is very illegal.

I am seeing more in the marketplace about LED lights. Is this a proven technology and what applications make sense for multifamily properties?

240 Meetings with Legislators from 28 States Focus on Carried Interest, Internet Sales Tax Fairness, and Lead Paint in Commercial Buildings

Some 320 members of the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM®) and the CCIM Institute recently visited Capitol Hill to raise awareness of key issues affecting the commercial real estate industry. IREM® and CCIM Members representing 28 states and the District of Columbia held 240 meetings with their respective senators, representatives and their staffs to raise awareness of the industry’s legislative positions on:

• Carried Interest

Part of HUD & HHS initiative to provide permanent, supportive housing to prevent homelessness
or institutionalization of the low-income disabled

The Washington State Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) has been awarded $5,580,280 to provide project-based rental assistance to up to 275 units for extremely low income people with disabilities as part of a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services effort to prevent people with disabilities from homelessness or unnecessary institutionalization.

The telephone is your single most important leasing tool and it’s probably the easiest “tool” to operate at your community, but is everyone answering it when it rings?

Unsustainably High Appreciation Continues in Phoenix, Las Vegas and California, But National Moderation Could Indicate Stabilization, According to First Quarter Zillow Real Estate Market Reports

The national housing market showed signs of moderation in the first quarter after months of robust and largely unsustainable annual home value appreciation. The Zillow® Home Value Index (ZHVI)[i] rose to $157,600 as of the end of the first quarter, up 5.1 percent year-over-year and 0.5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2012, according to the first quarter Zillow Real Estate Market Reports[ii].

$2 million in HUD Continuum of Care funds awarded recently is over & above $68.4 million in
renewal funding awarded to 408 Alaska, Oregon & Washington homeless projects in March, 2013

U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan recently awarded an additional $2,070,603 in renewal funds to 19 homeless projects in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Alaska in a second round of renewal grants under HUD's Continuum of Care. Recently's awards will ensure these HUD-assisted local homeless assistance projects remain operating in the coming year.

A recent string of thefts has been plaguing Valley apartment communities. Opportunistic miscreants are targeting rent drop boxes at apartment communities, preying on those communities and the residents who pay their rent via the drop boxes. In the aftermath of these thefts, landlords and residents are left with one very important question: who is responsible for replacement of the stolen payments? This question has yet to be formally answered by the Arizona trial courts.

5 Practical Ideas to Green Up your Bottom Line

It seems that everyone is taking steps to go a little green. So what’s it mean for property managers? Is it worth your time and effort to promote a green agenda?

What apartment seekers are looking for in their next home – and how they’re finding it

The next generation of renters is equipped with more access to information than ever before. Recent survey data published by ForRent.com, sister site of Homes.com, sheds light on what renters are looking for and the methods they’re using to find it. With more than 8,000 responses, the month-long survey revealed convenience and cost-efficiency are most important to apartment-dwellers.

You can feel the frustration, can’t you? So much of management is getting people to do what you want. Whether it’s your staff, your kids or your spouse, it can be so aggravating when they simply don’t do what you ask! Well, because I’m not a marriage counselor, I’m going to ignore that part of life. However, if you promise not to tell, I will admit that I do apply this to my parenting strategies.