Reduce Cooling Costs in Multifamily Homes with Radiant Barrier Sheathing
Energy efficiency is a top priority for many multifamily builders and developers when planning projects. Features such as energy-efficient windows and appliances can be key selling points with renters and condo owners. Going another step, the choice of roofing materials can further boost energy savings. Radiant barrier sheathing (RBS), for example, provides a simple, cost-effective way to reduce energy use while helping ensure strong and long-lasting roof framing.
Coping with a Fire's Aftermath
Anaheim Hills, Calif.—While fires caused by dry Christmas trees are a concern during the holiday season, outdoor fire issues are a year-round worry. Southern California wildfires recently destroyed a number of apartments and rendered multiple buildings uninhabitable at a 292-unit garden-style apartment community, the Cascades, in Anaheim Hills, Calif.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Season of Sharing
With so many companies now cutting back on holiday celebrations, this could be the season when property managers can really make a difference in their residents’ lives as well as in their communities. Simple opportunities for get-togethers may now be appreciated more than in previous years when budgets were more lavish. Perhaps the time is right for a return to basics, like a homemade cookie exchange or carol singing. This is the time of year that people especially value warm greetings and times together. They're a welcome antidote to the worrisome headlines of daily news reports.
Property Management: Can You Afford Not to Screen Residents?
Before a resident will be accepted at an apartment community, he or she needs to be background checked. But for what information? Indeed, resident screening can be a tricky process, as it is an area that is laden with potential pitfalls. What aspects of an applicant’s background are relevant? What are the ways to screen residents? What should you do or not do if you do not want to be sued? These are all questions to address.
Perspective: 9 Ways to Capture Leasing Prospects During the ‘Sales Walk’
As prospective tenants become more savvy about “shopping the market,” and the competition for luxury market renters becomes increasingly fierce, property owners need to consider the prospective resident’s entire housing selection experience in order to successfully capture tenants.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Turning Point
The apartment sector had been holding out relatively well compared to other industries, but it too will succumb to the massive loss of jobs that is expected to accelerate as we go into 2009.
Perspective: Free Up Valuable Investment Capital by Reducing Insurance Collateral
Market uncertainty has led to tightening of global credit markets and increased the cost of raising capital. To make the situation even more painful, real estate developers and apartment owners are likely to face increased insurance premiums. The property/casualty industry has seen a decrease in revenues of between 30 to 40 percent from last year due to lower premium volumes, large catastrophe losses from tornadoes, hail and hurricanes and reduced investment income from the downturn in the stock market. All of these factors make the amount of capital a company has tied up in collateral with its insurer an increasing concern. But, all is not doom and gloom. By re-evaluating their deductible insurance programs, companies may be able to reduce collateral obligations and free up capital for other uses.
Dealing with the Crisis: Roundtable Participants
Participants at Transwestern Institutional Multifamily Group's multifamily executives roundtable. The roundtable took place recently in October during the company's annual market forecast and awards conference.
Q&A: Going Green in Senior Living
Steve Leone, AIA, LEED AP, is a principal and director of sustainable design at Cubellis. He recently spoke at the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging’s (AAHSA) 2008 annual meeting & exposition, held in Philadelphia, at a session entitled Green Communities: A Growing Trend in Senior Living. MHN Associate Editor Erika Schnitzer talks to Leone about the trend of greening senior living and how it affects the development and operations of these communities, as well as how aging providers in Japan, Germany and Switzerland are incorporating green design and sustainable approaches.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Happy Accidents
Do you remember “The Accidental Tourist,” an Academy Award-nominated film based on the novel of the same name by Anne Tyler? It prompts me to propose a sequel, “The Accidental Property Manager.”
IREM’s New President Shares 2009 Goals, Reinforces Green Commitment
Pamela W. Monroe, CPM brings over 25 years of professional property management experience to her new role as president of the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) . Currently, she is also senior vice president of Community Realty Management Inc., Pleasantville, N.J., which she joined in 2002. Monroe tells MHN Managing Editor Teresa O'Dea Hein that since beginning her career in Mobile, Ala., she has overseen all types of multifamily housing in areas as diverse as the Southeast, Texas, Oklahoma, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and the Virgin Islands. This detail-oriented management executive sees the wide-ranging value of "green" initiatives and also cites a lifetime mentor's advice "that real estate management is all about dollars and cents. A nickel saved here and a dollar there can have a major impact on the bottom line."
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Apartment Sales Market Slows Down
The apartment investment sales market since the financial market crisis occurred in mid-September has “freezed up” as apartment buyers and sellers face deep uncertainty over the future of the nation’s—indeed, the global—economic condition.
PERSPECTIVE: Why Budget for Bad Debt?
As budget season approaches, apartment owners and managers are once again budgeting for bad debt - those monies unrecovered by collections after a resident has damaged a unit or skipped out on rent. According to just-released data from the National Apartment Association (“2008 Survey of Operating Income & Expenses in Rental Apartment Properties’), owners and property managers of market rate properties lost on average $70 per unit last year to bad debt.
INSIDE THE DEAL: Redevelopment of Expiring LIHTC Property Preserves 500+ Affordable Apartments
Brooklyn, N.Y.—The Domain Companies and Arker Companies have announced completion of the $52 million redevelopment of Spring Creek Gardens. The property was coming to the end of its 15-year Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) compliance period.
Q&A with David Gross: The Biggest Challenge to Green Development Is Fear of the Unknown
David E. Gross, AIA, is a founding partner of GF55 Partners, a New York-based architecture firm that is currently working on projects in Florida, New Jersey and New York. He talks to MHN Associate Editor Erika Schnitzer about the most difficult roadblocks in green design, what it takes to be green, and how the state of the economy has affected the markets in which he works.
CAMME Awards Honor Multifamily Innovation
Chicago--The 16th annual Chicagoland Apartment Marketing and Management Excellence (CAMME) Awards were recently presented at the Chicago Hilton and Towers. The CAMME Awards are given by the Chicagoland Apartment Association (CAA), in conjunction with the Chicago Tribune and Apartments.com, to single out superior contributions and exemplary achievements in the area's multifamily housing industry.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Embracing Change
While the election results are still coming in as I write this editor's note, the idea of change does give us a lot to think about, whoever wins. When you really analyze it, it is inspiring how the world's biggest nation peacefully transitions the power of leadership in an election. In contrast, some property management executives tightly clench the reins of leadership, stifling innovation and creativity.
Dealing with the Crisis
Transwestern Executive Roundtable
EDITOR’S NOTE: Getting the Banks to Lend
You can bring a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. That appears to be the situation with regards to banks that are in the $700 billion program to receive capital injections from the federal government. There are discussions in the press about banks' planning to hoard the cash, for acquisitions or other opportunities down the road, rather than make more loans.
Editor's Note: Scary Times?
Being scared is socially acceptable this week, with Halloween creeping up fast. But with job losses and fewer households being formed and tighter credit, even multi-housing executives are wise to be nervous.
Property Management Leader Alex Jackiw Talks Current Events, Future Goals and More
Alexandra (Alex) Jackiw, CPM, CAPS, is executive vice president of Buckingham Companies, AMO, an Indianapolis-based full-service real estate management, development and construction company. She is also president of Buckingham Management LLC, Buckingham’s property management subsidiary, where she oversees a diverse portfolio of conventional, market-rate and tax credit multi-family assets in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. This portfolio totals more than 16,000 units as well as over 300,000 square feet of commercial space. Given all of Jackiw’s property management expertise, MHN Managing Editor Teresa O’Dea Hein polled her on some of the hot topics of the day.
Development & Design: Boutique Housing
The trend is here to stay, but not all developers are able to master the subtleties required for a successful project. Boutique housing is highly stylized and individual. It needs to be well received by the target market and also be inviting to a wider base of consumers. By understanding the history of boutique housing, developers can make the best design—and therefore business—decisions.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Relative Calm in the Midst of Turmoil
It was certainly hair-raising to watch the stock market in the past week. By Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average had fallen from 9,955.50 on Monday to 8,451.19 points—a drop that was reportedly even worse percentage-wise than the 17 percent plunge in the week ending July 22, 1933.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Risk Management
Chances are, when you're in Las Vegas--like I am now, at a conference, I swear!--risk seems like a good thing. Slot machines promise the chance of an easy pay-out (but not for me so far). However, in the real world, risk has a more worrisome meaning, especially these days.
INSIDE THE DEAL: Sale Takes Place Amid Already-Tight Credit Conditions
San Carlos, Calif.—Although it closed before the financial crisis further worsened in September, the investment sale of the 42-unit Laurel Theatre Apartments brokered by Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services was already taking place in an environment of scarcer credit.
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