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‘The Essential Kitchen’ with Kevin Henry: For the Love of Cooking
I love to cook and enjoy the process of preparation, selecting the ingredients, laying out my tools, cooking my meal and then to finally serve it to my family and guests. As with most chefs, professional or amateur, I nibble my way throughout the undertaking and have little room to actually sit and eat with my guests, but to sit and talk, to eat and drink and just commune with one another is its own reward I am glad to say that there has been a renascence in kitchen design over the last few years, maybe it’s because of the…
‘Gimme Shelter’ with Daniel Gehman: Big Green Deal
Naturally, when I saw an article in my local paper extolling the advent of the first LEED Platinum rated building in Orange County, Calif., I was pretty darn excited. It was a single- family residence, which was a bit unusual, but a notable benchmark nonetheless. There was to be an open house that very afternoon, and, with a bit of time at my disposal, I decided to head on over there. A steady stream of Priuses, old and new, braked successfully and deposited their optimistic occupants curbside. (I parked mine around the corner.) With a curious but somewhat critical eye,…
‘The Essential Kitchen’ with Kevin Henry: THE FUTURE AS IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN
More than 70 years ago, the “Futurist” predicted that our world would be awash in jet-packs, flying-cars, moving sidewalks, personal robot helpers, mile-high cities, and let us not forget the ambiguous vacation on the Moon, or better yet on Mars. Much like a feather on a string in front of a playful kitten, the kitchen of the future with all its time and labor saving gadgets and gizmo’s, has been dangled in front of the American consumer since the 1939 New York Worlds Fair, but for me the future became a reality one very hot summer day in 1960, while…
Guest Blog with Chris Thorman: Six Things Property Management Software Makes Easy
If you’re like most property managers, your work day is stuck in the 20th century. Rent checks are collected through a metal drop box. Brochures sit idly by outside of your office. Your web site consists of one page with a phone number, e-mail address and a few photos. Enough paperwork is collecting in your office to create a fire hazard. I want to point out six things that property managers can really master in the 21st century, thanks to the latest property management software systems. Managing Leads to New Tenants According to Apartment Internet Marketing, 46% of apartment prospects…
‘The Essential Kitchen’ with Kevin Henry: My Lunch with Arnold
I was invited to attend a luncheon last week with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Author of “The World is Hot, Crowded and Flat” Thomas Friedman. I have been involved with environmental issues for over 30 years, ever since my first Earth Day rally in 1974, but this event was on an entirely different plane than I have ever been associated with before. I realized that the revolution had moved to a new level…it wasn’t about fighting the machine…this was the machine. The event was attended by Governors of other states, UN delegates, international media, scientists…
‘The Green Picture’ with Erika Schnitzer: Will Preserving our Earth Through Mandates Work?
A few new developments in the sustainability world have come to pass since my last note. One week ago, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass) launched a campaign for their climate bill. The purpose of the “Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act,” which, incidentally, does not include the word “climate” in its title, is “to create energy jobs, promote energy independence, reduce global warming pollution and transition to a clean energy economy.” While this proposal incorporates every industry, it is important to point out that green collar jobs are, in fact, on the rise within the building…
‘Editor’s Notebook’ with Diana Mosher: If You’re Listening to Residents, Shout it Out
At the end of August I joined a new demographic when we dropped my oldest son at college for Freshman Orientation. It’s been a difficult transition for his parents and younger brother; but, it’s also an exciting one that we’re all enjoying vicariously, as he experiences his first taste of living away from home. He likes his roommate, his instructors are brilliant, and the campus is just what he was looking for. We all agree the food is awful, but at least student feedback is encouraged. There’s a bulletin board in the dining hall where students can tack a note…
‘Capital Insights’ with Jack Kern: Don’t Count Out Rents as House Prices Languish
"I get knocked down, but I get up again, you're never gonna keep me down!" Tubthumping Lyrics (c) Artist (Band):Chumbawamba Most forecasters have called rent declines an unfavorable trend through 2012, and commented on how the rents in place are tied, almost demonically to home price affordability. The commonly held view is that the strength of the housing market and the relationship between house price affordability and multifamily rent is sacrosanct, so much so that most analyst calls to the top 10 publics on rental play off of that theme. I'm not so sure that's the case, and in fact…
Foong on Finance: Where to Look for Distressed CRE Opportunities
Many investors are seeking to take advantage of the downturn (now supposedly coming to an end) to pounce on distressed multifamily commercial real estate opportunities. Little wonder that the GreenPearl Events’s Distressed Real Estate Summit held in New York last week far exceeded the organizer’s expectations. The day-long event was attended by over 700 industry professionals. Word at the conference is that if you expect a fire sale of distressed properties, such as the opportunities created by the RTC in the early-1990s, this is not the time. Banks are not letting go of their distressed assets at bottom-feeder prices or…
‘Gimme Shelter’ with Daniel Gehman: “Land ho!”
Ah, if only. People around here are fond of saying “God stopped making land a long time ago.” If not precisely scientifically correct, at least those words capture the emotional tone of the current predicament—we’re running out of dirt. Allow me to qualify. It’s not so much that there isn’t bare land available anywhere, but powerful forces have conspired to make a great deal of it simply in the wrong place, even if for the right reasons. Of course, I’m talking about real estate suitable for the development of new multifamily communities. With the tiniest glimmers of light beginning to…