Author Archive

Foreclosures and Sinking Prices…

Written by jordan on . Posted in Blog

Foreclosures and sinking prices maybe what it takes to rebound the housing slump, but it will not be anytime soon that is for sure.

Robert Sheridan of RISMedia, states that “We’re in a mess of our own making and it’s time to own up to it. Prices need to fall, credit needs to flow (more responsibly this time) and everyone – from homeowners to industry professionals – needs to lower their short-term expectations. We won’t be hearing any good news until we come to grips with the bad. We’ll get through this, of course, and the cycle will start again. When it does, I hope hindsight makes us much, much wiser.”

The truth is that many are not wanting to see prices fall for another two years, but it may take that long for a turnaround, and I think that this crunch will make us “much, much wiser,” and something good will come out of this mess. People who I talk to, who are not actively involved in the real estate industry, claim that it will bounce back fast, and we have already seen the worst; yet they miss the signs, decreasing home prices each month, and increasing activity of foreclosures.

Yet decreasing home prices, and increasing foreclosures, might be what jet starts the home market once more, argues a news article from Bloomberg. “In some regions, such as San Francisco, sinking prices may already may be helping the housing market recover.” Banks do not want to hold on to the properties, so they put it on the market very quickly, and with that comes low prices that will help the market adjust.

Apartment Management Discovers a "Must Have" Tool for Property Management

Written by jordan on . Posted in Blog

XAP Realty, a Los Angeles based real estate marketing company has created a lead capture solution to utilize the fact that cell phones are now carried by all prospective buyers and renters. The concept is extremely simple, www.xaprealty.com provides real estate agents, individual sellers, and property management companies with interactive signs. The signs allow prospects to request the listing information of a particular property by sending a text message. the prospect is instantaneously sent the listing details including: address, price, beds, baths, acreage, amenities, contact information, and more. Simultaneously, the agent or property manager is sent an email that includes the prospects phone number and the listing that he/she is interested in viewing. The service acts like an on-site assistant, reporting full property details and taking down new lead information 24 hours a day 7 days per week. Paul Warkenting of KAMAP Property Management says, “The service increased our monthly number of leads, and brought us more business because it shows our commitment to customer service.”

If this new, intriguing service could benefit you, then go over to their website right now and check it out.

Apartment smoking bans. Good idea?

Written by jordan on . Posted in Blog

Recently we had an article about smoking in apartments, and now I found a survey on Lansner on Real Estate from the OCRegister that shows what the actually tenants think about putting a ban on smoking in an apartment complex. Write in to us and tell us what you think.

Apartments.com’s latest tenant survey says renters — even those who don’t smoke — aren’t that crazy about smoking bans.

Of those surveyed, 44.7% opposed the idea of making smoking in apartments illegal while 39.1% supported a ban. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed — 61.9% — were non-smokers.

About a third of the respondents — 31.8% — said a property management company shouldn’t decide that you can’t smoke in the privacy of your own apartment. Another 22.2% didn’t mind people smoking in their own place as long as it didn’t affect them.

Deadbeat Homeowners Hit The Road

Written by jordan on . Posted in Blog

New article from Forbes.com

There was a time in America when losing your home to the mortgage lender was about the worst financial calamity that could befall a person. Not only were you homeless, your dignity was trampled by the repossession of your property.

That was Norman Rockwell. This is now.

To the distress of many banks and investors, American borrowers are increasingly viewing voluntary foreclosure as a practical financial decision, stripped of its taboo. Perhaps a bigger problem is that banks don’t want to talk about the problem and they don’t appear to know what to do about it. As long as it persists, there will be downward pressure on home prices, especially in overbuilt markets where the supply of housing already outstrips demand.

For the homeowners, the problem is a combination of falling real estate prices and the end of low-cost teaser periods on their mortgages. Those who bought at the crest of the market are finding their mortgages worth more than their homes. Faced with payments they can’t afford and houses they have no stake in, these people are just hitting the road. Though difficult to statistically isolate, there is evidence pointing to the trend.

In March, according to foreclosure database RealtyTrac, foreclosures rose 54.0% year-over-year, but bank repossessions surged at double that rate, 129.0%. What accounts for the difference? Rick Sharga, vice president of marketing at RealtyTrac, said most March repossessions likely involved walkaways: homeowners who simply mailed their keys to the bank and moved. There was no need for the banks to foreclose.

In mid-April, Chief Risk Officer Don Truslow of Wachovia acknowledged the troubling trend during a conference call: “I don’t know where the tipping point is, but somewhere when a borrower crosses the 100.0% loan-to-value, somewhere north of that . . . their propensity to just default and stop paying their mortgage rises dramatically and really accelerates up.”

Even more disconcerting, Truslow added that the trend was “almost regardless” of borrowers’ creditworthiness. Lender’s are beginning to report that loan-to-value ratios are better indicators of the likelihood of default than borrowers’ FICO scores, a widely used metric of creditworthiness developed by Fair, Isaac. (See “Subprime In Sheep’s Clothing”)

But Wachovia doesn’t have a plan to deal with the phenomenon.

“We are concerned about the issue, we just don’t have a strategy yet,” said Don Vecchiarello, a spokesperson for Wachovia (nyse: WB – news – people ). “We are monitoring the walkaway phenomenon and if the issue persists we will develop a strategy around it.”

Banks won’t come out and say how many walkaways they are seeing month after month, but most will offer anecdotal evidence of the trend. The unusual element of walkaways in this cycle that banks will acknowledge is that borrowers with relatively good credit files are opting to exit their mortgage agreements.

Washington Mutual (nyse: WM – news – people ) isn’t in much better shape. “In short, we don’t break out walkaways or provide any metrics on them,” said Derek Aney, a company spokesperson. Aney added that the bank “acknowledges the phenomenon and manages it as part of its overall loss-mitigation activities.”

If it’s in a lender’s best interest to simply claim the property and cancel the mortgage debt, it will accept the deed in lieu of foreclosure and write down the difference between the current value of the home and the remaining mortgage. RealtyTrac’s Sharga said that deeds in lieu are actually better for both the lender and the borrower.

For borrowers, the process is slightly less severe than a foreclosure on their credit records. Also, the bank essentially agrees not to pursue any further payments. For the lender, there are savings in not going through the auction process. This is expecially true if the home has lost value, as is often the case in today’s market. There’s also the relative ease of process relative to the time and expense of a lengthy foreclosure proceeding or the potential of the owner suddenly abandoning the home.

Thomas Kerrigan, a real estate lawyer in New York, said that if a borrower has other assets besides the home, than there is a much greater likelihood that the lender will pursue the deficiency between the total mortgage and the depreciated home price. However, if the lender believes there are no other assets, it will likely make a business decision that it isn’t worth trying to recoup the loss. “You can’t,” Kerrigan noted, “get blood out of a stone.”

Kerrigan also said that that foreclosure law varies from state to state and that banks will have to develop their walkaway strategies accordingly. States with judicial foreclosures, which emphasize homeowner rights, have the most cumbersome procedures. Lenders luck out in non-judicial states like California where foreclosure is a relatively speedy process. Walkaways would probably prefer judicial states because they can camp out in their homes while the banks spend up to a year trying to foreclose.

“It really is a moral dilemma, because it’s wrong, but the repercussions are credit-based,” said Nancy Flint-Budde, a certified financial planner in Salem, New York. “Destroyed credit is a still huge deterrent, but if someone is willing to throw their credit score away for seven years then walking away is an option.” Negative credit items are typically deleted from consumers’ reports after seven years.

Because many people “went in as investors,” rather than homeowners, “they went in with a different mindset and might be willing to just walkway.” Flint-Budde added, “This is why traditionally people had to put more money down when they borrowed money for a second home or investment property.”

Glen Costello, a structured finance officer at Fitch, said that walkaways are nothing new, but this cycle’s factors are. “One could understand that if someone had lost their job and all their savings, they were being forced to give up their home,” said Costello. Now, however, homeowners aren’t as much vulnerable to foreclosure as amenable. They just don’t want to pay high monthly costs for properties in which they do not have stakes.

$100 prize

Written by jordan on . Posted in Blog

Just reminding everyone of the promotion Apartment Management is offering. Write an article, less than 1,500 words, about your experience in the apartment industry. It can be about anything, it is totally up to you. All it has to be is interesting, and if yours is picked, then you will get a $100 American Express gift card.

Just make sure you send your submissions to editor@aptmags.com by the end of June.

Secondhand Smoke in Apartments

Written by jordan on . Posted in Blog

A guide for owners and managers by The American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation

“Secondhand smoke is the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Approximately 70,000 people die annually from diseases caused by secondhand smoke, with hundreds of thousands more suffering ill effects from exposure. Multi-unit dwellings present a particular challenge for dealing with this significant health and nuisance problem. Tobacco smoke from one unit may seep through cracks, be circulated by a shared ventilation system, or otherwise enter the living space of another. You may wonder what you can do to mitigate some of these problems.”

Improved Ventilation May Not Solve the Problem

Standards cannot ensure the avoidance of adverse health effects from tobacco smoke. Yet if you improve the system with fresh air intake, installing better filters, and limit amount of air exhausted from one unit to another, it can help

Work Creatively with Tenants toward a Solution

Work with tenants, and show them the effects of their habits, and how their lease agreement prevent them from engaging in behaviors that interferes with other tenants enjoyment.

To Completely Solve the Problem, Eliminate Smoking

There is no constitutional or legal right to smoke. You can make policies that are phased in gradually with new leases “containing a clause that prohibits smoking both indoors and on all grounds.”

There are many reasons to implement non-smoking policies, so check out the editorial by ANRA, and contact them to see what you can do to cut down on all the preventable deaths caused by second hand smoking.

Newer O.C. apartments suffer more vacancies

Written by jordan on . Posted in Blog

Taken from the Lasner on Real Estate blog, posted by Mary Ann Millbourn

REIS Inc. reports that during the first quarter, O.C. apartments built after 1999 had 2.5 times the vacancy rate of the county as a whole.
Countywide vacancies were 4% in the 784 O.C. complexes that REIS studied. Units constructed after 1999, however, had a 10% vacancy rate. The oldest apartments — built before 1970 — had the fewest vacancies at 2.8%.

Rents made the difference. Apartments built before 1970 rented for $1,359 while those constructed after 1999 went for $2,055. The average county rent was $1,550.

Year Built Vacancy Rate
Before 1970 2.8%
1970-1979 3.2%
1980-1989 4.2%
1990-1999 3.6%
After 1999 10.0%
All 4.0%

Apartment resident safety

Written by jordan on . Posted in Blog

Apartment.com has some helpful tips for resident dwellers. It is important for apartment managers to make sure the tenants are safe, and feel secure in their own apartment complex. Here are some tips that managers should tell their tenants, and make sure the units in their care will be a safe place, and keep their tenants happy, because tenants will pick up and move if they feel unsafe in their own home.

Our biggest “mom” tip is to purchase renter’s insurance to protect your valuables. Even with insurance you still need to take steps to protect yourself. Here are some other easy ways to make you, your apartment and your belongings much safer.

Do…

* Write only your last name or initials on your mailbox.
* Although you may have to pay a small fee, it’s a good idea to have an unlisted phone number for safety reasons. Having an unlisted number will also cut down on solicitation calls.
* Make sure the locks on all doors leading into your apartment have been changed since the last tenant was living there. You may need to make copies of your keys for roommates but most apartment owners forbid copies made for anyone not living in the apartment. This includes your best friend, boy/girlfriend and parents. For safety reasons, keep copies of keys in your hands only.
* Apartment doors should all have peephole viewers. If you don’t have one, ask your landlord to install one.
* On the elevator, avoid riding alone with a stranger. If you get stuck with someone you do not know, stand near the control panel so you can exit in an emergency or if the stranger makes you feel uncomfortable in any way.
* Stay alert when entering your apartment. Don’t talk on your cell phone or look preoccupied when walking toward your building. Criminals look for a weak target and are more likely to pass up someone who appears focused, aware and strong.
* Report bad lighting or overgrown shrubbery to your landlord. You are never being too picky when it comes to your safety.
* Inventory the description, serial number and cost of your valuables. Keep a copy of your records online, in a fire-proof locked box or in a safe deposit box in a bank. Take pictures of your most valuable items and attach those to your receipts to make any insurance claims run as smoothly as possible.
* Keep a broom handle or other long stick in the track of sliding glass doors. This may deter a break in.
* Purchase light timers and set them so that your lights turn on when you’re away from home in the evening.
* Take in your newspaper and packages on a daily basis.

Check out this real estate blog

Written by jordan on . Posted in Blog

Pied Piper Speaks:

Since 2005, Pied Piper Speaks On Real Estate has been a recognized real estate blog leader, providing literally thousands of North America’s finest agents with the kind of creative, dynamic, effective and powerful marketing ideas they need to survive and succeed in the fiercely competitive arena of real estate.

Real estate contest

Written by jordan on . Posted in Blog

We are pleased to announce that we were allowed to enter into a contest hosted by FHA Mortgage Center. They are holding a contest for blogs about the real estate industry, and I decided to enter the Apartment Management blog, and see what damage we could do. It would be awesome if you could support us and vote for our blog. Thanks.