By Brittany Benz, Rae Parker

Commercial and residential buildings account for 39% of the carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. Is your property management company doing everything it can to be more sustainable? Now more than ever, it’s essential to make sure you’re investing in green initiatives, not just because it’s better for the environment, but because your business will depend on it.  

The Growing Demand for Sustainability

According to a survey by Forrester, 32% of consumers prioritize companies that are actively reducing their impact on the environment. Today’s renters don’t just like sustainable features — like high efficiency appliances and smart thermostats — they expect them to already be built-in. As more millenial and gen z renters enter the market, this demand is only going to increase. And it’s not just renters, investors will also be looking for buildings that are LEED certified and eco-conscious, too. Nielsen reports that 81% of consumers around the world believe it’s very important for companies to have environmental improvement as an objective.

On September 1^st, 2020 the CDC issued a temporary halt in residential evictions to prevent the further spread of Covid-19.  The order imposed a temporary national moratorium on most evictions for non-payment of rent to help prevent the spread of the virus. The average person spends more than thirty percent of their income on housing and lives paycheck to paycheck with little to no savings.  That is one of the reasons why the eviction moratorium was extended.  The order applies to all standard rental housing including mobile homes.  It does not cover hotels, motels or other guest home rentals.  A complete list of qualifications can be found at the National Low Income Housing Coalition website:  https://www.nlihc.org.

By Jenifer Anisman, Esq., Associate, The Law Firm of Harold Greenberg

By a show of hands in the room (and by room, I mean the State of California), how many homeowners here over 55 intend to sell your house and purchase another one of equal value, taking advantage of maintaining your present tax base?  (A handful of people in the room raise their hands)…By a show of hands, how many homeowners here over 55 intend to sell your house and purchase another one of equal value THREE times (and maintain your present tax base)?  (One or two half-masts).

And that is because we all love to move, right?  Especially in our 50’s, 60’s, 70,s and 80’s.  90-year-olds would especially love to move.  Right?  And now, Proposition 19 lets them move three times without a reassessment! 

Seeking Input From Multifamily Rental Property Owners, Managers, and Residents from Los Angeles County’s Unincorporated Areas

• Funded by the Los Angeles County Department of Health, USC Study Seeks Residential Landlord and Manager Input on Smoke-Free and Vape-Free Policies, and Impacts on Multifamily Residents Particularly During COVID-19

• Free $25 Gift Card Being Offered to Survey Participants and Chance to Receive Free Membership in Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles

A major new smoke-free study was recently launched by the University of Southern California to seek the input of residential landlords and managers within Los Angeles County’s unincorporated areas.  The USC smoke-free study was launched on March 1, 2021 in collaboration with the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles. Funding for the USC smoke-free study is being provided by the Los Angeles County Department of Health.

LeaseUp helps property owners find qualified renters fast.

While the rental market recovers from COVID-19 in a struggling economy, property owners and managers face growing collections of unpaid rent and a looming eviction crisis. But property owners in LA County have a solution that provides financial security and support: LeaseUp. The nonprofit connects them with rent-ready tenants and steady, monthly rental collections.

Powered by PATH, LeaseUp is an innovative program backed by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) and serves over 600 property owners and managers in Southern California. LeaseUp sets out to offer benefits and stability to property owners and managers in LA County and provide housing for people who are struggling to make ends meet.

By Christopher Miller, MBA

Specialized Wealth Management

We all know that tax deferral (with the potential to make the savings permanent) of some income through depreciation deduction is one of the big benefits of owning investment real estate.  This month, I will discuss ways that you can maximize your tax benefits by using this accounting tool.  After all:  who doesn’t want more savings?

How Does Depreciation Work?

By using the depreciation deduction, an investor can write off a portion of his “basis” every year and use that to offset taxable income from the property.   How do I calculate my benefits?  Let’s walk through the process:

By Edward Ring

An article just published in City Journal, “Is Texas’s Affordable Housing Endangered,” describes how housing prices in Texas are becoming unaffordable. The article notes how the average home price in the Austin metropolitan area has doubled in just 10 years. In the Dallas suburbs a decade ago, more than 50 percent of homes sold for under $200,000 compared to around four percent today.

One of the reasons people move to Texas is that homes there are more affordable than in other places. Writer Connor Harris invokes California as a cautionary tale. Because Texas relies on high property taxes instead of having a state income tax, if property values surge, there is a risk that Texas voters will follow the example set by the 1978 tax revolt in California. A Proposition 13-like revolt, which prevented annual reassessments of home values, could lead to Texas passing and raising income taxes, which would penalize productive activity.

By Marc Frenkiel

Is it an exaggeration to say that San Francisco is the greatest hub of technological invention and innovation the world has ever known? 

Take a look at the Milken Institute’s Best Performing Cities 2020 Report. Looking back at the year 2019, the San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco Metropolitan Statistical Area took the top spot:

The region’s wage income growth in the five-year benchmark and the recent period exhibit exceptional strength (ranked second among large MSAs). Besides the region’s robust growth in job creation and income, it also commands the highest rank of five-year high-tech GDP growth among large metropolitan areas in the nation. More importantly, the high-tech content as a share of the regional economy is increasing.

By YardiBreeze

In 2020, several exciting technological advances were introduced to the real estate industry. We expected change to happen quickly, but not overnight. However, for many business operators, COVID-19 hastened the move to automation, paperless solutions and artificial intelligence. And now, cutting-edge tech that was put in place at the start of the pandemic is becoming the standard in property management.

With better days ahead, let’s take a look at the ways property managers can use artificial intelligence and automation to streamline their business and accelerate growth. This is the future of multifamily housing.

By Robert A. Briskin

President Biden is expected to release shortly a 2022 federal budget, which will include the President’s  proposed tax law changes.  With the Democrats currently controlling both houses of Congress, new proposed tax legislation is anticipated to be introduced by the Biden administration into Congress in the fall of 2021.  To facilitate the enactment of new tax laws, it is anticipated that the Biden administration will use the budget reconciliation process (thereby requiring only an affirmative 51 votes in the Senate to pass the tax law changes).  Most likely, there will be a January 1, 2022 effective date for most of the new tax laws (but there could be earlier effective dates for certain selected tax law provisions).  Additionally, there has recently been proposed estate and gift tax law changes introduced into Congress by House Ways and Means Committee member Jimmy Gomez and by Senate Budget Committee Chair Bernie Sanders, known as the “For the 99.5 Percent Act”.