Author Archive

A Soft-story Story: Fail to Plan or Plan to Pay

Written by Apartment Management Magazine on . Posted in Blog

By Dee Soffer | RetroExperts

Do your due diligence right and comply with minimal cost and nuisances.

Planning is an essential part of our lives and with the new Soft-Story Ordinance it is critical. How much planning is usually a question of personalities, experience, and skills. As property owners and investors, we all want to minimize liabilities and provide the safest housing standards for our tenants. At the end of the day, thanks to many of these tenants we can enjoy the luxuries of landlordship in prime LA and to some of us, this has been our main source of income and possibly our entire retirement plan.

1031 Exchange DST Investment Case Study

Written by Apartment Management Magazine on . Posted in Blog

By: Steve Haskell, Vice President, Kay Properties and Investments, LLC

A CPA in San Diego contacted Kay Properties & Investments on behalf of his client, Peggy. Peggy owned an apartment building in East San Diego that she and her husband purchased together 50 years ago. Unfortunately, Peggy’s husband passed away five years ago and the maintenance, tenants, and looming threat of rent control had become overwhelming. She had an agent list her building and was pleased to receive the full asking price of $1.4 million the very next day. However, her excitement quickly vanished after her CPA informed her the capital gains tax and depreciation recapture will result in over 35% of her property value and prevent her from maintaining her current lifestyle. They concluded that a 1031 exchange into a passive property was critical.

Use a Hot Real Estate Market to “Clean Up” Your Portfolio

Written by Apartment Management Magazine on . Posted in Blog

By Christopher Miller, MBA
Specialized Wealth Management

Happy New Year!  We are currently in a hot real estate market where properties are selling well.  Why not take advantage of this market to sell some of your less desirable properties?  If you could sell the “dogs of your portfolio” quickly today, why risk waiting until the market turns when they could sit on the market for a long time?  And remember that price cuts often come from sitting on the market for a long time.

Properties That I Do Like

Written by Apartment Management Magazine on . Posted in Blog

By Christopher Miller, MBA
Specialized Wealth Management

During nearly 20 years in the investment real estate business, and while completing a graduate degree emphasizing real estate finance, I have learned a lot about the types of rental real estate that I prefer.  Every day, I try to share this knowledge with my clients to help them grow their real estate portfolio while maintaining their cash flow potential.  I recently wrote a three-part series about Properties that I Don’t Like.  This month, I thought an appropriate topic would be a review of Properties that I Do Like.

Pets vs Animals in California and What You Need to Know

Written by Apartment Management Magazine on . Posted in Blog

Widget’s Way featuring Patti “Widget”

When renting a property to a tenant with pets you can pretty much set your own standards. You can ask for pet insurance, charge an additional deposit, require photos of the pet, require current tags, ask for additional pet rent, limit what type of pet’s you allow, you can even exclude pets altogether, etc. With pets the only rules would be yours and the governing parties, as I’m sure a pet alligator won’t fly with animal control or fish and wildlife.

When it comes to animals there are actual guidelines under the Fair Housing Act and The American Disability Act that apply differentiating between service animals, therapy animals, and emotional support animals, which can be both scary and tricky at the same.

Planning for the Family Trust and Real Estate Assets

Written by Apartment Management Magazine on . Posted in Blog

by Michael Trainotti

I have recently been involved reviewing a family trust executed by a husband and wife who owned a number of real properties besides the family residence. The husband died recently, and the family trust did not provide for his portion of the real estate to utilize either a decedent trust or marital trust (“A-B Family Trust”). Rather, everything is to be distributed to the wife under the terms of the family trust. The family wants to keep all of the real properties after the death of the wife.

Glendale Passes Rent Freeze

Written by Apartment Management Magazine on . Posted in Blog

By: Janet Gagnon, AAGLA

The Glendale City Council passed a rent freeze ordinance at 1:00 am on 11/28. The vote was 3-1 with City Councilwoman Paul Devine being the sole opposing vote. Councilman Vartan Gharpetian changed his vote to support the rent freeze once it was reduced from 6 months to 2 months after it becomes effective on December 27, 2018 and in exchange for staff drafting a Right to Lease ordinance to present to the City Council in February 2019. The rent freeze caps increases at 5% annually using base rents from September 18, 2018. Councilman Gharpetian also stated for the record that he would not vote for any extension of the rent freeze in February. There was strong agreement between all four City Councilmembers (Councilman Najarian had to recuse himself and leave the meeting) regarding a Right to Lease ordinance that would include the following elements: 1) 1 Year Written Lease offered to tenants, 2) Increases allowed up to 7%, 3) Increases above 7% would go to Mandatory Meduation to determine if justified (due to major repairs, renovations, mortgage interest increases, property taxes, insurance, utility rates, government assessments or fees), 4) if tenant unable to pay increases above 7%, then owner to pay relocation fees of 3 or 6 months of rent to tenant and 5) increases above 7% owner must provide 120 days prior notice.

Business Succession Planning Still Important in 2018

Written by Apartment Management Magazine on . Posted in Blog

By Michael Trainotti

In 2018 under current law, the estate and gift tax is $11,180,000 for an individual and $22,360,000 for a couple until December 31, 2025. However, for the closely held business, succession planning for the next generation and continuation of the closely held business is still very important.  The same is true for rental real estate that is owned by either a limited liability company (“LLC”) or a limited partnership (“LP”). This article will discuss both types of ownership.

LA County Votes 4-1 To Impose Temporary Rent Cap in Unincorporated Areas

Written by Apartment Management Magazine on . Posted in Blog

Despite voters rejection of Proposition 10, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 Tuesday in favor of an ordinance to temporarily limit rent increases to 3 percent in unincorporated areas of the county.

Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, who championed the plan to limit rents while the county considers longer-term solutions, said an estimated 200,000 renters would be protected by the county ordinance.