“Dark windows. Quiet lobbies. Hushed halls.” These opening lines of a New York Times article from April 2021 describe once-thriving offices in downtown New York. At the start of the pandemic, offices nationwide shuttered and we entered the era of remote work. The article suggests residential housing could come from commercial office conversions. Ideally, such office conversions would help solve the affordable housing crisis and put those “dark, quiet, hushed” buildings to good use.

It sounds like a smart plan, but it hasn’t happened, at least not on a meaningful scale. And it doesn’t look like office conversions to affordable housing are in many developers’ plans. The conversion solution is creative, but it just doesn’t work. This article looks at why commercial buildings aren’t going to solve the housing crisis and what is happening to unused offices spaces instead.

We’ll also show you some housing solutions that actually work (and are happening now).

By Nicole Seidner

The United States is moving closer towards a renter-friendly nation with renter-friendly laws. As renters cheer every time tenant screening laws shift in their favor, landlords and property managers across the nation have to adjust to the turning, pro-renter tide. Despite that, screening is a necessity and there is always one argument you can pose. To be in the rental housing industry means you need to have the information to enable smart leasing decisions and keep yourself safe from litigation.  You need to know about the sex offender registry.

By Steve Abramowitz

My father was built like a linebacker and hollered like a coach. One evening in the late 1950s, I accompanied him as he went door-to-door to collect rents. A tenant called Schoenfeld—I only recall his surname—paid his rent reliably, but he was always a month late and he didn’t include the late fee. This drove my father “nuts.” That night, he unloaded on him. When I asked my father why he had to be so hard on Schoenfeld, he had a few choice words for me, too.

“Stevie, you’ll go to one of those pom-pom colleges,” my father said. “I graduated from the school of hard knocks. You’re too soft. Don’t be a wimpy landlord.”

By Rae Parker

Today’s renters expect a seamless leasing experience, whether that happens virtually or in person. However, with recent changes happening in the property management industry — from “The Great Resignation” to challenges with filling open positions — your team may be stretched too thin trying to keep up with the high volume or increasing demands of day-to-day tasks. Effectively marketing your properties to fill vacancies is the most critical aspect of owning and managing rental properties. But what happens when your efforts aren’t producing the desired results? It could be due to a shortage in staff — or you could have the wrong technology in place. 

By Dave Tourjé, President, Alpha Structural, Inc.

For Dave Tourjé, the founder of earthquake retrofitting firm, Alpha Structural, concern about earthquake and the need for seismic retrofitting, were not of grave concern as they are today. Dave started in the construction business by specializing in foundation repair of hillside homes, failing retaining walls, seismic retrofitting, and every other kind of structural repair for the hillside and structural problems he had dealt with as a Mount Washington local working in construction. Today, Tourjé reflects on the difference in the construction trade between the early days and now, “It was an unformed trade. There was no foundation repair. There was no consciousness of it, it wasn’t in the real estate community like it is now, it just wasn’t a known problem.”

Executive Director Message
by Daniel Yukelson, Executive Director, Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles

The old saying goes there could be “light at the end of the tunnel.”  Many of our members have called or written emails asking me that very thing – could we finally be seeing some light at the end of the tunnel on the City of Los Angeles’s moratoriums on evictions and rent increases? Well, yes and no, perhaps. As things go in the City of Los Angeles, and as the famous Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin movie was aptly titled, “It’s Complicated.”

By Dwight Kay, Founder and CEO of Kay Properties

If you’ve picked up a financial publication recently, chances are you’ve seen references to 1031 Exchanges. A 1031 exchange is a legal way for investors to defer their capital gains taxes on the sale of real estate held for investment or business purposes. It allows one to defer taxes on a property sale as long as they follow specific 1031 rules and guidelines. In other words, you have the potential to keep all your profits working for you with the purchase of your next investment property, without the IRS coming after you looking for their share of the pie. Here are five things to remember before a 1031 exchange.

1. Taxes are Applicable in a Non-1031 Exchange

When an investor sells a property that has gone up in value this results in several types of taxes. These include capital gains taxes, which the investor must pay if they sell the asset at a price higher than they initially paid for it. Federal capital gains are taxed at 15-20% of the increase in value, while state capital gains are taxed between 0- 13.3% of the increase in value.

By Anthony C. Guichard, President, ACR Concrete & Asphalt Construction, Inc.

We are halfway through 2022 and the accessibility laws have been in place since 1991, and in truth, that should have been plenty of time (30+ years) for property owners with public accessibility to get their properties into compliance. However, most property owners have just addressed a small portion of the ADA compliance issues at their properties. Most common of issues is a disabled parking stall; however, again I spend a lot of time and energy with my clients explaining that is not ADA compliance.  The only way to protect your investments is to be proactive.

We take a close look at Ellis Act evictions and local ordinances that protect the rights

By Daniel Bornstein, Esq.

The 1980s law has always been anathema to tenants’ rights activists who have repeatedly tried to meddle with it.

The Ellis Act is a state law that allows landlords to evict residential tenants in order to go out of the rental business. This right is afforded to rental housing providers even though general public policy is to keep residents housed so long as their tenancy is in good standing. While local governments have a desire to compel landlords to continue to provide rental housing, the Ellis Act puts this impulse in check.

Yet the rights of owners to withdraw their property from the rental market are not unbridled. Local governments still have the ability to implement the Ellis Act and place various restrictions on how landlords exercise these rights.

By David Crown, Los Angeles Property Management Group

If you’re a property manager, even one who’s built a large business and assigned out many on-the-ground operations, let this article serve as a reminder that property management shouldn’t become just an “office” job, and you’re never too important to physically walk your clients’ properties. And if you’re an owner, don’t settle for a company whose top brass never leaves their cozy offices.  In fact, you might want to ask a prospective manager tactfully, “What did you notice the last time you were out in the field.”