By Alan Pentico, Executive Director, Southern California Rental Housing Association

An initiative passed narrowly by voters in 2020 to protect wildfire victims and seniors has opened the door to massive tax increases that threaten tenants and the roof over their heads.  Proposition 19 removed important taxpayer protections from the State Constitution that for 35 years guaranteed parents or grandparents could transfer property to their kids without any change to the property tax bill. The removal of these protections has brought back the death tax to California.

Now, when property is passed from parent to child, it is reassessed to current market value, triggering a huge increase in annual property taxes. Too often, renters find themselves collateral damage to this untimely tax increase.

Go beyond the pet deposit and learn if requiring pet insurance is worth it

Article Contributed by Rent Spree                 

Disclaimer: This article is not legal advice. Any legal information is not the same as legal advice, where an attorney applies the law to your specific circumstances, so you should consult an attorney if you would like advice on your interpretation of this information or its accuracy. You may not rely on this article as legal advice, nor as an endorsement of any particular legal understanding.

America is a country of pet lovers; more than 100 million households have either a dog or cat and millions more have birds, fish, and other small mammals and reptiles. That translates into a $19 billion veterinary care market each year for everything from wellness visits to emergency services for US pets. To increase affordability and facilitate proper veterinary care, pet insurance policies have become more and more prevalent in recent decades, with a growing number of insurers offering various levels of coverage to meet the needs of pet owners.

By Bruce Mack and Dr. Gina G.

There is a viable solution for avoiding the pain and financial suffering Prop 19 has created and more.  To better understand the problem, you will want to get the background.

In November 2020, Californians voted to pass the Proposition 19 Constitutional Amendment. The new law went into effect on February 16, 2021 (roughly 1 year ago). To understand the impact of Proposition 19 on apartment owners, it is helpful to recognize that it modifies Proposition 13 (which was originally passed back in 1978),

However, Proposition 19 has changed these rules in several ways, including:

By Roderick Wright, California State Senator (Retired)

(Editor’s Note: This editorial has been written in response to the editorial, “Criminals Pillage Where ‘Lax on Crime’ DAs Rule” written by Eric W. Siddall, the Vice President of the Association of Los Angeles Deputy District Attorneys, and which appeared in the January 2022 issue of Apartment Age magazine.  Apartment Age magazine always welcomes and encourages differing viewpoints.)

I recently read the article, Criminals Pillage Where ‘Lax on Crime’ DAs Rule,” blaming the Los Angeles District Attorney for the recent spike in violent crime.  There is a political movement taking place in Los Angeles County against George Gascon, the current District Attorney.  The claims are that he is not prosecuting criminal cases and favors the criminals over the victims, thus causing the spike in crime.  Additionally, his opponents claim that Proposition 47, the California State referendum of November 2014 that changed a handful of felonies into misdemeanors, is also a cause of the spike in violent crime. 

As the second year of a “new normal” comes to a close, we want to take a moment and reflect on what we, as a community and an industry, have learned, how we have grown, and what we want to carry forward into the new year.

Throughout 2021, we’ve seen our staff, investors, clients, and partners face each day with…

Creativity: If we had to choose just one trait that embodied this year, creativity would be a strong contender. We’ve truly seen “if there’s a will, there’s a way” in action throughout the past 18+ months. While we hope there’s significantly less need for creativity in the new year, we are grateful and amazed by the creative ways we’ve seen investors diversify, our property managers attract tenants, and construction adapt to changing needs. We will be channeling this creativity to always better serve our community in the days, weeks, and years to come.

When you can prove to investors that your properties save water and energy, you increase their value. The less capital owners and investors throw down the drain (no pun intended), the more they can invest in amenities, renovations and other profit-generating projects. It’s easier than you think to increase property value with smart, eco-friendly proptech.

We’ll look at leak detection systems, smart thermostats, trash management and indoor building health. Residential and commercial property managers alike will find many of these tips profitable, and they are great additions to highlight in your property marketing.

One must wonder…, but to me, it appears that the City of Los Angeles and its elected officials are a circus in search of their “Big Top” tent.  From the perspective of this rental housing provider, the acts being performed today within City Hall of the once great “City of Angels” only make sense when one realizes that the roles of the elected are being portrayed by a bunch of clowns.

As the Stephen Sondheim song goes, “Send in the clowns.”  Yes, we have all heard that song and apparently the voters in the City of Los Angeles have listened and heeded the songs advise.  “Send in the clowns…” and that we have.  Unfortunately, the actions being undertaken within the City of Los Angeles are not just “a little night music.”

Contributed by the Team at LIVABLE

Livable often hits double-digit utility usage decreases for buildings that implement the RUBS program – Ratio Utility Billing System. For example, in a fully occupied four-unit building, water and electricity use went down 31% in the first year that Livable’s RUBS was implemented.  In another case, with a 300-unit (plus) building, there were 24-percent reductions in usage and an 89-percent recovery rate. The result was over $180,000 recovered in just one-year of RUBS.

“Energy costs are getting higher, and the cheapest energy is the energy you don’t use.” ~ Paul Pettipas

RUBS helps get residents actively engaged with saving on utilities. Whether your property has multiple units varying in size, retail space, and/or common areas, Livable can customize allocation factors and billing frequency for your unique property and accurate billing to each Livable resident. 

This is a provocative question that depends on a host of factors. Assuming a rent increase is permissible, is it advantageous to raise rents now? That’s what we attempt to answer here.

We were asked in this town hall webinar to make a prediction on how the outcome of the Presidential election would impact the rental housing community and we dodged the question a bit on a day when we awoke to an orange tint in the sky. Our response was that as the future got stranger and stranger, we were living day to day with the hope that we all would return to some semblance of normalcy soon, but had no understanding of what would occur next.

Stacy Holden

The one commonality between the various real estate markets across our nation is that everywhere, things have changed significantly in the past two years. And while much has been written about the state of both local and national residential markets, there is a gap when it comes to data that helps property owners and managers better understand the changed motivations, expectations, and perceptions that U.S. renters have of their property management companies or landlords. As a result, AppFolio conducted a national survey to provide property managers and landlords with a clearer understanding of how their renters perceive them.

Here’s the good news: nearly three-quarters of US renters surveyed said that they are satisfied with their property manager. However, a follow up question revealed that there’s a real opportunity to improve that level of satisfaction.